Detect

by Jason BirchmeierIt's difficult to talk about Detect without mentioning Force Tracks, the label releasing this collection of producer Alex Krüger's Dub Taylor productions. Though Force Tracks had been churning out 12"s at a prolific rate in 1999-2001, the years leading up to this album's release, they rarely delved into the market for full-length albums. However, when they did release the occasional full-length, like Luomo's Vocal City, for example, these releases were met with substantial acclaim and ardor. Detect should function no differently -- it's a remarkable full-length worthy of celebration. Rarely can a electronic dance producer assemble a consistently engaging full-length. This task requires a producer to be diverse and creative -- a problem considering how most producers struggled with the 12" format, not to mention the ambitions required to assemble a full-length. But Krüger proves himself to be no slouch when it comes to diversity and creativity. He can produce dance-pop anthems like "I Can't (...You Know)," along with straight-up minimal house tracks like "Newmen." And with half these tracks featuring some sort of vocal arrangement, the album wavers back and forth with its pop accessibility. It's this affirmation of dance's link to pop music as well as the dance floor that makes Krüger's Dub Taylor so fascinating. Like other German labels like Playhouse and Kompakt, Force Tracks seems to have stumbled onto a wonderful sound with its roster of minimal house producers and their unashamed concessions to the undeniable hook. Still, with or without the occasional vocal hooks, Detect features amazing minimal house with big, dubby basslines that just don't stop. It belongs to be place aside past Force Tracks classics like Vocal City and MRI's Rhythmogenesis.