Doktor Schnitt

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A scattershot and mischievous spirit laces the self-titled debut from Doktor Schnitt. This Rotterdam-based, instrumental threesome are loose-canon eclectics in their choice of genres. Funk, ambient, punkish electronic, and schizo mixes thereof all crash the party, usually creating clattering rhythms that gyrate as much as they grate. An excess of direction-less energy is often the album’s pitfall. Both the skittish “D & B 1” and the maniacally spastic “Auf Die Schnauze” overdose on hyperactive jam-outs. When Bruno Ferro Xavier’s rampaging bass licks collide with Philipp Ernsting’s percussive napalm, its punch quickly becomes exhausting. Schnitt’s decompressed entries don’t feel as natural even if they are more immediately palatable. “Nenise” teases with its measured Bollywood flavor while the understated, Radiohead-minded strikes an effective balance between organic instrumentation and effects. Such equilibrium is atypical of Doktor Schnitt, though. They perform unwieldy music that is liable to radically shift on a dime. The approach is winning; the results are middling.

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