Concept 1 – Concept 1 - 96:VR

I wouldn't label this as "techno" or "minimal", there is no 130+ BPM four-to-the-floor beats on display here, but instead downtempo dub-techno in the style of Basic Channel.

A must have !

A fascinating reimagining of Hawtin’s “Concept 1” series. This is extremely minimal music, and as such it took me a long time to get into it. It’s not “techno” per se, although most tracks contain a slowed-down 4/4 throb resembling techno proper. But despite the experimental nature of the album’s creation (using a two-armed turntable), each track has its own groove, and through subtle phases the pieces become completely hypnotic. The tracks do start to sound a bit same-ish by the end, but that’s to be expected when all of them were created using the same technique – and the album ends very strongly with 12:24, a swirling, propulsive, dubbed-out track that perfectly exemplifies everything that’s great about this record. My only overall complaint about the album is the sound quality, since with Brinkmann’s process the sounds are all very murky. I’ll grant that that muddiness adds to the subliminal quality of the music, though, so it’s a complaint only because it limits where I can play the music so that I can properly enjoy it (silence and concentration are best). Recommended for any fan of Hawtin, and minimal music in general.

Perfection. This album encapsulates the genre absolutely superlatively. Untouchable!

Hawtin generally doesn't commission remixes, so it's a lucky that we get treated to a combo of two rather innovative minds in electronic music. The premise is simple--Brinkmann deconstructs a selection of the originals with his famous multi-tonearm turntable, so that the listener hears the same thing in each ear, only shifted extremely out of phase. The result is a mesmerizing set of sounds and patterns that seem to float around in space.

Concept 1, composed by Richie Hawtin, marked a yearlong correlation between musical development and the progression of time. The original series (1996) of 12 monthly twelve-inch singles comprised of 24 tracks, strictly limited to 2000 copies per release, was a timely musical emission of that moment. Before the compiled CD release of Concept 1 96:CD in February 1998, Thomas Brinkmann (Cologne, Germany) visited Windsor to play Hawtin some of his "Variations" of Concept 1. The results unfolded a new structure from the original material, exposing a new side of Hawtin's compositions.
Explaining his custom system to produce the Concept 1 Variations, Brinkmann notes, "I used a self-made turntable with 30 kilo plate, and two SME 309 Tone Arms utilizing both Ortofon and Van den Hul moving-coil pickups." Using the original Concept 1 records on his two-arm turntable, Thomas found unheard dynamics within these recordings. Even the imperfections of the vinyl pressing process find new character within his Variations. "The interventions with the actual vinyl are few: I slowed down the speed of the record and used the left pickup (arm) for the left channel, and the right pickup (arm) for the right channel. I found out that the use of different pickup systems for both channels is important for the sound," Brinkmann adds. "It's possible to hear a melodic displacement between the channels."

Re-thinking the depth of sound, Thomas said, "I don't believe in creativity, but in sensibility. We have to invent the things to make them visible or audible, even though they had been there before, only invisible and inaudible." Through his unique angle of attention, Thomas has allowed us to hear what he hears, something that was there but unheard until now. Summing up his technique, Thomas mentions, "With a little intervention and displacement of elements, the Concepts are sounding different. The same information they had before, but two times present. Like the idea of cloning and twins: still Richie's DNA with a little mutation. A different groove."

In the spirit of MINUS, Thomas has used an untraditional technique based on theories of alternative listening and experimentation to produce an image of difference. A scientific yet natural way of revealing the complexity of what was originally deemed minimal.

Richie Hawtin