Session Elements

by Jason BirchmeierDon't be surprised by the track listing; this 14-song album actually centers around three songs and their many variations, with a few mostly insignificant previously unreleased tracks. Of course, as unfortunate as this fact may seem, it's actually the album's most interesting characteristic. The Berlin artist behind Substance, Peter Kuschnereit, doesn't churn out one track after the next as most producers do; rather, he composes a certain sound motif and then experiments with different forms of sequencing, resulting in drastically differing versions of the same track as evident here. In particular, the four different versions of "Relish" showcase just how creative Kuschnereit's practices are. In addition, "Scent" may not get as thorough of a treatment but just may be the most beautiful sounding track here. The previously unreleased versions of "Plate" makes this CD worth investigating even for those already owning the Relish and Scent EPs, since the song's many versions again illustrates the infamous Chain Reaction school of dub production-style aesthetic. A few shorter tracks fill out the album and serve as welcome intermissions, while the epic "Skippah" serves as additional unreleased content. Probably most similar to the Various Artists or Vainqueur collections with its many variations of the same motifs, Session Elements isn't nearly as diverse as Monolake's Hong Kong or Porter Ricks' Biokinetics in terms of sounds but compensates with a rather impressive showing of creativity.