Richie Hawtin DE9 | Transitions Review

DE9Transitions is the third and possibly final - part in Richie Hawtin's fabled Decks and FX mix series.

Using Ableton Live, Hawtin carries on the concept on Transitions, this time manipulating tracks so fully they're rendered as entirely new forms.

Hence the track-listing does not mention names as such, but offers 28 named sections "Welcomm", "Prebuild", "Jupiter Lander", "Noch Ein Mal" etc. - which serve as some kind of vague guidance through the stream of multiple-layered sound.

The mix contains original Hawtin productions, tracks from Ricardo Villalobos, Marc Houle and Daniel Bell, Robert Hood and Pan Sonic; with over a hundred records pummeled into tiny pieces, all that remains of these original songs are shadows.

Hawtin's disco is not for hands-in-the-air types, but for lovers of linear representations and multifarious moments.

It's as deep and hypnotic as anything Hawtin has yet produced. The rhythms relentlessly tap into the twisted realms of our psyches, with no real peaks and troughs or even any next song segues to help out. Just, well... transitions.

Kinetic and complex, the album is undoubtedly the sound of the mysterious synthesis of man and machine.