Met@music

Force Inc. 200 (and its later CD version presented here) was a compilation showcasing the Force Inc.'s minimal techno tendencies of the time, probably as an introduction with the US market in mind.

I jumped on the Force Inc. train rather late; probably through Heckmann and the acid trail. Even though I knew some of the other artists from the early days, the multitude of pseudonyms had its effect on me. Anyway, there were no discogs back then and without the 12'' press releases, a full magazines' library and/or an encyclopedic record collection you just couldn't identify anything. I guess that even local record shops' owners didn't knew what they ordered half of the time (and that's another reason why distributors were so powerful those days). Eventually I started recognizing the sound of each of the artists behind the alias, unconsciously most of the time, then to grab everything that had the Force Inc. logo on it; especially through the late '90s deep and tech phase.

Most of the oldschool is here: Heckmann, the Voigt bros., Babicz, Elhers, Gez Varley. But emphasis is given to the then-still-rising mini techno US scene, with artists like Kit Clayton, Sutech, Stewart Walker, Tomas Jirku, Twerk, Jake Mandell and Cytrax label chief Jasper (for those who follow the current 'minimal' trends, his Silent Servant guise should ring a bell). Also included is Vladislav Delay's most dry track ever and a sweet click lullaby by Donnacha Costello.

Personal favorites are R.Voigt's oldschool deep rider, Heckmanns' manic tool and this bleeping, entrancing cut-up epic by Jasper and Kit Clayton. At the time I considered it to be a weird compilation, a collection of cold tool tracks; it was rather too minimal for me. I was into strong synth melodies at the time, too much electro for the clubs and dub techno for chillout. Yet I grew accustomed to it eventually and even played a couple of the aforementioned tracks now and then (if I'd got it on vinyl, I'd play definitely more).

VA - 2001 Met@music
Info here.

Considering the course of nowdays techno, this compilation was a bit prophetic. I always felt that the sound of contemporary minimal techno lies closer to early '00s US/Canada efforts like the above or, say, Akufen, than in those so-hyped Hawtin's earlier works; and Force Inc. was the medium that brought them into Europe's attention and established them commercially (as Tresor had done for the earlier Detroit pioneers). I may be wrong, of course.