Consumed

Spin - Ranked #14 on Spin's list of "Top 20 Albums of '98." Rolling Stone - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...Within a cool 'n' fuzzy ambience that recalls Eno's ON LAND, [Richie] Hawtin drops gentle, dubby machine beats that work their way slowly under your skin....It's all incredibly emotive somehow..." Spin - 8 (out of 10) - "...While at first glance, the infinitesimal movements of tone color may seem about as fascinating as plankton, there are plenty of depth-charge synth noises, steely timbres, and bottom-feeder belches floating in the sound to give shape to Hawtin's abstractions..." The Wire - Included in Wire's "50 Records Of The Year [1998]" Rolling Stone (7/9-23/98, p.137) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...Within a cool 'n' fuzzy ambience that recalls Eno's ON LAND, [Richie] Hawtin drops gentle, dubby machine beats that work their way slowly under your skin....It's all incredibly emotive somehow..." Spin (1/99, p.91) - Ranked #14 on Spin's list of "Top 20 Albums of '98." Spin (8/98, p.137) - 8 (out of 10) - "...While at first glance, the infinitesimal movements of tone color may seem about as fascinating as plankton, there are plenty of depth-charge synth noises, steely timbres, and bottom-feeder belches floating in the sound to give shape to Hawtin's abstractions..." The Wire (1/99, p.27) - Included in Wire's "50 Records Of The Year [1998]"

Floating in an ocean of dubby ambience, CONSUMED, Richie Hawtin's third album under his Plastikman alias, is a sprawling electronic epic more concerned with evoking a personalised soundspace than flooding the dancefloor with beats. Having risen to fame among the second generation of Detroit-area minimalist techno artists, the Windsor, Ontario-born Hawtin has always applied a "less is more" philosophy to his pieces. Yet four years removed from his last Plastikman release, the dancefloor paean MUSIK, this philosophy has manifested itself in a murky sonic swamp (the low-end rules here!), full of ominous echoes.
Hawtin has created an ambient perversion, treating wide-open soundscapes by dubbing and filtering them until they're nearly claustrophobic. And yet the grooves his strangled-pulses-as-beats create are a stoner head-nod of the highest order, stretching forever until they seem to collapse into themselves. It's like a soundtrack to a bliss-out in a black hole.|

The third in the series of Plastikman albums produced by Richie Hawtin, Consumed is a turn away from the high-bpm, drum-machine mania that characterized much of his its two predecessors, Sheet One (1993) and Musik (1994). The acid techno motifs remain in place, and Consumed is structurally similar to Musik: it commences and concludes with standout epic tracks while its mid-section tends to be experimental in nature, filled with shorter Ping-Pong-ing tracks that aim to disorient. However, this is an ambient techno album, make no mistake, driven largely by deep, rumbling basslines and accentuated with shimmering synth washes and almost subliminal microsound ticks -- and not only is it ambient, but it's dark and mysterious in tone. Moreover, Consumed plays like a continuous album rather than a collection of tracks; individual tracks stand out only when memorable moments arise, the opening build of the title track, for instance. It's easy to be drawn in by Consumed, which makes the title all too fitting, for the ambient mood and dark tone are inviting while the mammoth basslines and synth washes are enveloping. All of this makes Consumed Hawtin's most listenable album to date. His previous Plastikman albums are remarkable achievements, for sure, and are filled with plenty of astounding tracks; likewise, his Concept album has its own share of highlights. But none of those albums is as thoroughly excellent as this one, even if it's fully removed from the dancefloor, best enjoyed at home rather than in a danceclub context. ~ Jason Birchmeier