If I had to pick an act that serves as the apotheosis of Basic Channel records, it would be Monolake. Like the rest of the roster, Robert Henke (and a revolving crew of collaborators) specialize in German minimalist techno. Sure, there’s a ton of that stuff out there, and most of it is downright embarrasing, but the guys on Basic Channel tend to push it into more interesting directions, if only in subtle ways.
Previous albums had ranged from Musique Concrete or dub experiments, but over the last few records, he’s been pushing in a more rhythmic direction, culminating in 2003’s excellent Momentum. The general mood is dark and metallic, and very sterile. This is music for airport runways at night or dark subway tunnels. There’s very little melody, and samples are used sparingly if at all, and are often so obfuscated as to be unrecognizable.
Polygon_Cities doesn’t push the envelope so much as strain at the edges a bit. Continued...