De9: Closer to the Edit

Richie Hawtin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 18, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mute U.S.
• ASIN: B00005NVK3
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,523 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Range/Smart Card?/10 Strikes to 2001

2. Smart Card?/10 Strikes to 2001/Monostatic/Diminishing Returns (Special

3. Monostatic/Dimishing Returns /Concept Loop U:1 [Special Edition Dub]

4. Green Apple/Stereo Virus/Spastik

5. Stereo Virus/Talk to Me/Dimishing Returns [Special Edition ...]

6. Orph/Diminishing Returns [Special Edition Dub]

7. Silent Treatment/Diminishing Returns [Special Edition ...]

8. Vacuum Cleaner/Silent Treatment/Into the Duster/Freek

9. Forever Love/Bredow

10. Forever Love/Courtesy Car/Into the Space/808 Loop

11. Courtesy Car/Flibkà Top/Las Rambias (Forever Love) /No Milk Today

12. At the Front

13. Untitled/Slacker Jack/Divisible/Muff Diver

14. B1/Optical Way/A1

15. Optical Way/Panna/B1/Too Distant Images/Clinicalism

16. Luna /Clinicalism/Panpot Spliff [Re-Edit]

17. Panpot Spliff

18. Gelb/Tea Party/Different View/Life Force/Plasticity/Krikot/Tracks ...

19. Tea Party/Tracks on Delivery, Pt. 2 (Pattern 7) /Gelb/The Climax [Origi

20. Tracks on Delivery, Pt. 2 (Pattern 7) /Grown

See all 29 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spatial Funk with multiple textures, July 20, 2002

By 

Phil Avetxori - See all my reviews

This review is from: De9: Closer to the Edit (Audio CD)

Minimal techno master Richie Hawtin really delivers the goods with this one. His previous mix cd gave heart to all of us who thought the man had abandoned the dancefloor for the gallery/lecture hall. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but Hawtin has always impressed with his ability to delver maximum funk with minimal means. You all know the story by now: 300 loops culled from 70 records, mixed live on a laptop. Like the "Decks, Fx, and 909" disc, this mix takes you on a journey, from ultra-spare Berlin dubtech, through epic Detroit floorfillers, and into quirky Cologne pop n' slide grooves, with weirdos like Baby Ford and Thomas Brinkmann thrown in along the way. Let's keep this "eclecticism" in perspective, however, lest any Digweed yuppies or Hardware e-tards set themselves up for disappointment. Being the brainchild of the Plastikman, this mix is quite minimal throughout: no filler, no fat, just tasty techno grooves where the funk is as much in the spaces as in the sounds. The bits and beats themselves are varied and always interesting, with many different timbral and tonal qualities creating multihued dots and smears within the skeletal arrangements. Although restricted to a driving 4-on-the-floor pulse, the overlying polyrhythms explore a wide assortment of variations on basic dancefloor bump. All chinstroking aside, Hawtin manages to stake out new dancefloor territory, while never neglecting the needs of the feet or posterior, er..funkwise. Ok, just bump it and get down. Simple as that.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redefining the DJ., November 10, 2001

By 

Balazs Bognar (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: De9: Closer to the Edit (Audio CD)

By now, Richie Hawtin is easily one of the best known musicians and DJs in electronic music, with a cult following as large as his reputation. Originally from Windsor, Ontario, this Canadian had an early curiosity in the early developments in Detroit techno across the river. Within the early 1990s, Hawtin was reponsible for several musical experiments including FUSE, Cybersonik (in collaboration with fellow experimentalist Dan Bell), From Within (with Fax/Germany's Pete Namlook), and the now infamous Plastikman. Hawtin has always maintained a steadfast adherence to strong musical concepts, and has insisted on looking for new directions in electronic music. Even the events hosted by his labels Plus 8 and now M-nus and THX are grounded in conceptual undercurrents.

Though the author of several significant contributions to acid techno, ambient, and searing minimal techno, Hawtin has never really taken the time to rest on his proverbial laurels. His earlier Decks, EFX & 909 mix (released by Mute and M-nus) showcased his fluid mastery of three turntables, effects processors, and a drum machine, in a rapid-fire slew of 38 tracks. With Closer to the Edit, Hawtin essentially redfines the role of the DJ: the term "remix" takes on a whole new dimension. Here, he selects some 300 different loops, beats, phrases, and noises from 70 different tracks, and pieces them together into what he calls a musical jigsaw puzzle, with the use of effects and Final Scratch software to assemble the parts. The result is a mind-boggling, layered pastiche of solid techno beats and "futuristic" funk. Hawtin skillfully infuses just enough "melody" and warm tones to round out the mix. The assembly feels like a single composition, mutating and shifting throughout the 53 or so minutes, with elements of up to four or five tracks playing at the same time. Though it is impossible to pinpoint individual tracks through this reinterpretation, Hawtin draws upon sounds from Rino Cerrone, Stewart Walker, the German label Perlon, and others--a much wider range of sounds and rhythms than in the first mix.

This mix, as well as the earlier Decks, EFX & 909, is highly recommended, especially if one has not had the chance to see Hawtin's ability in a live setting. Hawtin, though surrounded by machines and software, has proven that yes, there is a human behind the so-called machine-music--techno has made yet another step forward.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly one of the greatest, February 27, 2005

By 

S. Stroud "tech-head" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: De9: Closer to the Edit (Audio CD)

Hawtin demonstrated with Decks EFX & 909 that he has a supernatural control of rhythm and timber. DE9 takes it to the next level. This may be called minimal tech, but it's minimal in name only, but not at all by nature. He layers patterns on top of patterns with such amazing speed and dexterity that I had to rewind it dozens and dozens of times just to see if my ears decieved me... they did not.

Subtlety is one of the strongest points of this CD. Unlike almost every other mix CD, it's almost impossible to tell when he starts mixing from one track into the next. He rarely ever lets the music go for over 30 seconds without tweaking the beats here, adding a kick drum there. The beats ebb and flow with a syncopated, organic brilliance. The music takes on a life of it's own.

For the full effect, listen to the CD on high-quality headphones, this way you will be able to hear every quite little nuance.

Richie Hawtin is a genius, and this is one of his many masterpieces. It does NOT get any better than this.