This was the first Heiner Goebbels I heard, even though friends of mine had been praising Der Mann im Fahrstuhl for some time before. The opening is deceptively simple and naïve, so much so that my heart sank. But then the trombone cuts across that naive little tune, and then there’s some subtle but snarly electronics, silences, odd rhythms, a French narrator, and some outrageously interesting African singers plus several other voices, and the African and jazzy western new music stuff… Well, it’s a stunner and no doubt.

And the little tune? It recurs throughout. And it’s fine. But be warned; if you get one Heiner Goebbels, you won’t be happy until you have all of them. And that’s fine, too.

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