Anja Schneider - "Beyond the Valley"

Anja Schneider - Belize (Mobilee 2008)

Anja Schneider - Beyond the Valley / Mobilee

Originally there was going to be a post before this justifying the exhaustive new Booka Shade record, The Sun and the Neon Light. But I honestly could not listen to that record more than once the whole way through. Have you heard the praises? If not, it's because nobody told Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier to just... stop. I can't even believe I remember that "Psychameleon" was the only song worth taking away from that album. For once, their initials seem appropriate.

But if the boys from Hamburg did not bring their best, Berlin's brightest brunettes have more than made up for it this spring. While Bpitch Control boss Ellen Allien was busy tooling with liquid nitrogen for a reductive approach on Sool, Mobilee missus Schneider chose to sweat out her latest with Beyond the Valley, a full-length that capitalizes on the strength of last year's "Belize" single and continually redraws the lines between order and chaos. Each track starts as a disaster and finishes making complete sense. It's like seeing the light over and over.

Or maybe it's just that minimal electro has been pretty weak this year? I hear Beyond the Valley and I think that this is an album that could've had every track as a highlight; clearly Schneider is capable of such brilliance as the Conrad-esque "Mole" and the stunning opener "Safari," but when we look back on this album at the end of the year (or rather, after you've finished hearing it for the second time), we're going to struggle to remember the "lost" tracks that feel like filler on repeated listens. Where is the momentum in "Gimlet"? And despite the trip-hop vocals of "Get Away," nothing about it feels distinctive. It's like Type A minimal techno and it feels lazy for someone of Schneider's obvious talent... even when the percussion takes curious turns with bongos and pitched-out tribal drums.

That said, the concluding tracks regain most of the waywardness of the middle portion and "Little Red Riding Hood" comes alive with spiking synths to complement the subtle, after-hours party favor that "We Fish at Night" provides on your way out. These songs may be highlights, but they fit in with the mood and feel of the album perfectly: Schneider has not made clear what valley we're going beyond, but it is clear that for this album we lie in its heart, and it is dark. No matter how fast that paranoid 4/4 pace may feel, there is no escaping the darkness.

So returning to the point about the "lost" moments that share common ground redundancy with the vast majority of Booka Shade's latest, the fact that these songs stretch out longer than it often feels they should turns out to be a clever psychological ploy on Schneider's part, taking cues from Conrad and dragging it out to make you feel as submerged in these sounds as the front cover depiction: You're immersed in roses, thorns, shrubbery and other industrial foliage on the cover, the music makes you feel like you've lost your way in the sweaty overgrowth as well. Maybe that overgrowth is a new species of plant; maybe it's a crowded club in Berlin. Either way, Schneider has already boldly blazed that path ahead and she's showing you the way through. Follow her long enough on Beyond the Valley and your faith will be rewarded.