Search - Various Artists :: Basic Channel (Reis)

Some of the best dub-techno available on CD

Steward Willons | Illinois | 03/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a CD collector, I was happy to find this compilation of Basic Channel artists. Yeah, I have a turntable and I like vinyl, but I rarely sit down to listen to music that way, so I end up having to rip to CD before I can do stuff like listen in the car or at the gym. It's just inconvenient. Luckily, we can now get some of Basic Channel's awesome dub-techno on CD directly.



The atmosphere is minimal and austere. There aren't a whole lot of gee-whiz sounds on here, but the few sounds these artists use are important and interesting. Anytime I listen to such sparse music, I must focus on the minor details in a way that's nearly impossible with the ADD music of, say Kid606. I like both styles, but they achieve drastically different effects.



There's not much in the way of melody here - just pure groove drenched in reverb and echo. Most tracks start off with a basic idea, develop a bit, grow in intensity, and then fade back out to where they started. It's a simple formula and it risks becoming inundated with a lot of hack non-artists, but fortunately these are all winners.



Fans of minimal techno will dig this. I'm not sure if I could recommend it to any but the most adventurous IDM fans - you wouldn't be turned off, but it may not hold much interest. The slowly evolving, atmospheric nature of these tracks make certain demands on the listener. You need to either concentrate fully, or they'll become background noise, easily ignored.



While the appeal may be limited due to the nature of dub-techno as a style, this is probably as good as it gets. I recommend listening to some samples online. If you like what you hear, you can expect about four to six more minutes of it per track. I think it's worth spending a little time to find the buried secrets of this album."