AMG Review of Berlin Sunrise

Andy Kellman
All Music Guide

New-jack dance producers can attempt to clone the brand of post-Italo-disco that Daniel Wang has been developing since long before they wore out their Superchunk records. It's pointless. Wang knows his history like no one else and is smart enough not to replicate any part of it, and he can create a kind of elegant unease with each of his tracks. Fresh from releasing a strong split 12" shared with Carlos Hernandez for Basenotic, Wang returns to Ghostly International for the first time since his contribution to 2002's Disco Nouveau compilation. (The track off that, "Pistol Oderso," receives a spangly acid overhaul here.) The two versions of "Berlin Sunrise" that appear on the A-side amount to two of Wang's finest, most illuminating tracks of the past several years. The viscous, jittery "Das Ist Kein Techno!" might be confined to the inner rim of the B-side, but it would be a massive underground hit if it were released by the DFA label.