Richard Devine ‎– Sculpt

Although I'm sure this is some decent techno, this release is nothing like the later music from Richard Devine. In my opinion -not a very techno-minded one- this release is quite a disappointment. I am happy to hear him having 'evolved' out of techno to more complex rhythms and better sound design.

The first disc of this 3 12" set, I picked up as a used white label in Halifax Canada in 1997. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favourite records. I've played it out at more gigs than I can count. The crunchy, crisp sound, combined with tension that you can cut with a knife makes Vaugh (IMHO) the perfect "hard-takeoff" for a ripping techno set. It quite reminds me of releases I've heard on the Tresor label.

On the flip side, the noises in Iririral are so squelchy and tweeked out, it really moves something inside you. This track is my favourite example of the "Irritating sounds can be awesome" effect that is common in ... well, in almost all awesome music, really. Iririral is just a particularly good example, because it's quite annoying. WARNING: do not play if you have a headache. ;)

All the tracks on the first record have a hypnotic effect that is priceless. In particular, there is a moment in Vaugh when the chugging, incessant drive of the track really starts to become hypnotic and in the midst of the fury, the sound kind of goes ker-plunk- almost like the train just went off the track, or the horse just put his foot in a gopher hole. It only lasts for about 1.5 beats or something, and then the horse just keeps running. That moment just kills me. It's little moments like that which take frenzied dancers into a trance state. The little hiccough that catapults you into hyperspace.

In a coincidence that still boggles my mind, in 2000, I was shopping in a store in Montreal, and going through the used records, and I found white labels of the 2nd and 3rd records in this set. I wouldn't be able to guess the odds against this find.

While I enjoy the tracks very much on discs 2 & 3, they really haven't had the same impact on me as the first. Some of them are slower, they're just not the same.

Anyway, disc 2 & 3 deserve the 3.9 rating or whatever, but don't be fooled- the first record makes this album absolutely indispensible in my collection.