d e e p c h o r d

Rod Modell (a.k.a. Deepchord) is a sound-designer with 25 years involvement in electronic music and over 50 releases under various aliases and styles. Beginning with more “industrial” and “ambient” forms of sonic experimentation (working with Kim Cascone and his -then- record-label Silent, and performing with notable industrial acts such as Chris & Cosey and SPK). While attending Art School for Photography, Rod lived in Detroit’s Eastern-Market area, the location of the infamous “techno boulevard”, and home to Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson during that time. Submersed in the blossoming Detroit Techno scene (early 1990’s), a journey from a more experimental sound into Detroit’s techno-world was inevitable. Modell co-founded the Deepchord record label in Detroit during the mid-90’s. Deepchord respected and admired (fellow Detroiters) Underground Resistance for their D.I.Y. attitude and independence. It was because of this respect and admiration that Deepchord declined offers from top techno labels of the time, in favor of doing it by themselves. Many consider Deepchord to be the second wave of the “Basic Channel sound”, and came years before the onslaught of imitators.

After 16 releases on Deepchord, Rod went onto co-found Echospace. Echospace released two full length albums and five 12″ singles on Modern Love (Boomkat), and a slew of releases on their Echospace imprint. 2007’s “The Coldest Season” and 2010’s “Liumin” are critically acclaimed electronic music classics, and were on top-lists of prestigious resources such as The Wire, xlr8r, and Resident Advisor (who wrote of The Coldest Season: “in terms of sheer quality, it rivals Basic Channel’s vaunted catalog. Put down that ultra-rare Basic Reshape 12” and check out what’s going on now. This album is bound to be one of the most fully realized listening experiences to grace your stereo this year, and is proof positive that DeepChord and Echospace are the rightful heirs to the dub techno legacy”). Rod also operated an audio-mastering facility in the Detroit area from 1995-2005, employing his services to many electronic record labels, including Richie Hawtin’s M-NUS imprint.

Rod’s recent projects include a collaboration with K Soublis (Fluxion) for Echocord in Denmark (Echocord #046 – “Waves EP”), remixes for fellow Detroiter Aaron Carl (R.I.P.) on Millions Of Moments (#MOM 004), remixes for DFA Records (#dfaemi 2194), reworkings of Juan Atkins’ “Starlight”, Remakes of “Miranda” for Convextion, and new versions of Slam’s Groovelock for Soma Quality Recordings in Glasgow. Deepchord has also been featured on numerous mix cd’s, including Deadbeat’s (Scott Monteith) “Radio Rothko” (theAgriculture, Brooklyn NY), and “Electronic Flavors” mixed by Henrik Schwarz and published by Philip Morris GMBH.

electromagnetic dowsing [lost d side]

deepchord

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Limited Edition (300 copies for the world), one-sided release with "The Lost D-side" of Deepchord's now classic "Electro Magnetic Dowsing" originally appeared as no less than three different 12' singles on Mike Huckaby's revered S Y N T H imprint out of Detroit. Spun by Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Omar S to Laurent Garnier. An absolute MUST

Limited Edition (300 copies for the world), one-sided release with "The Lost D-side" of Deepchord's now classic "Electro Magnetic Dowsing" originally appeared as no less than three different 12' singles on Mike Huckaby's revered S Y N T H imprint out of Detroit. Spun by Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Omar S to Laurent Garnier. An absolute MUST for the heads!

Deepchord serve the uncannily infectious 'Lost D Side' to one of their finest moments, 'Electromagnetic Dowsing'. First found in three different versions on Mike Huckaby's S Y N T H imprint circa 2005, this mix is the most driven, kinetic of them all; flush with head-swimming hydraulic dub motion and radar-pinging rimshots to really get lost in. Cards on the table: this has to be one of the best Deepchord cuts out there, no messing. -Boomkat

w + p by d e e p c h o r d, somewhere in detroit. remastered by alchemy mastering, london, england.

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vantage isle [reshaped by convextion, cv313 + echospace]

deepchord

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Deepchord have emerged from the shadows of their Motor City lair in a big way this year, unleashing their dubby techno constructs upon the public at a feverish pace. Previously appearing earlier this year on a hyper-limited triple-pack, their landmark ‘Vantage Isle’ album has been re-released on CD in an expanded fashion.

Awash in effervescent

Deepchord have emerged from the shadows of their Motor City lair in a big way this year, unleashing their dubby techno constructs upon the public at a feverish pace. Previously appearing earlier this year on a hyper-limited triple-pack, their landmark ‘Vantage Isle’ album has been re-released on CD in an expanded fashion.

Awash in effervescent sheets of reverb and echo that evoke images of Detroit’s decaying urban landscapes as they dissolve into the ether, there’s a certain physicality to the album’s sonic vistas that is lacking from the output of other producers mining similar territory. Where contemporaries such as Deadbeat and Mikkel Metal gloss over the dub with a digital sheen, DeepChord wring their sounds from tangles of live wires and sputtering banks of effects, molding and shaping them by hand until they coalesce into living organisms. It’s a sonic space with one foot in the past and the other firmly planted in the not-so-distant future.

Often resembling a cross between Berlin’s Basic Channel collective and Detroit’s techno lineage, ‘Vantage Isle’ is less an album of individual tracks than a compilation of remixes. Working from a limited sonic palette rooted in the signature warmth of the analog technologies of yore, the collection plays out in true dub fashion as each of the artists involved offers their own versions of the same rudimentary riddim. The effect is similar in fashion to Rhythm & Sound’s classic ‘See Mi Yah’ series, with the basic template examined and reexamined from different angles.

Despite being cut from the same aural cloth, each of the tracks occupies its own niche, with the artist’s stamp firmly imprinted on the final product. The three DeepChord mixes feature lumbering rhythms underpinned by devastatingly deep bass pulses set adrift amid a sea of tumbling chords and skittering delay. Echospace – the collaborative project between Soultek and DeepChord’s own Rod Modell – is well represented with five reshapes showcasing their signature style, which is simultaneously both more ambient and more techno-oriented than anything DeepChord has committed to tape. Labelmate CV313 also impresses, turning in a complimentary pair of tracks that demonstrate the mysterious producer’s aptitude for producing storming waves of driving beats over a milky smooth ambience.

But it’s the contribution from Convextion that really stands out. Paring the beat down to a pulsing mass of kick drums and ruptured bursts of static, the Texas-based producer weaves writhing clusters of chords into the mix as yawning pads bathe everything in a warm, static-fried glow. It’s creepy stuff, but it’s also the visionary highlight of an album that stands tall not just among the glut of contemporary dub techno releases, but among the classics of the genre as well. All in all, ‘Vantage Isle’ is a tremendous achievement that will most likely be held up as a high water mark of the genre for years to come. -Resident Advisor

Michigan’s Rod Modell makes immersive techno. It doesn’t quite fit into any specific genre mold, so his subtle, nearly anonymous tracks can slip by unnoticed. It’s easy to get lost in the microbial hiss, goopy dub timbres and rumbling muffle to miss the bass writhing in the fuzz or percussive tics cracking the drone.

On Vantage Isle Sessions, he again partners with Soultek’s Steven Hitchell as DeepChord. This new disc comprises 12 remixes by the duo of the elusive "Vantage Isle,” a track so impermanent it appears there was never a proper, original version. The 13th remix, smack in the middle of the disc’s sequencing, comes from the sole outsider: Gerard Hanson (Convextion). It may also be the best thing here. His version is by far the most submerged; strands of shuffling dust pile up on a cyborg samba, immersed in a hail of cut-ups, stray clicks and extended chords. Modell and Hitchell’s "Echospace Spatial Dub" is far more immediate. The closest thing to a straight dance cut, its bass is crisp and dry, looped in a slinky cycle that rattles along a taut trot, leaving the dub FX to plop and squish on the periphery.

The "Echospace Reshape" could pass as early-’90s ambient rockers Seefeel remixed by a Warp glitch-termite of comparable vintage. It’s a radian eight-minute sprawl that, thankfully, can’t decide whether it struts or churns, jets spurting and bass paddling in mutual confusion. The "Echospace Glacial" mix is practically a symphony of aquatic audio, complete with cascading water. The "cv313" reductions are the most surprising. The first applies a more variegated rhythm, its spatter and chipped blips a relief from the disc’s constant numbing throb. The second, the album’s closer, is all crackling froth and organ spume, blissfully coursing through the stereo field.

Modell is in solo mode on the weirder Incense and Black Light. From its title on down, this album has an after-hours feel. There’s more water, but now it sounds like it’s pebbling apartment windows instead of draining along sewer canals. A recurring bongo-like smatter, muted and almost incongruous, adds to the bedroom vibe. It’s as if some vintage space-age bachelor pad LP is spinning absent-mindedly with the volume turned way down. Only the tinniest percussion pops through the silence. Chimes shimmer, hi-hats lisp, steam crackles. Modell’s music always seems to be in this suspended animation, adrift and afloat in a majestic emptiness. -Dusted Magazine

You might say that the sound of Deepchord results from one of techno's rock-hardest truths: Jack into the primordial 4/4 throb, the universal language of kick-drum, and the rest of your track's sonic spectrum is fair game for experiments of the maddest science. Deepchord's lab book in this case is a dark-art manual for contacting the Jamaican-dub spirit world, a volume its Detroit-based progenitor Rod Modell was most likely handed by someone from Berlin's Basic Channel label. In its heyday, Basic Channel's style was often tagged "heroin house," a term coined ostensibly to account for the fleeting subgenre's pulsing silvery narcosis. If an opiate reference leaves you cold, however, you can think of it as "scuba house": dance jams for the diving bell. Let's face it, though. All along calling the sport scuba "diving" has been a way of covering up what it really is, and the properties it shares with Deepchord: the sensation of sitting at the bottom of the ocean for a long time and savoring the healing properties of otherworldly ambience. Along those lines, "Deepchord" and "Echospace" would be great brand names for long-range Navy Seal audio espionage gear, the kind you could use to make spine-tingling underwater field recordings of the sort of drifty, murmuring echoes and chthonic subbass tremors, that permeate Vantage Isle. And while the Deepchord/Echospace universe promotes a carefully vintage style, purist should note that it's not wholly analog. Mitchell professes his love for early digital synths, like the landmark Yamaha DX7. As he says in an interview with Resident Advisor, it's a hardware sound, one that distinctly separates it from the kind of computer-software plug-in steez that's the current benchmark for convenient techno production. Released on triple-pack last year as the latest and most epic of Echospace's near-cultishly coveted vinyl productions, it takes material played live at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2001, and in the great spirit of electronic musical anonymity, allows it to be devoured by a wolf-pack of various pseudonyms and collaborations. If you simply heard the album and didn't read about it, you wouldn't know it was the same dubby minimal techno track thirteen times.

That's a testament to the unexpected broadness of palette that is left after it's been decided that you're amputating music down to its barest filtered flicker. The original dubby excursion gets eaten up, obliterated, leaving behind a beatless void on the fourth track, gets resurrected via hardcore throb on the standout seventh track, morphs into a refined and alluring nightclub pulse on the eleventh. Despite all the diversity, Vantage Isle does not, however, span the full geographical expanse of Deepchord's The Coldest Season, which went from tundra to valley to desert plain. Instead its sequence of inspired variations creates a pulsing, silvery rainforest of microcosmic depth. The listener ends up in a position kind of like the protagonist in Kafka's "A Country Doctor," who on first inspecting his young patient finds no physical incursion, only upon a second closer glance to discover a grotesque wound in the same place where there was just bare skin. Such is the effect of this strand of minimal electronics: With its enshrouded maternal heartbeats and diaphonous synths burbles it can lurk in the background of your aural space interminably, only to reach out and smack you without warning. Great for drug addicts, OCD-sufferers, and anyone else with over-acute hearing and/or insomnia. -Prefix Magazine

written + produced by rod modell + mike schommer & steven hitchell. mastered by ron murphy (r.i.p.) @ nsc, detroit. engineered and mixed in echospace 2007.

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grand bend

deepchord

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Deepchord's immense "grandbend" was originally released on DC-10 and has been often cited as the most beautifully spacious of all of Rod Modell's recordings. This doublepack on the echospace label brings together a remastered version of the original plus reworkings from Echospace, cv313 and Deepchord themselves, plus some killer dubs that make for

Deepchord's immense "grandbend" was originally released on DC-10 and has been often cited as the most beautifully spacious of all of Rod Modell's recordings. This doublepack on the echospace label brings together a remastered version of the original plus reworkings from Echospace, cv313 and Deepchord themselves, plus some killer dubs that make for a bumper package. Predictably enough the most satisfying remix is Deepchord's own reinterpretation, making use of squashed African percussion in much the same vein as Maurizio has on his recent remix work but imbuing it with a fuzzy resonance that just kills us every time. These 6 versions make for another intoxicating installment in the perfectly formed Echospace catalogue. -Boomkat

written + produced by rod modell. remixed + reshaped by stephen hitchell. mastered by mark richardson, engineered in echospace.

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starlight [remixes]

model 500

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This is the remastered original "Starlight" from the Godfather of Techno, Juan Atkins aka Model 500, originally released on 12" by Metroplex in 1995. Includes 9 new remixes specially commissioned by Echospace. This classic masterpiece was originally engineered by Basic Channel's Moritz von Oswald and recorded at the Basic Channel studio in Berlin

This is the remastered original "Starlight" from the Godfather of Techno, Juan Atkins aka Model 500, originally released on 12" by Metroplex in 1995. Includes 9 new remixes specially commissioned by Echospace. This classic masterpiece was originally engineered by Basic Channel's Moritz von Oswald and recorded at the Basic Channel studio in Berlin sometime in 1993-1994. Upon release, this track quickly became a cult favorite from Derrick May to Derrick Carter, and infected house, techno, ambient and even dub DJs alike. A song so powerful, it led to a change in techno music forever and was a shining example of what Detroit was all about: innovation. Juan Atkins was the first person to apply the word "techno" to music. He found new ways of making sound, and in so doing, he influenced nearly every genre of music in the 1980s and beyond. Yet his name is not well- known beyond the world of electronic dance music. He might, in fact, be one of the most obscure of modern music's true pioneers. This CD has been mixed together seamlessly for an uninterrupted listening excursion through the many shapes and forms of this song's incarnations. First, we offer the remastered original from Ron "Motown" Murphy, who spent countless hours restoring this treasure from 1/4" tapes. Then we find ourselves captivated in the pure, refined deepness of Deepchord's towering menace of space and bass. Echospace manage to give Juan's original just enough percussion flare, with wave frequencies rushing through a field of delay which spin around your head. This leads into a widescreen electro rendition from Soultek, and Convextion serves up some Kompakt-ish schaffel grooves, but with a hypnotic Detroit effect. Mike Huckaby makes good use of the Waldorf Wave before we enter ambient territory from Echospace who combine daring production techniques with vibrant forms of texture and color. Sean Deason presents a stomping killer with devastatingly beautiful synthesized notes and a sweet 909, and Phase90 presents breathtaking pads and a slow motion effect so powerful, it could only be compared to the works of Thomas Köner or Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project -- this is love in lo-fi. Finally, Intrusion takes it out with a dubbed-out, dreamy ambient voyage.

written + produced by juan atkins, engineered by moritz von oswald @ love park studio, berlin. published by deep space music, bmi. licensed from metroplex, detroit. remix and additional production by gerard hanson [convextion], stephen hitchell [echospace, intrusion, phase90 + soultek], mike huckaby, rod modell [deepchord,echospace] and sean deason. mastered in echospace.

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dc07|dc08|dc09 [remastered]

deepchord

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Echospace introduces the launch of echospace [detroit] archival editions, a special edition series focused on the rare, historical works of Deepchord. The long out-of-print Deepchord catalog has since been remastered and will finally be available again on this gorgeous triple LP set. It's been a lengthy and timely process restoring old analog

Echospace introduces the launch of echospace [detroit] archival editions, a special edition series focused on the rare, historical works of Deepchord. The long out-of-print Deepchord catalog has since been remastered and will finally be available again on this gorgeous triple LP set. It's been a lengthy and timely process restoring old analog tape, DAT and cassette recordings (some dating back to 1994), all of which have been carefully resurrected from the vault of Detroit's revered NSC Studio. The long out-of-print catalog has been remastered, mixed, and once again bounced down to tape to ensure the best possible listening experience. Great measures, focus and time were spent to preserve the analog warmth and sonic integrity of the original masters. For those who don't know, these releases are considered by many some of the most inspired and influential sounds to emerge from Detroit well over 10 years ago -- a blueprint was set here for many artists to come, a step in the evolution. Expect gorgeous plumes of sound deeper than the ocean floor -- a rich analog tapestry made in the heart of Detroit, Techno City.

written and produced by rod modell + mike schommer in detroit, usa. remastered in echospace by rod modell.

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dc10​/dc​11​/​dc12 [remastered]

deepchord

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Echospace introduces the launch of echospace [detroit] archival editions, a special edition series focused on the rare, historical works of Deepchord. The long out-of-print Deepchord catalog has since been remastered and will finally be available again on this gorgeous triple LP set. It's been a lengthy and timely process restoring old analog

Echospace introduces the launch of echospace [detroit] archival editions, a special edition series focused on the rare, historical works of Deepchord. The long out-of-print Deepchord catalog has since been remastered and will finally be available again on this gorgeous triple LP set. It's been a lengthy and timely process restoring old analog tape, DAT and cassette recordings (some dating back to 1994), all of which have been carefully resurrected from the vault of Detroit's revered NSC Studio. The long out-of-print catalog has been remastered, mixed, and once again bounced down to tape to ensure the best possible listening experience. Great measures, focus and time were spent to preserve the analog warmth and sonic integrity of the original masters. For those who don't know, these releases are considered by many some of the most inspired and influential sounds to emerge from Detroit well over 10 years ago -- a blueprint was set here for many artists to come, a step in the evolution. Expect gorgeous plumes of sound deeper than the ocean floor -- a rich analog tapestry made in the heart of Detroit, Techno City.

written and produced by rod modell + mike schommer in detroit, usa. remastered in echospace by rod modell.

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dc13​/dc​14​/dc​16 [remastered]

deepchord

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Echospace introduces the launch of echospace [detroit] archival editions, a special edition series focused on the rare, historical works of Deepchord. The long out-of-print Deepchord catalog has since been remastered and will finally be available again on this gorgeous triple LP set. It's been a lengthy and timely process restoring old analog

Echospace introduces the launch of echospace [detroit] archival editions, a special edition series focused on the rare, historical works of Deepchord. The long out-of-print Deepchord catalog has since been remastered and will finally be available again on this gorgeous triple LP set. It's been a lengthy and timely process restoring old analog tape, DAT and cassette recordings (some dating back to 1994), all of which have been carefully resurrected from the vault of Detroit's revered NSC Studio. The long out-of-print catalog has been remastered, mixed, and once again bounced down to tape to ensure the best possible listening experience. Great measures, focus and time were spent to preserve the analog warmth and sonic integrity of the original masters. For those who don't know, these releases are considered by many some of the most inspired and influential sounds to emerge from Detroit well over 10 years ago -- a blueprint was set here for many artists to come, a step in the evolution. Expect gorgeous plumes of sound deeper than the ocean floor -- a rich analog tapestry made in the heart of Detroit, Techno City.

written and produced by rod modell + mike schommer in detroit, usa. remastered by rod modell in echospace.

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altering illusions [4xLP Set] vinyl masters

various

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A beautifully packaged 4XLP gatefold box set on Echospace, setting off 2012 in gorgeous fashion with new material from DeepChord, Intrusion, and Variant. DeepChord and Echospace started off as barely more than a rumor, supported mostly by the continuous scarcity of their records, some of which were trading at astronomical prices. Now, following

A beautifully packaged 4XLP gatefold box set on Echospace, setting off 2012 in gorgeous fashion with new material from DeepChord, Intrusion, and Variant. DeepChord and Echospace started off as barely more than a rumor, supported mostly by the continuous scarcity of their records, some of which were trading at astronomical prices. Now, following success on Modern Love and other more widely available labels, the artists behind the myth have finally emerged to worldwide recognition. It's impossible to say why they remained so unbelievably obscure for so long, but certainly being Americans making dub Techno in Detroit in 2000 wasn't helping matters. By 2003, their initial DeepChord imprint had already dissolved into as much smoke. They were next spotted on Mike Huckaby's intermittently active S Y N T H label, but it was really in 2007, just as Dub Techno began to move inwards from the periphery of the global scene, that they found a wider appreciation for their material. They resurrected DeepChord as echospace[detroit] and basically it's been no looking back since then. Ever since, the Detroit-based operation has spun off a long streak of related projects in instantly sold-out pressings that have added immensely to their influence as well as established them as a unique and special offshoot of the Dub Techno sound that stands distinctly apart from its Berlin center. With the release of Altering Illusions, the duo of Stephen Hitchell and Rod Modell at long last make an effort at a career retrospective and revisit some of their finest moments over four LPs.

As expected of Echospace, this compilation doesn't draw many moments directly from their highly coveted back catalog. All of Echospace's music revolves around variations on a very short list of themes, and true to form, most of the material on these records has been altered in some way from its original version. Essentially, what they present here is two full LPs of previously unheard music, most of which is new, unheard versions of old material, and two LPs worth of tracks that had surfaced here and there, but never before on vinyl. The oldest material here is the two cv313 reinterpretations of DeepChord01-06; these were originally self-released on CD compilations in 2000, but the material here dates back even earlier than that, to 1997-1999. There is an entire LP devoted to unreleased cv313 tracks, and another LP revisits Hitchell's Variant album, The Setting Sun, from 2009. Echospace's Spatialdimension also sees a reappearance, but rather than re-release the two vinyl versions, they offer two alternate versions that originally were released digitally. Actually, two of the three Variant tracks are the only straight reissues here, and they were never before released on wax, and so on...

Throughout their career, Echospace have remained rooted in the Detroit tradition and thus maintained a separation from the more widely credited German practitioners of the Dub Tehcno school, a contrast that is apparent throughout these four plates. Eschewing the dry, metallic scrapings and sound design-intensive ideas that dominate Berlin, Echospace favor lush emotionalism, hazed out into soft focus with monumental amounts of dub effects. This totally immersive and layered approach is the key to their music's allure and addictive quality. At their most beautiful, they suck the listener down into a shattering well of twinkling, briefly-seen moments that disappear as they're gradually enveloped in the ether, only to surface again with renewed vigor in one of their epic-length dub excursions. If a stoned, hippie version of Basic Channel sounds odd at first, the kind of super-strength cheeba this crew endorses imparts even the most functional dancefloor tracks with a shimmering psychedelia that's the auditory equivalent of packing Quadrant Dub into a bong and sparking an eye-watering hit. With four LPs of mind-altering versions there's a huge amount of enveloping music to dive into here, and novices and longtime fans alike should get a thorough idea of what has created and sustained the intense, devoted following that Echospace has unquestionably cultivated.

-Halcyon, NYC

If the shock that the long-awaited Dimensional Space album consisted of seven totally new tracks plus a bonus disc entirely dedicated to mixes of “Subtractive,” then the revelation that what at first glance appeared to be an extended version of the 4xLP “Altering Illusions” compilation was, instead a completely different bursting-at-the-seams 2xCD collection of old and new cv313 material was a delight.

You see, Echospace [Detroit] presents: Altering Illusions Chapter One: cv313 (or whatever the hell this thing is actually called) is in fact the first chapter in a three part series of Altering Illusions releases, each focusing on a different artist. Two brand new cv313 albums instead of one? Yes, please. Furthermore, it makes for an amazing companion piece to the main Dimensional Space album, the tone and palette substantially different but the content every bit as essential.

There is no better statement of intent than the opening track, “Isis,” as jets of crystalline ice particles are shot through solar winds, which batter the soundstage to the rhythmic thump of a relentless beat. Forthcoming single “Fading Lights [Original]” ups the ante with shuffling rhythms, blunted beats, plumes of steam and tumbling breaks before the album spirals towards the dance-floor with the comparatively brief “Irradiate,” all pin-sharp hi-hats, fretwork and thundering bass.

We enter previously released singles territory at this point, with remastered versions of the both the original and particularly fine reduction of “Seconds To Forever,” “Dimensional” and “Sailing Stars” before the disc ends with “Beyond Starlit Sky [Live]” that reads like a re-pitched, holographic version of “Fading Lights.”

The only material here that doesn’t quite blend in is the odd slice of older single material. “Dimensional” sounds better than ever thanks to an even higher definition remaster, but feels like it belongs to a different era, and the harder stomp of “Sailing Stars” juts out at oblique angles, somehow out of place among its amorphous, vaporous siblings. But this is nitpicking given that this is ostensibly a compilation rather than a dedicated album, even though it mostly feels like the latter, rather than the former.

Perhaps the finest moments on Altering Illusions [Chapter One] cv313, however, are those found on the second disc, an even more seamless and unified experience than the first. It certainly has the power to surprise as it opens with “Longing For Darkness,” a delicate but metallic bowed synth string melody emerging from a mist of swirling vapour, soft static hiss and what sounds like a genuine field recording of a haunted, twilight whistle and howl of wind through deeply saturated, nocturnal environments. It is quite unlike anything cv313 has released before or since, a beautiful hybrid of cv313 textures, dense, whirring drones from Alva Noto’s Xerrox series of ambient albums and Thomas Koner’s panoramic soundscapes.

“Beyond The Clouds” is, for many, one of Hitchell and Modell’s key masterpieces and reason enough to own this compilation, which it closes in a beautifully remastered form, but if any shred of doubt still lingers in your mind, it should be utterly eradicated by one of Hitchell’s crowning achievements: I give you “Standing Still [Reduced].”

Seated regally at the epicenter of the majestic second disc, it is simply one of the ultimate expressions of cv313’s craft, a twenty-two minute pièce de résistance of meticulous and subtle artistry. Once you enter its orbit, and are enveloped in its supple blooms of synth, scything fx, soft flashes of electricity, deep-sea sub-bass throb and bass rumble, ever-so-subtle machine fan whir and the hypnotic, propulsive rhythm of the piece, a higher state of (un)consciousness is inescapable.

It’s followed by yet another album highlight in the newly minted “Magenta,” packed with turbulent whorls of dark beige storm clouds pregnant with rain and ice whipping around the adrenalin-fueled listener submerged in a tumbling life-support capsule full of bubbling fluid that muffles the beat to a in-ear heart pounding. And as already mentioned, the whole experience is beautifically rounded out by “Beyond The Clouds [Reprise]”.

Altering Illusions [Chapter One] cv313 is every bit as strong and essential as the debut cv313 album it supplements and acts as a nexus between cv313 material old and new. It has also just become available as a digital download on the echospace [detroit] Bandcamp site, for those who missed out on or are not interested in the physical CD edition. -Igloo Magazine

An essential compilation sharing unreleased gems from the Echospace imprint. Reworked or re-imagined, this contains work from Echospace, DeepChord, Intrusion and Variant that hasn’t seen the light of day in any traditional format. There are cv313 reinterpretations of DeepChord01-06 that date from 1997/1999, more unreleased cv313 tracks, Echospace's Spatialdimension album presented in two alternate versions that originally were released digitally, the list goes on. It’s a no brainer really, a must-but for anyone interested in the vast history of Echospace’s dub techno. -Bleep

Typical. You wait ages for one CV313 record, and three come along at once. Hot on the heels of the recent release of the much-delayed Dimensional Space album and Live @ Primary CD comes Altering Illusions [Chapter 1], a notably warm, attractive and enveloping two-disc compilation that mixes classic and hard-to-find material with a slew of previously unheard alternate versions. Fans of Steve Hitchell's atmospheric fusions of drifting chords, locked-in techno rhythms, electronic noise and heavy dub bass will find plenty to enjoy, from the 23-minute ambient exploration "Beyond The Clouds (Reprise)" to the classic deep dub techno of "Seconds to Forever (Original)". -Juno

Ready to take off with Echospace Present: Altering Illusions (Chaper One). This one is the first in a trio of releases from the label, with cv313 supplying the movement. It's over two hours of ethereal technological rhythms, classic electronics and conscious altering sonic matter. It's grainy and gritty yet clear as a bell, searching for the new whilst paying respects to the masters. Out on CD from Echospace [detroit]. -Norman

Echospace return to their "Altering Illusions" project and deliver a massive double CD edition released in three separate issues, part 1 closely focused on the work of cv313. Expect sub-harmonic deep space exploration in some seriously out-there electronic quadrants, some of the deepest techno reductions ever captured to tape. A sprawling nebula of etheric sounds made by the illusive cv313 project, exploring re-mastered versions of their most celebrated classics ("Dimensional," "Sailing Stars," "Seconds to Forever," "Beyond the Clouds") to exclusive new, unreleased material. Over two discs, you'll be treated to over 2.5 hours of purified groove reductions made on vintage analog equipment, teasing out the infidelities of archaic equipment which render the sound at its most diffuse and opiated. Lush listening from the magical cv313 project, one of Detroit's finest. -Forced Exposure

I’m not even going to attempt to review this one. If you know techno you will want this. 13 tracks from Deepchord, Variant, cv313 and Echospace all in one package. Dubbed out techno-bliss made with analogue machines and loving care. Just get it; you’ll be better for it. -Gramaphone Records, Chicago

The holy grail for fans of Steve Soultek's peerless Echospace label which over the years has released some momumental 12's from himself and Deepchord. This limited edition 4x 12" label compilation features unreleased material from cv313, Deepchord, Echospace, Intrusion & Variant that's been pressed on to 4 nice slabs of 180g coloured vinyl and it comes with a full colour gatefold sleeve. -Rubadub

A new chapter — the longest and one of the deepest — in the particular never-ending story of Echospace. -Playground Magazine

w + p by cv313 + deepchord + variant | mastered by mark richardson@pcm

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seconds to forever [deepchord + intrusion mixes] 12" masters

cv313

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The first twelve-inch of the year from Echospace features epic reworks of cv313's now classic, "Seconds To Forever" released back in 2010. The first track is a killer dubbed out reversion by Intrusion, for the dancefloor or the sofa, this is spaced out sonic submersion of the highest order. There's also two beautiful remixes from the brilliant Rod

The first twelve-inch of the year from Echospace features epic reworks of cv313's now classic, "Seconds To Forever" released back in 2010. The first track is a killer dubbed out reversion by Intrusion, for the dancefloor or the sofa, this is spaced out sonic submersion of the highest order. There's also two beautiful remixes from the brilliant Rod Modell (DeepChord). Those touched by his recent output on Soma will have a lot to love here. Gorgeous plumes of sound all lovely mastered and mixed down from 1/4" analog tape, cut and remastered by Bazza (Abbey Road Studios) at Alchemy, London. Sublime and beyond deep, another exquisite excursion transmitting from the other side of the galaxy. Pressed onto 160 gram crystal clear wax. Most recommended.

Shop Highlights:

Deep dubby techno from cv313, remixing the classic Seconds To Forever into a chugging bumper. As ever with Echospace, this is highly detailed, luxury techno that sounds as timeless as ever and is cut into the highest quality wax. You know the score... -Bleep

Killer, sparse dub techno styles from the modern masters, cv313. Includes Deepchord and Intrusion versions and issued on limited edition, crystal clear wax! -Sound Of The Universe

2016 reshapes of cv313’s Seconds to Forever (2010) from Intrusion and Deepchord. The Intrusion dub is tuff stuff, driven by a dusty, pounding kick and bass prone to veers off axis, but the two Deepchord mixes are sweeter; drenched in drizzle and clipped for skanking momentum in Mix I and stewing in its own juices for the width of side B. -Boomkat

The track Seconds to Forever first surfaced in 2010, to the happiness of many dub-house ravers. This release features 3 re-workings of the original, 1 extra-dubby take from Intrusion and 2 different versions from Deepchord. The quality is high, and I bet cv313 is satisfied with how his track has grown up. -Norman

w + p by cv313 | reshaped by deepchord (rod modell) + intrusion (stephen hitchell) remastered by bazza @ alchemy mastering, london, uk.

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