Mélodies en Sous-Sol

Recently around the net I came upon two or three posts of early 12"s by Miss Kittin & The Hacker, which reminded me of this one. Out in his (by 1/3) own Goodlife (*), it's the debut album of Michel Amato as The Hacker, full of Detroit influenced techno and slightly retro electro tracks.

Included here are 'Fadin Away' (*) and bangers 'Techno Sunset' and 'Other Voices' amongst others. Not an all-convincing album, I used to think - a lot of people sensed that Kittin's vocals filled the gap left in between his darkwave fixations and his dance beats. And his primitive sounds and simplistic programming sounded a bit weird, in those days where the Daft Punk-influenced, over-produced french wave of filter- and disco-house ruled all. Back then I guessed he was too lazy or too much an ex-punk to bother.

Now I consider it to be an intentional and in a way romantic approach (neo-romantic, to be exact). His later releases brought to the front his other true loves: EBM and the early hardcore rave sound. Judging by the fate of many of his contemporaries (quitting or changing their sound completely), it clearly shows that he had a vision from the start and he stayed true to it, so all we have to say is RESPECT.


The Hacker - 1999 Mélodies en Sous-Sol
Info here.

More of The Hacker here.

I'll soon post Oxia's Goodlife album as well.