The first Klimek release arrived in the middle of 2002, packaged in typical uninformative Komapkt fashion. Name, title, one track on each side of 12" vinyl -- all the listener really needs. Those expecting to hear anything vaguely dance-related might've been surprised by the lack of beats and anything else dance-related, since Kompakt's ambient division tends to stick to the full-length format. Even more baffling, the two tracks on the release were ill-suited for the summertime. The comforting, gently plucked acoustic guitars that were twisted into many shapes and dipped in a pool of reverb seemed geared for a toasty fireplace setting in the dead of winter, not necessarily a hammock under a shady tree on a hot August night. Nonetheless, Klimek took his/her/their rightful position beside Dettinger, Markus Guentner, and other Kompakt producers who have kept effective ambient music alive. Milk and Honey (confusingly enough, titled just like the initial 12"), following a Cure-referencing appearance on the Pop Ambient 2004 compilation, is the first album from Klimek, who turns out to be Sebastian Meissner -- otherwise known as Bizz Circuits and Random Inc. It's more of the same, almost to a fault. Meissner stretches, pulls and pushes the same basic sound into as many directions as possible. Even at its most disjointed, the album carries forth soothing textures, like some form of ambient folk. Given Meissner's past in collage foolery, the guitar sounds that are present throughout -- for all we know -- could've been sampled from some privately pressed recording found at a junk sale. Regardless of the means and the limitation of the sounds, Meissner has managed to cobble together a set that can either enhance your mood or set it. For all the abstractions (none of which seem to be made simply for the sake of it), it's all very absorbing -- or perfectly ignorable.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo