Review: Fixmer follows Depth Charged, his 2015 album on CLR, with this new long player for Ostgut. While he has long been one of the leading producers of EBM-influenced techno, Cortex sees him navigate a path through more grungy, industrial sounds. There's the droning, stepping rhythms of "Shout In A Black Hole" and "Event Horizon", the latter led by eerie sound scapes, while "Fury", which is aptly named, sounds like a brutal, wired take on Jeff Mills. The ghostly swagger and paranoid vocals of "Accelerate" see Fixmer return to his EBM sound and "Expedition" see the French producer deliver a slower, more teased out take on this sound, but Cortex is a diverse affair that also includes the spooky ambience of "A Halo Somewhere" and "Something Invisible".
Review: Fixmer is fresh from remixing Depeche Mode, but don't expect to hear any synth pop influences here. In reality, the opposite is true. Force sees him deliver one of his most bruising releases to date. The title track kick-starts the release with noisy riffs and brutal kicks, as oppressive as the mid-day heat in Death Valley. "Melting Planets" sees he French producer embrace surging chords, and is not quite as foreboding, but it's only a temporary reprieve. Fixmer brings back a dark mood with the stripped back "Sidewalk", which resounds to jittery, minimalist beats, while on "Striking Patterns" an understated sense of menace rumbles on.
Review: Long before the current trend of EBM/industrial fuelled techno, Terrence Fixer was there, honing his now trademark style on his highly regarded Planete Rouge imprint as well as collaborating with Nitzer Ebb frontman Douglas McCarthy for several energised live shows over the years. For Berlin institution Ostgut Ton, he appears again with "Beneath The Skin", a powerful and brooding exercise in main room techno with equal parts tension and suspense. "Trace To Nowhere" features dramatic, reverb soaked vocals backed by trippy and hypnotic madness that even Mike Parker would stand up and notice. Finally "Immersion" provides a different and refreshing perspective from the Frenchman, going for an ethereal and emotive deep techno style that's perfect for drifting.
Review: Originally released on Music Man back in 2003, Fixmer's "Mekanik" has stood the test of time. If anything, it sounds more relevant now than before thanks to a renewed interest in all things wave and ebm. So what are these remixes like? Kobosil's "44 Version" is the most dance floor friendly, with a hammering industrial rhythm playing a supporting role to rave stabs. Norman Nodge's take is more understated, as insistent acid lines rise over a metallic rhythm and his Berghain colleague Marcel Dettmann's "Leitmotiv" version moves into the abstract realms, with whirring ticks and clicks supporting the original's pulses. That's not forgetting the original version, where shrieks, grunts and groans play out against one of the most powerful rhythms in techno.
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