Comic

Pow, Boom, Splash! You will instantly recognize the rich brush strokes of this musical painter. Monkeytown linchpin Moritz Friedrich, aka Siriusmo, is back with a bang and a pencil. Following up 2013's Enthusiast (MONKEY 033CD/LP), his third full-length recording Comic sounds like it's title suggests: colorful, rampant, funny, and hilariously foolish. Siriusmo maintains his very own sound and spot within electronic music, drawing from numerous styles and mashing it all through his personal beat-grinder, constantly understating and exaggerating. He's the innovator that has no such intentions at all. Here's what the master himself has to say about his new work: "Comic feels like dilettante kids drawings roughly sketched with a big marker, like abstract layouts as well as finely carved romantic paintings. 14 songs ripped from the pages of a coloring book to be vividly colored by you!" But don't worry, those pages will fill themselves with life as soon as the mellow and trippy patterns of the opening track set in. There are big and broken beats in "Wrong Password", extremely easygoing rave tunes like "Dagoberta", lots of genuine oddities like "Wixn", and the piano work on "Geilomant" even makes you think of some classic hip-hop track. Comparisons are futile, except for one: From the melodic vintage electro of "Dagoberta" to the sonic assault and whirlwind drum programming of "Bleat", there's a strong link to older Squarepusher records. Just replace the former's jazz and jungle roots with Berlin's musical history, and you get an idea of what Siriusmo is made of. Siriusmo may be the laziest genius around, though he's been all but unproductive since Enthusiast: In 2015 he joined forces with Modeselektor and toured Europe under the banner of Siriusmodeselektor, playing festivals from Glastonbury to Sonar. The same year he produced the debut album of Romano, Köpenick's one-of-a-kind rap phenomenon and close friend of Moritz. He remixed Moderat, collaborated with synth pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, and contributed to Mr. Oizo's latest album (BEC 5156714, 2016), who's also appearing on Comic. So does Romano on standout track "La Bouche", delivering some tasty German phrases. Having been occupied recently with Roman's second album, his fans are very lucky that Moritz found the time to pin down a new Siriusmo album as well. He may not be a man of many words, but possesses a bold and singular musical vision. Also features Dana And Romano and Jan Driver.