In celebration of its 30th anniversary, Plastikman, aka Richie Hawtin, has remastered his groundbreaking second album, 'Musik', from the original tapes for a new limited bio-vinyl edition.

The record was first released in November 1994 through NovaMute and Plus 8, following the debut Plastikman album, 'Sheet One' (1993). A masterclass in minimal techno, Musik quickly propelled Hawtin to new levels of success. The release followed Plastikman’s first-ever live performance in a black vinyl-encased room at a semi-derelict Packard Plant in Detroit, where Hawtin was central to the burgeoning underground scene.

Before the full album hit the shelves, the track ‘Plastique' (which was later described by Q as “...the flipside to Hawtin’s early singles, all ticking percussion, feline acid tweaks, and cushioned sub-bass”) set the stage for a more dance floor-friendly album, albeit one with an unsettling and sinister side.

The album, described by The Guardian as “music as you've never heard it before” and by The Wire, who made it one of their Albums of the Year, as “... a masterpiece”, defined a moment in techno that still echoes today.

Now, 30 years later, the album has been remastered from the original tapes, reminding us why Plastikman is a name that still resonates and that the album’s intensity – on and off the dance floor – has lost none of its potency in the intervening years.

TRACK LISTING

1. Konception
2. Plastique
3. Kriket
4. FUK
5. Outbak
6. Ethnik
7. Plasmatik
8. Goo
9. Marbles
10. Lasttrak

Turbo Recordings presents its grandest achievement yet, a reimagining of Plastikman’s 1998 magnum opus ‘Consumed’, Transformed as a new collaborative composition between original artist Richie Hawtin and musical genius Chilly Gonzales… This is an album three decades in the making, brought into the world by Executive Producer Tiga.

A masterpiece of restraint, depth, and music as architectural vision, ‘Consumed’ was profoundly influential, defining the soon-to-emerge minimal movement. Shortly after its 20th anniversary, Chilly Gonzales was inspired to compose accompanying piano pieces (counterparts) for each of the tracks and shared them with Tiga, who became the conduit between both artists and led the project to fruition on his label. Hawtin mixed the new combined work, allowing each artist their own space within the project, more of a sonic conversation between them than a conventional collaboration.

Consumed in Key will be available digitally and as a deluxe triple vinyl LP on April 1st, 2022. The artwork is a reinterpretation of the original album’s, flipped to black and white and with the cutout size transposed to the dimensions of a piano key, the die-cut in the white outersleeve revealing a shiny black foil stamp on the black innersleeves. The product is available both in regular black and special white vinyl. In an effort to be eco-friendly, the vinyl and packaging were made using recycled materials.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An expansive and beautiful juxtaposition of the minimal beats and atmospheric unease of Hawtin's original material with Gonazles' tenderly plucked piano, all brought together with a warm and enveloping production sensibility. An endlessly listenable and richly rewarding journey.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Contain (In Key)
B1. Consume (In Key)
B2. Passage In (In Key)
C1. Cor Ten (In Key)
C2. Ekko (In Key)
D1. Converge (In Key)
D2. Locomotion (In Key)
E1. In Side (In Key)
F1. Consumed (In Key)
F2. Passage Out (In Key)

Plastikman, aka Richie Hawtin recorded 'EX' at the Guggenheim, New York’s iconic art museum. This very special performance was at the invitation of influential Belgium fashion designer and artistic director at Dior, Raf Simons, for the Guggenheim’s annual fundraiser, performed around a specially constructed LED obelisk.

Richie Hawtin explains, “I knew that Raf was a long time Plastikman fan so by accepting his offer to perform at the Dior event at the Guggenheim I knew I’d set myself up to a huge challenge. Although Raf was happy to have the already complete Plastikman Live 1.5 show, I locked myself away in a series of intense studio sessions and quickly recorded enough new material for the performance and realized I might also have enough for a complete new album. The music came out of me effortlessly as I was very inspired by the opportunity to play in this beautiful architectural space renowned more for art than music. The location also allowed me to step far away from the dancefloor, giving me a huge amount of freedom to EXplore any sonic ideas that I had. Art, music, architecture, painting, sculpture – these mediums are supposed to live together.”

Richie Hawtin is many things - an extraordinary DJ, creator of the ENTER. experience, mastermind behind the M_nus label, technological innovator, art aficionado - in 2011 he collaborated with British sculptor Anish Kapoor for an installation in Paris - and style icon. Before this, though, and perhaps most famously of all, he was and is Plastikman, an electronic music phenomenon whose followers are legion and fanatic.

Between 1993 and 2003, Plastikman created an astonishing body of work, one that didn’t so much define a time and place as explode them, expanding the dimensions of Detroit techno and redefining the possibilities of electronic dance music. Across six albums (‘Sheet One’, ‘Musik’, ‘Recycled Plastik’, ‘Consumed’, ‘Artifakts (B.C.)’, and ‘Closer)’ and numerous singles such as ‘Spastik’, ‘Plastique’, and ‘Sickness’, Plastikman evolved into one of contemporary electronic music’s most distinctive voices: minimalist, psychedelic, seriously groove-laden, and ever mindful of the transcendent properties of electronica.

Plastikman was never going to be a heritage dance act and this latest renaissance opens doors few never knew existed, showcasing a master at work.