Porter Ricks - Porter Ricks [Mille Plateaux]

The next monumental reissue to see the light of day via the seminal German imprint Mille Pleateaux is "Porter Ricks", the self-titled, originally 1997-released debut artist album by Porter Ricks, the collaborational alias employed by Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig. Remastered and with a slightly altered tracklist in comparison to the original we see the duo enter a sharper, funkier and partly more uptempo realm of sonic minimalism on this one, providing a highly functional fusion of hypnotic, conceptually pure Minimal Techno and ever present echoes of DubTechno which bring on spiralling moments of dancefloor pleasure in pieces like "Redundance 1" or "Redundance 3" which are making use of raw, ever progressing vintage monosynth modulations whereas "Redundance *Version" slowly grinds away on one's braincells beatlessly and "Redundance 5" provides a well seductive, tripping and swinging DubTechno approach for late night closings or after-afterhours which might be one of the most essential and innovative tunes on this 74+ minutes spanning album. Furthermore "Redundance 6" explores icey, crisp Dub variations atop a slow motion background drum foundation for a listening audience, "Scuba Lounge" enters slow moving, subaquatic Ambient Dub realms, "Spoiled" subsequently introduces a cold and brooding variation of DubTechno infused by filter techniques usually employed in genres like stripped down DiscoHouse, Wildpitch or later: FiterHouse x FrenchTouch whereas "Spoil" pays homage to dry, minimalist, track-focused House cuts to be found on labels like Radikal Fear or Relief Records throughout the first half of the 90s. The "Decay Chart" fuses reduced Cold Ambient atmospheres with a slow, heartbeat-resembling pulse, "Explore" surprisingly explores more of an experimental, yet well Phonk-infused TripHop / Dope Beat vibe for a change and the now final cut "Exposed" rounds thing off with a bit of guitar-feedback driven Drum'n'Bass / Drill'n'Bass madness for a closing. Essential.

Album artwork on Instagram!