Various Artists
Plus 8 Classics 1990-1997
[Plus 8]
Rating: 7.7
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