Thanks for sharing Marsel. I‘ve been sorting out my collection recently and it’s techno like this I hold dear.
Robin (Yeah I’ve been here since 1994 like a few others - no intention to leave) > On 4 Mar 2020, at 19:56, Marsel van der Wielen <mar...@nomorewords.net> wrote: > > it's my pleasure Patrick > > hope you don't mind me sharing the liner notes > > == > > Florence / Wladimir M. Eevo Lute Retrospective liner notes by Oliver Warwick > > “Discover how to dance. Discover how to move. Explore yourself. Move > yourself. Use all of your skills. Use all of your energy. Move yourself in > the music.” > > The message couldn’t have been clearer to anyone dropping the needle on the > very first transmission from Eevo Lute Muzique. In 1991, it was a useful > guide to have (from an Atari ST speech synthesizer, no less). From the > Detroit flash point to the early European adopters, techno was changing month > on month, and reaching uninitiated ears with every new outpost and iteration. > A little advice from our electric friends made clear this was experimental > music that required a little cognitive interaction. > > Of course all those tentative steps towards a European take on Detroit techno > manifested in the shadows of the pioneers, so it was significant that both > EEVO001 (aptly named U.S. Heritage) and EEVO002 received explicit approval > from the source via a licensed US release on Planet E. Carl Craig’s label had > only put out one single prior – his own seminal 4 Jazz Funk Classics 12”, > before opting to showcase this emergent sound from Europe. > > That sound was the work of Stefan Robbers and Wladimir Manshanden, who were > embarking on a new adventure into electronics with Eevo Lute Muzique. > Florence was a new alias for Robbers, who was already one of the undisputed > pioneers of Dutch techno. His releases as Terrace inaugurated Eindhoven > institution Djax-Up-Beats, Saskia Slegers (Miss Djax)’s seminal troublemaker > of a label. The feeling from Eevo Lute was different though, less indebted to > gnarly Midwestern jack and more in thrall to Detroit’s loftiest dreamscapes. > > Much like the Detroit pioneers though, the inspiration behind Eevo Lute went > back further than the late ‘80s. Robbers and Manshanden were drawing on the > synth-fuelled, lyrically-charged soothsaying of Anne Clarke, Trisomie 21 and > Pet Shop Boys as much as the pure machine messages of the Belleville Three et > al. It’s a quality that became one of the defining factors of Eevo Lute’s > early run, and in particular Manshanden’s techno poems. This embrace of > verbal expression lent a very human heart to the music, and afforded them the > chance to carry more overt political messages in the music too. It’s a > quality that carried through to the records themselves – hand-drawn > illustrations and graphics channeling the counter-culture street energy of > graffiti rather than the often-faceless mystique of conventional techno > aesthetics. > > Eevo Lute provided early support for many of the artists who would go on to > define Dutch techno in the ‘90s – Jochem Peteri (as Ross 154), Dylan > Hermelijn (as 2000 and One), Erwin van Moll (as max 404), David Caron and > more besides. There were others lighting the way too – it would be remiss to > ignore Jochem Paap releasing on Plus 8 Records as Speedy J as early as 1991, > or some of the other Djax-Up alumnus such as Random XS and Like A Tim. But > just as important was the growing international techno scene, which Eevo Lute > was naturally patched into. Beyond the aforementioned early link with Planet > E, Robbers and Manshanden were also exchanging ideas, remixes and releases > with the likes of Baby Ford, Kirk Degiorgio, Underground Resistance, New > Electronica and General Production Recordings. > > There were plenty of other styles that took shape as techno culture spread > throughout the world – some harder, some softer, some dafter, some sterner – > but this particular interconnected swirl of artists and labels holds true to > the original vision the Detroit pioneers had for the music they were making. > It wasn’t just music as function, but a vessel for expression. Listen to any > one of the tracks gathered here from the early run of Eevo Lute’s archives > and you’ll hear the synths speak as lyrically as Manshanden’s vocals. The > beats often skitter around the 4/4 meter, but rarely feel beholden to the > rigidity that could be found in other iterations of techno. It’s also worth > stressing this music had its own particular slant. It would be hard to name a > particular precedent (or indeed descendent) of a track like “Robotica”, a > veritable mess of crunchy drum break samples and erratic monophonic blips > that wrestled its own groove out of the grid. > > Having these works gathered in one consolidated release across 10 sides of > vinyl, it’s easier to marvel at the coherence of what Robbers and Manshanden > were pursuing. The sound is joyous at times, moody at others, but always > rooted in the human experience. It’s a well-worn trope that the best > science-fiction is about people more than technology, and so it goes here. > Even at its most intricate, the emphasis is on composition and narrative > rather than sound design and studio trickery. That’s precisely why the > message reaches across the decades and still resonates. The same goes for > Manshanden’s poetry. The monologue at the beginning of “Planet E” is a > chilling case in point – a damning indictment of the state of the world that > feels even more grimly relevant in 2020 than it was in 1991. The human race > has been grappling with its own future since the industrial revolution, and > it’s up to artists like these to try and make sense of it all with a > necessary dose of compassion. > > “How can I live in a world where ‘to have’ seems to be more important than > ‘to be’?” > >> On 04-Mar-20 20:30, Patrick Wacher wrote: >> Hats off to Mr Delsin for getting these two releases together... music, >> packaging are just spot on. >> >> https://www.delsinrecords.com/release/6266/wladimir-m/leaves-fallin-recklessly >> https://www.delsinrecords.com/release/6268/florence/analogue-expressions >> >> Thanks, >> ⌘⌥P
