Barker & Baumecker - Transsektoral

Ostgut Ton: 2012

I think I've become a low-key admirer of Ostgut Ton. I never intended as such, always turned-off by the massive amounts of hype for Ben Klock, Len Faki, Shed, Steffi, and Dettmann. I didn't dislike them, but y'all needn't be so insistent on saying I must love them. Let me explore this label on my own terms, discovering acts that catch my eyes and ears. Your Nick Höppners, your L.B. Dub Corps, and your Tobias.es. Okay, maybe not so much that last one at the time, but he seems a bit forgotten now.

Anyhow, my continued sleuthing for the 'unheralded Ostgut acts' has led me to Barker & Baumecker. Are they a duo that somehow slipped by the radar, a partnership that never got its just due? The sort of techno only real heads are aware of, or something? Look, I won't front, I only stumbled upon Transsektoral because of the nifty cover-art, and 'trans' being in the title. Gosh, maybe some trance-leaning techno, then? I've heard a few flirtations with the genre out of Ostgut Ton, even as early as 2012, and with having heard so little from Misters Barker and Baumecker abroad, this could end up one of those undiscovered gems in need of a resuscitation nearly a decade on (holy cow!).

After a tidy intro of dub techno ambience, Trafo gives us the sort of vibes we're in for on this record. That vintage Ostgut Ton warehouse thump, moody backing melodies, and odd-ball experimental sounds spicing the percussion up. It can get a bit distracting from the solid techno shuffle going on, but eh, gotta' do something to stand out from the pack. Schlang Bang strips things down to a bare-bones tech-house outing with a woozy-wobbly bassline that I'm sure is perfect for your ketamine daze, but is just bemusing here.

Then, Crows. Ugh. I get what B&B are doing with that obnoxious noise, gradually morphing it into a rather lovely bit of dubbed-out orchestral pads, and the cavernous beats would make it for a fun stomping anthem. Just... gads, that noise is the absolute worst, insisting upon its 'cleverness' for far too long. Thank God the rest of Transsektoral isn't like this. In fact, the album's quite good for the duration!

No Body gets in on some of that post-dubstep action Ostgut Ton liked to dabble in, while Buttcracker and Silo go straight for the hard-ass Detroit minimal stomp. And wouldn't you know it, we even get a little trance in Trans-It, what with subtle floating arps and escalating pad work. Yeah, it's riding along your standard techno rhythm, including some real low-end thumps along the way, but d'ats classic trance, man! Or neo-trance, if you must (I've seen Lord Discogs has caught on). Closer Spur goes trancey too, but more in that morning-after, dawn's light in the eyes after being inside a grimey dancehall all night, chill-out kind of way. About as Orbital as any Ostgut Ton act can get, I guess.

Various - Berghain 05: Marcel Fengler

Ostgut Ton: 2011

Yet another item I attained after doing that which I never, ever did: following the recommendation of a Resident Advisor 'Best Of' list. It was 2011, see, a year I was slowly crawling out of my 2010 funk, but not terribly enthused about digging about on my own. Such lists are handy for such folk, and from the quick samples I heard from Berghain 05, it sounded promising enough for further inspection.

And what I'd discovered was techno had seen some upheaval in the past few years since my last serious forays into that scene (during the dark times, during the MNML). I'd heard a few items to that point, mostly out of the Ostgut Ton camp as well. Still, I needed something a little extra to convince me the scene had indeed moved on, a definitive statement that the plinky-plonk monotony of the decade prior had truly been put to pasture. And what better series could there be than the one in service of the club most responsible for the shift in clubbing taste? None better series than Berghain, so I was told.

The chap tasked with handling the fifth edition of the series is Marcel Fengler, a resident of the famed club during its peak years of prominence. He never gained the same level of critical prestige as others from that era (Dettman, Faki, Klock), but had a respectable following just the same. Then... something happened? Some sort of falling out and parting of ways between the club and he? I don't know about that, but I do notice all his releases are scrubbed from the Ostgut Ton Bandcamp page. Whatever, I'm here to review a DJ mix from before all that.

Marcel opens his set with over-dubbed vocals, then explodes into shimmery synths that... okay, isn't trance, but sure is a lot more melodic than anything I'd expected from techno in those days. You got my attention, Mr. Fengler. Oh, you're doing the minimal thing for a bit after, aren't you. Well, it's acidy and dubby, crunchy minimal techno – the vintage Berghain sound – so that's fine by me. Sweet, there's even an L.B. Dub Corp rub worked in there too. I sure likes me some L.B. Dub Corp, so rare as it is.

From there, things settle into more of a Detroit groove, or Europeans trying to do a Detroit groove. Just kidding, there's some authentic Motor City alum in this mix too, such as Claude Young (though hanging out with Japanese guys by this point) and, uh... Okay, for some reason, I thought acts like Skudge and Ben Sims hailed from this side of the Atlantic, but I was wrong. Don't matter, there's enough spacey future-funk and techno-stomp in this set to fake it until they make it (to DEMF). And hey, there's a Convextion track to end on, long before when Gerald Hanson properly unearthed the project. That counts close to a proper Detroit closer, don't it?

Planetary Assault Systems - Arc Angel

Ostgut Ton: 2016

It's not that I became so enamoured with The Messenger that I just had to get Arc Angel right after. Like, surely if that album wooed me so, I'd have dug into the past of Planetary Assault Systems albums - say the more highly regarded Temporary Suspension, or even all the way back to The Drone Sector. Nay, I simply felt if I was gonna' pop my head ears-first into Luke Slater's recent music, I may as well double up my purchases, and Arc Angel was right there to greet me (also: L.B. Dub Corp ...hey, a new album from that project too? Oh, no Bandcamp option. Pity).

Still, I feared a double-LP of minimal techno would end up overkill, too much monotonous rhythms and non-existent melodies to endure. For sure I had some faith that it wouldn't be a bunch of plinky-plonk wank – 2016 is well removed from that era of dreadfully tedious 'minimal' – but even seventy-three minutes of utilitarian Berghain tools is just too much for a home-listening experience. In a dank, sweaty warehouse with lights low, booze cheap, and pills pure, yeah, let's have eight hours of the stuff!

And yet, I somehow found myself enthralled by Arc Angel for its duration. Don't get me wrong, it is a fairly one-note album, each track essentially doing the same thing throughout. Relentless, cavernous techno rhythms, deep sub-bass frequencies that you don't so much hear but feel (proper sound-system a must), and loopy, bleepy sounds serving as the hook for the worms in your ear. Slater made mention that he wanted this album to have more of a melodic focus, which seems odd for a collection of minimal techno, almost a betrayal of its ethos. Plus, these aren't exactly jingles you can hum in the shower, melody more of an abstract idea than anything conventional.

Melodic is what Arc Angel is though, after its own fashion. While I'm certain creative DJs have used some of these tracks in their sets, I don't get a sense these were strictly intended as clubbing tools. If Slater wanted to make those, he'd release them as EPs, and the smattering of records coming out in the same time frame as Arc Angel had nothing featured from here.

Ultimately, I feel Luke's goal was achieved, for no other reason than this is a solid home-listening collection of minimal techno. Absolutely it helps the 2CD outing has various ambient-drone Interlude doodles to break up any monotony, but even beyond that, I find myself lost in a hypnotic headspace more than feeling an urge to move my body (much less hit the skip button). I'd still prefer a couple explorations outside this particular strict genre exercise, but if I want to hear that from Slater, there's plenty of aliases and projects of his that do the trick. Like that new L.B. Dub Corp album, Side Effects. Surely that's on Spotify, yeah? Yeah! Mmm, dubby tech-house with none of that German haus business.

Planetary Assault Systems - The Messenger

Ostgut Ton: 2011

I recall a fair bit of joy when Luke Slater announced he was dusting off his Planetary Assault Systems project a decade ago. We were in peak 'minimal', see, and fans of that ol' school, 4am bangin' techno were left wanting. Their former heroes were chasing 'class' and 'sophistication' (and big bank) in fancy Ibizan clubs and European lofts rather than tearing that shit out in grimy warehouses and dank basement clubs, the former glory of techno's renegade roots all but a historical footnote. Why, even psy trance had more underground cred in the late '00s, despite crossover stars like Infected Mushroom in their camps! Of course, things would eventually work their way back to the Dungeons of Detroit Doof, but it needed someone with some clout to start the mass migration back to the holy land. Or an abandoned power station in Berlin, that'll do.

Ostgut Ton and their various DJs and producers (Shed, Dettmann, Klock) got the ball rolling, but when Luke Slater joined their roster with a returning Planetary Assault Systems album (Temporary Suspension), it gave the young label that all-important veteran cred purists demand. Already responsible for some of techno's toughest classic records of the '90s, Slater had seemingly mothballed the project in favour of seeking his own limelight. That didn't turn out as he planned though, so what better way to reassess one's career than to go back to the scene that nurtured your rise in the first place? Lucky for him there was a fledgling label and club that had an ear for that type of techno already going.

I did check out Temporary Suspension, initially coming away thinking there wasn't that much different in there than was going on with 'minimal' techno abroad. I have no idea what daft nonsense was going through my head at that point though, 'cause taking another listen recently, that would totally have been the type of techno I'd be down for in ye' olde year of 2009.

Fast forward a couple years, and the cavernous Berghain sound has overtaken all forms of techno as the One True Techno all others must follow (suck it, m_nus!). Yeah, it's still technically 'minimal', but not so dry and sterile as before – at worst, you could say it's just functional 4am weapons. And that's what The Messenger comes off as to me, another collection of utility tools for the 2011 crowds. Save a couple chill explorations (opener Railer, Movement 12), these tracks are all business, establishing mood and atmosphere straight away, and riding their established rhythms over spaced-out blips 'n bell tones, dubby effects, and percolating drum kits. The first half is the headier portion of the album, while the back-end unleashes a few feral beasts for the sweatiest moments of a night out. Like a lot of this brand of techno though, it all makes better sense while in the throes of massive sound-system reverberating off concrete walls rather than a typical apartment setting. High-end headphones help in a pinch.

L.B. Dub Corp - Unknown Origin

Ostgut Ton: 2013

L.B. Dub Corp is Luke Slater, whom I've mentioned in the past as being a Very Important Person in the world of techno, primarily for his work as Planetary Assault Systems. Following the turn of the century, however, he put that project on hiatus, focusing his attention elsewhere (DJing, label managing, misplaced stabs at crossover material). During this period, he released a couple EPs cashing in on that trendy dub techno action of the mid-'00s, this here alias its outlet. They didn't garner much attention, and L.B. Dub Corp would likely have been left a footnote within Mr. Slater's discography.

At the start of this decade though, Luke signed a deal with techno tastemaker Ostgut Ton, reviving P.A.S. in the process. Folks got super-hype in his output after that, giving him enough clout with the Berghain print to release more material from his side project too, the result of which being this here debut L.B. Dub Corp album Unknown Origin. And a good thing too, because we can always use more music in the Bandulu stylee these days.

Wait, isn't L.B. Dub Corp a dub techno thing, as is in the Basic Channel stylee? At first, yes, when doing Basic Channel clones was all cool an' hip, but there's plenty of those, and Slater wasn't adding much to the discourse making it. Nah, 'tis a far better thing to do, exploring the tribal side of dub techno when so few ever do anymore.

And Luke doesn't waste time letting you know where this album's heading. Opener Take A Ride gets in on a shuffly, broken dub rhythm with husky whispers uttered from famed rasta poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Nearly Africa and Ever And Forever lay out a bobbin', minimalist grooves, echoing chants, dubby pianos, and spaced-out synth leads. Elsewhere, L.B.'s Dub offers up some vintage heavy Bandulu rhythms, while No Trouble In Paradise inches things back to the lands of Detroit without ever losing that tribal dub fell. To close out with I Have A Dream, an opulent tribal-dub sermon with Zephaniah preaching celebrating multiculturalism, I can't think of a better vibe to end a record on. Shame Mr. Slater doesn't, then.

Four more tracks take us out of Unknown Origin, but they don't have much in common with the Afro-tekno that cames before. Turner's House and Generation To Generation stick to classic Detroit vibes, while Any Time Will Be OK reminds us that L.B. Dub Corp was a serious dub techno project at one point. Roller with Function sounds like a something initially intended for the P.A.S. albums, but contains enough of a dubby, tribal thrum to warrant inclusion here. None of these are deal breakers for this record, just less interesting paths taken compared to the unconventional roads the first half of explored. Considering we haven't seen any new L.B. Dub Corp material in the half-decade since Unknown Origin's release, maybe this was all Luke needed to make to satisfy that Afro-dub techno itch he had niggling at his muse.

Marcel Dettmann - Translation EP

Ostgut Ton: 2011

Marcel Dettman, kinda’-sorta’ Important Person in the world of techno, has put out a fair share of EPs in his decade long career. I mentioned in my previous trip into his music that most agree he’s better suited to that format, his style of German-functionalist club music not one intended for sitting back at home with tea and crumpets. And I wonder if that’s what’s kept luring me back to hear his stuff, hoping to get that sense of mental transference whilst lost in his thudding rhythms, imagining myself in the throes of a legendary Berghain set I’ll never get to experience myself. Or maybe I will, if that pilgrimage to Berlin ever manifests itself. But why would I want to go all the way to Germany just to stand in line for a while, potentially being turned away when my Canadianism blatantly signals me as a tourist? They don’t like them kind ‘round Berghain, so’s I’ve head. And with so much culture to take in those lands, my time would be better served checking out other famed locales. Does Tresor still have cool techno nights? Maybe I’d luck out with a throwback Omen party! Mmm, vintage German trance…

So nay, my only hopes for the Methodical Dettmann Experience (also the name of my experiential lo-fi indie-skweee jam band) is to live vicariously through the singles he supplies. Or maybe those DJ mix CDs he puts out on market that I’ve yet to actually pick up. Why haven’t I done that yet? Reviews of them have been mostly positive, even among the staunchest critics who never got bit by the Berghain bug. Maybe I should… No, no! I’ve got enough backlog already, the last thing I need to do is add more to it. Control, control, I must learn control!

Like the sort of control I exhibited back in 2011, when my buying habits were rather skint due to lack of interest in the new and (then) now. That Dettmann fella’ though, he had some interesting music, and while I didn’t find his debut album much to get fussed about, he showcased a sound worth keeping tabs on should he move beyond the rote-loop techno-tool style of music making. It works wonders as set pieces, no doubt, and it’s always those Dettmann moments in techno mixes that kept me checking further, to hear what else he might come up with if given room to stretch.

I’ll find no answers with Translation EP though, another tidy collection of tidy loop-techno head thumpers that run between a tidy five and six minutes with little variation between. The first track, Barrier, hinted at something more, with moody, bass-heavy techno-drone and astro-chatter. Ooh, actual concept! Nope, Translation One and bleepy Translation Two going about as toolly as techno goes, though One does have some nice flange on its percussion. Last track Planning has a herky-jerky thing happening, mostly plonky and annoying for its duration. Not the techno I wished for, lad.

Scuba - Sub:Stance

Ostgut Ton: 2010

Sub:Stance may as well be the turning point of Scuba's career, going from dubstep darling to tech-house tease. True, the hints didn't come to fruition for another couple years after this CD, but the very fact he's palling around with Ostgut Ton, they of Serious Technos Only acts like Surgeon, Shed, Klock, and Dettmann, had to give some signs of his future developments. Okay, there’s also the nugget of Mr. Rose hailing from Berlin, thus likely having ties with the Berghain posse regardless. It’s a pairing that was all but inevitable, what with Scuba's early techno dystopian approach to UK bass music.

What I find most interesting is that it was with Ostgut Ton that he made his commercial DJ mix CD debut in the first place. Why not do it on his own Hotflush print? Too many licensing issues? A friendly favour? Come to think of it, most of his mixes have been online efforts (podcasts, streamers, Boiler Room rinse-outs), this and DJ-Kicks about all he has for hard copy options (and a Mixmag offering, but who cares about those). Maybe he’ll do a Balance or fabric one soon, since he’s all about that house now.

In 2010 though, Mr. Rose was still mixing in the heady post-dubstep tuneage, with many of the trendy names of the time getting a look in. There’s Sigha, Pangaea, Shackleton, Mount Kimbie, James Blake, and Joy Orbison, including his one big track everyone wouldn’t stop playing back then, Hyph Mngo. Man, looking at that list, it’s like reading a super-hip indie write-up from back then, dropping names and proclaiming this is the future of music, forward-thinking while honouring the past’s influences. Dubstep was moving on from its inner-London roots, ready to take on all urban locales with techno hand-in-hand, Scuba seemingly ready to play the part of lead and general. Then a Skrillex happened overnight and changed everything. Oh well.

Meanwhile, Sub:Stance does a good job of providing various rugged rhythms and deep basslines. Scuba runs the gamut from minimalist dub (Sigha’s Early Morning Lights, Badawi’s Anlan 7) to UK garage nods (Joy Orbison’s two cuts, George Fitzgerald’s Don’t You), and technobass beasts (Surgeon’s Klonk Pt. 4, Untold’s No-One Likes A Smart Arse, Intra:Mental’s Voyeur), with plenty of abstract broken-beats spread throughout (James Blake’s rub of Mount Kimbie’s Maybes, Ramadanman’s Tempest). As with his DJ-Kicks set, the mixes are quick and surgical, tracks seldom lasting longer than three minutes with only their key features utilized. No sense dawdling on repetitive loops and pointless drum programming, right?

Another similarity to that future mix is ending with an unabashed, hands in the air anthem, in this case Joker’s Psychedelic Runway. Given how heads-down and dark Sub:Stance generally is, it’s shocking hearing such garrish synths and cock-rockin’ rave riffs set to a standard dubstep break. Though considering Scuba ended his Boiler Room set with Madonna’s Vogue, I suspect he can’t help but go for the cheeky climax every time. I will always approve of such shenanigans.

Tobias. - A Series Of Shocks

Ostgut Ton: 2014

I got this when it first came out, a rather rare occurrence for CDs outside my label comfort zone. The samples intrigued me though, and I figured I could review an actual recent release with a bit of hype for a change. Sure, my alphabetical stipulation placed it some distance from my then-current letter 'M', but surely I'd reach 'S' only a little later in the year. And here we are fifteen months since Tobias dropped his third LP. Um, a few unanticipated albums popped up in my collection during that time.

Still, A Series Of Shocks had enough buzz it should be a relevant album for discussion even at this late point. It’s Ostgut f’n Ton, after all, and everything they put it is Very Important Musics. Yeah, funny thing that. I don’t know how it happened, but the Berghain posse doesn’t command quite the same level of acclaim anymore. As always, I’ve a couple theories for this, one of which is interest in the über-elite club brand has waned, new audiences disinterested in their jib. On the other hand, there’s been a noticeable stylistic shift at the Ostgut camps of late, allowing things like trancey arpeggios and real melody into their repertoire after so many years of crushing warehouse techno. I, for one, welcome this development, but perhaps others aren’t so keen on it. Finally, look at what came out shortly after A Series Of Shocks: Tycho’s Awake, Todd Terje’s It’s Album Time, Efdemin’s Decay, and Vermont’s self-titled release. Poor ol’ Tobias couldn’t help but get lost in all the critical hype that went to those LPs in the following month. Let’s backtrack to that second point though. While I do admire Ostgut’s brand of audiophile techno, it isn’t something I typically seek out because it’s often just too darn tracky – tools for use on optimum club systems and not for lounging back with tea and crumpets.

Yet, with an ambient opener (Entire) that harkens back to the krautrock doodling days of trippy synth work, it’s clear Tobias has something more in mind that another round of dark bangers. Second cut Heartbeat is pretty much a neo-trance tune, a little more minimalist than Petar Dundov goes but just as groovy, hypnotic, and all that good stuff of the pseudo-genre. Elsewhere, you have dub techno loopers transmitting from deep space in Fast Null, The Scheme Of Things, and Ya Po, with a little droning dub fromTestcard for good measure. Adding some variety to the album is spritely Detroit techno track Cursor Item Only and tempered breaks action from If. Finally, your Berghain-ready weapons come care of burbling acid workout Instant and pure thumper He Said.

Of course, if you just don’t care for the cavernous sound design Mr. Freund employs, A Series Of Shocks may not be of much interest. Unlike so much of techno of this sort, however, there’s enough going on here that I’ve no problem throwing this on the home system. Fair warning to the neighbours.

Nick Höppner - Folk

Ostgut Ton: 2015

Mark Knopfler is a very important person in the world of rock music. Having cemented his legacy with the Dire Straits (Money For Nothing, Sultans Of Swing, many more), he's forged ahead with a solid solo career too. Argh, I'm doing it again! Every time I see Nick Höppner’s name, my brain tricks me into registering it as ‘Mark Knopfler’. There's a few similarities between the two, but not so much I should be suffering from whatever this short-cut cognitive response is called (help me out, psychologists reading this by happenstance!). My only answer to this mystery is that ol' Nick is such a new name in music to my eyes that my brain can't help but think this letter arrangement is associated with one I’ve longer familiarity with. So, Mr. Höppner, if you're reading this, get making more music pronto, and expunge Mr. Knopfler from my grey matter. Or, you know, because you make some darn fine tunes too.

This may be my first exposure to his name, but Höppner’s been active in the Berlin-based DJ for some time now. Along with Lee Jones and Carsten Klemann, he saw some success in the last half of the ‘00s as My My, releasing deep house, tech-house, and minimal deep-tech house, because of course. Jones and Höppner have since settled into solo careers, with ol’ Nick finding a home at Ostgut Ton, mostly falling lock-step with their brand of bunker techno and house. It comes with some surprise then, that his debut album Folk has a remarkable amount of melody in it. Why, some of it could even be-

Okay, probably not, but with plenty of hypnotic groove, gated synths, and flowing pad work, you can’t blame a guy for getting a ‘tee-are’ vibe on this one. There’s been a fair bit of techno getting in touch with its lighter side this decade, undoubtedly thanks to the almighty power of retro when the genre was comfortable with fun future-funk as it was painting dystopias. With cover art as chintzy as Folk’s, you can tell Mr. Höppner didn’t want his first LP an are serious techno outing, though he does allow for some menace in the thumping Grind Show.

Instead, Paws shuffles with a subdued shimmering synth line, Mirror Image has a charming, gaudy lounge vibe, Airway Management cruises high altitudes with broken beats, and Rising Overheads has no shame in reaching for those lasers. Elsewhere Mr. Höppner goes to his breaded butter of tech-house on the deeper side (Relate, No Stealing, Come Closer), though even these often float on blissy, Balearic pads. The only cut on Folk that goes for the tough, warehouse business is Out Of, which adds some welcome spice to an otherwise mellow album.

Even if you’re not in the market for tech-house, I recommend giving Nick Höppner’s first LP a go. There’s much to enjoy within its tidy nine-track runtime, and is a far better electronic album than Mark Knopfler would make.

Marcel Dettmann - Dettmann

Ostgut Ton: 2010

Marcel Dettmann isn’t a very important person in the world of techno, but he does regularly DJ at Berghain, the most important techno club in the universe. I guess that makes him a little important by association, but compared to the other Ostgut Ton guys, he doesn’t receive quite as much hype. Oh, there’s still hype - it’s Berg F’n Hain, after all - just more subdued compared to the likes of Ben Klock or Shed.

Subdued. Yeah, that's a good way to describe his debut album. Dark and stark? Hmm, that's not bad either. Abstract, enveloping, and spacious. Ooh, choice journalistic words there. Tedious and pointless. Well, after a fashion.

Let's get to the point. This is a loop dub techno album at its most functional. Every track starts with basic four-to-eight bar segments of sound and percussion, then repeats them for around five-to-six minutes. Then they end. Nothing more, nothing less. There's little tension or release in any of these cuts. Melody? Don't be daft. This are serious techno. Real warehouse hardware, or some faceless bollocks.

Okay, okay, it's not all monotonous loops. Dettmann does add and subtract things throughout, with neat reverb and echo effects scattered about. The bass is also wonderfully cavernous, each kick enveloping you (there's that word again!) as though reverberating off warehouse walls. Occasionally something draws my attention into the loopy nature of these tracks: the droning pads of Motive (it's almost trance!), the grumbling bassline of Reticle, or the funky rhythm of Captivate. Plus, the roomy sound design gives those with quality audio equipment much to gush about. It makes all that money I sprung for Sennheiser 650s, HeadRoom Micro Amp, and HeadRoom Micro DAC seem worth it. Mind, so does a lot of music now, and they also sound okay coming from my shit Acer whocareswhatmodel computer speakers. Not the stuff on Dettmann though, but that's a pointless argument as these tracks were clearly made with techno fetishists in mind, proper listening gear and all.

I've heard Dettmann's regarded as a better EP producer, and if this release's anything to go by, I firmly agree with that assessment. Despite the presence of an intro and an outro, this is not structured as an album; no narrative, no flow. Perhaps a little rise in energy as it progresses, but you could play these in random order and the listening experience wouldn't change much. Dettmann's a collection of singles, with him coming off as the very epitome of a DJ-producer who knows exactly what works for the dancefloor, but not so much for a home listening experience.

There's still some enjoyment to be had playing this at home, if anything for the sound design. Essential listening though? Not at all, no matter what the Ostgut Ton cult proclaim. Then again, even they seem to have already forgotten about this release, creaming their shorts over the latest Shed or Klock material instead. They are very important persons in the world of techno, after all.