Delsin turns its attention to the archives of one of the great early pioneers of Dutch techno: Eevo Lute Muzique. Florence’s Analogue Expressions and Wladimir M.’s Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly are not just two beautifully produced compilations. These albums have been lovingly restored and compiled by Delsin, a dutch record label paying homage to past greats of its homeland.
The Amsterdam imprint is clearing the clouds
We are living through a very trying time. COVID19 is changing the world. The way we interact has been turned upside down and our abilities to share and socialise have been stretched to threadbare exchanges.
I for one, am in lockdown in my home in Madrid, only leaving the house for essentials and working off a laptop. I’m one of the lucky ones. There are people whose jobs have been frozen, shelved alongside wages for a later date. There are those who have been laid off and are struggling to make ends meet. But there is another group, less fortunate who have fallen ill and those who have even lost loved ones.
It can be hard to find hope within such times, difficult to break the routines we find ourselves in. Music, as ever, is an indispensable tool to meet these challenges, a means by which to maintain our mental health and bring some rays of light-filled optimism to break the grey bleakness. Delsin is providing positivity. The Amsterdam imprint is clearing the clouds with not one but two compilations that focus on a foundation of Dutch techno; Eevo Lute Muzique.
Eevo Lute was founded by Steffan Robbers and Wladimir Manshanden in 1991. The label was founded at a pivotal moment. Across Europe and the U.S. musicians were experimenting with new equipment and a sound never heard before was being forged.
Steffan Robbers, aka Terrace, was a key figure in 90s electronic music. Under a dizzying number of aliases, the dutchman explored a spread of styles including everything from acid and bleep floor melters to complex compositions. Robbers set up links with like minded musicians and helped create a bridge between the movements in the UK and the US.
It can be hard to find hope within such times, difficult to break the routines we find ourselves in. Music, as ever, is an indispensable tool to meet these challenges, a means by which to maintain our mental health and bring some rays of light-filled optimism to break the grey bleakness.
Analogue Expressions centres on Robbers’ Florence moniker, a pseudonym used for his Detroit inspired pieces and IDM works. The triple vinyl release collects works made generally between 1991 and 1994 with long out of print tracks lovingly restored. Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly focuses on Wladimir M., a co-founder of Eevo Lute and often described as the label’s soul.
Florence takes the listener on a journey across the eleven pieces of Analogue Expressions. The beginning bristles with energy as the bold bass and racing rhythms of “Exploration” take hold. The influence of Carl Craig, Derrick May, and Juan Atkins is clear to hear in the clipped pads of the title piece, beats flowing and slipping in an incredibly deep piece. Many of the tracks are amazingly daring for their time, such as the glitched electro stomp of “Robotica” or the proto drum and bass rises of “Revival.” Despite being almost thirty years old, the vast majority of the music still sounds as fresh as when it was first made. True, some pieces, like the minimal clicks and warbles of “It’s In The Hands,” sound of their time, but this takes nothing away from them, instead it merely highlights their quality. “The Vineyard,” a masterpiece of star gazing electronics, appears twice, the Moving Mix (with vocals) and the reprise. The track, for those of you who might have the vinyl version of the epic Agenda 21, has been thoroughly dusted down and trills with a renewed intensity.
The triple vinyl collection is incredibly rich with Delsin having dived deep into the archives of Eevo Lute. For anyone new to Robbers’ Analogue Expressions is a broad introduction to this producer, for those already schooled there are some simply superb lesser known gems. Take “Quartertraxx.” Originally released in 1992, this changeling pounds and writhes with industrial intent until a transformative break, a chrysalis within which brightness blooms and keys sing, and we find ourselves right back in the thrust and parry of percussion. In many respects, Florence feels like a missing member from the Artificial Intelligence gang. “A Touch of Heaven,” gliding with astral stings and computer chirps, and Sea of Tranquility,” a reduced soulful rendition, sounds as if they could have been plucked from the B12 back catalogue.
If Stefan Robbers was the musical mind of Eevo Lute, Wladimir Manshanden was its wordsmith. A co-founder of the label, Manshanden was the revolutionary poet, voice and prophet of the movement. The message promulgated in his words is one of the ills of capitalism, the upcoming environmental catastrophe and the misuse of technology. An old tale? Declarations of little importance thirty years on? Absolutely not. True, these are universal themes; yet the way they are dealt with on Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly, a double vinyl album, is something quite unique in the techno canon.
There is also something timely about the revival of this music. When all is looking dark, such bright and optimistic compositions are both essential and transformative.
“Plant E,” first released on the imprint of the same name in 1991, is a beautiful example of Wladimir M’s style. Part open poem, part monologue, English and French are the languages of the piece. It opens with a brief tête-à-tête about the upcoming U.S. elections (the Clinton administration) before a beat supports stanzas that outline endless consumerism, moral bankruptcy and possibility of escape in some form of carnal individualism. Robbers was heavily involved in Wladmir M’s visions, offer his musical talents across the releases. Coursing through the collection, these works have been brought together for the first time ever on one release, is a stark belief that the systems mankind is governed by are wrong, that there needs to an awakening and an overthrowing to free ourselves from oppression. The root of this oppression is capitalism with the U.S. being marked clearly as the enemy in tracks like “Evil” with its thumping kicks and staunch line of “Stop America.”
At times the spoken words of Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly are lacklustre, Manshanden sounding as if his own words have sapped him of energy such as the whirling waltz of “Disappointment.” Yet, this is part of the interplay of man and machine on this record; the situation is so grave, the message so overwhelming that it draws the very lifeblood of our harbinger to tell his tale. Despite innovative musical equipment allowing new audio plains to be explored, the same old problems of inequality and hardship changed much of the globe to social, economic and political hardship. Peppered throughout are shorter bursts, “Autumn Leaves I & II” or “Poem 2411,” as are vocoder experiments as the immense “Electronic Ambience.” The album ends with the towering “Sex and Lies.” A wall of sheer sound is punctured by broken beat with spoken lines swirling in this aural ocean that first came out in 1994.
Analogue Expressions and Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly are not just two beautifully produced compilations. These albums have been lovingly restored and compiled by Delsin, a dutch record label paying homage to past greats of its homeland. Not only are these releases shining a light on two artists who were instrumental in European electronic scene, but also they are resurrecting works that are challenging, considered, and reflective. There is also something timely about the revival of this music. When all is looking dark, such bright and optimistic compositions are both essential and transformative.
A final thought. What would Wladimir M of the 1990s have said about this current global situation? I can assure one thing; he would have had words for it.
Both Florence’s Analogue Expressions and Wladimir M.’s Leaves Fallin’ Recklessly are available on Delsin.
