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Pioneering ambient techno in dub mode — (via Hardwax)

Basic Channel’s penultimate stunner holds among the most distinctive records released in the ‘90s, bar none.

‘Radiance’ is the 8th of 9 x 12”s issued by Mark Ernestus & Moritz Von Oswald’s Basic Channel between 1993-1994. Alongside their ’Inversion’ (BC 05) session as Cyrus, the three parts to ‘Radiance’ epitomise the duo’s deepest push into pure dub abstraction across a pair of 13+ minute trips into the echo chamber on near beat-less vectors, bookending the breathtaking vignette ‘Radiance II’. It’s genuine desert island material; timelessly evocative and enigmatic music that has set sail to a million imaginations during the past 30 years.

Where the earlier BC (and their parallel ‘M-Series’ as Maurizio) records were directly inspired by Detroit techno, yet often resembled forms of endless motorik kosmiche and dub, the ‘Radiance’ session most explicitly erred to the latter influences. Guided by the spirits of Jamaican dub and Motor City techno soul, the two 13 minute tracks transcend any previous conceptions of these forms, pushing melodic and harmonic conventions to a more holistic, hallucinatory sense of pulsating, psychedelic sensuality and amniotic lushness that paradoxically can be used to bring a club’s heart to their mouths, or likewise caress supine minds.

Arguably never bettered, this 12” is exemplary of “faceless” techno, antithesis to hoary rock and music industry iconography, dissolves the ego zen-like in fathomless sound baths. — (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: Dub Techno, Ambient, Minimal Techno

File under: Electronic
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