Closer [Import]

Plastikman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 20, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Import
• Label: Mute
• ASIN: B0000C8WZJ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,310 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ask Yourself

2. Mind Encode

3. Lost

4. Disconnect

5. Slow Poke [Twilight Zone Mix]

6. Headcase

7. Ping Pong

8. Mind in Rewind

9. I No

10. I Don't Know

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Headphone Commute Review, December 25, 2008

By 

Headphone Commute - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closer (Audio CD)

This flashback is supposed to be another installmanet of my Random Vinyl of the Week series. But I'm already cheating... A little bit... I did indeed pull out this triple twelve-incher from my vast record library (the correct term is discothèque, right?). But it is still shrink wrapped! You can't expect me to break the seal on this collector's item, can you? And, of course, I have a CD version of this 2003 album right here. Plus the disk release contains four extra tracks! So back it goes, whence it came from, to age and marinate some more. Meanwhile, Richie Hawtin is already thumping, laying out some mean bass over reverberated strings. I turn up the volume. I always turn up the volume for Plastikman. Hawtin's control over dynamic range of cranium vibrating bass, and tiny little white noises in the background always creates a hypnotic experience. The pitched down, evil, and creepy Hawtin's voice is reciting some dark lyrics: "I don't know what's left to gain / All the guilt and now the blame / I don't want to stop this game / I'm starting to enjoy the pain." The rolling lower frequencies are penetrating every nook of my studio. The light bulbs are shaking in their sockets. Something just fell in the deep cavern of my closet. Closer is an intense experience, with little release, like an involuntary muscle spasm induced by an alternating current. The themes of paranoia, schizophrenia, and claustrophobia saturate the music. Is this what we get when we get closer to Hawtin? The album tends to continue the discomforting ground work laid out in Plastikman's previous minimal release, Consumed (M_nus, 1998). Moving further away from staple sound of 909 repetitive techno beats, 303 acid sweeps, never ending delays and mind warping arpeggios, Ontario based Hawtin continues his exploration into the deep, the dark and the minimal. A lot of people have dismissed Plastikman as just another speck in the Detroit techno scene of the early 90s, being in the right place at the right time. And at times I wonder if his sound is only exciting because I've been listening to his earlier albums, Sheet One (1993), Musik (1994), and Recycled Plastik (1994) nonstop back in the 90s. But as I mature, revisit, and analyze the sound [which continues to be imitated by many up and comers], I think Richie is here to stay. Even if we haven't heard from him in over five years! Hawtin's owned Canadian labels, Plus 8 and M_nus continue to thrive and output some solid material. For a quick taste of 2008 releases check out Heartthrob's Dear Painter, Paint Me and Gaiser's Blank Fade.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Plastikman haunts, enlightens and grooves., December 10, 2003

By 

Thomas Hicks "T" (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closer (Audio CD)

Richie Hawtin (Plastikman) has been one of the leading electronic music djs and produces for over a decade. His Plastkiman albums tend to be moody and minimal, often intermingled with unsettling sounds. Closer is no exception. Richie Hawtin excels at writing minimal music that grabs you, shakes you and that wont let you go; like an acid trip.
Richie Hawtin, on Closer, explores the epistomological problems of existence; particularly in songs like I don't Know and Ask Yourself. These songs are rich with 'acid aphorisms'; phrases he asks his own psyche, that we ask yourselves in moments of deep contemplation.
This is an excellent album for those looking for more than the usual over-produced dance music. Those willing to ask the difficult questions of existence. Those you want to shake their ass to great minimal techno.
Richie Hawtin has again successfully pushed the envelope of electronic music compostion.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dans la lignée Tiger Sushi, January 20, 2005

By 

"hulexback" (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closer (Audio CD)

Album très intéressant et aussi très déroutant, Closer de Plastikman est une expérience auditive en soi. Les six pièces présentes sur l'album sont non-linéaires et s'adressent aux gens très ouverts d'esprit, exigeants (musicalement parlant) et qui veulent entendre ''autre chose''. Ce n'est donc pas à la portée de tout le monde et heureusement! Le style de l'album est très difficile à définir mais je m'essaies tout de même...
Le son est très électronique et porté sur les fréquences basses. Il est, de plus, recommandé, dans la pochette, d'augmenter la basse sur le système de son pour avoir un son optimal et l'entendre de façon originalement planifiée par l'artiste. C'est un son qui absorbe l'esprit, littéralement et qui porte à obsession tellement c'est weird. L'artiste réussi très bien à nous emporter dans son monde. Je recommande toutefois aux acheteurs de se procurer l'album sur support vinyle pour apprécier l'oeuvre à sa juste valeur.
Album pour les vrais amateurs de musique. qui cherchent quelque chose de vraiment interessant.