Mike Dehnert
Framework 2LP
Delsin
2LP version. Berlin-based new school techno producer, DJ and live performer Mike Dehnert releases his first album proper. In just three years, Dehnert has gone from unknown talent to underground hero with (as revered record store Hardwax calls it), his very own "raw techno" sound making waves on labels like his own imprint Fachwerk, hallowed Dutch outlet Clone Basement Series, as well as dub techno stable Echochord Colour, super reticent outlet MD2 and now Delsin, where he finds himself at home amongst the future music of talented cohorts Redshape, A Made Up Sound, Delta Funktionen and more. Framework -- as you'd expect of a man who performs genuinely live for hours, often only ever calling on his own tweaked, edited and skewed productions -- is an uncompromising album made up of pure techno tracks of the sort you'd expect to hear on the dancefloors of places like Berghain or Tresor. They go from pulsing and classic sounding to skipping and glitchy, through greyed-out and sandy via swinging and syncopated but always with a sense of restraint and control whether they are abstract, apocalyptic, atmospheric or whatever else. Drawing from a dusty, dirty toolbox of sounds, the echo-y, cavernous chambers and dusky warehouse aesthetics of Dehnert's moody music betrays the purity and simplicity of his arrangements. Although his records are undeniably functional, at the same time, they are neither nondescript nor forgettable: somehow, through masterful sound designs and an accomplished knack for blending real tension and atmosphere with his obvious Basic Channel and Berghain influences, Mike Dehnert manages to lock you into whatever mood takes his fancy with apparent ease. Make no bones about it (he doesn't), Framework is an album of tracks. Each one is made with various dancefloors in mind, and each is informed by the hundreds of hours Dehnert has spent working away in such places. The results are to-the-point without being unsubtle, each track has a job to do and does so efficiently. Whilst outlining a Framework for his many live sets to come, this debut album also makes for engaging listening and confirms Dehnert to be one of contemporary techno's most exciting current incumbents.
Komaton
have a drum set; the only time I played a real set was in Church! I think I was probably the first bucket boy (kids who drum on plastic buckets to make money on the streets). At 9 or 10 or somethin' I began coming up with ways to make my mom's tupperware sound like a Tama set I was dreaming to have! You know how stereos back then had those big plastic domes as covers for them? Well, that was my kick drum! Sounded pretty good!
