500 Only, Tresor Records is fortunate enough to be sitting on a catalogue of past releases that no other label in electronic music would turn down. Three of the finest in this collection were albums contributed by Surgeon, * Basictonalvocabulary*, * Balance* and * Force + Form* all originally came out on the Berlin institution between 1997 and 1999.
Surgeons inimitable combination of Detroit techno and post-industrial sounds emanating from his British homeland found its fullest expression in these masterful trio of releases on Tresor. The Balance Remakes 12” accompanied Surgeons second Tresor album in 1998, with additional Versions as well as a remix by long-time Birmingham collaborator Mick Harris.
At midnight, on March 13th 1991, a basement door opened at Leipziger Strasse 126, Berlin. Through this door, many passed, on their way to defining new terrains in electronic music.
Tresor Records was founded in the same year and pushed deeper connections beyond Germany. Emergent musicians from Michigan, such as Juan Atkins, Underground Resistance and Drexciya, were pivotal in shaping these early years. Their visits to Berlin would kickstart dialogue between the youth movement in Europe and these musicians. This story is one of friendship, inextricably linked with cities like Detroit and Birmingham, where like-minded friends built something truly special, where revelatory rhythms soundtrack decaying industry in corrupted metropoles. This compilation marks 30 years of activity, from luminaries present right at the beginning, through to contemporary protagonists - who have come together to manipulate our landscape further. Each of them re-defines this electronic sound as it contorts and manoeuvres around modern pressures and technological flux.
From Detroit, we hear the magic of Juan Atkins, that echoes its worn down environments, to New York City and Speaker Music’s pertinent message of resistance. Helena Hauff’s neck-snapping electro deepens the path set by Drexciya and Stingray. Moritz von Oswald’s expansive, dubbed-out constructions exposed an abstracted take on techno, an approach extended by the likes of Donato Dozzy and Sophia Saze. These artists conjure ecstatic vertigo through sound, that bind you to the people around you, creating an atmosphere where our collective imaginings become strong.
To those that have danced before, and to those that will dance in the future: the light at the end of the long Tresor tunnel is a signal. A flicker amidst the fog. This is our future. This is our place.
