Quirky yet undeniably German
Matthew D. Mercer | Chicago, IL United States | 07/31/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Oli Braun is in an interesting position with his project Beige. On the one hand, he's based in Cologne where artists such as Mouse on Mars, Pole, Thomas Brinkmann and Wolfgang Voigt are the movers and shakers of all things electronic. On the other hand, Beige is obviously interested in more than just electronic glitchery and four-on-the-floor beats. "I Don't Either" has owes as much to P-Funk as it does to Mike Ink, with its funky percussion, digable basslines and snippets of silly voiceovers. Still, the surface components that comprise these tracks are most immediately in tune with the trends of the time, and this disc is likely to appeal to fans of the Brinkmann/Kompakt tech-house scene as well as those into more album-based (vs. 12") explorations of experimental funky electronics.The best aspect of Beige is that he doesn't take himself too seriously. Anyone who happened to hear his 2 contributions to the first Caipirinha compilation "Deutscher Funk" (which is an essential in and of itself) is familiar with the tongue-in-cheek quality of Braun's music. This album is an extension of that, and a good one at that."