Plastikman

[Yard Hippie]

I'm curious, does plastikman generally come under 'minimal acid house'? I'm talking about his first two albums 'sheet one' and 'musik' rather than the later albums that seem to be classed more under ambient (not listened to them yet). Also what are peoples thoughts on his work under this alias? I've not yet explored Hawtin's work outside of the two aforementioned albums but I can't get enough of them, and I got a little dismayed by Rino, amongst others, in an old minimal thread saying they used to love Hawtin but have now somehow become dissillusioned. I dunno... I'm just wondering if I've got a sort of blind affinity for his work that may wear off after a while.

 

Heh, just listening to the album Musik as I write this, Track 3 (Kriket), and 4 mins 30 seconds into it you can hear a distant rock track playing. Like really really distant. You may have to pump the volume right up on headphones to get it. Doesn't sound like it is intentional but then again he does love playing with ideas of silence and whathaveyou so perhaps it is. Sound leakage from another studio perhaps?

[rino]

Richie Hawtin, THE man, THE legend

 

Minimal acid house, yessir, is what we call(ed) it.

 

I got tired for the exact reason you listed - overplaying.

 

Richie Hawtin is a guy who became a world wide phenomenon during a period I was growing up and developing a crazy interest in electronic music. His videos were all over. The acid tab cover controversy made EVERYBODY look, and well Spastik... Spastik is when those who looked before listened as well.

 

Why did you develop a dismay if I lost interest? I've been canning to death everything he's published since about as long as I remember. It only took me 12 years to quit the "ass kissing".

I won't forgive him for M_nus though. Not ever. Never. N - E - V - E - R - ! 9 minute long tracks with four flat intertwining sounds? Gee, Richie, you and your friends are the geniuses even my mom brags about, right? Are you? You muzst be!

**applaud everyone please**

 

Minus Orange is my favorite track of all times, F.U.S.E.'s "Dimension Intrusion" still resides in my book as one of the most complete and thoroughly thought out albums in electronic music, Circuit Breaker's Overkill track and "Trac-X" releases were some of the first touches with hard techno I ever had... and... and... and the list could go on forever.

 

That thing people call "DE9 | Transitions" is usually the reason they tend to think Richie is the ultimate God, especially if they weren't around the Plastikman boom.

 

But slowing down Plus 8 Records Ltd. in favor of M_nus? Unforgivable. Stupid and unforgivable. The entire M_nus back catalogue ain't worth 1/12 of Plus 8 stuff, despite consisting of some top drawer material. Pity is, after a while, a sane pair of ears could sense the unfortunate direction those guys would pursue. It cannot be pardoned. No. What? You think it can? Lemme tell you: no. No. Zip it, please. No.

 

Whatevargh. Richie hauls ass! Take it from somebody who had a Richie shrine in his bedroom. But what it all comes down to is that he is just not that above the rest.

[Yard Hippie]

The acid tab cover controversy made EVERYBODY look, and well Spastik... Spastik is when those who looked before listened as well.

I just ordered 'Recycled Plastik' recently. Have resisted the urge to download this track and listen to it so that I get the fresh thrill that everybody else seems to have gotten from it.

 

Why did you develop a dismay if I lost interest? I've been canning to death everything he's published since about as long as I remember. It only took me 12 years to quit the "ass kissing".

*dreamy smile*, I guess I just don't want the magic to end

 

As for the slowing down of plus 8 etc, this is the first I've heard about any of that so it would be stupid of me to comment. I like the passion behind your convictions though, no longer feeling the dread. I shall have to check out the transitions album. The next question out of my mouth was going to actually be in regard to any reccomendations for things outside of plastikman which were either similar or by the same guy, but then remembered I have no money and didn't want to live in torture until I did

[rino]

As for the slowing down of plus 8 etc, this is the first I've heard about any of that so it would be stupid of me to comment. I like the passion behind your convictions though, no longer feeling the dread. I shall have to check out the transitions album. The next question out of my mouth was going to actually be in regard to any reccomendations for things outside of plastikman which were either similar or by the same guy, but then remembered I have no money and didn't want to live in torture until I did

Don't worry about the whole Plus 8 vs. M_nus thing... It's a rant which few will like and/or understand.

 

Minimal, samey, repetitive and monotonous is the fashionable thingy, so if you glorify M_nus, odds are you'll be hip amongst the Berlin techno geek-head techno crowd

 

Anyways, Richie's essential collection which excludes Plastikman would include:

 

F.U.S.E.- Dimension Intrusion

Richie Hawtin- DE9 | Transitions

Circuit Breaker- Trac-X

Richie Hawtin- Minus Orange 12"

UP!- Spiritual high 12"

Final Exposure- Vortex 12"

Richie Hawtin & Pete Namlook as From Within- From Within 1 , From Within 2

 

...and if you can cope with it, give his Concept 1 series a chance. On a personal level, I don't dig it.

[Yard Hippie]

Minimal, samey, repetitive and monotonous is the fashionable thingy, so if you glorify M_nus, odds are you'll be hip amongst the Berlin techno geek-head techno crowd

Makes sense. Richie is actually hosting a M_NUS party near where I live next weekend but it doesn't seem that tickets are still available... but perhaps if his musical direction has changed so drastically it's for the better and besides, there's a psy party the same night I've already sortof bound myself to. Still a great shame all the same though

 

Anyways, Richie's essential collection which excludes Plastikman would include:

 

F.U.S.E.- Dimension Intrusion

Richie Hawtin- DE9 | Transitions

Circuit Breaker- Trac-X

Richie Hawtin- Minus Orange 12"

UP!- Spiritual high 12"

Final Exposure- Vortex 12"

Richie Hawtin & Pete Namlook as From Within- From Within 1 , From Within 2

 

...and if you can cope with it, give his Concept 1 series a chance. On a personal level, I don't dig it.

I shall copy these selections to wordpad to dig up later when I have the money to throw at it again. Thanks muchly

[Goa-Head]

The local record store has huge discounts ATM, and last Sunday I bought Musik @ €5 or so, new copy of course. Haven't listened it yet (Musik) but I know it's a legendary release which I can't leave on the racks for that price I think the other branch of the shop should have Sheet One which I should also get if I pass by.

 

Having said that, his Recycled Plastik minialbum leaves me jawdrapped each time I listen to it.

[Yard Hippie]

The local record store has huge discounts ATM, and last Sunday I bought Musik @ €5 or so, new copy of course. Haven't listened it yet (Musik) but I know it's a legendary release which I can't leave on the racks for that price I think the other branch of the shop should have Sheet One which I should also get if I pass by.

 

Having said that, his Recycled Plastik minialbum leaves me jawdrapped each time I listen to it.

Musik is just gobsmakkingly awesome. Play it now and be amazed

[electric blue]

plastikman was overall a nice project. i listened to hawtin a couple of times playing (i dont remember whether it was live). one of them was among the best parties i had.. i like him better when he s plastikman

 

the black album, "consumed" by itself lives on another dimension i think

 

the track hypokondriak deserves a mention also.

 

enjoy!

[no-nonsense]

"Marbles" is deep, probably my favorite Hawtin tune.

[NEMO.BOFH]

Richie Hawtin, THE man, THE legend

Agreed.

 

I got tired for the exact reason you listed - overplaying.

I have never been able to overlisten his stuff. I love it to the core, and will prolly always do so.

 

Richie Hawtin is a guy who became a world wide phenomenon during a period I was growing up and developing a crazy interest in electronic music. His videos were all over. The acid tab cover controversy made EVERYBODY look, and well Spastik... Spastik is when those who looked before listened as well.

When was that? (I mean this phenomenon) Just out of curiosity

 

Why did you develop a dismay if I lost interest? I've been canning to death everything he's published since about as long as I remember. It only took me 12 years to quit the "ass kissing".

I won't forgive him for M_nus though. Not ever. Never. N - E - V - E - R - ! 9 minute long tracks with four flat intertwining sounds? Gee, Richie, you and your friends are the geniuses even my mom brags about, right? Are you? You muzst be!

**applaud everyone please**

Now, I see this from a DjS Point of view, and I think that everything he did there is what a dj dreams of at night. It leaves space for Controllerism and Turntablism and for maximum Creativity. I SALUTE him for having the djs in mind. I know why he did that as well, cause hes one himself.

 

That thing people call "DE9 | Transitions" is usually the reason they tend to think Richie is the ultimate God, especially if they weren't around the Plastikman boom.

He is not god? (I was around)

 

But slowing down Plus 8 Records Ltd. in favor of M_nus? Unforgivable. Stupid and unforgivable. The entire M_nus back catalogue ain't worth 1/12 of Plus 8 stuff, despite consisting of some top drawer material. Pity is, after a while, a sane pair of ears could sense the unfortunate direction those guys would pursue. It cannot be pardoned. No. What? You think it can? Lemme tell you: no. No. Zip it, please. No.

Is this something you read, or is this a fact that Mr. Hawtin himself has said? Wassnt it so that John and him just drifted apart with ideas?

 

Whatevargh. Richie hauls ass! Take it from somebody who had a Richie shrine in his bedroom. But what it all comes down to is that he is just not that above the rest.

Wanna buy a glow in the dark T-Shirt when I make them?

[rino]

When was that? (I mean this phenomenon) Just out of curiosity

Eastern Europe, around Christmas time of 1993, which means approximately 6 months after Spastik's breakthrough. Despite the fact his projects Final Exposure and F.U.S.E. were relatively known, even a war struck Croatia was overflooded with the Plastikman hype. Apparently, the rest of the world wasn't falling begind.

 

Now, I see this from a DjS Point of view, and I think that everything he did there is what a dj dreams of at night. It leaves space for Controllerism and Turntablism and for maximum Creativity. I SALUTE him for having the djs in mind. I know why he did that as well, cause hes one himself.

Wrong. It's not what a DJ's dream was, it is what Richie Hawtin made it to be. Prior to Richie's full frontal minimalism attack, techno was all about quality and not quantity. Mr. Hawtin started a trend of unprecedented copy-catism, which led us to what we have today; bleeps blops clicks & clacks. WoW! Some achievement. The art of mixing was raw, energetic and a constant race against the party crowd's urge to dance faster and harder to raidly changing rhythms and patterns. Richie Hawtin made it an unwritten rule that techno tunes need a four minute intro and an outro of the same lenght, accompanied by an "explosive" middle part with 1 to 2 layers tops added. See, I don't blame him for doing something nobody has done before, I blame him for blatantly bleeching his own sound out, thus lowering the criteria for techno followers and afficionados lower than they have ever been before. The guy farts, I record it and blow my nose, while recording that as well. My sister hits her pen against the table in equal intervals, while I am still recording. Re-loop the whole thing, I count three recorded sounds, that must be it: A techno tune for M-nus.

Richie Hawtin always kept the DJ in his mind, and by his own admittance, his DE9 trilogy is for the DJ and the art of DJ-ing and helping it move on to the next dimension. So naturally, I SALUTE him as well, despite the fact his live mixing skills leave a lot to desire for. He doesn't have a patch on any of the great turntable wizards. BTW, interesting side note, but do you really consider Richie a turntablist? I mean, a few months ago, he openly declared in an interview that "the year 2008 has definitely made me abbandon the vinyl medium."

 

Is this something you read, or is this a fact that Mr. Hawtin himself has said? Wassnt it so that John and him just drifted apart with ideas?

Fact. Not that he lost interest and motivation, but he just wanted to "push forward", with lackluster music. Yuck. Of course, I'm just playing when I exaggerate like this, it's a matter of personal taste. Duh. Disgraceful. He slowed down Plus 8 and gave birth to M-nus. They didn't part ideas back then, as you maybe remember, because in 2000 they toured the world together to celebrate Plus 8ths 10th anniversary.

 

Wanna buy a glow in the dark T-Shirt when I make them?

Yes!!!

[NEMO.BOFH]

Eastern Europe, around Christmas time of 1993, which means approximately 6 months after Spastik's breakthrough. Despite the fact his projects Final Exposure and F.U.S.E. were relatively known, even a war struck Croatia was overflooded with the Plastikman hype. Apparently, the rest of the world wasn't falling begind.

 

 

Wrong. It's not what a DJ's dream was, it is what Richie Hawtin made it to be. Prior to Richie's full frontal minimalism attack, techno was all about quality and not quantity. Mr. Hawtin started a trend of unprecedented copy-catism, which led us to what we have today; bleeps blops clicks & clacks. WoW! Some achievement. The art of mixing was raw, energetic and a constant race against the party crowd's urge to dance faster and harder to raidly changing rhythms and patterns. Richie Hawtin made it an unwritten rule that techno tunes need a four minute intro and an outro of the same lenght, accompanied by an "explosive" middle part with 1 to 2 layers tops added. See, I don't blame him for doing something nobody has done before, I blame him for blatantly bleeching his own sound out, thus lowering the criteria for techno followers and afficionados lower than they have ever been before. The guy farts, I record it and blow my nose, while recording that as well. My sister hits her pen against the table in equal intervals, while I am still recording. Re-loop the whole thing, I count three recorded sounds, that must be it: A techno tune for M-nus.

Richie Hawtin always kept the DJ in his mind, and by his own admittance, his DE9 trilogy is for the DJ and the art of DJ-ing and helping it move on to the next dimension. So naturally, I SALUTE him as well, despite the fact his live mixing skills leave a lot to desire for. He doesn't have a patch on any of the great turntable wizards. BTW, interesting side note, but do you really consider Richie a turntablist? I mean, a few months ago, he openly declared in an interview that "the year 2008 has definitely made me abbandon the vinyl medium."

 

 

Fact. Not that he lost interest and motivation, but he just wanted to "push forward", with lackluster music. Yuck. Of course, I'm just playing when I exaggerate like this, it's a matter of personal taste. Duh. Disgraceful. He slowed down Plus 8 and gave birth to M-nus. They didn't part ideas back then, as you maybe remember, because in 2000 they toured the world together to celebrate Plus 8ths 10th anniversary.

 

 

Yes!!!

I only agree with one point, and that is you buying my Shirt! But the rest I am not going to argue with you about, cause its your personal perception of things, and peoples thoughts cant be argued

[Yard Hippie]

I have never been able to overlisten his stuff. I love it to the core, and will prolly always do so.

+10

It moves me in ways a lot of music fails to achieve

Wanna buy a glow in the dark T-Shirt when I make them?

Also yeah!

[abasio]

Plastikman & Hawtin in general never really appealed to me when I first heard but slowly grew & grew on me until I finally appreciated the music. I heard him play a few years back & was absolutely hypnotised

[Gnome]

the black album, "consumed" by itself lives on another dimension i think

A dimension of slowly building new-born universes.

[Cielspacing]

A dimension of slowly building new-born universes.

Precisely that might point to some new conciliation.

 

I saw his Dj/live set aboout 3 years ago and yes it blow any preconception I had regarding

his music. I mean he was mixing many layers of sound together, detuning some, de/pacing others,adding voices, substacting beds and in all; juggling the whole thing into a highly complex but b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g freqs emission that was just what my dance was longing for a quite some time...

 

However, while at the dancefloor I did managed to open my eyes for a few glances... and not many dancers were tuning like I was. Also after party reviews heard were quite the usual talk; it seems very few people ever noticed or listened to the mooving complexity Hawtin was delivering (or to what was my angle of things)...

 

So what is the nexus with Gnome's phrase? After the Universe is completed, a collapse and new Big Bang, a new fresh beginning is needed.

No wonder he started all over again -> went back to basic rhythmic lines -> spent time(and releases) re-sensing the atmospheres and minute differences in sounds (and lack of) -> tried new gear, including A&H's 3D, ditched it, then run 2 twined laptops, put 4 Traktor virtual players together with Ableton's Live and pbbly add the new AKAI midi controller or what else?

...To start growing-evolving again, at some point others could distinguish... he's pbbly been enjoying the whole ride.

 

Obviously followers catched up or slipped out according to their own processes.

The nice thing is that -judging from the gear he's recently putting together and the state of Milimalism's popularity->obvious pioneer's tiredness... It all permits to foresee the proximity of a RHawtin's new level of complexity.

Inquisitive minds don't tend to stay too attached to the Bang, to the prebang nothingness, or to any situation for too long, and I do wellcome that ,)

[NEMO.BOFH]

And all that cause he uses a computer and digital softmedia to dj His DJ set is by far (and Chris Liebing now as well) the most technical and complex I have ever seen

[rino]

And all that cause he uses a computer and digital softmedia to dj His DJ set is by far (and Chris Liebing now as well) the most technical and complex I have ever seen

speedy joachin spieet is where Liebing picked up his tricks at, IMHO.

 

Naturally, both of 'em took heed when mr. Hawtin decided to take matter into his own hands.

[Sentinel]

I don't like Plastikman. It sounds stupid. I expected more from his music but then realised he was talentless cause his music just sounds simple and boring.

[Yard Hippie]

Heh, that's funny, just listening to 'Sheet One' now and I come on here to find you've ressurected my long dead topic on the absolute master of minimal acid. It's a shame you don't enjoy his work but it's not exactly for everyone; specially if you're used to layers upon layers strung together with a doof-a-doof

 

If only you could feel what I feel when I hear those acid lines...

[Sentinel]

I like the idea of acid but his music doesn't sound very good. If only there was proper acid around. Stuff that sounds like 'sound of the atom splitting' by the Pet Shop Boys. Their music is basically like acid but in a pop way... and it's very accurate and proper.

[Yard Hippie]

Well you're comparing two entirely different forms of acid; if you want chaotic acid just dip into a bit of goa/psy like koxbox's dragon tales. With that sort of music you're dropped into a vast swirling psychedelic whilwind but with Hawtin it's much more about a deep, very complex analysis of each individual sound stripped down to the barest of essentials. It's more clinical and obviously not up your street but to me it can feel a lot more like 'real acid'. I guess the two styles focus on two very distinct aspects of the psychedelic experience.

[Sentinel]

I get the feeling Ritchie Hawtin is insane and is doing anything, is ordinary and maybe he wants to desperately make a name for himself but I will check his music out again to see if I've changed and like it.

[Darkarbiter]

Well I've only heard sheet one and closer.

 

No one's mentioned closer so far, that album is amazing, probably going in my top 10 albums. It's like going crazy at 4am. Very psychedelic, but in a more very strong atmospheric way. Sortof reminds me of fight club actually. The version of spastik on sheet one seems to be far superior than the one on youtube (from the second album presumably?). While you can certainly criticise some minimal, can't criticise closer, it's just so intelligent and the sounds so thought out. It's not like deadmau5 or something.

[Sentinel]

I like 'Rekleiner' for minimal type music. They're really intelligent I think. 'Undulation 2' (compilation mixed by Audiofly) is really good.