Richie Hawtin’s latest endeavor, “DE9: Closer to the Edit,” continues his tradition of driving minimalist dance music after his 1999 awe-inspiring album, “Decks, EFX & 909.” With a fusion of technology and mind-boggling creativity, Hawtin pushes the envelope of electronic music with “DE9.” An innovating and pioneering DJ, producer and remixer of the Detroit techno sound since 1987, Hawtin, also under the pseudonyms Plastikman, Fuse and States of Mind, once again raises the bar of true electronic brilliance.
In “DE9,” he has manipulated over 100 different tracks, stripped them down to 300 core beat loops and then pieced them back together with sheer genius and gadgetry. Hawtin’s reported musical influences, Kraftwerk and New Order, can most definitely be heard in this seamless recording session. “DE9” is an overall intelligent mix of pulsating tracks, crossing melodic house rhythms with rough textured beats.
“This 53-minute piece, consisting of more than 70 tracks and 31 ID points, represents what those loops became, and how their interactions created something that had not existed before,” Hawtin said in a statement.
Hawtin’s stripped-down experimental style urges his audience to further their listening senses. “DE9” emphasizes revolutionary thinking in creating a steady beat within the music that empowers listeners to experience the future of electronica.
Like such “Motor City” contemporaries as Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, Hawtin has made an imaginative, groundbreaking CD, chock-full of surprises and twists, yet he added something extra – his trademark wit and style.
Hawtin became disenchanted with regular DJ mixing, and began incorporating his Roland 909 drum machine and Roland TB303 into his DJ sets in the early 1990s. This allowed him to enhance his records on turntables with digital effects.
Hawtin currently uses his latest DJ set-up, “Final Scratch,” which enables users to play digitally-altered music via an Apple G4 laptop, along with the standard two turntables and a mixer. Hawtin can manipulate and pitch these files on the hard drive while mixing them with the vinyl, thus being able to obtain thousands of additional tracks to cut, mix, fade and scratch.
This revered artist has achieved new heights in the sound he has managed to create in “DE9.” Hawtin clearly proves that he is still the master of the music.
His album is now available on NovaMute Records.
