U96 - 20.000 Meilen Unter Dem Meer (2022) CD-Rip

Thirty years ago, U96 released the album "Das Boot". The title track of the same name stayed at number 1 in the German single charts for months and was sold more than a million times. More hits like "Club Bizarre" or "Love Religion" followed. At the end of the 90s, U96 finally went their separate ways. In the mid-10s, Hayo Lewerenz and Ingo Hauss revived the project and released two albums, including one with ex-Kraftwerker Wolfgang Flür. Now, together with actor Claude-Oliver Rudolph, "20.000 Meilen Unter Dem Meer", based on Jules Verne's classic of the same name, is thematically going back to the roots in the underwater world. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of "Das Boot" there is also a FullDome Planetariums show in Hamburg, which offers a mixture of virtual underwater worlds passing by on LEDs, actors (including Claude-Oliver Rudolph) and live music. Some of the core songs from this event, such as "New Life", "Atlantis" or "I, Nemo", also form the basis for the record.

It starts with "The Seven Seas", a Tangerine Dream-like ambient piece with a lot of sequencer and piano use, which briefly becomes a bit more technoid in the middle and takes us to the secrets of the sea depths. The subsequent "New Life" turns out to be relatively electro-pop with warm beats and even warmer vocals and, as far as the use of synths is concerned, reminds a bit of modern Depeche Mode. This is followed by "Atlantis", an opulent track spoken by Rudolph, which deals with the sunken island kingdom of the same name and "old legends".

Fortunately, his vocal use is limited to the bare essentials. Only in "Ich, Nemo" do his spoken words appear again, while U96 bring up almost the entire commercial sound palette of late nineties trance music, which makes the song a legitimate successor to "Das Boot". Otherwise, the project leaves enough room to delve even deeper into Jules Verne's underwater world. But you should definitely have a soft spot for 90s techno in order to be able to get something out of the sounds.

Already in "Pressure" one encounters a dead-straight 4/4 beat, which could also have stood for Sven Väth's "The Harlequin, The Robot And The Ballet Dancer". There is also some menacing electronics that constantly keep the tension as well as dubby nuances. U96 take things a little more calmly in "Coral Reef", which, if you disregard the chirpy tones in between, passes as a pure Ambient House track.

The following "The Deep" emerges as the album's highlight, which with its pumping beat, rotating electronics and precise snare reminds one of the more technoid numbers on JakoJako's and Rødhåd's "In Vere", which was released recently, and is therefore problem-free could run in Berghain. Somewhat more relaxed and chilled sounds are then on the program in "Hawks", which is pervaded by light-footed guitar tones.

At the end you get "Where Do We Go?" offered a meditative piece whose sequencer sounds and melancholic melody show parallels to "Harlequin's Meditation", which also comes from "The Harlequin, The Robot And The Ballet Dancer". In the end, what remains is an amazingly substantial album, with which U96 can confirm their upward trend.