Plastikman

Richie Hawtin's trajectory through outer-Detroit Techno history has brought him closer and closer to detail and subtlety in sound. From Windsor, Ontario, just across the water and border from Detroit, Richie Hawtin's output as Plastikman has always been an austere approach to an already dry, refined sound. Over time, Plastikman's minimalist dance tracks became a study in beat minutia; each track like a page from Gray's Anatomy of rhythm. His music is a sublime soundtrack for deep contemplation and ecstatic escape. While his music is architecturally spacious, it is like wandering in a dark, empty warehouse that feels claustrophobic as your footfalls create slow slap-back and time and space lose reference. His muted beats and distant drones approach the level of self-contained musical tautologies that repeat and reinstate simple phrases with only minor, almost imperceptible changes. This space is far from the 4/4 bombast, but it is still organic and resonant. You can still feel it in your body.