In an era where electronic music increasingly favours rhythmic patterns and sound textures over classical harmonic progression, it is with a musician's sensibility and a sound engineer's technical skill that Cologne-based producer and DJ, Ferdinand Gratz aka Ferdinger, embraces the Zeitgeist and pushes beyond the boundaries of contemporary techno.

Ferdinger's debut album Gelande, to be released on vinyl and digitally in June 2017 off his newly founded label Life in Patterns, can be understood as 'soundscapes' or 'terrain'. Across six tracks of deep, forward oriented techno intensity, the listener travels through enthralling soundscapes and sonic fields. An heir to the influencers of German minimalism and the defining dark techno atmosphere of post-Y2K Berlin clubs, with his personal and sensitive touch Ferdinger displays a new and unique voice. Gelande takes us on a captivating 45-minute voyage with a well- balanced mixture of hard hitting yet never aggressive kicks, tantalizing ever-evolving stabs and soothingly nuanced drops after minute-long buildups. Never monotone, 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures form an impeccable framework for increasingly subtle rhythmic variations, Reichesque phasing techniques together with late-night snares result in a quilt of slick layerings. Beyond galloping beats and occasional echoes of a well-adjusted 909 clap, industrial textures take us back to trancier times without the kitsch of 90's big room dream-tech.

Ultimately, listening to or spinning any of Gelande's tracks will be an intense, energetic and atmospheric techno experience. Ferdinger's debut lands a clever banger, perfectly crafted to indulge your ear drums and inflict maximum damage on the dance floor. This is not your average oomph-clap!