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REVIEWS of WASTELAND
from BOOMKAT
*Amazing Narcotic House twelve in some way linked with D+M's legendary engineer Rashad Becker on the same super obscure imprint that gave us that amazing LP documenting Arthur Lipsett's Soundtracks. Limited copies - do not miss!!!!* This has got us rather hot under the collar.
Previous records from Tin Man have explored intensely austere and deeply tripped acid techno territories, but this recent effort slyly shifts into a much darker mode, adding opiated vocals to a sludgy Chicago house template and sending the whole thing tripping through a coldy affected miasmah of electronic drones and icy textures quite unlike owt else.
The sleeve credits the tracks as "Produced by Rashad Becker", which adds to the mystery of this strange sinister record, as Rashad is perhaps best know by his minute inscriptions on the run-out grooves of many records finished at Dubplates and Mastering, where he works as an engineer. This is a brilliantly enigmatic and wonderfully inspired record which we unreservedly recommend. TIP!
from RANDOM CIRCUITS
Tin Man (Johannes Auvinen to his mum), has released four records prior to Wasteland, on his own label Global A and the Sähkö-affiliated Keys of Life. Primarily they have focused on the wider possibilities of the Roland TB-303 drum machine, as evidenced by titles such as Acid Acid, Love Sex Acid and Keys of Life Acid. These records captured the early spirit of experimentation present in the sounds explored by Armando, DJ Pierre and other Chicago House pioneers, documented expertly a few years back on the Soul Jazz compilation Can U Jack?
Wasteland comes with a certain degree of hype absent from previous Tin Man releases. Alongside the usual props from Hardwax (“Killer EP w/ super cool classic Chicago house rooted tunes and some drone/electronica inspired pieces”), the mini-album was also single of the week on Boomkat. Adding to the air of expectation was the credit on the label that Rashad Becker, one of the key players at Berlin’s legendary Dubplates and Mastering had a hand in production duties.Perhaps the presence of Becker explains the change in style as Wasteland explores different retro-futurist avenues this time around, with the primary influences being Juan Atkins and Drexciya. “Future Fiction” is the loneliest Model 500 song never written, while opening track “Highway” sounds not unlike Jandek being produced by the Other People Place.
As ever, the Hardwax description is pretty spot-on, with downbeat vocals drifting in and out of murky, stuttering beats and droney soundscapes. The title track is the choice cut, with a laconic vocal telling us to “Just relax, man… it’s a wasteland” over a lonely clap and minor keys. 808s and heartbreak indeed. Maybe Kanye West could learn a few things from this guy.
from ANOMOLOUS L.A.
Lately I’ve been fairly reclusive and moderately tired of my record collection. So I was pretty jazzed to find one of the best records I’ve heard all year in a music niche I've neglected over the years: house. Tin Man’s fourth release, “Wasteland,” harkens back to the most barren instances of classic Chicago house tracks, stretching the sound’s murkiest undercurrents into desolate, expansive drones that float beneath rhythmic throbs and deep, anesthetize vocals.
“Wasteland” is a dérive through the streets of a city’s seedy underbelly, lights streaming past while distant, shadowy decay drifts in and out of sight. Even without the dystopian evocations of the title and lyrics, the record’s soundscape signifies a world beyond redemption – cold, indifferent, entropic. The record occupies the same unsettling end times as Scott Walker’s The Drift without reveling in its dissonance or hellishness. The tracks are never convoluted or muddled by over indulgence. It’s textbook - the way creeps like myself hoped Deep house would sound the first time we heard it.
At its core, “Wasteland” is as much a rock and roll record as it is an electronic dirge or subversion of Chicago house. The spectacle, tension and attitude are all present; that’s likely what keeps me coming back for more. Like Kraftwerk’s best records, Tin Man never celebrates or condones the austere world his music evokes. It just is. He’s content there; he gets it. There are still drugs to take, sex to have, and music to dance to.
go back to www.TINMANMUSIC.com