In the seven years of its existence, Richie Hawtin's Plus 8 label came to be one of the most crucial of pure techno labels. But if I had a techno outfit, having a 12" released on Underground Resistance would be more ego-massaging than Plus 8 picking up my squelching scorcher.

With partner John Aquaviva, Hawtin cherry-picked the foremost in Detroit-style cyber-sheened techno. It was Plus 8 that introduced the world to Speedy J, Vapourspace, the Kooky Scientist, and Hawtin's own abstract acid alter ego, Plastikman. Most of the label's releases can rightly be called classics. For instance, Vapourspace's Gravitational Arch of Ten remains one of the most soulful of all techno records. And who could not be wowed by Kenny Larkin's sumptuous bleep-n-beat roller, "Colony?"

These three compilation discs break down the seven years of Plus 8's existence, there's a definite sense of a house style that comes with listening to them in succession. Hawtin's roster kept to the cyber-Detroit blueprint drawn up by Juan Atkins and Derrick May. In the label's life, it didn't deviate like Warp or Rephlex. Not that deviating is in any way an unsound strategy. Immersing yourself in these compilations, you're without doubt immersing yourself in an unmistakable, immaculately constructed vision of the future.

Talking about purity is a particularly pitfall-laden pastime, but it's to be said that from Cybersonik's "Technarchy" to Theorem's "Mantra One" Plus 8 delivered consistently pure product. Come to think even harder about it, Plus 8 tracks, in some ways, are remixes of each other. And, yes, just like any Dr. Moreau-type experimentation, the Plus 8 catalog does have a few mutations and chimeras. But unlike chimeras in the natural world, they're more than welcome in art. Hawtin's own "Substance Abuse" (recorded under his FUSE moniker) is one such luridly fascinating aberration, and the soundclash between FUSE and LFO (merely titled "Loop") pretty much constructed the ideal filtered loop track that so many have been borrowing from since.

But the masterpiece on these discs is certainly Plastikman's "Spastik." Created with nothing more than a epileptic drum machine, the track is like having a synchronized helicopter display team waltz and tango around your brain. It's like Bach's Goldberg Variations, or Steve Reich's Music for Twelve Musicians, in that it explores all possibilities within a given musical constraint, whether that be Baroque aria, American minimalism, or Detroit techno. If for nothing else, Hawtin will long be revered for "Spastik."

After Hawtin closed up Plus 8 in 1997, he established M_Nus, an outlet for minimal, highly textured, less club-orientated material. Was he biding his time? Is the world now ready for the return of Plus 8? Ah, what the hell, when shit's this good, bring it on, anyway!

-Paul Cooper