Plastikman ‎– Closer

I find most people who don't like this album, have not really 'listened' to it.
This is not a straight-forward techno album. It's a pure concept album. You should listen it only in it's entirety.
It's about the break-up with his girlfriend, and the voyage in his mind he takes to get over it.
This album needs to be listened in a dark room, while you are on your bed/couch (preferably under a bit of influence of psychoactives). It is superb.

I think the polarized opinions on this album are very interesting. It seems no one "kind of" likes it; they either hate it with a firey passion or think it's one of Hawtin's best releases. Personally, I fall in between. While it lacks the playful beat experiments of his earlier Plastikman work, it does present an incredibly tense and moody journey into dark minimalism. The first half of the album is quite slow, favouring borderline beatless pieces, and serving as a buildup to the welcome, familiar 4/4 beat that enters with "Headcase." From there, the second half of the album is more techno-oriented and reminiscent of his earlier albums.

As for the much-debated spoken word passages, the only piece I find bothersome is "Disconnect," as the rhymes feel forced and cheesy. "High school poetry," as others have said, is an apt way of describing it. But the other pieces that feature his pitched-down voice are effective, in that the repeated phrases add to the overall feeling of paranoia and self-reflection.

All in all I'll certainly be listening to this album more than once, and I expect I'll discover new things with each pass.

If you would have told me that this was a paradoy album made as a joke mocking Hawtin and minimal techno, I would believe you. Seriously the lyrics are a joke and sound like they were written by a 13 year old girl whose parents totally don't get her. If this album was under any other artist name besides "Plastikman" than no one would have cared about this release. I'm almost offended that this album would be released under the same moniker that gave us the "Sheet One" and "Musik" albums.

I enjoyed this album, i like the tracks "Ask Yourself", " Lost" , "Ping Pong", " Mind In Rewind" , "I No", "I Don't Know" and loved the way the melodys are well done in the tracks "lost" and "I No", these two tracks are very good, with a very deep side of life. When i listen to this album i imagine in most of the tracks that i´m exploring giant abandoned temples with lots of secrets to discover surrounded by dramatic atmospheres, and that outstanding voice reminds me of some powefull creature (a God in distress?) that is guiding us (listeners) throghout his submersive epic domains, in order to help him in some quest. i recomend this album for those who like to have their imagination stimulated by dark\deep\ambient electronic music. i Hope Ritchie will bring more albums with this style, "Closer" and "Consumed" are two albums from Plastikman that can lift you up without the need to consume drugs.

A very dark album, the epitome of minimal. A very dark, yet abstract avant garde sortof atmosphere that is so strong that the album is trippey on it's own, without much use of effects(has some nice voice samples though). This is what acid techno in the 2000s should sound like, not simply stuff with bad use of 303. The production is absolutely great... and the flow is incredible. Exactly what makes minimal music work. Sortof hard to get into, but when you do, it's great. Has some standout tracks that work on their own too, however with great album flow. The tracks are blended into each other which works well.
9/10 certainly
I highly recommend, perhaps not as a first look into electronic music, or even techno, but if you're in the right mood for it it's powerful.

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.

This is the darkest, most paranoid and lonely record you may expect to hear in a lifetime, period.
Well, at least under the minimal moniker, which may say volumes, as minimal techno inherently tends to get rather dark and introversive.

Richie managed to transcribe a genuinely psychotic state with his music – the message from the individual tracks, which as standalones posses the ability to rip apart ones mind, sum on each other when listened to in succession with a build up of tension to bring either a closeup and rejection of the whole thing, or either a wave of insights by the recipient psyche. Obviously, Hawtin is an expert in reaching the deepest and darkest corners of the subconscious.

Musically, this is minimal techno at its best and is definitely a classic.

A very annoying release.

On one hand, the first half of it is very boring in being minimal for the sake of it, badly constructed and awfully pretentious.
On the other hand, the second half is really flowing, with a growing atmosphere, much more emotion and sounds that greatly remind of Sheet One.

Annoying because, even though the first half makes you want to puke for hours, the second half makes buying the album necessary.

I really like a lot of this album. the last 5 tracks are pretty amazing. the first half is a bit slow for my tastes, though. not really much of anything to them. it lacks richie hawtin's plastikman's normal flare. the tracks off of this album to die for are slowpoke and mind in rewind. slowpoke is one of those tracks that come out every now and again that just manages to decimate every sense you have with a single handclap. its pretty amazing. mind in rewind is just pretty. girlies go crazy for it.

Awful. Simply awful. Hawtin rehashes the same tired Roland sounds+effects, adds cheesy sub-high-school-poetry lyrics with some lame pitch and delay. I'll stick with "Consumed"...it's far better than this and about the last good thing he's done.