Almost exactly ten years ago, Âme, the duo of Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer, was officially born. The two artists had met a year earlier and began working on music not long after, homing in on a style of house that was classically informed yet totally modern, as inspired by jazz, funk and soul as it was by Detroit techno. It was the beginning of a musical project that would define the next decade of their lives, with dozens of records, countless performances around the world, and perhaps most importantly, the creation of a signature sound that would help define an era of electronic music.
Âme Live takes stock of everything that's happened since then, connecting the dots between early records on Sonar Kollektiv, later works on Innervisions and still unreleased material. It also serves a much simpler purpose: documenting their exceptional live act. Âme started playing live in 2010, and in doing so devised one of the most idiosyncratic performances in club music today. Despite being limited to their own compositions, their live routine is
at least as dynamic as their DJ sets: each performance is a vivid sequence of moods and styles, unhinged by genre and tempo and delivered with a kind of mad scientist intensity.
The new album is made up of the best recordings from the road, reedited in the studio and woven into a continuous mix. Taken as a whole, it has a way of transcending space and time, with the duo has lithe productions forming a stage for South African folk lyrics ("Ku Kanjani"), Portugese spoken word ("Insomnia") and the music of 70's funk icon Roy Ayers ("Tarzan"), not to mention Âme classics like ""Where We At" and the all-mighty "Rej." Though it's heavy on familiar tracks, each one takes on a distinct new character in live form (there's also one entirely new production: the "Beatless Mix" of Gui Boratto's "This Is Not the End"). For fans, it's a fresh take on Âme's celebrated oeuvre. For everyone else, it's a perfect introduction to one of house musics most imaginative duos.