he scope of B. Fleischmann¡¯s previous release, the two-disc Welcome Tourist, and especially its bold forty-five minute travelogue ¡°Take Your Time¡±, suggested that Morr¡¯s inaugural recording artist was restless, intent on checking out possible new directions. duo505, a collaboration with the classically trained multi-instrumentalist Herbert Weixelbaum from Vienna, now offers Fleischmann a further opportunity to experiment. Their pairing came about circuitously, in fact midwifed by Wolfgang Kopper who brought the two together at an annual street festival (¡°G¨¹rtel Nightwalk¡±) in Vienna where they jammed with their Grooveboxes, or, as it¡¯s formally known, Roland¡¯s MC-505¨Dhence the group name. (The MC-505, Roland¡¯s successor to its MC-303, offers a huge assortment of synth and drum sounds.) Simpatico in spirit, the two embarked on recording Late, with one creating the main track and the other completing it; Fleischmann¡¯s credited with four songs and Weixelbaum three but their styles largely mesh, making for an overall consistent sound. If there¡¯s one thing that individuates them, it¡¯s Weixelbaum¡¯s more frequent incorporation of Game Boy-like sounds (the joyous nursery rhyme melody in ¡°wenig¡± and the electro bleeps interwoven into ¡°nochwas¡±); one track he even titles ¡°lsdj08,¡± presumably an acronym for ¡°Little Sound DJ¡± (a site dedicated to legitimizing the Game Boy as a full-fledged music workstation), and the song¡¯s bouncy bingo-ball patterns align with that presumption.

Fleischmann¡¯s usual fusion of organic acoustic elements, lo-fi electronics and restrained melancholy style is largely tabled for duo505¡¯s brighter attack. That customary feel surfaces, however, in ¡°facing it¡± with a melancholy piano theme that moves the song into familiar Morr territory. He lifts the plucked guitar opening from Welcome Tourist¡¯s ¡°Guided By Beats¡± for ¡°toru okada,¡± the title perhaps an homage to the protagonist of Haruki Murakami¡¯s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or maybe to the band of the same name. The song offers one distinct change in Fleischmann¡¯s style when its fuzzy electronics suddenly transform into wailing shoegaze, its drums and other instruments buried under a massive tornado of distorted blur until it vanishes like a cloud of smoke. The closer ¡°disko+bett¡± likewise smothers its skipping beats and bleeping synths in a shoegazing blur.

In general, the group¡¯s euphoric sound is noisier compared to Fleischmann¡¯s previous releases. Aggressive beats and organ tones open ¡°tsip tsap¡± (the title referring to the ¡°tsip tsap¡± call of the tiny Chiffchaff warbler, or perhaps genetics-based TSAP and TSIP acronyms that stand for ¡°tumor suppressor activated pathway¡± and ¡°tumor suppressor inhibited pathway¡±) in familiar manner but, from the midpoint on, the duo¡¯s machines explode with showers of lo-fi electronics that grow ever denser until the piece expires in a cacophonous blur; similarly, the whirring machines and anthemic sing-song melodies in ¡°nochwas¡± generate a joyous, blurry racket. Late is a good enough outing for the duo and it¡¯s refreshing to find Fleischmann¡¯s customary restraint retired for a more animated and rocking delivery. But its predominant up-tempo focus also means that it omits the deeper dimension that more subdued melancholy material imparts. It¡¯s a pleasant diversion, then, but one that lacks the stronger and ultimately more encompassing emotional resonance of other Fleischmann releases.