Pierre Deutschmann: Betroit Label: Blufin

This is a great techno album from a master of the Berlin scene. Within the crushing and pounding of beats, Deutschmann is able to take us to different places - from euphoric hands-in-the-air sounds to disturbing dark introspection. The tracks are relentless and often head-crunching - but always maximized for the dancefloor. I liked #3 ("Parameter Lock"), #7 ("Nerdvana"), #9 ("Emphasis"), #12 ("Ampex"), and #14 ("And What Not"). Those tracks are all killer. Everything else is also pretty good, a dedicated homage to Detroit & Berlin, the two spiritual homes of techno music. Fantastic work!

1. "Detroit - Intro" (0:39) - A brief dialogue/homage re. Detroit techno.
2. "Cruf" (4:05) - Crunchy banging broken-beats. Techy drone grind.
3. "ParameterLock" (5:08) - Darkly funky tech-house, has an spooky & nervous quality.
4. "NonVerbalDrama" (6:26) - Hard bouncing bassy techno w/ huge snares & claps. Big banger.
5. "Area1507" (3:54) - Sci-fi background synths over thumpin' breakbeat.
6. "LookingBackwards" (4:18) - Insistent tones and trippy analog effects. Big claps.
7. "Nerdvana" (6:17) - A pounder. Crushing beats & techy noises. Awesome.
8. "Hunch&Guess" (6:23) - Insistent drones and neat chirpy effects. Oddly organic.
9. "Emphasis" (6:17) - Big beats start right away. The synths then take you to another place. Great track.
10. "OneTrueZero" (5:44) - Slightly manic and insistent sci-fi melody with blurps of acid.
11. "Defcon" (5:15) - Progressive epic rave-party vibe. Dramatic buildups. Party mover.
12. "Ampex" (5:18) - Hard-crunching techno grinder. Thumpin' beats, great bass.
13. "Cryptalk" (5:46) - Pounding industrial goth-inspired techno. Cool synth warbling.
14. "AndWhatNot" (4:21) - Twisted warble over a tech-house banger. Speaker-crunching.
15. "Berlin - Outro" (0:34) - A quick dark & dirty outro w/ dubby vox.