To Rocco Rot
“Hotel Morgen”
(Domino)
“Hotel Morgen” by To Rocco Rot may be one of the more inconsequential albums to have been released thus far in 2004. An electronica group from Germany, these guys have been known for their largely successful experimentations into any sort of electronic sound your mind can imagine. This time around, they seem at ease with trying to make melody of this sound but doing very little else with it. The texture that results is strangely thin to a point of initial discomfort, and then ambivalence. At times “Hotel Morgen” can be quite beautiful in its spare sound, as on the lovel, clapping atmosphere of “Cosimo”, where it seems that To Rocco Rot has tapped into a bit of ambience on the synthesizers. Most of the time, however, it’s frail, as “Miss You” sounds artificial in its attempt at sincerity (the melody sounds as if it’s happy that you’re gone), and “Bologna” comes off like a mentally deficient Richard Simmon’s work out song. Really, “Hotel Morgen” is like pouring a glass of water into an Olympic size pool – you’d never notice it was even there.
