he froze: it was as if suddenly an invisible door sprang open,
and a cold draught from another world blew into his peaceful room.
he felt death and he felt undying love:
something burst open in his soul, and he reflected on the imperceptible, formless, yet impassioned
like distant music...stefan zweig / letter of an unknown

 
   

Continuing the German electronic music tradition, which he has accentuated in his own distinctive way, the self-trained musician brought out a solo double CD entitled genuine - nu ambient grooves (1998- 2001) untainted by any trace of incoherence or randomness; Chris Zippel combines an aesthetically accomplished sound with extensive production know-how, creating state-of-the-art sound design in a lively groove.

 

  

 

 

  

 

  
 
 
 
 

wandering around, lost /// clip / mp3

deep draw /// clip / mp3

      

Review // Backroads Music, Mill Valley
Call the Ambience! Someone has ignited this new upbeat ambient style beyond the boiling point, and his name is Chris Zippel. Chris is a German artist with tons of production credits and DJ chops.
He records for Germany's Ninetysix Sounds label a series called "genuine-nu ambient grooves", and what we have here is truly the "genuine article"!
Highly explosive, deep grooves, murderous rhythms, kinetic counterpoints and samples galore add up to one of the hottest titles of this year, last year, and probably even next year. Despite the heat warnings - and they are definitely dancing in the street - there is plenty of "cool" present as well, with chilled soundscapes pumping along under blissed out vocal samples that keep the air quality extremely high while leaping out in all directions. Spacey elements prevail on some tracks, while on others snappy drop-out beats alternate with scratchy/catchy cruisers and downright nasty rhythms that pull you to your feet - fast!
This is ambient dub at its very best, due equally to the kaleidoscopic songwriting, the killer rhythm section, and Zippel's extreme studio expertise that brings the sound quality to a new level all on its own.
We are talking Genuine here - accept no substitute!
Lloyd Barde

 

Review // at a glance
Genuine is the nom de guerre of Berlin dance musician/producer Chris Zippel, owner of the Chill Out Studio. This adjective describes his particular version of electro-ambient music to a "t". On Nu Ambient Grooves, old-school rhythms blend with liquid sound collages, resulting in subtle-yet-listenable tracks. Subtlety is, of course, the name of the game in chill-out music and Zippel's strength is to create mellowness that can also draw the listener in. -- nw

 

Review @ Tip Magazin Berlin, © 19 / 98
Massive, intelligent beats ennoble ambient sounds to tiptop-Trip-Hop. Relaxing, but exciting. Respect. DAK

 

 

Review // Wax, The UK´s Dance / Specialists, Oct/Nov 1998
This Berlin based label has been quitely givin´up chill out numbers from a manifold range of artists for a while. The name of this album goes a long way to explaining what it´s all about.
Staying mainly left of centre, Chris Zippel delivers the dark and the light side of the ambient electronic journey. Heavy dubby grooves are made interesting with wicked basslines, drop out beats, catchy melodies, and blissed vocal and musical samples. Should be in everyone´s ambient collection.
Kary Stewart

 

Downtempo Album of the month // Ten Dance Oktober 1998
 This 16 track long album of the Berlin producer Chris Zippel stretches from light "broken beats" all the way to Trip Hop, is of a floating conzept anf underlines its very own character with soft soundexperiments. Besides known Ambient-Features Chris is also using agressive sounds , they give clever mixed up a bustling effect, but never move out of context. Thoroughly postive is the spreading of the emotions up to a light lethargy. Brilliant! DST

 

Downtempo Album des Monats @ Ten Dance Oktober 1998
 Das insgesamt 16 Tracks umfassende Ambient-Album des Berliner Produzenten Chris Zippel bewegt sich von leichten Broken Beats bis hin zu Trip Hop, bildet ein durchlaufendes Konzept und unterstreicht den eigenen Stil mit leichten Soundexperimenten. Chris benutzt neben altbekannten Ambient-Features auch agressivere Sounds, die geschickt verstrickt einen treibenden Effekt erziehlen, sich aber nicht aus dem Kontext bewegen. Durchaus Positiv ist die Streuung der Emotionen bis hin zu leichter Lethargie. Genial! DST

 

 

 

 

 

  
   

summerblink /// clip / mp3

strech marks /// clip mp3

      

Review // Melody Maker December 12 1998
Berlin art - house freestyle ambience for a horizon -
traversing chill. Roger

 

Review // Wind and Wire, © March/April 1999
This is a very modern sounding disk. It is contemporary and beyond shallow trends at the same time. If Brian Eno was in his prime, doing electronica now, it would probably sound a lot like this. These ambient grooves are rich in textures, consciousness and technical proficiency. Herr Zippel knows how to keep the beat going without becoming just another techno drone clone. And he is a master at introducing all sorts of amazing amazing sounds (the subtle, soft, static-like sound on track five is astonishing. Put your headphones on). The first song, "Wo Ewig Meine Seufzer Wallen," wastes no time establishing the groundwork; it moves flawlessly between the beat and ethereal emptiness and back again. Each of the sixteen tracks are great but I especially liked "Candy Nights" and "Saw The Eclipse." And you will TRULY be amazed when a familiar woman's voice slowly emerges from within "Lela Loves U." Who would've ever dreamed that one day you'd be hearing Karen Carpenter in a contemporary electronic format? It is satori! There are also three snippets of sci-fi movie dialog gibberish thrown in for fun and the disk concludes with the gentle, swirling rains and thunder of "Gone." Chris Zippel proves that he is definitely a trickster shaman of the highest degree and this CD is a mandatory purchase for all the rest of us.

 

Review // amazing
A powerful album. Heavy, yet consistent percussion is linked to careful effects and varied samplers so as to submerge in the deepest of grooves. The environment is dense; only in few occasions a slight melody appears, or some piano notes, or a watery sound, to add some oxygen... yet always in the most adequate moment. Mention must be made of the remarkable role of the sequences, memorable as they are in the ninth theme,"Upon the face of the deep": grave, intense, impressive...LAURA S. GARCIA

 

Review // get music
Another Collection of Beats and effects masterminded by Chris Zippel, Nu Ambient Grooves, Vol 2. arguably betters its prdecessor at exploring the effects of stellar rhythm - havy sampled laid over a variety of lazy-day atmospheres. though the album is solid throughout, the fusion works best on candy nights, stretch marks, and summerblink. JOHN BUSH

 

Review // New Age Voice April 1999
With "genuine - nu ambient grooves 2," German artist Chris Zippel creates a musical work that is a cut above the rest and sets a new standard in ambient/electronic music. One of a kind? Defenitely! Simultaneously chilled out but extremely upbeat, Chris´production and DJ skills concoct a mesmerizing mix of deep grooves, spacey sounds, tons of samples (ranging from Carpenters to Star Trek), snappy vibes and deft rhythms to keep your ears busy throughout Genuine´s nearly 74 minutes. It´s active, not reactive and refuses to just lie there like so many other ambient/electronic releases!

 

  

Review // Mann Makula Hawks June/July 1998
This is an album of incredible depth and maturity. It has certainly been a long time since I heard music produced to this standard. Chris Zippel (who will soon have some release on my label) excels himself, throwing in breakbeats, touches of dub, trip-hop, squelchy 303´s and deep trance that all-in-all is deeply meditative whilst being superbly invigorating at the same time, far outreaching the talents of any mainstream electronic-chill band you´d care to mention. Probably this will be nigh-on impossible to find in th UK , so go to your local record store and demand that they order it for you. You won´t be ´disappointed. Review // Starsrteams Subtitled "Nu Ambient Grooves," Genuine is from Germany's small developing NinetySix sounds label and music maker Chris Zippel, and falls into the category we might loosely label as electro trance-dance. As composer and performer, Zippel has an incredible knack for the kind of groove-oriented sound that we've come to expect from the likes of the Higher Intelligence Agency, Naid and Sanjiva, all Starstreams favorites. Tracks like "Pulse Dub" get into your bloodstream and before long, without knowing it, you find your hips and feet moving to the infectious rhythms. Zippel's studio expertise is evident as he expertly layers equal parts of ambient and dancey elements throughout the tracks. A generous 74 minutes of music with some "borrowed" samples from famous folks we won't mention here, Genuine seems to live

 

Review // Mushroom and Loop Trenddokument 98
Chris Zippel ist schon ein bischen so eine Art König gefühlvoller, weicher Ambient-Tracks. Seine Nu Ambient Grooves gelten als Klassiker, mit denen er sich eine große Akzeptanz in den verschiedensten Lagern elektronischer Musik erarbeitet hat. So schafft er es auch mit seiner zweiten Version neuer Grooves, Sentiment und variantenreiche, tricky Beats zu kombinieren. Insgesamt 16 Tracks, von denen einige Kürzel zwischendurch nur ein paar kurze vocale Weisheiten vermitteln sollen. Größte Hitqualitäten haben nach meiner Einschätzung "stretch marks" und "Lela Loves You". Kai

 

Review // Raveline 12 / 1998
Wenn es um die Definition ambienter TripHop - Musik geht, kommt man zum ausklingenden Jahrtausend nicht an dem Berliner Produzenten Chris Zippel vorbei. Bereits wenige Monate nach seinen "genuine - nu ambient grooves" steht das Follow Up in den Regalen und untermauert nachhaltig und beeindruckend, wohin der Trip entspannender "Wohnzimmer - Musik" gehen soll: in warme Welten aus dubbigen Grooves, trickreichen Basslines und intelligenten, fetten Beats. Willkommen auf dem Zippelchen Ambient -
Floss zur eindrucksvollen Reise durch sanft dahin fliessende
TripHop - Gewässer. Fett! Dr. Beckmann