- Mike Dehnert often specialises in the type of techno designed to stick sets together, the monochrome beats and loops that make the peaks seem higher in contrast, the big tunes sound even more massive. It's rare that you'll hear Dehnert doing a "big tune" himself though. If that makes his music sound workmanlike, the same could be said of his prolific release schedule, with Fachwerk 25—the quarter century release on his Fachwerk imprint—being his ninth album in six years.
Like its predecessors, such as 2008's K-8 and last year's Framework, Dehnert's latest LP consists primarily of the sort of no-frills techno he both spins and performs live at clubs like Berghain and Tresor. You can imagine the corrugated stabs of "Panel" bouncing off bare brick walls, and almost smell the sweat dripping from the ceiling during the loose rolling groove of "Layer." "Resize" meanwhile has the single-minded drive and spring-loaded precision of Jeff Mills' Purpose Maker series.
However, as with its predecessors—or indeed Purpose Maker—Fachwerk 25 isn't the sort of thing you'd stick on your iPod for a walk to the shops. Of course, you could argue that it isn't intended to be listened to in such a context. But Fachwerk 25 has been explicitly structured to work as an album rather than just a straight collection of tracks, with an intro and a number of "experimental" interludes. It's a rare change of pace from Dehnert, and it doesn't entirely work. The majority of these bits achieve little except breaking up the flow—"Typing" distracts, sounding like someone burping up a ravey piano and "STH" is nothing more than a sketch, something that might fit far better inside a 4/4 framework.
Still, the techno on offer is just as good as ever—if those interludes have one use it's to make some of the weaker tracks feel more fully-formed than they otherwise might. And of course DJs—as always—will find plenty of uses for sections of Fachwerk 25 in their sets. Almost everybody else, however, may be left wanting by this foray into album territory from the Berlin producer.
Tracklist 01. Intro
02. Fraction
03. Modulat
04. Courant
05. Fachwerk 25
06. Grundform
07. Panel
08. Typing
09. Layer
10. STH
11. Resize
12. Slim
13. Granulat