Tag Archives: Daniel Brandt

Switched On – Daniel Brandt – Without Us Reworks / Remixes (Erased Tapes)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Back in March, Daniel Brandt released his third solo album Without Us, described as “a multimedia project that clashes head on with the spiralling chaos of our times”. In our review earlier this year, Arcana noted its “almost irresistible urgency”. Now it returns in remixed form, with Daniel – one third of celebrated German beatmakers Brandt Brauer Frick – taking up the story:

“I invited close collaborators, friends and artists I have been a fan of for a long time to create new versions of the music, including several artists who helped shape the original record. Akusmi, who played many of the guitars and is part of the live band, and Rashad Becker, who mixed the album, both created new versions. Adam Freeland – whom I met in the desert while working on the album, and later worked in his studio in Joshua Tree—also contributed a remix. The live premiere at the Barbican ended in a rave, and some of the remixes, like the ones by Camea, Adam and Hiro reflect that energy. I’m also thrilled to have inspirations such as Tangerine Dream and C. Diab to have contributed with their versions.”

What’s the music like?

Compelling. The range of musical styles on this collection is wide, showing the versatility of Brandt’s originals, and the scope with which he works when writing an album.

C. Diab begins with a full-bodied cello statement in a rework of Persistence, which breaks out into a kind of motoric drone / krautrock interface. Perhaps not surprisingly, the space around the music is pretty vast on the Tangerine Dream rework of Nothing To Undo. PNK goes through the wringer with Akusmi’s pinpricks of minimalist melody, a thrilling and energetic approach, while Rashad Becker is more maximalist in an eventful take on Without Us. Activity is also the name of the game in Bi Disc’s excellent, up-tempo remix of Steady, and then it’s great to see the name Adam Freeland pop up again on a driven yet ethereal take on Paradise O.D. The same track gets some oblique, funky turns from Hiro Ama, after we’ve heard from Camea (a super-deep account techno account of Resistance) and Brandt himself, with the clattering beats and piercing tones of Lucid.

Does it all work?

It does. The vision of Brandt’s original is retained, but the responses here cover a wide emotional response, and a satisfying cross-section of electronically driven genres.

Is it recommended?

It is indeed. Without Us is worth listening to as a double album – Brandt’s powerful original and this set of enjoyable and boundary-pushing remixes. Excellent stuff once again.

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Published post no.2,740 – Tuesday 9 December 2025

New music – Frieder Nagel & Daniel Brandt: Who Knows (InFiné Music)

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adapted from the press release by Ben Hogwood

Frieder Nagel continues his new series with Who Knows, featuring Daniel Brandt — composer, drummer, and co-founder of the acclaimed Brandt Brauer Frick.

A dark and menacing track unfolds under severe rhythmic tension. While constantly building, its long elegiac melodies slowly evolve and dissolve within majestic string arrangements and Nagel’s signature Moog sound. The single is accompanied by two additional versions: a shorter, more condensed radio edit, and a beatless ambient version that brings the meticulously crafted sound design to the forefront.

Nagel and Brandt first met in 2019, when Nagel directed Brandt’s music video Flamingo for Erased Tapes. A year later, they collaborated on a dance opera with Japanese choreographer Fukiko Takase at Uferstudios Berlin, which premiered at the Gluck Festspiele. Who Knows finally captures on tape the unique creative chemistry that sparks whenever the two artists meet.

Frieder expands on the track. “In the end, we are total opposites. Daniel is literally just back from touring Asia — he’s constantly on the move with his band, his solo project, or his work as a producer and director in London. Drums are, in a way, extroverted — expressive and primarily rhythmic. I, on the other hand, live a much calmer life in the woods, focusing on introspective works like audiovisual sound art, installations, or score production, where melody and synthesis take the lead.”

It is precisely this contrast that makes Who Knows so captivating: Nagel’s calm, melodic sensibility colliding with Brandt’s impulsive, almost restless energy. The result is a striking duality — a tension that is hard to define but impossible to ignore.

Where Do As I Please (above), released earlier this year, explored the theme of overcoming creative struggle, Who Knows feels like a blueprint for Nagel’s new artistic direction — moving further away from his downtempo and electronica beginnings toward new shores and inspirations, offering raw, unpredictable music that leaves the listener wondering what comes next.

Published post no.2,700 – Monday 27 October 2025

Switched On – Daniel Brandt: Without Us (Erased Tapes)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

“If we’re dancing on the brink then we might as well make sure that the music is great.”

So reads the alarming and rather compelling sentence emphasising the point of Daniel Brandt’s Without Us album. Brandt began the record as an impassioned response to what he terms “the helplessness of the individual in the climate crisis and the apparent need to take radical global action to change the trajectory of the current threat of a climate disaster.”

What’s the music like?

Given the theme, it is not a surprise to report that Daniel Brandt’s music on Without Us is far from comfortable. He often veers between extremes, looking for comfort on one side while on the other realising that there is so little time left, it needs to be filled with music of the utmost urgency.

Paradise O.D. recognises this, taking shape quickly with a primal base to its bare rhythm and stripped back texture. Resistance follows the same outline, though under an ominous, synthesized cloud. Lucid does not stay true to its name, forms twisted beyond recognition as though wilting in a hot desert of inflamed temperatures. The fact Brandt wrote a good deal of this album in the Joshua Tree in California only adds to the atmosphere. PNK is a disquieting experience, with a lot of industrial activity taking place at a quick pace but with no apparent end goal other than to make people move quickly:

Yet there are moments of pure beauty to be found, too. Steady is an airy kickback, with some lovely open air textures given a freewheeling beat for company, while Soft Rains offers a comforting heat haze.

Does it all work?

Yes – on a brave and undeniably powerful album, Daniel Brandt hits the spot far more often than not.

Is it recommended?

It is. This is recognisably the work of a player from Brandt Brauer Frick, but Daniel Brandt has turned his beat making to serious means on this powerful piece of work. The importance of the dance is still there, but with the clock ticking there is an almost irresistible urgency to this music.

For fans of… Brandt Brauer Frick, Philip Glass, The Field, Pantha du Prince

Listen / Buy

For streaming and purchase details, Erased Tapes have a set of useful links

Published post no.2,487 – Friday 28 March 2025

Switched On – Akusmi: Fleeting Future (Tonal Union)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Fleeting Future may be the title, but the debut album from Akusmi – aka multi-instrumentalist Pascal Bideau – was actually recorded between 2017 and 2019 in North London.

You would also be hard-pressed to guess the location of the recording, for Akusmi’s music falls heavily under the influence of gamelan writing. For his colourful scores, Bideau linked up with Berlin to include contributions from saxophonist Ruth Jelten, trombone player Florian Juncker and drummer / percussionist Daniel Brandt, of Brandt Brauer Frick.

As well as taking on gamelan principles, Fleeting Future draws on Japanese culture and art for its inspiration. Neo Tokyo is a reference to Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, set in a futuristic metropolis, while Yurikamome is an imaginary visit to Japan. Throughout, Bideau brings the worlds of fantasy and future reality into close alignment, writing in a style that suggests the influence of so-called ‘minimalist’ composers.

What’s the music like?

To call this music minimalist would do it a disservice, however – for there is a lot going on here, with bright colours and strong motifs blending in together.

There is also a genuine feeling of excitement coursing through this music, with the spirit of discovery at every turn. The pocket-sized melodies of the title track, placed first, are maximal rather than minimal, with a very strong forward momentum driven by the saxophone and trombone lines. Here Bideau evokes the shorter works of composers such as Michael Torke.

The multilayered Sarinbuana is more complicated, with a taught rhythm section under the watchful eyes of Daniel Brandt and long phrases from the saxophone stretching over the top. Divine Moments of Truth is guitar-based, its counterpoint expanding into more electronic guises, while Neo Tokyo begins with stop-start phrases, quickly picking up potential energy in the manner of a rapidly accelerating train. Longing For Tomorrow brings the rasp of the trombone to the front, while Cogito does the same with a cheery saxophone riff. Concrescence shows off some lovely colours, powered by marimbas but blossoming with rich woodwind.

Does it all work?

It works incredibly well. Bideau’s music has a vitality and verve about it that is all too often lacking with instrumental music, and the jazzy touches around the edges – which sometimes come to the fore – show that he can be relied upon to deliver improvisations of the highest quality too.

Is it recommended?

Yes. One of the freshest albums I have heard in a long time, with a great deal of infectious, positive energy.

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