Album: Frank Genius is Star Struck
Author: Frans de Waard
Publication: Vital Weekly (source)
Date: 03/10/2009

Record labels make claims that aren't always true but they sound nice. "Frank Rothkamm is one of the few conceptual sound artists that can honestly be labeled 'original'" are actually Rothkamm's own words, but its true.

He never seems to do the same thing twice. His previous release 'Opus Spongebobicum' was a piano work, 'Just 3 Organs' an electronic ambient work, and here on 'Frank Genius Is Star Struck', he goes back to his first release from 1994, 'Planet Genius', which I surely heard but forgot. He calls his new work an 'autobiographical "digital cantata" - set in San Francisco in the years A.D. 1990-1991', recorded with a Yamaha TX16W Sampler and TX81Z + FB01 synthesizers, programmed on Atari, in 1990-1991 and assembled on PC in 2008-2009.

This is again something entirely different. As Frank Genius he plays popmusic. Robotic voices, electronic break beats, electro rhythms, sampled strings and uptempo synthesizers. Dance music with a great bite. The twelve tracks are throughout short and very much to the point, with tracks flowing into eachother. I was reminded of some of the earlier works by Greater Than One - still an ipod favorite here. Upbeat music that puts a big smile on this face.

Frank Rothkamm is Frank Genius - never letting down on the surprise side. (FdW)

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