Basic Channel – Q 1.1

Picked this up the other day, I know, I know a little late for most the Dub Techno guys out there but I've been more of a Detroit Techno fan more than any other genre. I have to say this record works perfect on a floor, in headphones, in the car, a small bar or on a club system. The original mix is by far my favorite, it sucks you in and pulls you back out again and virtually can be mixed with any genre of music. I still can't believe this was made all the way back in 1993, it has a sound 20 years ahead of its time and still counting, totally genius.

Of all the alias Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald used over the course of their Basic Channel period, their work as Quadrant remains my favorite. It doesn't delve as deeply into the abstraction as Radiance, nor does it have the frenetic, almost overpowering energy of some of their other tracks. It strikes me as a perfect balance of tempo, timbre, and tone. "Q 1.1" uses plenty of the same dub echos and the form is as minimal and repetitive as one would expect, but the tones are actually more focused allowing a dark harmony to creep through the the wash of drums and echo. Perhaps "Q1.1/I" is not entirely representative of the Basic Channel sound, but I still think it's the single greatest track they've ever done (with Phylyps Rmx a close second).

The next two tracks use the same source material, but things become a bit more murky and the harmonies of the first track get buried in an aural cloud. By the time we reach the brief fourth track, the drums have all but disappeared and the faint remnants of the original are all that are left. Listening to all four tracks in succession gives the listener a chance to witness the deconstruction of a focused idea into abstraction.

To those new to Basic Channel, I would highly recommend starting here for a number of reasons. It's probably one of BC's most easily accessible releases. The extended 20-minute tracks such as "Inversion" and "Presence" are great, but can be a bit daunting and difficult to digest without proper context. Basic Channel is not for everyone. The greatness is in the details. If one tunes the music out, it begins to all run together and a ten-minute track can you by without seeming to change at all. It requires the listener to be actively engaged with the music, as does so much experimental music. Yes, it does work on a gut level with rhythms that you can't help but groove to, but this is only a portion of its power. If you have some idea of what to expect, or if you're a techno fan looking for something new, give this a shot.