Gegenwelt (Parallel World) is the second LP by CEL, a duo Kubin and Zemler formed. More melodically-evolved than their eponymous 2020 debut, it is an even more explicit example of the syncretic impulse that impelled these guys to form the band. Their basic notion was to explore the juncture between two streams of German underground sounds — the Motorik 4/4 rhythms first posited by Can’s Jaki Liebezeit and Kraftwerk’s Klaus Dinger, and the sequencer-driven brain loops of early, experimental pioneers of the NDW, such as der Plan.

LP / CD / Digital Album

The debut album from this German-Polish duo CEL is a test laboratory for rhythmic cadences and electrostatic discharges. Under the expert guidance of Hamburg producer Tobias Levin, they have created seven self-contained instrumentals enriched by vibraphone, xylophone and African percussion. Zemler’s stripped down mechanics and Kubin’s erratic electronics dovetail superbly. A sense of concentrated restlessness pervades the album – in the greater stream of things, some tracks come close to bursting their banks whilst others scale the loftiest heights of insanity. And yet – every movement, every tone fits perfectly. There is method to the madness, an exercise in systematic excess.

LP / Digital Album