Pulse - Surface Tensions

This disc isn't necessarily 5/5 material, but it ain't necessarily schwill either. I think it's simply a 4/5 disc with some pretty decent stuff on it. Back when techno was one discovery after another and I was much more willing to take chances on new releases, I took a chance on this one and at first found it to be too - you guessed it - minimal to consider it a real score, but this was at the outset of minimalism. It was before minimalism took over techno completely and rendered good compositional techno defunct. I had heard the "Pulse sound" via his work with Sven Rohrig (3 Phase) and wanted to hear what Pulse was coming up with on his own. Honestly though, 3 Phase was more stylin' and Pulse was - well - doing 4/5 stuff. This disc is not bad by any means however and I feel "Fourvoice" is probably the high point of the disc just for innovation and "difference". This was one of the pioneering starting points for minimalism and among the first to emphasize the "music for DJs, by DJs" approach to the making of techno music. That is, more of a tool than a compositional work of art. Decent, even good, but not killer.