Wednesday, March 24, 2010

plus/minus


i accidently hit a button on my mp3 player which resulted in the latest RA mix coming to an early end and old plastikman starting all of a sudden. while i was kind of enjoying the house of house mix, i was not complaining when the old, warped sounds of plastikman started filling my head. and that was enough to motivate me to write this post about 2 new projects to emerge out of the m-nus / plus8 stable. the first is the new ambient mix from matthew hawtin, the second is the string of plastikman live gigs planned for this year. both have definitely got me intrigued, but at the same stage, it is noticeable that these are both backward looking projects. it *might* be a sign that richie might slowly be emerging from his own ass and realising that the avenue he has been going down has reached a dead end, yet at the same time, he has failed to work out a new creative direction to pursue... anyway, a few more thoughts on each project:

i was very happy that i actually received a promo copy for matthew hawtin's 'once again again' mix CD, composed of 90s ambient classics. it is an ode to the long lost chill out room, something the ssgs reminisced about some time ago. the mix CD is pretty solid, but doesn't quite work - there isn't enough space for the music to breathe. luckily plus8 have also put out a digital release composed of essentially the same tracks and is 3 hours long. this gives the records the space they need. i've only listened to it a couple of times, but it works really, really well from what i've heard. last saturday i put it on and went to my favourite temple in tokyo and relaxed there for about 90 minutes. it was pretty awesome. really deep, spacey ambient stuff, which is very unique to that period of the early to mid 1990s and has managed to date pretty darn well. there is nothing overly amazing about this release, but it is a very nice tribute to a special set of sounds. and because it has the m-nus/plus8 branding, one advantage is that it will introduce this whole genre to mnml heads that would have been unlikely to come across it otherwise. anyway, you can get it here. and don't be silly, make sure to get the wav version for an extra euro or two. you want a proper copy of it.

as for the plastikman live gigs. hmm... i have decidedly mixed feelings about these. on the one hand, if he plays in japan, i will be there in a heartbeat. without doubt. and i'm sure it'll be good. when richie is on it, he is amazing, no question. quite a few of the very, very best moments i've experienced with techno have been thanks to him. and the source material for plastikman is so incredibly strong that he'll definitely be able to put together a 60-90 minute performance filled with quality. but. on the other hand, something feels not quite right about resurrecting plastikman in this way. i am still angry about the god awful dubfire remix of 'spastik', one of the worst acts of musical vandalism i have had the displeasure of hearing. the fact that he let this steaming pile of shit get released is hardly a good sign... beyond that, on a deeper level, i'm just not sure if there is much of plastikman left in richie. for me, plastikman is very deep, dark, twisted music. to put it bluntly, i think richie is too happy, carefree and enjoying his superstar DJ lifestyle. this is a long way from the dark places of his brain that plastikman must have come from. also, plastikman is the very context specific - it is tied up with the 90s and the way techno was developing then. iphone apps and the mnml m-nus lifestyle is a long way from the warehouses and raves of the '90s. all in all, i think plastikman would have been better left alone. an artifakt of a different era of techno...

so where next then? the most promising - and forward thinking - thing m-nus has done in a while was one of its least promoted, the collab party it put on in berlin with the raster-noton crew late last year. raster have been moving towards a more techy sound in the last year or two, and pushing forward in a very interesting direction. and raster fits closely with richie's aesthetic and some of the more sonically interesting parts of his sound palette. the only report i heard about the gig was very positive. given how good richie was, and can be, and how prominent m-nus has become, it'd be good if they could start playing a more progressive and positive role again. i'm not confident, but there are a few positive signs. lets see...

13 comments:

  1. What old plastikman did you happen to flick onto out of curiousity

    ReplyDelete
  2. you know the touchsdesign competition? ok there was a pack to download it had 60minutes of plastikman 'live' as i understand the new show , bvecause you were makingvisuals.. and there was spastik dubfire remix . then i turned off it and totally forgot about the new plastikman , im still waiting for the new performance but if its like that.. sorry :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. regarding the plastikman live show...

    while i'm really curious as to what it would sound like, and i'd go if it were somewhere close to nyc (i'm not going to the demf this year, so i'll miss that one), but its the fact it says something like "new reinterpretations of old plastikman classics."

    all i can vision is an hour of tracks that sound like the dubfire remix of "spastik." like, the shit-boring-crap-mnml version of "ethnik" and the ubercoolische variant of "kriket" would probably make me firebomb the stage.

    ReplyDelete
  4. can't wait to hear the matthew hawtin thing, and this year will be my first chance to see a live plastikman set... a bit disappointing that it's only 60 minutes and nothing has been said of any new material, according to the official website... and i agree about the contrast between today and 10+ years ago in terms of state of mind (what does everyone think of the new press photos?!)... but i'll see the show if i can; sounds like it will be quite the spectacle.

    but i get to see a jpls live set soon; i wonder how that will compare because i'm still loving his new album which to me sounds like an excellent take on what plastikman might sound like today...

    ReplyDelete
  5. i got over excited when I heard the news, thinking might be new material. but alas was not to be. i dont think richie is changing... he is too far gone. beyond rescue...

    watch out for fame you talented ssgs you. it has got the better of a lot of people... question I ask is as the 'deep' sound gets bigger and more widely known, can the leaders of the scene keep it true to its underground roots or will 'deep' go the same way minimal, progressive & much else has in the past

    god i hope not...

    ReplyDelete
  6. do you read my post ? can anyone confirm about this?

    ReplyDelete
  7. The extended "Once again" is a very nice listen, maybe too crowded, it's like a literature review. Enjoyed it.

    Plastikman: I do not see how the good old and very original plastikman is "geeignet" for big rooms, festivals, etc. I agree with those who say that music is contextual. not just in time. Even if it were close to my location, I wouldn't go if it is a festival, mixed there in the lineup.

    ReplyDelete
  8. peter, as before, i think you sum up the trouble with the current plastikman stuff perfectly. new technology certainly does not automatically equal good content. a dull concept on an iphone is still dull.

    the more 'richie hawtin' has appeared in place of that kooky logo, the more the music stagnated and suffered. this old photo from richie's own facebook page kind of sums up what i feel has been lost:
    tiny.cc/6iffl

    that some of remember how truly innovative and underground his stuff once was, is why we get so annoyed at the current nonsense beging passed off as 'cutting edge'.

    ReplyDelete
  9. i would be very excited if Richie was trotting out all the old gear for the Plastikman live set. the fact that it's just some more computer based silliness makes me assume it will be horrible nonsense like the rest of his output from the past 10 years. he will have 10 minutes at DEMF to sound alright before i roll out to get a head start on Soul Skate. my guess is i won't even make it that long.

    ReplyDelete
  10. as for the plastikman live gigs. hmm... i have decidedly mixed feelings about these. on the one hand, if he plays in japan, i will be there in a heartbeat. without doubt. and i'm sure it'll be good. when richie is on it, he is amazing, no question. quite a few of the very, very best moments i've experienced with techno have been thanks to him. and the source material for plastikman is so incredibly strong that he'll definitely be able to put together a 60-90 minute performance filled with quality. but. on the other hand, something feels not quite right about resurrecting plastikman in this way. i am still angry about the god awful dubfire remix of 'spastik', one of the worst acts of musical vandalism i have had the displeasure of hearing. the fact that he let this steaming pile of shit get released is hardly a good sign... beyond that, on a deeper level, i'm just not sure if there is much of plastikman left in richie. for me, plastikman is very deep, dark, twisted music. to put it bluntly, i think richie is too happy, carefree and enjoying his superstar DJ lifestyle. this is a long way from the dark places of his brain that plastikman must have come from. also, plastikman is the very context specific - it is tied up with the 90s and the way techno was developing then. iphone apps and the mnml m-nus lifestyle is a long way from the warehouses and raves of the '90s. all in all, i think plastikman would have been better left alone. an artifakt of a different era of techno...


    100% agreed!!

    bravo cris, excellent post, in form and text*

    ReplyDelete
  11. to anyone who's interested, here's some youtube footage of plastikman live yesterday (just to clarify this isn't my footage)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyrTUr3Kp5E

    ReplyDelete
  12. can't say i'm too impressed with anything i've seen / heard in the videos floating around youtube right now...


    i'll stick to my memories of him playing live in detroit ten-plus years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  13. When I was reading the part about Richie being too happy to go where Plastikman came from, it reminded me of this:

    “Camus wrote like a man who had just finished a large dinner of steak and french fries, salad, and had topped it with a bottle of good French wine. Humanity may have been suffering but not him. A wise man, perhaps, but Henry preferred somebody who screamed when they burned.” - Charles Bukowski "Hot Water Music"

    ReplyDelete

Say something constructive, bitte. Or if you're gonna take a swipe, at least sharpen your nails.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.