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Mark Ernestus & Moritz von Oswalds’s pounding ’94 techno meisterwerk serves the heaviest blood rush on return to orbit nearly 30 years later

‘Phylyps Trak II’, or ‘BC 09’ is the ultimate conclusion of Basic Channel’s foundational and eternally influential two year run in the mid-90s. It redresses the building blocks of their first 12” under the Basic Channel aegis (‘Phylyps Trak’, BC 02, 1993) with a more tempered, shark-eyed take on its warehouse-rattling momentum and face-freezing dub chord modulations on the A-side, before stripping it back to a skeletal 13 minute steppers’ trek that lays the groundwork for their subsequent, equally seminal work on Maurizio’s M-Series. 

No mistake; this is god-tier gear. The 12-minute A-side of reticulated metallic rumble and chained FX features the pair’s hands on the desk, proper dub style, harnessing its energies in a more streamlined version of the original ‘Phylyps Trak’ primed for peak time DJ deployment, as heard in classic context on the Scion Arrange & Process Basic Channel CD. The sharply contrasting ‘Phylyps Trak II/II’ however is thee leanest, minimal techno stepper tool that patiently, hypnotically executes its function in unfolding dub chord envelopes and subtly accented percussion mutably primed for long mixes with house, garage, dub, whatever you like.  — (via Boomkat)

About Basic Channel : Basic Channel has become synonymous with a brand of stripped-down, ultra-minimal techno almost devoid of musical substance or intent. Both artist and label, Basic Channel was established by Berlin-based producers Moritz Von Oswald (aka Maurizio) and Mark Ernestus in 1993, and the pair have unhurriedly developed a slim but adored catalog of releases under such names as Cyrus, Phylyps, q1.1, Quadrant, Octagon, and Radiance - working a single-minded concept of nearly featureless machine music ("nearly," of course, being the key to the music's success). Like many German techno artists and labels (Tresor, Studio 1, Mike Ink), Basic Channel harbors a reverence for early Chicago acid and house and first-wave Detroit techno, the latter of which in particular is manifested in Mark and Moritz's ultraconservatism with respect to rhythm and composition.  — (via Sean Cooper, Rovi)

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Label: Basic Channel 
Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM
Repressed: 2025 / Originally released: 1994
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno, Dub Techno, Minimal Techno
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