(Novamute/EMI)

It’s an oft-remarked thing that the more minimal end of techno is experiencing a distinct renaissance right now, with the likes of Mathew Johnson, Andreas Trentemoller and Matthew ‘Audion’ Dear leading the charge as more minimal sounds have steadily infiltrated the larger rooms, not in the least due to the more open-minded music policies of clubs such as London’s Fabric. Throughout all of this, Richie Hawtin has remained perhaps minimal techno’s most visible and easily recognisable ‘face’, adeptly balancing his A-list international DJ status with underground credibility as he’s continued to release both DJ mix and artist productions under his own name and as the highly-feted alter ego Plastikman, an outlet he’s maintained since the early Plus-8 days alongside the likes of John Acquaviva in the early nineties. This latest instalment in Hawtin’s ongoing ‘DE9’ mix series sees the Canadian-born and now Berlin-based DJ / producer doing his best to push the limits of the DJ mix out even further than on previous chapters ‘Decks, EFX and 909’ (1999) and ‘DE9: Closer To The Edit’ (2001) by using a combination of Pro Tools and Ableton Live software to strip down and reassemble the original tracks present in the mix to create a completely ‘new’ and constantly shifting collage of hyper-precise edits. Perhaps most controversially, he’s also given each of the separate tracks making up this mix his own new title, a decision he acknowledges ‘may piss off some’, but which is intended to reflect the fact that these original tracks have during the editing process become ‘something else new.’ Certainly on paper this already sounds highly technical and impressive, but in the case of ‘DE9: Transitions’, Hawtin has also taken advantage of the 5.1 audio possibilities of the DVD format to create a mix that is not simply limited to the X & Y (volume & amplitude) planes of sound, but also the Z (depth) axis, resulting in a fully-encompassing sound environment.

To this end, ‘DE9: Transitions’ arrives as a combined CD /DVD edition, with the full 28 track, 96 minute mix included in 5.1 audio on the DVD half alongside interview sections and live footage of Hawtin at Germany’s ‘Time Warp’ electronic music festival, while the accompanying audio CD half features a slightly cut-down version of the full DVD mix, with 21 tracks presented in standard stereo format over 75 minutes. Although it’s arguable that the audio CD section perhaps offers a fraction of the DVD mix’s full sonic spectrum, it certainly captures Hawtin’s hyper-detailed edit approach in full flight, with many of the original tracks fused into completely new incarnations, and in some cases right down to a single rhythmic element or sampled note. ‘Welcomm(in)’ opens proceedings with the roar of jet engines slowly giving way to gently pulsing metallic tones, the distant muted thud of minimal techno beats and sparkling trebly dubbed-out sounds as it fuses together elements of no less than four different original tracks by Mika Vainio, Sleeparchive, Stefan Goldman and Hawtin himself into a single streamlined slice of propulsive micro-techno. From the outset, it’s also fairly clear that although there’s certainly a distinct rhythmic pulse present throughout the entirety of the mix, the marked lean towards intricate detail rather than dancefloor ballast would seem to suggest that ‘DE9: Transitions’ is geared far more towards serious deep headphone / home listening than making your feet move. There’s certainly plenty of satisfying crunch still packed in there however, with ‘Seiltanzer’ slowly bringing chaotic cybernetic percussion hits beneath duelling static bursts and ominously humming tones in a densely detailed collision of intricate sonic layering and strobing washes of white noise, while ‘We (All) Search’ drops in clipped-sounding vocal samples that hark back to early Cybotron over an undulating backdrop of wandering synthetic bass tones and robotic metallic rhythms and squelching electronic noises. ‘Tonarzt’ sits closer to the dark minimal tech-funk of Matthew Dear’s ‘Audion’ alter ego, with sinister ringing tones sliding against a backdrop of jacking techno rhythms and buzzing bass noise, before ‘The Tunnel’ takes things even further out towards ominous darkness, with howling stretched-out tones echoing behind a dense mesh of elastic snares and zapping traces of near-acid squelch and the tautly-rhythmic ‘Where Is Mayday?’ strips things right back to intersecting volleys of micro-edited tribal snares, corkscrewing digital tones and distant alarm-siren flashes of electronics. Finally, ‘The Hole’ and ‘Decaying Beauty’ bring the CD section of this mix to a close, with urgent handclap-laden rhythms and relentless percussive elements rising into sharp focus around a vast backdrop of gently pulsing melodic tones as glacial synthetic drones echo off into the distance, ending this mix in an atmosphere of serene calm that’s subtly coloured with minimal jazzy soul, courtesy of the softly noodling keys in the background.

If you have the necessary audio configuration at your disposal, the 5.1 DVD extended 95 minute mix certainly offers more than its fair share of surround sound-related thrills, though personally the biggest one for me was the accompanying visual representation of the mix in motion, with each original track element being introduced, edited and manipulated graphically, thus enabling the viewer to get a truly in-depth view of the production process followed by Hawtin during the creation of ‘DE9: Transitions.’ Apart from the entire 5.1 audio mix, the DVD section also includes a couple of music videos for ‘The Tunnel’ and ‘We (All) Search’ as well as an interview with Hawtin that all come across as a little bit on the pretentious side (witness the unintentionally hilarious rotating multiple Hawtin heads that keep orbiting throughout the entire interview section), but this is fairly nicely balanced out by the inclusion of a condensed video section of Hawtin’s set at this year’s ‘Time Warp’ in Germany, that once again lets the music do the talking. ‘DE9: Transitions’ shows Hawtin taking advantage of advancing technology to push the DJ mix boat out even further, and while this release certainly has some ambitious conceits behind it, in this case he’s pulled it off smoothly resulting in a listening experience that points one way forward. Recommended.

Check out http://www.novamute.com and http://www.richiehawtin.com.