I Hate Models – Totsuka No Tsurugi

Nice record, long and introspective tracks. A great record to push a dancefloor on a meditative mood. A great surprise for me.

At least he dared to do something like that.
In some of these tracks there is enough "lead material" to make 5 or 6 "normal" techno tracks. He just pieces all together and it's still catchy. It might sound "too much" but ask yourself, how many tracks came out that year with so many ideas in just 10 minutes? Some few others ? maybe none.
I'm curious to see what this guy will do in the next years, because here we got something else, even if you don't like this "something else".
Maybe he'll come back to normal, maybe he'll go do some more commercial stuff, maybe more underground sounding stuff. We'll see. At least I bought this "one in a year" record even if if I'm still not so sure about how I can deal with it in a set.

Totsuka No Tsurugi - Tron meets Blade Runner in a rave. I think the kick drum is one of the most obnoxious sounds possible, but I love everything else about this track. Quiet breakbeats fill out the background, incomprehensible whispers of the crowd, huge cinematic pads wash around whilst crunchy claps reverb as if you're dancing in a church waiting to be beamed up as the credits roll down the screen. Couldn't say I would ever play it in a set, but it evokes something in me.

It seems either you love or you hate this release (unless some people want to keep prices low haha).
I Hate Models isn't about melodies, it's about the atmosphere (since when is Techno concerned with complex melodies ?). And this one is again top notch for that matter. Long decay kicks are great, blasting the speakers. If you like minimal, look somewhere else, here's the rough, industrial, uncompromising side of techno. It's well crafted and very creative compared to a lot of other releases...

The cover is an etching from Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849) - Crow and Sword

The long decay on the kick drum is always a bad idea unless you are playing to a live audience to get them dancing, then again in a live setting people are just partying so you can pretty much play anything and they'll like it. :/ ...but after 2-3 minutes of a long decayed kick drum on every track it really does start to sound annoying. As opposed to Warehouse Memories he doesn't embrace distortion on this one.

At first I thought this guy was good with beats but not so good with sounds, I have since changed my mind after a few more attentive listens the long decay kick drums are quiet annoying then coupled with underwhelming melodies and equally hum drum tinny sounding acid sequences makes for a pretty mediocre listening experience especially the overhyped heartbreaker leaves a lot to be desired.
although you couldn't really say there are any a melodic sequences, more like a single note played at a higher octave and then a lower note.Eternal loneliness could have been a classic but for me is let down by a vocal that would sound more at home on an Ibiza chill out track. The only really usable track off this 12'' is Demons from the past which is overall a harder track than the other 3 tracks.

Too long too repetitive too busy. Definitely not record of the year. Sounds like uninspired electro industrial without vocals.

100% record of the year.
Word workd workd . . .

best of the year by a country mile. please don't change your style any time soon. this stuff is absolute magic