Thomas Fehlmann

Thomas Fehlmann has a techno track record that reads like a history lesson on the genre itself: he’s a sometime member of the Orb who has released solo material on R&S and Kompakt, has his own radio show (OceanClub with Gudrun Gut), has done remix work for Juan Atkins, Serge Gainsbourg and Klaus Schulze. Lowflow, Fehlmann’s first album for Plug Research, finds the techno-meister exploring the mellow roads of down-beat with glorious results. The album is as minimal in scope as it is expansive in range, and never really becomes boring or too weighty. Rather, there’s a breezy nature to the album that suggests Fehlmann is cool and confident in his element here, which isn’t surprising considering he’s been making art and music for more than 20 years now. Fehlmann keeps things interesting by throwing in a trio of brief collaborations with Dabrye and switching up moods and techniques regularly without ever jarring the album’s mellow tip.