5 out of 5

Label: SFI Recordings

Produced by: Warren Defever (mastered by)

I’m not a sucker for a faux back story on an album. Especially if you’re peddling retro kitsch and referencing Andy Warhol, I’m likely to cringe. Fake soundtracks to movies have me a little less guarded, but the boom in synthwave and Goblin admirers has made that an uneven subgenre, with the shtick seemingly valued more than originality in the content. Swilling this all together, we have some modern hipsters – Shabazz Palaces! Triumph Of Lethargy Skinned Alive To Death! – presenting as German 70s unheard-ofs Blutbraüer, and their just-discovered score for an Andy Warhol movie; it’s gotta be some shallow, press-baiting, Carpenter-swapped beats with some wah-wah pedals and faded artwork.

…Okay, roger on the artwork, but, damn, it looks pretty good, too. And yeah, it got press, but Blutbraüer – or Erik Blood and Corey Brewer – maintained the facade for long enough to be impressive in the internet age. And oh yeah, the music is amazing.

This is wholly convincing stuff, using the Andy Warhol “brand” to play around a bit within context – “Nightclub” tracks giving us those wah-wah opportunities – but never pushing it beyond believability; this is what completely committing to the bit literally sounds like. But wound through that legitimacy is some really experimental stuff as well, blending noise and analog instrumentation and presumably some digital work seamlessly, telling a story that can be enhanced by translating German track titles (for those of us who don’t read it), but is also clear, at least mood-wise, from the shifting tone of static-y late night stalking beats, to sleazy club pulses and mysterious saxophone lines, and aggressive jags of bass and drums and guitar signaling an attack. Even the potential to go schmaltz on Die Liebe eines Wolfes (The Love of a Wolf) is muted into an affecting, Satie-like dance of gentle piano. Again: the Blutbraüer boys took the job so seriously that it blows past the era affectations and becomes a timeless, stunning piece of work.

Don’t compromise for modern industrial beats given neon lettering, or a Hammer photograph set against poppy synths; retro scores can be this good – sonically, visually – and I don’t know if I can accept any less going forward.