Frenchman Luc Kheradmand, aka Voiski, returns to Delsin with “The End Of Fiction” EP full of techno done his way, which turns out to be a very uniquely refreshing take on Detroit techno that flirts dangerously and successfully with an early ‘90s trance aesthetic.
Some of us are old and crusty enough to remember a time when trance didn’t jump the shark, and it was an ecstasy-fueled, more progressive form of techno. One only had to dip their toes into the MFS catalog to see groovers from Berlin heads embracing the synth as a way to take people higher. Similarly, some of us can also remember that across the Atlantic, in Midwest Detroit, a soulful take on techno blended with sci-fi futurism was taking place. A good point of reference would be Kenny Larkin/Dark Comedy’s “War of the Worlds” or Carl Craig’s “69 Project” to really see the emphasis on advancing the synth as the leading instrument as opposed to leading with the drums, which of course turned out to be the standard definition for techno music for decades to come.
In the techno genre, it seems one cannot tread too far in any single direction in the world of synths without either becoming progressive house, Detroit techno, or one of the various iterations of proto-trance. Which is a shame really, since the synth has so much potential to radically change the concept of music rather than relying on music theory and tropes that’ve been well laid down before. Where does that leave us when deciding to pursue the synth in techno? For Voiski, it means trying to keep the most sophisticated elements of what has come before and making a statement about attempting to keep it modern by blending Detroit techno with the most hypnotic ideas of early trance.
“The End Of Fiction” EP seems to reminisce on the best ideas from each the Detroit techno and trance genres, especially from 1991-1993, rather than making direct references or covers of the genres. Maybe the EP even makes a shout-out to the possibility of giving trance a fair shake if it wasn’t cheapened by the flash wave of Paul Oakenfold knock-offs or the huge push from Frankfurt to make trance into an increasingly epic phenomenon. But ideally here, once the track goes too far in the way of “trance magic”, it is tempered by Detroit 7th chords, and everything is once again right as rain. The EP does this especially on “Blazing Star”, where the bassline and the swept arpeggiated upper register are decidedly very trance, but it’s rescued by those Detroit strings.
Similarly in “Ideodelika”, the track shows off a very smooth Eye Q/Harthouse style, but the select parts of the ambient lines and the acid call on early Detroit, spacey sci-fi themes. “Hazy Suns” and “Unreality” go the opposite way by leading with Detroit aesthetics, and yet they’re essentially morphed by trance concepts rather than being the sole thing keeping it from being entirely trance.
It is this idea that really makes “The End Of Fiction” EP unique and modern. Imagine if there was an AI you could plug into a deep dreaming generator, type in “Detroit Trance”, and something like this might come out. To his credit, as far as we know, Voiski is not an algorithm and has really pulled together something satisfying, soothing, full of emotion, and brimming with great talent. “The End Of Fiction” is a pretty stellar release and a welcome antithesis to Paula Temple, Rebekah, Phase Fatale, or Perc’s hard techno, body-punishing mentalism. This EP should definitely rate in your collection as a point of reference that straddles the line between the nouveau trance coming out and the deeper soulful techno.
-Sean Ocean
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