Basic Channel

The 12-inches started slipping into circulation in '93. Housed in stark white sleeves, their labels were speckled with lo-res images of broken chromosomes and words like "Octagon," "Phylyps Trak" and "Inversion." Few bought 'em. And those who did had no idea who was behind such an incredible fusion of techno, dub and fuzzy decay: What is this Basic Channel? And where does it come from? Of course, the intervening years have solved one of techno's great mysteries -- but they haven't tempered the music's allure. Like Iggy & the Stooges, the German production duo of Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald (aka Maurizio) is far more revered now than in the mid '90s. Although Basic Channel only released about nine sides in two years, they essentially established minimal techno as a genre. At the same time, virtually none of their followers have ever matched Von Oswald and Ernestus' conceptual force and rhythmic intensity. Basic Channel really sound like nothing else, and that's fine by them. The Berlin-based producers are notoriously guarded about their music-making processes. After retiring the B.C. moniker in 1995, the duo continued to produce mind-blowing jams as Rhythm & Sound.