CEL (Felix Kubin & Hubert Zemler)

The debut album from this German-Polish duo CEL is a test laboratory for rhythmic cadences and electrostatic discharges. Under the expert guidance of Hamburg producer Tobias Levin, they have created seven self-contained instrumentals enriched by vibraphone, xylophone and African percussion. Zemler’s stripped down mechanics and Kubin’s erratic electronics dovetail superbly. A sense of concentrated restlessness pervades the album – in the greater stream of things, some tracks come close to bursting their banks whilst others scale the loftiest heights of insanity. And yet – every movement, every tone fits perfectly. There is method to the madness, an exercise in systematic excess.