Abolish any preconceived ideas about mix albums.
This isn't just a collection of tracks, however underground, or cleverly mixed. There's no single track here that's instantly recognisable, because this is a mix album that is truly unique, and quite unlike any other that has gone before it. Bits and pieces sound vaguely familiar, yet the entirety is completely new. Welcome to the future.
Almost like a scientist searching for a new life form, Richie has torn apart over 100 tracks, and stripped them down to their basic components.
He's rebuilt the tracks from a collection of over 300 loops he created from these raw materials, binding them together with effects and edits. The result is a seamless 53 minute groove, that ebbs and flows through over 70 tracks and 31 ID points, which represent the recreation of those loops.
What is so striking about the album is that although the sound is very minimal on the surface, it is extremely rich and complex underneath. It's also tremendously warm, and very funky throughout. There's nothing cold, harsh, or clinical about it.
The overall sound is unique to Richie Hawtin. Baby Ford and Zip morphs with Steve Bug's 'At The Front'. Snippets of Plastikman mingle with shards of Carl Craig before colliding with Paul Hester, but the tracks are almost unrecognisable from their original form. They've taken on new identities. Stripped naked and hidden away in a barren electronic soundscape, they occasionally come forward, showing only their best sides. It's techno, in a very pure form.
With 'DE9', Richie Hawtin has truly set a new standard that takes the art of the DJ to a completely different level. It's inspiring, and puts forward a challenge. It represents a bold, new frontier for dance music.
This time, the boundaries have not just been pushed to the limit, they've been completely shattered.
