Terre Thaemlitz's reputation as one of the most consistently challenging and inventive American ambient composers gets a BIG shot in the arm with his fourth album-length release. Following close after Die Roboter Ruboto's ponderous salon interpretations of Kraftwerk, Couture Cosmetique hazards... [+] Expand

Terre Thaemlitz's reputation as one of the most consistently challenging and inventive American ambient composers gets a BIG shot in the arm with his fourth album-length release. Following close after Die Roboter Ruboto's ponderous salon interpretations of Kraftwerk, Couture Cosmetique hazards perhaps Thaemlitz' most unflinching exploration of marginal identities through music to date, combining a queer theoretical thematic (transgendered sexuality, non-essentialist conceptions of identity constitution, etc.) in close parallel with what are becoming compositional signatures (residual properties of electronic sound synthesis, the inversion of harmonic and melodic structural relationships, etc.). Closest probably to his previous Instinct outing, Soil, Couture Cosmetique retains that album's sense of enervated disjoint while upping the "challenging listen, Terre" ante considerably. More than worth the effort. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide [-] Collapse

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