Michaela Melián – A Song For Europe Superpitcher – Even Angels Soul Supply – Across The Sky F.S.K. – Swing To Bop Farben – Snag Sia – Breathe Me (Ulrich Schnauss Remix) Quarks – Du Entkommst Mir Nicht (Lawrence Remix) Soul Supply – Simple Things Justus Köhncke – Timecode Science 2104 – R U On My Conscience? Recloose – Cardiology (Isolée Mix) Superpitcher – Lovers Rock Stella – Dreams (Thomas / Geiger 2 Players 4 Stella Remix)
Manon – Unwirklich (Mas Ricardo Mix) Lisa Panagos – Mind’s Eye (Soul Dimensions Mix) Split – We Love You 1 Egoexpress – Weiter III System 360 – Untitled B Soul Capsule – Lady Science (NYC Sunrise) Marvin Dash – Ease On By Isolée – Music… 1 Sound Stream – Let’s Break System 360 – Untitled A M:I:5 – Bonus Blumfeld – The Lord Of Song
Isolée – Meanwhile Farben – Live At The Sahara Tahoe, 1973 DJ Matt – Die Tiefe Glance – Time (Original Dub) Glance – On One C-Rock – Nyte Falls (Korsakow’s 82 Karat Mix) Boobjazz – Free Your Soul Margarete Neumann – Feel Your Life Michael Mayer – Untitled B1 DJ Linus – Intosomethin’ Deep Marvin Dash – Red Sparrow Matthew Boone – Missing Beauty
Stella – Lower Saxony Stella – Extralife (DJ Naughty Remix) Isolée – Beau Mot Plage Wolfgang Voigt – Diskoschleifen 2000 Split – We Love You 2 Popacid – Bonny Care – World Of Today Rok – Commodore Rok – High Menergy Darryl D’Bonneau – Free (Gene Douglas Mix) Chicks On Speed – Glamour Girl Artist Unknown – Siechen F’N’M – Memorabilia
Whirlpool Productions – Good Time There Isolée – Bleu The Modernist – Orange Coloured Sky Jeremy – Soul Kicks The Timewriter – Belief Kool & The Gang – Always (Timewriter Remix) Matias Del Campo – You Never Change Steve Bug & Acid Maria – Down With Us Don Disco & Jeremiah – Survivors Forever Sweet – Don’t Speak (Justus Köhncke Remix) Peter Dildo – Tripper Herb LF – Tuning Kit Manhattan Project – Life’s Like Good Music
There were several reasons for the popularity of minimal techno and
house in the late 90s and early 00s. For one, a lot of electronic
club music of the preceding years was quite boisterous. Its
ingredients and purpose was often not exactly subtle, satisfying
clubbers and listeners that emerged from the acid house and rave days
with direct signals and relentless dancefloor dynamics. And as soon
as a sound becomes too dominant in the club scene, there is a
reaction, and alternatives develop, and as it happened with the
minimal approach they might even take over what was happening before
and become dominant as well. And a freshly initiated influx of
dancers and listeners had also come with different musical
requirements. While the big room and big festival acts like Prodigy
and the Chemical Brothers converted a rock clientele to the dance
floor, a lot of people who earlier preferred less heavier independent
rock music fell in love with the early Detroit minimal techno
prototypes by Robert Hood , Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin and Daniel
Bell, and its more dubbed out counterparts around the Berlin
conglomerate of Basic Channel and its affiliated labels, or Wolfgang
Voigt with his Profan and Studio 1 imprints in Cologne, or Force Inc.
and later Perlon in Frankfurt or Säkhö in Finland, or Peter Ford‘s
Ifach and Trelik labels. Furthermore the club scene itself went
through changes. Budget airlines stormed the market and made
travelling to parties affordable, new open air venues and festivals
entered the circuit but they had to make concessions to surrounding
areas and embraced a sound that was efficient without significantly
loud and low end sound systems. Also drugs like ketamine or GHB
became popular and their users liked a sound that was more reduced,
hypnotic and subtle. And soon enough minimal techno crossed over to
house as well, and was out to conquer.
Right
in the centre of these developments was the Frankfurt imprint
Playhouse founded by Ata and Heiko M/S/O, which began as the housier
end of parent label Ongaku Musik, along with its fellow sub label
Klang Elektronik. It put artists like Ricardo Villalobos on the map,
as well as Isolée or Roman Flügel with his Roman IV or Soylent
Green aliases, and they reinterpreted house music with a lot of
attention to details, abstraction, reduction and repetition. Peter
Kremaier aka Losoul was arguably the most defining artist in the
label‘s early stages, and his productions had a signature sound
that is still unique. He probably was inspired by the layering
experiments of DJ Pierre‘s wild pitch sound or the immersive deep
house of Ron Trent and Chez Damier, but his own tracks soon took off
into their own creative zone. Beginning with 1996‘s „Open Door“
the following 12“ releases „Mandu“, „Don Disco De Super
Bleep“, and „Synchro“ were masterclasses in dancefloor
mesmerism. Over beats more pumping than those of his label peers,
subliminal percussion and chopped chords, he worked with
deconstructed disco and funk loops and occasional vocal samples that
were so perfectly captivating that he could ride them over extended
tracks that gradually introduced element after element with logical
patience, resulting in trips you felt should never stop. But by the
end of the 90s the structure of his tracks became less strict, and he
also explored different sounds on dark, bass heavy tracks like
„Ex.or.zis.mus“ or „Brother In Love“, to fine effect. It
seemed what was still needed was an album to round up this artistic
phase of his, before he would potentially venture into something new,
or different.
When
said album „Belong“ was then released in 2000, it came as
surprise to many of his followers. The opener „Taste Not Waste“
is deceiving, as it is a brooding punchy excursion that would not
have been out of place on the preceding 12“s, but already the
following track „Late Play“ is a weird off-centre sounding sketch
in comparison, hinting at the fact that the artist would not give
away the chance to represent more of his repertoire than his
trademark club stylings. „Resisting Curare“ takes up on the
quirkiness, albeit speedier, while „Overland“ is an eccentric and
playful take on the ever reliable Billie Jean groove, coming across
like a cross between the original groove and „Kaw-Liga“ by The
Residents, with extra weirdness. Then things take another unexpected
turn with „Sunbeams And The Rain“, which in my humble opinion is
one of the most astonishingly beautiful and sublime tracks ever to
merge deep house and techno. Only slightly erratic, this majectic
masterpiece is followed by the chunky slow groover „Position“,
which dubs down the proceedings before the sparsely tripping yet
funky „Depth Control“, another demonstration how much you can
achieve with just a few thought-out, gripping elements. Next is „You
Can Do“, which contains the sunniest loop Kremeier produced up to
that point, a spiralling, almost balearic melody which does not let
go for most of the track, thus resulting in another track you can
completely lose yourself in, although it achieves that typically
intense Losoul sensation with an untypical joyful mood. The last
track „Trust“ is a warped and chopped hip hop version of Bill
Withers‘ „Use Me“ that would grace any tape of later L.A.
beatmakers, and it makes you wonder what whole other sounds the
artist might have left in the vaults.
Although
Losoul has continued to drop releases of consistent quality, I think
„Belong“ marks the end of a certain era, in which he acted as a
true solitaire, even among likeminded and similarly talented cohorts.
To me it seems that only shortly after the imaginative ideas of the
minimal techno and house of those years time soon were often forsaken
for a sound that was already looming, more eager to please, and less
interesting to listen and dance to, however exceptions might prove
the rule. But it is undeniable that here lies the foundation for
many backlashes and resurgences to come.
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