 |
|
Pita, "Get In"
If history is any indication, it seems to be nearly impossible to simultaneously run a thriving record label and remain a vital and evolving artist: one side always has to suffer.  That said, Peter Rehberg has somehow managed to fare better than just about anybody, as Editions Mego remains one of the best experimental music labels on the planet and his current work with Shampoo Boy is excellent.  It has been a long time since Rehberg has released a significant solo album though and I was not all sure what to expect from Get In, as he was once at the absolute vanguard of electronic music and presumably always has the potential to be there again, but it does not seem like he has been swinging for the fences all the much lately.  As it turns out, Get In is indeed in no danger of redefining music or unlocking bold new vistas of artistic expression, but the consolation prize is that it is one of Rehberg's stronger and most consistent albums to date, showing that he is still every bit as capable of brilliance as ever.  Sometimes being good is a lot better than being first.
The first Peter Rehberg album that I ever picked up was 1999’s Get Out, which came out right around the same period that I was also discovering Christian Fennesz.  At the time, I mostly preferred Fennesz’s vision of laptop-fractured experimental guitar, but definitely loved Pita’s more visceral, noise-damaged aesthetic when he managed to balance out his digitized entropy with some melody.  The reason that I bring that up is because it seems like absolutely no time has passed at all for Rehberg between Get Out and Get In: he is still doing almost exactly the same thing, but he has definitely gotten quite a bit better at it.  Rehberg’s eternal commitment to the same vision that he had almost 20 years is kind of amazing, as he has since collaborated with many of the most distinctive and inventive guitarists in music (Fennesz, Jim O’Rourke, Steven O’Malley) and released an avalanche of adventurous work through Editions Mego in the ensuing years, yet none of that seems to have made a noticeable impact on his solo work.  However, I suppose a strong counterpoint might be that Rehberg was able to work with so many singular and influential artists precisely because he is one of them himself and he intends to stay that way.  Viewed in that light, Rehberg is not so much repeating himself as he is isingle-mindedly focused on perfecting his original vision whenever he finds the time to throw himself into it.  He indulges his more divergent impulses through his collaborations, I guess.
To my ears, he has already attained perfection at least twice previously with Get Out’s "Untitled 3" and Fenn O’Berg’s "Fenn O’Berg Theme," but one could argue that he had quite a bit of help in both cases (the former being ingeniously built upon an Ennio Morricone sample).  On Get In, Rehberg does all the heavy lifting himself and scales comparable heights in at least two cases.  The album's clear centerpiece is the absolutely gorgeous "Line Angel," as Rehberg weaves a lushly shimmering and rippling reverie, then artfully disrupts the idyll with dissonant and unexpected pitch shifts.  The following "S200729" is similarly stunning, as the initially unpromising synthpop-meets-the-blues groove unexpectedly explodes into a gloriously gnarled storm of howling noise at the halfway point.  The closing "MFBK" is also quite lovely, though it is a bit less distinctive than some of the other highlights, veering into warm, pastoral drone territory that is already well-covered by others.  Rehberg does it quite well though, enhancing his blissful swells with a groaning undercurrent and some effective added texture and sizzle.  The rest of the album is not necessarily weaker or less inspired, but the remainder of the pieces do tend to fall on the incidental or atmospheric ends of the spectrum, either providing bridges between the more substantial works or just offering a brief throbbing, brooding, or sizzling interlude to vary the mood and texture a bit.
As such, Get In's only truly substantial flaw is just that there is just not enough of it.  A good rule of thumb here is that anything longer than five minutes is excellent and anything less than that is not quite a fully formed piece.  There are not any notable exceptions to that at all.  Since there are only seven songs here, it is safe to say that Get In is at the very least a half-great album and probably even Rehberg’s most consistently solid solo release to date.  It may be unlikely to achieve the impact or influence of his earlier work, but that is only because everyone else eventually caught up: Peter Rehberg is still at the peak of his powers.
Samples:
 
