808 State is basically Pacific 707 - I tend to think of their New Build-era material as passable but generic early techno, and their post Ex:El material as noodly, overproduced "electronica", but the Pacific track is an absolute classic. In many ways it is underrated by a lot of Detroit techno fans, because it was a really early appearance of the jazz-techno sound that eventually became more widespread after Nation 2 Nation, World 2 World etc, and I don't think it receives its fair dues in that respect.
If you own Ex:El then you get Pacific but also quite a few tracks which have dated really badly. If you own "State 2 State" (a US mini-album release from just after Ex:El) you get a really nice mix of Pacific, and a bunch of other tracks that actually haven't dated badly at all. There's a track on there with the strings from Pacific running over the "Welcome to techno city" Cybotron sample! I'd love to have that on vinyl... Brendan | -----Original Message----- | From: Toby Frith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | Sent: 13 December 2002 10:05 | To: Mann, Ravinder [CCS]; '313' | Subject: Re: (313) 808 State | | | The Quadrastate EP from 88/89 is good - "Ex:El" from '91 is | ok. Some of | their material has dated rather badly though IMHO. | | | | ----- Original Message ----- | From: Mann, Ravinder [CCS] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | To: '313' <313@hyperreal.org> | Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 10:03 AM | Subject: (313) 808 State | | | > Just been reading the Blake Baxter interview on Overloads | and there seems | to | > be an loads of references to 808 State in Detroit techno, | so I like to | hear | > some of thier material - which albums would you readers recomend ? | > | > thanks | > | > | |
