Force Lab Edition: Composure

Electronic music has always consumed itself as source material for further productions. Like a snake eating its own tail, producers rehash and refurbish older material in an endless cycle of remixes, versions, edits, and occasionally downright theft. Often this sort of "borrowing" has meant little more than adding a more contemporary kick-drum to an old disco record. Other times it has meant composing completely new music around a singular source element (vocal snippet, bassline, etc.). With digital composing tools becoming readily available as laptop speeds increase ten-fold every few months, traditional minimalists such as Richie Hawtin and Toronto's Jeff Milligan are pushing the idea of the remix into the live environment, zooming in tight on the waveform display, and performing nano-manipulations on the minimally produced tracks already in their crates, reconfiguring said bits and pieces into performance-length compositions. The results are something more than a DJ mix, but something less than an live performance. On this CD, Milligan is charged with the task of taking Forcelab's stellar catalog of tracks by IDM heavy-hitters -- including Kid 606, Safety Scissors, and Lowfour -- and creating his own musical version constructed from the materials found within these grooves. And while Milligan certainly has enough gear to do the job, the resulting mix rarely over-reaches the achievements of the original tracks. So while this is an excellent full-length piece capturing the state of minimal techno, for all of the excess manipulation, the sum doesn't really add up to more than its parts. And that should be the goal of any mix. While those intricately familiar with the Forcelab catalog may swoon over the nuanced differences found here, the casual listener should pick up this disc based on their appreciation of clicks & cuts techno, because that is what is here. And those brought in solely by the shiny toys used to create this disc will be sorely disappointed with the lack of sonic revelation. ~ Joshua Glazer, All Music Guide