Track Listing

1. Ask Yourself
2. Mind Encode
3. Lost
4. Disconnect
5. Slow Poke [Twilight Zone Mix]
6. Headcase
7. Ping Pong
8. Mind In Rewind
9. I No
10. I Don't Know

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150269 in Music
• Released on: 2003-10-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .11 pounds

From URB Magazine
Remember that kid who took acid and jumped off the roof of your high-school gym? He came back as Richie Hawtin. More accurately, that kid came back as Plastikman. Hawtin's alter ego has been pushing buttons and pushing boundaries of electronic music since 1993's Sheet One, an album with such a powerfully classic feel that it epitomizes '90s techno and even sports that infamous cover your mom caught you licking for traces of LSD. With a gradually evolving sound, followers never know what to expect with each subsequent release. Plastikman has emerged as the most dynamic of Hawtin's guises, and he builds on a series of albums you could listen to in sequence and trip solely on how they sound so different but still tranquilly fit together. Closer is no break in the chain. There's that ever-present throb that pushes your heart deep into your chest while a spare handclap drops in here, a warped synth there, until they're forced out by an echoed vocal snippet so sinister it could scare the shit out of those Norwegian death-metal guys. The self-reflective vocals (yes, vocals) on "Disconnect" are an insightful change, while the slow-boiling builds on "Mind in Rewind" will simply make you want to buy your 303 back off Ebay. An anomaly in the current music climate or the sound of classic acid making a blurry-eyed comeback? As the record twists between ideas of duality, sanity and insanity, decision and indecision, and closes with the aptly titled "I Don't Know," it's suggested this will all make sense only once we arrive at the loony bin.

Tony Bogdanovski

Customer Reviews

The inside of your brain
This is the newest release from Plastikman. Recently I've gone back to my first love of techno music and was reading on this artist - Richie Hawtin in his Plastikman disguise - to see what was said. Mainly good stuff all round

I decided to pick this one up ( considering it was the cheapest of his releases ( and new as well )) and I have to admit at first I thought " What's all the fuss about this guy then? Because it was difficult because on first listen there's barely anything to hold your attention. And what's more there's only one bass and a drum you'll hear for the whole album. Not very exciting really is it?

Well if you dig deeper into it, if your patience can stay with it, it has more to it. Nokia's mobile coming in on one track ( he makes it sound like if it's coming in on an ocean ) and if you listen VERY closely you'll hear a melody but it is hidden so deep beneath the bassline that most people will think it doesn't exist.

Oh yes and the vocals......well if you can think of a stalker phoning you with his voice distorted then you pretty much get the idea. It adds to the whole effect of what he's actually saying.

Apparently this was recorded when Richie was on the verge of a mental breakdown and given to this I can fully understand this by listening to music. It's quite possibly the most difficult album you'll ever experience because you feel that there's nothing going on really but there's so much more just hidden beneath the surface.

Give it a go but give it time - it's not something you're going to fall in love with instantly but if and when it does it becomes hypnotized. But that's for you to decide

Richie is the master of catchy, minimal music.
I am always amazed by the difference between the frenetic Richie Hawtin DJ sets and his moody, minimal Plastikman albums. This album exemplifies the difference between his two personalities. There are a few slow tracks that don't grab me but the rest are sensational. When I listen very intellectually to the music I am stunned by how little music there is and yet how great it sounds. Richie has always written long songs that develop so subtley that you hardly notice yourself being sucked in. I abandon the intellect and enjoy the music and celebrate animate life. Richie has used wonderul vocals, effected of course, in the form of acid aphorisms and laments of the demise of his relationship with his girlfriend. Beautiful as always.

Further from the rest.
Closer continues the legacy of his previous works as with consumed, sheet one, artifacts etc. Though the substantial time gap from the previous releases, Plastikman pursues into a deeper alter ego from Richie Hawtin as the dance floors of the world knows him by. Perhaps an escapade from being a DJ, Plastikman blurs the boundary of an artist, musician and producer. BTW How many other artist care to package the artworks for the album inside out?

With closer one gets closer to the dark terrrains of his mind with minimal repetitive break patterns, delay paces, threaded with faint audible tunes minus the dance factor. Laboured from the signature numbers with the decks over the years, be warned as with most of his earlier albums, Closer is richly textured with a disturbing psychological effect to the listeners. His work will transformed one to a solitary journey of soul searching and the unfamiliar depths with electro music.

Closer is what the blues period is to Picasso. Bitches Brew to
Miles Davis. Broken to Trent Reznor, where forlorn creativity remain resistant to an eroding scene of commercial crap. One can only hope he will remain closer to his vision while dwelling in this dark side.