In 1993, Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus called themselves Cyrus and unleashed the unearthly pulsing of Enforcement as the first 12-inch on their new Basic Channel label. The shockwaves among the techno community were seismic, the tune’s dub-inspired gauzy resonance shimmering apart from the hardcore techno juggernauts bombarding clubs at the time. Basic Channel’s influence magnified with eight further singles over the next two years as the electronic dance music community coveted them as mysterious springboards into their own uncharted galaxies, galvanising producers like Montreal’s Scott Monteith into sculpting their own takes on what was now being called dub techno. His releases as Deadbeat over the last ten years show far the form has progressed and mutated as this selection for New York’s The Agriculture label casts back to the original source with three Basic Channel-related classics [1994’s Quadrant Dub, Maurizio’s mid-90s M series and the pair’s pure dub Rhythm & Sound offshoot], plus affiliated collaborators like Substance & Vainqueur, VariousArtists and Monolake. Much of the rest dates from the last two years, with the likes of Mikkel Metal and Pendle Coven, while Monteith’s bottomless Deadbeat output is represented by four outings, which show how easily dub techno morphed into dubstep on Magnetic North; another satellite ghosting techno’s ever-evolving planet.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs
