This year will see German techno mainstay Stephan Bodzin ready to unleash his next full-length musical vision on the world. Entitled ‘Powers of Ten’, the 10-track album will land in June 2015 on his own Herzblut Recordings and provides another great insight into the melodically rich muscle mind of this modern great.
Says Stephan Bodzin of the LP: ‘Powers of Ten’ has been with me all my life and is named after a book that has been my background hiss, its confusing truth is my only real faith and its infinity shows me its finiteness. The album is about harmonies, melodies, rhythms. It is an homage to Bob Moog, full of techno beats and sounds and space and party and ecstasy and dancing and listening, and crying and feeling. It is a journey, a philosophy of life, a view of the world, a vague perception. It is my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my passion, my enemy, my greatest fulfillment, my fear, my deepest peace, my power, all my love.”
As such, this album is hugely personal and is filled with cerebral messages and well thought out concepts. All this shines through and makes it an all the more engaging listen from start to finish. Kicking off with the spine tingling chords and louche beats of ‘Singularity’ cuts like ‘Lila’ then continue to confirm that Stephan Bodzin has a classical understanding of melody that is way beyond your average.
‘Blue Giant’, ‘Wir’ and ‘Ix’ all manage to be uplifting and thoughtful at the same time as driven and groovy, whilst ‘Birth’ comes on with a hymnal high note, long tailed pads and subtly shifting beats. The ghostly grooves of ‘Zulu’ mark a majestic mid point to the album, which then continues to seduce with spiritual synths and more beautiful melodies on cuts like ‘Odyssee’ as well as the album’s standout title track.
Unfolding coherently and in soothing fashion, this album once again proves that few producers in the modern world have a knack for melody and an ear for sonic ingenuity quite like Stephan Bodzin.
