André Bratten

Oslo-born electronic artist André Bratten has consistently evolved and searched for new sounds with each successive release. On his first album, 2013's Be a Man You Ant, he created cosmic disco with analog instruments similar to Norwegian peers <a href="spotify:artist:2vTtjIqZ7hW0W15t1ApKTB">Lindstrøm</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:49gaZqfow2v8EEQmjGyEIw">Todd Terje</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4rsEVNO1tGTY0beCnsnHi6">Prins Thomas</a>, but with more of a German minimal techno influence. Throughout the following decades, his music became more experimental, with 2015's Gode being a more personal work influenced by IDM and ambient, 2019's Pax Americana embracing electro, and 2020's Silvester consisting of dark, abstract soundscapes. 2022's Picture Music was a turn toward more melodic, meditative material.

During the early 2010s, Bratten's work came to the attention of <a href="spotify:artist:4rsEVNO1tGTY0beCnsnHi6">Prins Thomas</a>, who released the full-length debut Be a Man You Ant on his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Full+Pupp%22">Full Pupp</a> label in 2013. Bratten gained DJ experience at Panorama Bar and Fabric, and <a href="spotify:artist:3jQ8hpdQo3TCEnb5gmOtH5">Erol Alkan</a> included Bratten's track "Trommer Og Bass" on his mix CD Fabriclive 77. Bratten completed a remix for <a href="spotify:artist:2Vhc7Y0Kc6HzMC6glKM4h6">Holy Ghost!</a> in 2014, and remixed <a href="spotify:artist:5nPOO9iTcrs9k6yFffPxjH">Röyksopp</a> the following year. Math Ilium Ion, a slightly darker EP with a more streamlined club sound, appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Smalltown+Supersound%22">Smalltown Supersound</a> in May 2015. Six months later, Bratten released his second full-length, Gode, which moved much further away from club sounds and disco influences, resulting in an album of dark, personal experimental techno and downtempo. The limited 12" single Valve appeared in 2017, and a trio of additional singles were released in 2018. Some tracks from these singles later appeared on Bratten's electro-influenced 2019 album Pax Americana. 2020's Silvester was another radical stylistic shift, paying tribute to pioneering German experimental musician <a href="spotify:artist:79f49kyfxgPm1WF8EHz2vf">Conrad Schnitzler</a>, particularly his contribution to the debut release by Norwegian black metal legends <a href="spotify:artist:0dR10i73opHXuRuLbgxltM">Mayhem</a>. Bratten produced the 2021 full-length Cracks by saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:0IbWsSdsJyNM0I2cVMsl0K">Bendik Giske</a>. 2022 release Picture Music, named after a 1977 compilation on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sky+Records%22">Sky Records</a>, was a set of synth meditations inspired by pioneers like <a href="spotify:artist:3U2U4TR03ZuStsizrv0EJB">Klaus Schulze</a>. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi