1999 Nonesuch/ Warner Brothers

Review by Michael Johnsen

Steve Reich began his musical career in the 60's walking around San Francisco with a tape recorder picking up the sounds of the city, including a preacher's rap on Noah and the flood. Back in his studio, the tape loops he made accidentally go out of synch, exposing sounds Reich wasn't particularly looking for which set his ears on a wild ride leading to his first tape-loop compositions (Come Out and It's Gonna Rain).

Reich soon moved from tape loops to composing music which recreated the same effect for live players, such as Pat Metheny (Counterpoint) and the Kronos Quartet (Different Trains). His early experimentation and subsequent compositions have sparked inspiration into modern, younger musicians mixing it up in the clubs. Techno, elctronica, ambient, trance; call in what you will, Reich's music is an incredible wealth for this group of British, Japanese and American DJ's allowed access to Reich's catalog.

I've often thought techno was very similar to classical music. The element of composition is the key tie-in; instead of a hundred piece orchestra, the new composers spin disks, create loops, program, mix and weave a silicon and vinyl orchestra. This convergence of modern-classical and techno is seamless and very fitting.

This is one of the better techno disks to come out for awhile. Coldcut, Tranquillity Bass, Mantronik, and Howie B are a few of the DJ's mixing tracks which range from exploring a theme from a single Reich composition to blending several titles from the catalog. Reich's music comes through- the DJ's keep true to Reich's seemingly repetitive, hypnotic, yet evolving style.

The pieces range from very ambient, free, and structureless (DJ Spooky's City Life) to the clubby yet spooky The Four Sections by Andrea Parker or the textural Music for 18 Musicians by my man Coldcut. The textures the remixers achieve are impressive- revealing the maturity that techno music is achieving. For folks who think techno is for dancing only should get a whiff of these beats. This disk is very listenable- not in the pop-oriented, hit-radio-copping-the-techno-bandwagon-sound, but in the ability for the disk to remain interesting even after many spins through the tracks.

One of my favorites off this disk is Piano Phase by D*Note (Phased and Konfused Mix). But the whole disk is good- no tracks let me down. In fact, other DJ's should really take note of this one- it moves the sound into a more complex, textured, mature, and straight-out trippy and spiritual direction.

With the popularity of Fat Boy Slim's Praise You on the airwaves, promising works from the Orb, Orbital, Spacetime Contiuum, Banco de Gaia, the Art of Noise and the release of this album, 1999 looks like the year that techno (or, electronic music) proves that this style of music is much more than backdrops for commercials or one-hit wonders.

Track Listing:

Music for 18 Musicians - Coldcut (remix ) 6:03
Eight Lines - Howie B (remix) 8:12
The Four Sections - Andrea Parker (remix) 6:22
Megamix - Tranquility Bass (remix) 9:36
Drumming - Mantronik (maximum drum formula) 4:02
Proverb - Nobukazu Takemura (remix) 7:44
Piano Phase D*note (Phased and konfused mix) 5:05
City Life - D J Spooky (that subliminal kid) (open circuit) 6:58
Come Out - Ken Ishii (remix)
The Desert Music - freQ.NASTY & B.L.I.M (remix) 7:22