Let me start be saying I generally don't like techno. When I say that, I mean I dislike a lot of the harder, more mechanical stuff that's just abrasive to my ears, and give me a headache. Thankfully, this isn't the case with Sheet One.
Plastikman's Sheet One is considered a minimal techno classic, and it is. Waves of acid, synths, and interesting beats washed over me as I played it, and it struck me as something that can stand up to repeat listens.
The first three songs, Dre, Plasticity and Gak all meld into one another, an amalgamation of tribal drums, lonely sirens and dare I say, psy-trance acid. After a short sample of a man talking, we get into Helikopter, easily the worst song on the album. It's fast, cymbal heavy, and mostly, damn irritating.
After that disapointment, Glob recovers with its deep bass that reminds me of Towers of Dub by the Orb, complete with spacey sound effects and just a hint of acid. The epic Plasiticine is another pre-psy psytrance song, although this time a little slower and more sedate, before launching into the happy Koma, tinged with a flavour of the Orient.
After another short sample track, we reach the most hardcore song on Sheet One, which is Smak. A pounding beat over the top of a creepy synth, it is a wake up call against the relative calmness of the previous songs. With its screaming samples, it sounds like it should be scoring a chase scene in a horror movie.
Overall, it lived up to my expectations, and I will certainly give it a relisten soon, as well as checking out Plastikman's other stuff.
Here is a link to the song Smak:
2 comments:
Of that era Richie Hawtin the one to get for me by a long way is Dimension Intrusion by 'Fuse'. Some dark filler but mcuh more melodic than Plastikman stuff, in the vein of Kraftwerk Man Machine Neon Lights kind of stuff.
Just in case - to emphasise Fuse is Richie Hawtin by another alias. 'Musik' by Plastikman for me is a fair bit superior to Sheet One, much less a dance album. Dimension Intrusion is generally quite a bit warmer vibe though, at least on about half the album.
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