German producer and DJ, Frank Timm has been resolute in the singular pursuit in his music. Since the late 90’s he’s been releasing records as Sound Stream, Soundhack and SSOL on labels created solely for each musical endeavour. The only time he’s ever veered from this undeviating path was a couple of exclusive pieces for the Ostgut Ton label as Soundstore, but they undulated little from the sound he’s cultivated across his releases. Tracks like “‘Live’ goes on” and “All Night” are dance floor classics today with a relationship between Hardwax and Timms facilitating the eccentric vision of the isolated producer and the exclusive labels that bare his craft.
Timm’s music across his monikers is an assemblage of deconstructed samples, expertly re-arranged and constructed for modern dance floors. Always avoiding obvious over-sampled references, Sound Stream et al is informed by Black, American music, repurposed for the hedonistic, nocturnal pursuits of today. His work is best suited for darkened German, musical bunkers where a high energy prevails and a tougher percussive arrangement is expected. Now, for the first time his channeled these efforts into an LP.
Love Remedy is a collection old, unreleased tracks and some new material with the same kind of resolute attitude that courses through all his EP’s and 12″. You’ll find no album-filler track or the mood stifling, experimental ambient inclusion on Love Remedy but rather ten tracks of unadulterated fun for the dance floor. Sweeping Disco strings and bouncing Funk bass-lines remain the order of the day in Timm’s work, but tracks like “Get Down” and “Right Back” offer more than just the functional and develop a little further from their central themes.
The context for Love Remedy however remains strictly on the dance floor and all its efforts is still directed at the body. Timm’s skills at manipulating only the bare essentials of a sample to his devices so that the effects of that all-mighty rhythm section are never subdued is a masterclass in modern sampling techniques. Where edits like these will often get muddied up by the original sample, Timms has a way of giving it enough room to make its impression without overpowering the thunderous drums rolling in behind it.
Love Remedy is yet another solid piece of work from the Sound Stream name and while it will hold no surprises for those familiar with the sound Timms maintains as an artist, Love Remedy is also an effectual doorway into this music for the uninitiated, looking for something more than just a DJ tool.