Thomas Brinkmann — Raupenbahn

Industry has shaped our species and our world in immeasurable ways. From the first tool industries to today's landscape changing manufacturing processes, the impact of industry on the planet and its denizens is irreversible. Thomas Brinkmann's latest, Raupenbahn, explores the early days of modern industry by using old machines to create his soundscapes. While more of a fly on the wall approach to recording than traditional composition, Raupenbahn gives the listener something to consider.

Raupenbahn uses the loom as the narrator for this jaunt through our industrialization. More specifically, the first automatic loom constructed by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745. With this machine, Thomas Brinkmann constructs his treatise on industrial culture and its eventual rise into our computer society. He does this with 11 tracks (vinyl, 21 on the digital release) of pure loom fury. What this entails is more or less just a loom set to a specific speed and recorded. Different looms are different tracks, and their unique soul and expression is recorded by Brinkmann. Now, that's a very poetic way to describe this album, and a very simple way would be "he just records looms." Both are true, both are valid. While on the surface, Raupenbahn is simple recordings of antiquated machinery, beneath that is a comment on our industrialized society, how we got to where we are today, what it changed in us in the process, and what the future of our mechanization holds for not only our species, but the planet. However, while all well and good as a comment and art piece, this is a bit frail of an argument as an album. Repeated recordings of looms may be fun and interesting for a few seconds at a time, if not even half a minute. But after that, the novelty wears off, and this criticism gets tiresome. Maybe with a bit more investment into shaping the sounds and using them as a source from which to jump off, Raupenbahn would be a bit more listenable. Maybe that's the point, though, and it's not meant to be enjoyed as an album, but rather as a wordless essay. Art is an interesting thing.

Thomas Brinkmann's latest album showcases the loom and the loom only. Making a statement about industrialized culture, Raupenbahn lets five different looms tell their tales. With some machines being almost 130 years old at the time of the recording, one gets an interesting look at the past, and analysis of the present, and a glimpse at the future. A better essay than an album, this one is really more for loom enthusiasts than those seeking something to listen to.