EX (Performed Live at the Guggenheim NYC)

ミニマルの帝王、リッチー・ホウティンによるプラスティックマン名義の11年振りアルバム!プラスティックマンはリッチーの別名儀の中でも不動の人気を誇り、DJやミックスではなくプロダクション・ワークを発表する際に使うメイン・プロジェクト。これまで歴史的名曲「Spastik」を始め、革命的トラックを次々に打ち出し、ハード・テクノからアブストラクトなダウンビート・トラックまで多様な表現でミニマリズムと実験性を追求してきた。そして11年の長き沈黙を破り、突如発表された本作は2013年11月にニューヨークのグッゲンハイム美術館でのクリスチャン・ディオールのパーティーで披露された音源を収録した全曲新曲のアルバム。長年プラスティックマンのファンであるディオールのディレクター、ラフ・シモンズが企画し実現したもので、スタジオ・セッションに専念していたリッチーがこのパフォーマンスの為に準備し、新たに楽曲を制作。「普段のダンス・フロアからは程遠い環境だったことで、かえって自分が持ってたサウンドのアイデアを存分に追求できる自由を得ることが出来た」と語るように緊張感がサウンドからも伝わってくる。ディープで緻密な反復と暗闇の中を蠢くうねるアシッド音響、粘着質の鋭く光るベースライン、スネア&ハットの絶妙なリバーブ、硬く刻み込む金属音など細部まで繊細に計算し尽くされた本作は、ミニマル・テクノ好き悶絶の更なる進化を遂げたプラスティックマン王道ミニマル・サウンド!常に時代の最先端を切り拓くリッチー・ホウティンがテクノ～ミニマル～アシッドの全てを超越した新たな代表作がここに誕生。

An absolute legend of minimal techno, Richie Hawtin's dark, submersive experiments with acid house basslines and spare rhythms as Plastikman have been partially responsible for setting up the framework for all electronic music that came afterward. His early-'90s albums like Sheet One were considered groundbreaking in techno circles and led to more shadowy, tortured ambient electronic textures on albums like 1998's Consumed. Though constantly working under some alias or another, the last proper album under the Plastikman banner came in the form of 2003's claustrophobic Closer. Its decade-later follow-up, Ex, was recorded at a very special performance and the unique circumstances and the challenges they posed are reflected in the album's tense, sometimes desperate tones. Hawtin was invited to perform at New York City's Guggenheim Museum as part of their annual fundraising events. The performance offered a chance to present something special for an uncommon audience of museum patrons, and a series of intensive studio lock-in sessions found him churning out enough material to merit the first new Plastikman album in over ten years. Though Ex was recorded during performance, its nonstop sweep of abstract minimalism and uneasy grooves are by no means a typical live album or even "continuous mix" fare. The material here sounds meticulously conceived and stays engaging throughout, even if the audio was recorded in one pass in front of an audience. Hawtin's trademark rubber-band acid synth patterns, minimal percussion clacks, and rolling subsonic basslines all appear throughout Ex, but he also bridges new territory. There are touches of psychedelic experimentalism in the watery bursts of echo and reverb on "EXtend," and the album builds to its peak of tension as the manic track "EXpire" stacks nervous, pushy rhythms one on top of another. There's a slight looseness to some of the tracks, but never sloppiness. Instead, Ex is the sound of a master at work, endlessly inspired and pushing forward in real time. The off-the-cuff mixing choices, intense sub-bass motion, and cinematic flourishes that repeat subtly over the course of the album all happen under deft control. The sounds are by turns troubled, angry, isolated, and wonder-struck in ways that only Hawtin can sound, and Ex adds another mysterious chapter to the Plastikman story. ~ Fred Thomas|

An absolute legend of minimal techno, Richie Hawtin's dark, submersive experiments with acid house basslines and spare rhythms as Plastikman have been partially responsible for setting up the framework for all electronic music that came afterward. His early-'90s albums like Sheet One were considered groundbreaking in techno circles and led to more shadowy, tortured ambient electronic textures on albums like 1998's Consumed. Though constantly working under some alias or another, the last proper album under the Plastikman banner came in the form of 2003's claustrophobic Closer. Its decade-later follow-up, Ex, was recorded at a very special performance and the unique circumstances and the challenges they posed are reflected in the album's tense, sometimes desperate tones. Hawtin was invited to perform at New York City's Guggenheim Museum as part of their annual fundraising events. The performance offered a chance to present something special for an uncommon audience of museum patrons, and a series of intensive studio lock-in sessions found him churning out enough material to merit the first new Plastikman album in over ten years. Though Ex was recorded during performance, its nonstop sweep of abstract minimalism and uneasy grooves are by no means a typical live album or even "continuous mix" fare. The material here sounds meticulously conceived and stays engaging throughout, even if the audio was recorded in one pass in front of an audience. Hawtin's trademark rubber-band acid synth patterns, minimal percussion clacks, and rolling subsonic basslines all appear throughout Ex, but he also bridges new territory. There are touches of psychedelic experimentalism in the watery bursts of echo and reverb on "EXtend," and the album builds to its peak of tension as the manic track "EXpire" stacks nervous, pushy rhythms one on top of another. There's a slight looseness to some of the tracks, but never sloppiness. Instead, Ex is the sound of a master at work, endlessly inspired and pushing forward in real time. The off-the-cuff mixing choices, intense sub-bass motion, and cinematic flourishes that repeat subtly over the course of the album all happen under deft control. The sounds are by turns troubled, angry, isolated, and wonder-struck in ways that only Hawtin can sound, and Ex adds another mysterious chapter to the Plastikman story. ~ Fred Thomas

ミニマルの極限からディープなサウンドスケープへと移行し、暗黒な闇を描き出してきたリッチー・ホウティンのプロジェクト、プラスティックマン。2003年の『Closer』以来、単発のシングル以外音沙汰のなかった名義ですが、ついにニュー・アルバムのお目見えです。NYのグッゲンハイム美術館で行われたライヴを録音したもので全部新曲。ライヴという体裁もあってか、アルバム全体が物語のように進行され、彼の作品のなかでは入り込みやすいほうかもしれない。ダークなアンビエントからストイックなミニマルまで、蠢くアシッド音と共に不穏な空気に包まれているが、スッとクラシカルなシンセ・フレーズが入ってくるあたり劇的な要素も含んでいる。アートに昇華されたアシッドを楽しむのがオツ。
bounce (C)池田謙司