Longtime minimal, deep house, and techno producer Efdemin, aka Phillip Sollmann, releases uptempo and heady “Mono”, featuring artistically minded, hardware-based techno on Inland’s Berlin label, Counterchange. The release includes special remix appearances by DJ Skull and Johanna Knutsson who wrap up and bring home an EP dripping with style.
If you’ve been following Efdemin, Inland, or Counterchange Recordings, it seems like the match-up is a great fit for all involved here on “Mono”. Not one has a sole preference for hard, senseless bass music or purely poppy dance-driven cuts, but the happy medium seems to be at the crossroads of well-crafted tracks that express artistic taste but can also still function well on a dance floor alongside heavier mechanical techno to lighten the mood or give more class to straight driving techno tracks. A big happy surprise here is seeing personal favorite DJ Skull, aka Ron Maney, on remix duties—a classic Chicago techno and house producer who’s notably released on Djax Up since the early ‘90s.
Efdemin’s title track “Mono” opens the release with buzzy atmospherics and bleepy synths, all while riding a real deal Roland TR-909, which is notable since the timing in the machine, the aged electronics and amp, and the ride sweep are all unique to that box and not some common repro. Nice touch on making a 60 Hz hum not a bug in this track, but a feature. In my mind, that 60 Hz hum is sort of a call out to the sterile nature of laptops and how a nice noise floor can add some much needed warmth and character to a track.
The second track on the “Mono” EP is Efdemin’s own original, “Subconscious Dub.” The machines are once again present and the similar reference to tape hiss is present on the ambient ground of the track like a fuzzy, loose pile carpet. Above rides a warbling and driven, evolving ambient pad as classic drum machines are played live and multi tracked.
Efdemin’s “Sequence 100” was initially a long pad-based track with a jacking drum machine and arpeggio-filled bassline. The original is seen here remixed by Johanna Knutsson and DJ Skull each.
Known in the Berlin scene for her uniquely funky and deep techno DJ sets, Johanna Knutsson also has a solid rep for being a thoughtful, beatless ambient artist. Once again, Knutsson paints another deep ambient offering as the pulse of the drum machine on the original track is stripped out for inferred rhythms of synths sweeping throughout with a slowed baseline in sequence and echoes passed in the space between your ears in phased 8th notes. You can easily picture yourself searching around the stereo field with Johanna as your guide. It’s a supremely pleasant result, and the presence of the remix artist is welcoming and kind within all aspects of the sound.
Last up is DJ Skull’s remix for “Sequence 100,” and we’re immediately presented with his funk and techno soul. It’s as if the concept of Berlin beats and the Berlin School has been wiped off the map and Chicago house has entered the building. Parts of the original bassline remain, but the timing and the filtering are warped with a swing not present within the original. The original’s phased pad is taken down to a chorusing, Detroit techno feel and clinched by the addition of soft synth string pads at the back. Efdemin’s angular 909 is also replaced here by a rounded, bouncing, funky 808 kit while synths call out in jazzy fashion.
Circling back, you look through this “Mono” release and obviously see another win for Efdemin’s effortless, all gear-based, original techno style, but also the big takeaway are the interpretations by Knutsson and DJ Skull who have definitely taken the original “Sequence 100” track with a very personal approach.
Overall, the real success of this “Mono” EP release is from the Counterchange Label’s seemingly unwritten goal of letting an artist express themselves with style. Which, in my own personal opinion, is what actually separates good techno from the bad and what makes techno unique in this world of electronic music. It’s the musician’s voice and character, as well as what they choose to express that makes techno so compelling. You could listen to 50 hardbass or brostep releases and not find any with the level of nuance and character that this “Mono” EP has to offer, and it shows off artists that have once again, overcome the inherently lifeless nature of electronic music instruments and come correct with their passion for the music.
-Sean Ocean
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