Mute have announced the release of Plastikman’s new album, EX, his first album release since 2003’s Closer.
Plastikman, aka Richie Hawtin recorded EX at the Guggenheim, New York’s iconic art museum. This very special performance was at the invitation of influential Belgium fashion designer and artistic director at Dior, Raf Simons, for the Guggenheim’s annual fundraiser, performed around a specially constructed LED obelisk.
Richie Hawtin explains, “I knew that Raf was a long time Plastikman fan so by accepting his offer to perform at the Dior event at the Guggenheim I knew I’d set myself up to a huge challenge. Although Raf was happy to have the already complete Plastikman Live 1.5 show, I locked myself away in a series of intense studio sessions and quickly recorded enough new material for the performance and realized I might also have enough for a complete new album. The music came out of me effortlessly as I was very inspired by the opportunity to play in this beautiful architectural space renowned more for art than music. The location also allowed me to step far away from the dancefloor, giving me a huge amount of freedom to EXplore any sonic ideas that I had. Art, music, architecture, painting, sculpture – these mediums are supposed to live together.”
EX is released digitally on 10 June and on vinyl, CD and limited edition SubPac bundle on 14 July. In addition to the vinyl, CD and digital releases, Plastikman has teamed up with SubPac to create a Limited Edition Premium Bundle. The album will be presented on vinyl, with a signed certificate of authenticity and a custom Plastikman edition of the SubPac S1. SubPac is a unique portable bass system that allows an immersive music experience. When you’re using the SubPac, the powerful bass and sub-bass frequencies – the sensations you usually only get in a club situation – are reproduced meaning you can actually FEEL the music.
Richie Hawtin explains, “By introducing the physical dimension of sound, the SubPac creates a direct connection between the fan and the music in its purest form, allowing a deeper appreciation for the music we all love. As with all Plastikman albums, there is a lot of sonic information in the lower frequency range, that make the SubPac a perfect listening accompaniment in order to fully appreciate the experience.”
For more information, go to www.thesubpac.com
Plastikman will perform only one show this year, at Sónar 2014 on 12 June. New tracks will be presented at the Barcelona festival, pushing the boundaries of techno, offering a synchronicity of art and sound, a place for electronica that’s both cinematic and thought-provoking. Plastikman’s career has pushed at the frontiers of dance music, rejecting first the endless drive for faster speeds and, later, the blatant pop aspirations in favour of more imagination and more musical engagement.
Richie Hawtin is many things – an extraordinary DJ, creator of the ENTER. experience, mastermind behind the M_nus label, technological innovator, art aficionado – in 2011 he collaborated with British sculptor Anish Kapoor for an installation in Paris – and style icon. Before this, though, and perhaps most famously of all, he was and is Plastikman, an electronic music phenomenon whose followers are legion and fanatic.
Between 1993 and 2003, Plastikman created an astonishing body of work, one that didn’t so much define a time and place as explode them, expanding the dimensions of Detroit techno and redefining the possibilities of electronic dance music. Across six albums (‘Sheet One’, ‘Musik’, ‘Recycled Plastik’, ‘Consumed’, ‘Artifakts (B.C.)’, and ‘Closer)’ and numerous singles such as ‘Spastik’, ‘Plastique’, and ‘Sickness’, Plastikman evolved into one of contemporary electronic music’s most distinctive voices:
minimalist, psychedelic, seriously groove-laden, and ever mindful of the transcendent properties of electronica.
EX is released digitally on 10 June and on vinyl, CD and limited edition SubPac bundle on 14 July.
