Christian Prommer is by no means a new name, but admittedly outside of his work in Fauna Flash and The Truby Trio, I’m not overly familiar with his work.  With a dozen or so releases dates stretching back to 2000 on labels like Compost Black, Sonar Kollective, International Deejay Gigolo, Buzzin’ Fly, and F Comm, it’s clear the man’s work has received recognition by a variety of forward-thinking djs and A&R reps.

So let me just say this:  I was in no way prepared for this EP.

Obviously, there’s only one track that can call itself “Groove la Chord” and that is Aril Brikha’s outstanding Transmat sublabel Fragile release from 1998.  From the first moments of Prommer’s EP, it was clear that this was, indeed, a cover of THAT track, and indeed, it is amazing.

Prommer takes the pulse of Brikha’s classic, which I’ve always imposed as the soundtrack to film of late-night driving in Detroit or Tokyo, and strips it down to live drums and bass backed up with bits of analog church synth swells until the entire thing is entirely representational of what I hope techno sounds like post-Grid meltdown.  Organic and tribal, entirely accessible to Luddites and 808 lovers alike, it’s a stunning testament to what can be accomplished when the human facet of techno is distilled from the firma du machine which so often prohibits access for the unplugged.  This piece is necessary in both a record crate sense and in evolutionary terms.  It is what we must (re)become.

So with that, how about the flip?

Yeah, it’s “Knights of the Jaguar”.  Technically it’s “Jaguar Pt 2″, but regardless, I’m sitting here at work, goosebumps breaking out all over yet again, as acoustic guitars and organ chords drift among swirling tribal rhythms, recreating the classic’s aura of indigenous mystique.  Yes yes yes!  Minus the odd electrical outlet or two, this could just as easily have been produced in the Peruvian rain forest centuries ago as modern-day Munich.

This is the perspective I feel Rolando, Mills, Banks, et al have been trying to get us to for years - an understanding and interpretation of techno as a craft not reliant on machines, but instead the understanding that machines are just one vehicle to arrive at the participatory, revelatory existence in simpatico transcendence we so often strive to attain through this music.

Prommer’s forthcoming Drumlessons Zwei album appears to be full of these surprises, as both of these tracks are present alongside similar covers of classics like Carl Craig’s “Sandstorm”, Ferrer & Sydenham’s “Sandcastles”, and the May/Craig masterpiece “Sueno Latino”.

While you’re at it, track down his versions of “Strings of Life”, “Beau Mot Plage”, and “Around the World” as well.