Date: Thu, 3 Nov 94 10:32 WET
From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY)
Subject: THE BEAT: Tripping With Plastikman

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eye WEEKLY                                             November 3 1994
Toronto's arts newspaper                      .....free every Thursday
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THE BEAT                                                      THE BEAT

                       TRIPPING WITH PLASTIKMAN
       Globe-spinning Richie Hawtin leaves his parents' basement

                                  by
                             CHRIS TWOMEY


A teenage Richie Hawtin was lured from his home in Windsor by the
ground-breaking techno-house scene of neighboring Detroit. Now the
24-year-old DJ and co-owner of Plus 8 Records is lured to Detroit by
its airport.

"It's been pretty crazy for two years now," he says from his studio UTK
(or "under the kitchen" in his parents' home -- soon to be relocated to
a studio/living space of his own). "On one night I think I've done two
or three countries. During the first week in November, I'm in Paris on
the Monday, Wednesday in England, Friday in Berlin, Saturday in Finland
and Sunday in Prague.

"For the longest time I didn't really look after my frequent flyer
points, so I lost out a lot. Now I've smartened up and I make sure
every little kilometre is clocked."

Hawtin's expert knowledge of the dancefloor has made him a
frequent-flying star DJ and remixer (with upcoming work for Bill
Laswell, Bomb The Bass, New Order and the X-Mix 3 compilation & video).

Richie is a big part of several scenes, so much so that three countries
claim his citizenship. Hawtin and partner John Aquaviva's Plus 8
Records has impressed the world from London, Ont., but they regularly
throw their "Hard" parties in the mythic clubland of Detroit. Some of
Hawtin's many projects, such as the hardcore of F.U.S.E. and the
stripped-down rhythms of Plastikman, are licensed from Plus 8 by
British record companies Warp and NovaMute. With all Hawtin's
international activity, the world of rave seems to forget that his
family moved from England to Canada when he was 9. Citizenship aside,
this global-villager knows the ins and outs of mind-over-matter dance
motion.

The subtle beats on Hawtin's second Plastikman album, Musik, come from
the rhythmic heart of a dance purist steeped in the real-time history
of techno and its lifestyle. The album was launched with a live
performance in August in a former General Motors warehouse in Detroit.
For the occasion, the floors, walls and ceilings were covered in black
plastic. Hawtin hopes to take his black plastic- covered-club concept
on the road for his first-ever "band" tour in February.

In Toronto at the last Vibe Tribe party, he played a trance-house set
that drew spellbound DJs and dancers alike. The master minimalist built
up layers of rhythms and counter-rhythms, taunting the audience with
drastic volume changes. He even added dynamics to the records he was
using by tweeking treble and bass EQ levels.

Hawtin's new single, "Plastique," is a masterpiece of rhythm
programming, a continuation of previous sample-free tracks "Plasticity"
and "Plasticine." The full brilliance of the simple acid-tinged drum
machine elements shine when heard on a loud club PA, where his rhythmic
"complex minimalism" produces an irreducible transit of propulsive
information.

"When you first listen to it, it definitely sounds like a Plastikman
album. It's got the same kind of nuances and atmosphere but it really
isn't the same as the first. I guess it's funkier, the tempo is slower
than the first, but again dance-ier. It's still very repetitive and
`music for your mind,' I guess."

Critics of electronic music's metallic sibilance should be warmed over
by the tribal-tones of his new track "Ethnik" and the infective
austerity of his remix of French acid-jazzers La Funk Mob. His
"Electrofunk Remix" on the Breaking Boundaries, Messing Up Heads
release from the hot Mo Wax label is true to the EP's title, doing to
the acid-jazz genre what Kraftwerk did to the Beach Boys with
"Autobahn."

"I really don't think about it -- I don't go in there and say, `This is
the exact thing I want to do.' I have certain ideas but I think it is
better just to go in there and free- form sometimes."

For more info on future parties and Hawtin releases write The
Warehouse, 530 Walker Rd., Windsor, Ont., N8Y 2N1.

          Chris Twomey is heard on CIUT-FM 89.5 Sunday nights at 8:30.

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