Esther Brinkmann

20’ to 2000 is a series on the German Noton imprint whereby one CD is issued for each month of 1999. Both the music and the releases themselves are in limited and minimal form; each disc is a maximum of 20 minutes long (hence the 20’ in the title) and pressed with a limitation of 1000 copies. The CD case is bare except for a sticker with the logo for the project — a melding of an hourglass and the symbol for infinity. Berlin’s Thomas Brinkmann is the artist chosen to represent the month of July, and a good choice considering his stripped down reworks of Mike Ink and Richie Hawtin recordings, plus the music on his Max, Ernst and Max Ernst labels. Recording again using his late sister Esther’s name (she died at the age of seven and Brinkmann often records under her name in tribute), Brinkmann lets loose a singular track that builds from ghostly kicks and hisses to pick up the pace just as it ends. This is a remarkable effort well worth your time.