De:Bug
Eye
Mixer

De:Bug (Germany)
Man stelle sich das mal vor. Da müssen erst zwei Jungs aus Kanada kommen, um Skanfrom davon zu überzeugen, dass es langsam mal Zeit wird, seine ganzen Hits der vergangenen Jahre endlich mal auf einer CD zu kompilieren, mit ein paar neuen Stücken anzureichern und endlich berühmt zu werden. Danke, Suction, gut gemacht. So bricht dann also das elektropoppige Euphoriegewitter über uns los und alle sind schon wild am tanzen. Confused Machines, Check In, Cashier... 20 Tracks, 20 Hits. Hand Picked Fragments ist genau die CD, die man sich immer mal selber zusammenstellen wollte, aber doch nie die Zeit gefunden hat. Mehr braucht und kann man da gar nicht sagen. Ist eh zu laut und zu funky gerade. Die LP-Version übrigens nur mit neuen Tracks. 5/5.

Eye (Canada)
There's a maddening brevity to the "songs" on Berlin producer Skanfrom's debut (actually a compilation of tracks previously released on another label, ADSR). Averaging about two minutes each, Roger Semsroth's synth-pop instrumentals are lively -- heaving with those retrograde beats and analog soundscapes we've all come to love, again -- but never coalesce into anything substantial. Semsroth's Kraftwerk fixation is unrelenting and becomes downright gauche when you realize he also seems to share the band's quaint mid-'70s world view. Welcome diversions include the throbbing "A Fax" and "Sa:b," which approaches the fractured yet stately beat science of recent μ-Ziq. As with most of the album, though, these tracks fade out just as they're about to go somewhere. Fragments, indeed.

Andre Mayer

Mixer (UK)
What is it? The first full-length album by closeted electro lover Skanfrom. Should I buy it? That Toronto's Suction imprint grabbed Hand-Picked Fragments is a feather in their analog preservationist cap; this is rudimentary electro pop at its finest. Forget digging up your old Kraftwerk or tossing on your Adult 12"s; Skanfrom, like Suction artists / co-owners Solvent and Lowfish, makes love music for your old Atari and Commodore machines collecting dust in the attic. "Phon Sweet Phon" mocks the mechanical throb of Vangelis' Chariots of Fire, sticks to the electrical wiggles and wobbles that compliment the artificiality of such rigidly executed music. "Phon A," on the other hand, shows how electro has matured since the early '80s, with delicate notes undulating up and down an arpeggio like the early melodic works of μ-Ziq. For fans of: Anthony Rother, Solvent, Human League Essential Tunes: "Cashier 2," "Phon A," "Synthetic".