Edit-Select* / Len Faki ‎– Berghain 03 | Part II

Not all of the Ostgut releases will be relevant as times passes. The crew is growing insanely popular. Resident Advisor popular, which is about as popular as you can get in the so called underground. At the same time that the Ostgut music is exploding on the techno scene, the producers are slowly falling under the same spell as the M_Nus crew did during their peak. Sharing the "Berghain" dry-mechanical-industrio-soundkit amongst eachother and samey sounding eachothers music to death. If one of the tracks contains a note, or a combination of notes that even somewhat resembles a melody the fans go kookoo over it. Can't go record shopping without tripping over a Dettmann or Klock remix. I think the crew's success is well deserved as they found a niche, a sound that was lacking in the mainstream avenues of techno and swooped in to fill the gap. Its also brilliant in terms of marketing that that the same time the label was launched, they opened a club that would become synonymous with the sound that they established while remaining the resident dj's. Are they over saturating the market with their frequent releases? Absolutely. In a couple of years the mediocre Ostgut records will be back up for sale on here for 5 bucks a piece as buyers come to their senses and fad wears thin.

This Ostgut record though, this one is going be around for awhile and its because of the track Bauer. This track is the true essence of minimal techno. Not minimal in the cliche sense, I mean this beast is literally a kick, relentless bassline, and some spooky highs mixed over top. That's about it for 8 or 9 minutes. Power minimal. I camped on this release for over a year before buying it because everytime I came back to review Bauer on youtube it just kept sounding great unlike some Ostgut tracks that hit you nice for the first few and then quickly lose appeal. There's something inherently original about the approach to, and production of the track that's so small in elements but so large in stature.

The Len track makes for a cool B-side but in the end its just another mega huge techno bomb along the lines of "Death By House". I love the air raid sirens but really the track just serves the general purpose of being a big room banger. It doesnt hold the same appeal for me that Bauer does although I'm sure at the right time of night w/ the right crowd and atmosphere the track would annilate. Yadda-yadda we've all seen this before. Its fairly easy to blow a club up with a big track, takes more finesse to warm people up and scare the pants off them which is what Bauer does a great job of in my opinion.

Berghain 03 is a hell of a mix, and so as could be expected, these are a hell of a pair of tracks. Part II is definitely a lot more techno than part I, a similar arrangement to the Berghain 02 samplers. Bauer by Edit-Select is really minimal, nothing but bass and highs. Dirty, heavily synthesized and distorted, and carries a constant beat. Having been lucky enough to visit Berghain it is a sound I can really associate with that amazing club.

The real gem here is BX 3. Amazing. Amazing. Len Faki is great at making techno anthems and this is one of them that I think will never be forgotten. Just in time for the summer too. It's a huge track. Never loses the beat. Banging and banging forever. He does this with a sound that is constantly evolving through the whole track. It's like a collection of all his patented sounds from earlier tracks. The track is a steady alarm bell—the air ride siren of techno calling us all to dance forever! I have a little theory too that he made this track specifically to go with Surface Noise, a fantastic vintage track by Planetary Assault Systems which he mixed it into on the compilation. But no matter what it is played with or how it is played this is a great track and one that I think will be hard to top for 2009. Another classic by a top producer and DJ.