Stripped back, driving Techno flashes back to Detroit’s heyday of minimal production in Robert Hoods’ reissue of 1997’s “Untitled (Movable Parts Chapter 2).” Alongside Jeff Mills and Mike Banks, Hood’s productions as part of the Underground Resistance label blended acid leaning texture and industrial touches into a scaffold of Chicago house and Detroit techno. The 11th of a 52-part weekly series of remastered rereleases via Hood’s storied M-Planet label, Thomas Heckmann restores Hood’s track in a release that exemplifies the power of rhythmic clarity that defines Hoods’ early productions.
“Movable Parts Chapter 2” is a master class in building textural depth through absence. With just a kick drum and acid infused synth lines that tease crescendos without fully reaching them, layers of texture are removed to push the track further into minimalism than some of hoods’ other highhat heavy productions such as Museum. Removing highhats, and moving the synth lines from a wet, squelching resonance to a dry and crisp groove, the remaster takes the Underground Resistance sound and clarifies it into the distilled essence of what the original track was.
Heckmann’s remaster moves the track away from the busier, acid landscapes that the German EBM-Techno producer is known for, and towards a world where sharp acid synths leave more negative sonic space than positive. While being a masterclass in minimal acid, Heckmann perhaps moves in an overly-concentrated direction as the final phrases of the track simply fading out to no resolution. When the track fades out before any of the propulsive energy has room to disperse or come to head, it cements the track’s position as a mid-set dance floor heater to carry energy over long, journeying techno sets.
Нежность, translating to “tenderness,” is a single from Russian pop singer MakSim’s 2006 debut album Trudny Vozrast. As one of the most renowned Russian singers from the 2000s, it’s not surprising that a variety of Slavic artists collaborated on a cover of Trudny Vozrast, which was released on March 27th. This album contained her breakthrough single of the same name and thrust Maksim into her first nationwide tour, paving the way for her stardom throughout the next decade.
Singer Lida (Nikolay Romadov), a hyperpop and EDM artist known for his catchy groove-oriented music and often unhinged lyrics, covered the soulful love track Нежность. Considering many of the other covers on the compilation don’t deviate as far from the original sound, with the exception of rap/electronic musician Kyok’s contribution, Lida adds a unique layer to the otherwise less deviant sounds of pop and soft rock. Lida’s characteristically high-pitched, autotuned vocals blend into a pounding beat as if one cohesive piece of the song, and contrast in totality the soft RnB and pop quality of MakSim’s distinctive early 2000s sound.
The differences between MakSim and Lida provide a paradoxical cover, but also a compelling crossover between boundaries of genre and time. With Lida being born in the mid 90s, he undoubtedly grew up through MakSim’s peak era of success, giving this an nostalgic element, not just for audiences composed of MakSim fans but for the artist himself. By honoring her with a cover of Нежность in his own genre, there’s an appealing authenticity to the piece, making way for an incredibly multifaceted song. A rave-worthy beat, with lyrics one could cry to.
Through juxtaposing these two completely different genres in one track, it forces an awareness of the sheer diversity that exists in music. But if the sound of Lida and the heart of Maksim can exist simultaneously in this cover of Нежность, than perhaps they aren’t as distant as one might expect.