Richie Hawtin, aka Plastikman, thinks he has gotten "closer" to something with his latest album of digital-techno soup.
Who knows what to make of this assertion and for that matter, the entire album.
It's not clear about what the album Closer brings a person nearer to, but it sure isn't the dance floor. Those who don't mind spending an hour and 15 minutes in a trance will fall in love with Closer. Those who believe techno is supposed to get a person riled up, won't.
Not only will they not love it, but they just might hate it. Let's just say that listening to this album on surround sound speakers will not make the neighborhood dogs happy.
Plastikman's nightmarish vocals are haunting, but not in a good way. Not that anyone can understand, much less remember, what Plastikman is saying. The vocals and, for that matter, the music itself, are minimal.
Periods of complete silence go by that make the listener wonder if the CD player is broken. Other times in the longer pieces, the music gets very quiet or very loud and grating. The sounds never get continuous or predictable in a way that saner, calmer audiences can appreciate.
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According to a news release, Hawtin said this album marks the next phase of his life. In addition to the new record, the bald, glasses-wearing, skinny Hawtin has bulked up, visited some tanning booths and grown a full head of beautiful blond hair. This will possibly make his frightening voice a little easier to take.
"The amount of people who understand the music I'm involved with is at its smallest and weakest," Hawtin said in an interview with Paper this month. "That was eye-opening. That and seeing so many young, aggressive people being so worried about retro rock 'n' roll."
And maybe that's the problem. Maybe this is really an elite thing that only a select few understand and embrace. Maybe that's what makes it so cool.
What is definitely cool is that Hawtin's brings his minimalist approach with him to the club scenes. While most DJs are still spinning with two turntables, Hawtin is playing it up on two Apple iPods.
That has to be a strange sight. A bunch of loud, crazy, scary music coming from a gorgeous, normal looking guy in a booth holding two iPods in his hands. Before the iPods, Hawtin was one of the first DJs to use turntables hooked up to his laptop to spin and mix digital tracks.
Maybe Hawtin is "closer" to fresh music than it seems.
