There are different approaches to noise in electronic music. Technically, noise is described as an equal amount of output in all present frequencies ('White Noise') and sounds pretty boring. People tend to mix their original signals with fragments of noise to get a more individual, maybe more haptical sound; on the other hand, a lot of strictly experimental music uses noise as the main source of audio, shifted in frequency and amplitude, fed back to the machines or distorted and delayed.

Why do you have to know about noise when you want know about Daniel Maze? His Treehugger EP is full of noise! Like a graphic designer adding certain samples of pixelated dirt to his 'clean' graphics, Daniel uses different forms of unspecific audio to break the unreflected beauty of his compositions. "April" and "Pantomime" for example are tricky four-to-the-floor house-tracks, with a beat that's playful and danceable, good melodies and a lot of warmth. Still they might sound a bit 'Easy Listening' if the noises were missing. But they don't! Jan Jelinek's Farben-alter ego might be a good reference. For "Manhattan" and "Playground Minaturette", Daniel adds some more pop-appeal and gives his music a more indietronic-appeal without loosing relevance. The title track and "Ambulance Chase" at position five and six get into Pop-Music even deeper- pearling piano motives, smooth guitar pickings and vocal-samples make Daniel sound like Akufen, 70s electronic music and, ähem, Art Rock. You've got to listen to believe.

After all, Daniel Maze is familiar with drone, harsh noise and experimentalism, too. If you listen to his former (and future) releases at Italian netlabel Sinewaves, you'll find him deleting nearly all residues of Pop in his music. Both sides are important and require themselves, as he says.