The music of Jasmin can be described as guitar post rock. Their “EP01” was originally released in 2001 by Rotesonne Records. It was recently reissued by 12rec from Bochum, which is a good thing, because the music is very worthwhile.
The band is new for me, though I encountered the name of Alexander Peterhaensel (percussion, electronics) before. He is also active in Tilia, a ‘post minimal electronic’ act that released an experimental album on Crónica. The other band members of Jasmin are Andreas Bernard (guitar) and Christian Schwenkmeier (bass, guitar).
The EP contains three instrumental tracks. In general the sound is rather minimal, with repetitive elements. The first track ‘Holger Fach’ starts calm, with restrained bass and guitar sounds. It does not take long before percussion enters the track, but things stay controlled, despite some breaks. ‘Buenos aires’ is more dynamic, with feedback sounds and some sudden eruptions which make me think of the God Machine. ‘Vielleicht’ is another tranquil guitar piece, with a nice moody sound and a rather melodic composition. Though the music on this EP is not spectacular, I appreciate it a lot and usually push the repeat button a few times when listening to it. Nice dreamy music to order your thoughts.
The additional dvd contains ‘Longing for moments of objectivity’, in which the music of Jasmin accompanies a video by Peterhaensel. It shows a view of a city late at night taken from a moving tram, in which the strict moving lines of the tram rails and roads nicely fit in with the structured music.
The EP is available as a nicely designed cd-r in a heavy red cardboard-sleeve, but also as a free internet download.
