Customer Reviews

Closer

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the newest release from Plastikman. Recently I've gone back to my first love of techno music and was reading on this artist - Richie Hawtin in his Plastikman disguise - to see what was said. Mainly good stuff all round

I decided to pick this one up ( considering it was the cheapest of his releases ( and new as well )) and I have to admit at first I thought " What's all the fuss about this guy then? Because it was difficult because on first listen there's barely anything to hold your attention. And what's more there's only one bass and a drum you'll hear for the whole album. Not very exciting really is it?

Well if you dig deeper into it, if your patience can stay with it, it has more to it. Nokia's mobile coming in on one track ( he makes it sound like if it's coming in on an ocean ) and if you listen VERY closely you'll hear a melody but it is hidden so deep beneath the bassline that most people will think it doesn't exist.

Oh yes and the vocals......well if you can think of a stalker phoning you with his voice distorted then you pretty much get the idea. It adds to the whole effect of what he's actually saying.

Apparently this was recorded when Richie was on the verge of a mental breakdown and given to this I can fully understand this by listening to music. It's quite possibly the most difficult album you'll ever experience because you feel that there's nothing going on really but there's so much more just hidden beneath the surface.

Give it a go but give it time - it's not something you're going to fall in love with instantly but if and when it does it becomes hypnotized. But that's for you to decide

I am always amazed by the difference between the frenetic Richie Hawtin DJ sets and his moody, minimal Plastikman albums. This album exemplifies the difference between his two personalities. There are a few slow tracks that don't grab me but the rest are sensational. When I listen very intellectually to the music I am stunned by how little music there is and yet how great it sounds. Richie has always written long songs that develop so subtley that you hardly notice yourself being sucked in. I abandon the intellect and enjoy the music and celebrate animate life. Richie has used wonderul vocals, effected of course, in the form of acid aphorisms and laments of the demise of his relationship with his girlfriend. Beautiful as always.

Closer continues the legacy of his previous works as with consumed, sheet one, artifacts etc. Though the substantial time gap from the previous releases, Plastikman pursues into a deeper alter ego from Richie Hawtin as the dance floors of the world knows him by. Perhaps an escapade from being a DJ, Plastikman blurs the boundary of an artist, musician and producer. BTW How many other artist care to package the artworks for the album inside out?

With closer one gets closer to the dark terrrains of his mind with minimal repetitive break patterns, delay paces, threaded with faint audible tunes minus the dance factor. Laboured from the signature numbers with the decks over the years, be warned as with most of his earlier albums, Closer is richly textured with a disturbing psychological effect to the listeners. His work will transformed one to a solitary journey of soul searching and the unfamiliar depths with electro music.

Closer is what the blues period is to Picasso. Bitches Brew to
Miles Davis. Broken to Trent Reznor, where forlorn creativity remain resistant to an eroding scene of commercial crap. One can only hope he will remain closer to his vision while dwelling in this dark side.

On "Closer," Richie Hawtin continues exploring the palette of sound he displayed on the "Disconnect" EP. Deep, skeletal tracks that have an updated version of the mental patterns found in his "Concept" series woven through a "Consumed"-style deepness, but without the incessant droning. On "Closer" every sound is kept small and concise without ever letting the tempo pick up too much. The patterns seem to "stalk" in a way similar to the new R.Villalobos LP rather than "pump" like most other tracks in the Hawtin back catalogue. Another noticeable new influence is the goth-y new wave atmosphere, not so much like Joy Division as the title implies -- more like Bauhaus, early Cabaret Voltaire, or Chris and Cosey.
Hawtin uses dynamic stereo effects on his trademark pulse pattern beats to draw us on to the dancefloor.

A complex album that reaches out at several points and draws you under its spell. Richie explores the really dark and mysterious parts of sub-bass experiences, and creates a soundscape that should serve to send chills up and down your spine in a darkened room, late at night, or in similarly dark situations.

I particularly like Disconnect... the lyrics are there to add to the ambience of the track, and really caught my attention the first time I heard it. Had to crank up the volume on that one to get the full sense of the track. Second fav is the last track... the two before it really blend well into it, and close out the disc very nicely.

Closer picks up right where Consumed left off. Nocturnal feel, dark and haunting atmosphere, minimal to the extreme... enough to get lost not only in the music but your head as well. But through the infinite sea of minimalism, familiar Plastikman sounds act as a beacon back to the shoreline of reality. And in Closer we're graced with a previously unheard of element in the Plastikman project -- Hawtin's voice.

Tracks like 'Ask Yourself' and 'Headcase' give a good feel of the new sounds on Closer, while tracks like 'Ping Pong' and 'I Don't Know' contain the familiar feel of earlier works. It's the little things that count on Closer, like the Nokia phone ring laid in the disorienting 'Slow Poke'.

The previous Plastikman works feel like Hawtin took what was in his head and brought it out for us in terms we might understand. On Closer, it feels like Hawtin shows a new sense of vulnerability and lets us see what it's like for him directly on the inside, whether you comprehend it or not. From the pictures on the linear notes to Hawtins voice itself, this album does exactly what it's title says; brings us closer.

...yet rewarding. Not as immediately accessible as Consumed was for me. Had this on kind of quiet when I was laying around reading, and my overall impression was that it was a logical direction to go from the last Plastikman lp. This is more minimal and ambient sounding to me, more like older Plastikman. I've only had it for a day and I want to listen to it some more, but I'm confident giving it 5 stars. Richie Hawtin is one of my heroes.

A little background: I have Plastikman's "Sheet One" and "Consumed", which I consider to be fine pieces of minimalist electronica. However, the tracks on "Closer" are too repetitive for my tastes, both within themselves and viewed in the context of each other; a lot of the tracks sound similar and lack a unique character, which pushed the envelope of monotony past my tolerence. The vocals, something new for a Plastikman release, were an annoyance: pretentious and ultimately a little trite.

Sorry, I'm a fan of Plastikman but can't give this one very high marks. If you're just getting started on his stuff, check out "Sheet One" or "Consumed".

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.

Richie Hawtin's output as alter-ego Plastikman has become more introverted with every release, and Closer takes that introversion to the brink of psychosis. This album is beautiful and frightening at the same time. It blurs the line between electronic music and progressive rock like Warp's legendary Artificial Intelligence series (which Hawtin took part in as FUSE). One can dance to it, all right, but it would best be done alone in the dark. Hawtin had some demons to purge this time, and spellbinding is the result. Closer is Hawtin's equivalent of John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album.