Fennesz

A distorted guitar, “Middle Eastern” riffs, visions of dragons ’n’ unicorns, and a black light don’t make a psychedelic experience anymore. Hearing a guitar digitally mutated into alien textures and atmospherics that trigger memories like a faded Polaroid does might help. Enter Christian Fennesz. The Viennese artist gave a noise-nik reinterpretation of Brian Wilson’s utopia in his 2001 cult-hit Endless Summer, with acoustic-guitar melodies filtered through ectoplasmic timbres. Venice continues that route but uses My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields as a muse. “Circassian” and “The Point of It All” match Shields’ oceanic guitar symphonics. In the flotation-tank ballads, “Château Rouge” and “The Other Face,” pastoral guitar pickings bathe in amniotic fluid. Could Venice be 2004’s best electronica album?