Plastikman – EX

Great review, thanks. Pretty sure the album was done live for a Prada show (not Dior)... I think it was meant to be a collaboration between the two art forms. I recall there was a lot of fun fur on display and many pale gaunt faces, so might have worked even? (jk)

This review is for the Vinyl 2LP set.

To begin with, the pressing I received is fairly poor quality. The lead in for a few minutes on album 1 track 1 pops, clicks and has surface noise. I ran the album through the Spin Clean, cleaned the stylus (Nagaoka MP110) with the MoFi brush and cleaner, used a carbon fiber brush and even hit the record with the Milty anti-stat gun a few times for good measure. Upon closer inspection there appears to be junk dug into the grooves, perhaps a chemical thumbprint during pressing. Tried microfiber cloth and naptha, wouldn't move.

Past the nasty intro, the music really settles into a hypnotic, ever-evolving groove that Plastikman earned his name with. If you're reading this and not familiar with Plastikman, you should start your journey with Sheet One and move forward from there. This is minimal techno at its finest from one of the pioneers. Despite moving to digital hardware running software algorithms to mimic the tried-and-true 303 (Devilfish)/808/909 combo he rose to fame with, the sound is close enough and infinitely more predictable and precise for a live set with multiple machines running in harmony to produce the music. This is a high definition recording of the live set performed at New York's Guggenheim museum for a Christian Dior fundraiser of some sort. The live set looks like it had all the right elements (light, sound, performance) but with an audience that couldn't care less. Thankfully, there are Ibiza and other outdoor sets more suited to the audience; videos of these performances are easily found online.

Back to the music. Despite some long-time fans criticizing Richie Hawtin for his "lack of progression" with this album after all these years, he is still the master of the genre and does what he does extremely well here. In some ways it feels like a throwback to Sheet One, Musik and other earlier releases, and that's not a bad thing. Some artists progress to the point where no semblance of their roots are anywhere to be found and never revisit the seed that grew their genius and carved out a niche for their music to begin with. I was afraid, with recent releases like Closer and, to a certain extent, Consumed, that Plastikman was progressing, but not in the way I wanted or expected him to. This is, above all else, a return to his roots with some new tricks to add dimension. The cacophonic, thumping urgency of Helikopter would not be welcome here, but the madness that spawned it is definitely present, only older, wiser and more subdued.

The album slow-burns towards a climax by side D when EXhale encourages you to breathe along with the track. It's a fitting end to the journey, like the end of an acid trip, calculated and carefully bringing you back down to reality as your nerves settle and serotonin falls back to normal levels.

Are there "better" Plastikman albums? Probably. It's all subjective and I won't pretend to be a music critic. But for the simple fact that it's something new by a legendary DJ and pioneer, it's worth your time to explore the journey. Albums like this are extremely rare in this part of the century and it's a shame there aren't more. I look forward to the next.