Emitido
December 2001 / April 2024
- An expanded reissue of one of the greatest techno albums of all time.
- There's something quietly radical about Mike Parker's first album, originally released in 2001. It succeeds as an album because it ignores all conventions of an album, instead presenting Parker's distinctive techno on its own terms. "The way Dispatches was put together and the types of tracks that were put in there, I envisioned it as something that people could listen to at home, start it and play it till the end," he told RA around ten years ago. That might not sound unusual on the surface, but Dispatches is one of those records that reached outside Parker's typical audience of deep techno heads, primarily because of its format. The LP presented itself as something other than the functional 12-inches Parker had released up to that point, divorced from the DJ format and instead presenting his lengthy tracks as pieces of sound art: abyssal, nine-minute chunks of blackness, thunderous drums and alien synth sounds.
Dispatches is somewhere between an album and a compilation. It collects several of the best tracks Parker had released between 1999 and 2001, stone-cold classics like "Drain Hum" and "Copper Variations." If you're unfamiliar, these tracks laid a blueprint for modern techno that reverberated through everything from the Rome school to the heyday of "headfuck" techno via labels like Prologue to Voices From The Lake and today's popular all-black-clad tunnelling techno. The album's opening track, "Triceratops," lays it all out over eight minutes of strange, grippy textures and basslines that explode like depth charges. And kick drums that could blot out the sun. With only a few elements, Parker builds a monolith of sound.
That idea is repeated over and over again on Dispatches, with small variations in form, from the surprisingly funky "Amalgamated (Synchronous Mix)" to the massive rumble of "Drain Hum," which feels like listening to the movement of tectonic plates. When the drums fall away, the bass continues hammering away, like some eternal force that can't be extinguished. And while the tracks are long and repetitive, they don't always function predictably: melodic elements stretch out and retract like elastic bands, or wave in the melodic breeze like sea anemones bobbing in the ocean.
Some tracks feel more current than others. "Copper Variations: cv1 (Alternate Take)" will likely appeal to younger listeners, with its faster percussive bent and eerie screeches, though it's still dense and murky. And "Reduction," right down to its title, is the progenitor of so much techno that came before, with an unstable bass melody that throbs and pulsates over a tough-as-nails kick and some delicate hi-hat work. It's a masterpiece of both economy and bluster, and probably one of the hardest techno tracks ever.
This version of Dispatches collects some bonus material. "Dissolution 99" and all three "Voiceprint" tracks, made in the same era, are presented in full, but are more functional, lacking the ocean-floor atmospherics of the rest of the LP. These additions stretch Field Records' edition to six sides of vinyl, and makes it even more of a compilation. But in another way, it's an embarrassment of riches. No matter what format it comes in, Parker's techno has a way of pulling you in and keeping you there. The American producer is the master of faceless techno, expressing himself in non-textures and non-melodies. These tracks might not have meanings, narratives or even much in the way of structure, but they don't need it—their sheer weight is mesmerising enough.
Lista de sequência de músicasA1 Triceratops
A2 Amalgamated (Synchronous Mix)
B1 Copper Variations: CV1 (Alternate Take)
B2 Reduction
C1 Copper Variations: CV3
C2 Drain Hum (Original Mix)
D1 Amalgamated (Extension Mix)
D2 Blue Equals Black
E1 Voiceprint: Voice One
E2 Voiceprint: Voice Two
F1 Voiceprint: Voice Three
F2 Dissolution 99 (Original Length)