Various Artists

Sutekh gets sleek and soulful on a new Force comp.

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More About

• Frankfurt
• Berlin
• Frankie Bones
• Vladislav Delay
• Electronic Music

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Techno more than most styles of music is about the use of space. On the original Detroit tracks of the early '80s, producers brought their synth lines and bass thuds close to the listener, in an attempt to bridge one in the analog/futuristic worlds that existed in their imaginations. Many of their cuts would surge dramatically closer and then recede subtly over and over in a two-steps-forward, one-step-back sort of movement. Years later, their Berlin counterparts from the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction network, also fascinated with the geography of electronic sound space, experimented with retreating as far away as possible from the listener. Their records sound as if they're being played at the bottom of a lake, and part of the auditory data is not making it to the surface.

The techno on MET@MUSIC, the Frankfurt label Force Inc.'s 200th release, situates itself somewhere between these extremes, at least over most of its 14 tracks. The drums cut through the distance to welcome the listener, but not aggressively like those on a pounding Frankie Bones side. Maybe this desire to meet in the middle ground has something to do with the fact that half of Force Inc.'s current stable of artists hails from Germany, and the other half from the U.S. Whatever the cause, the sonic truce they've created makes for one mind-stimulating yet body-moving adventure.

The disc starts with "Second," a surprisingly bouncy number by Vladislav Delay, a producer better known for far more scattershot experimentalism than the club-ready grooves displayed here. "Surge" by California duo Jasper and Kit Clayton is another standout, with its multiple rhythm tracks and eerie machine melodies that battle to stay afloat in the constantly shifting rhythmic quagmire. Oakland's Sutekh strays from the four-on-the-floor template more than his cohorts, but sacrifices some of their sleek soulfulness on "Short Change." And since this is a respected German avant-garde label, we can't get by without at least one echoing clicks-only song, Donnacha Costello's "b.o.t.," and it's as unremarkable as most of its anemic ilk.

But the rest of the 14 tracks are solid and then some, ample proof that techno continues its spatial-relational research with still very listenable results.