Basic Channel, the reclusive Berlin organization founded by producers Moritz von Oswald (Maurizio) and Mark Ernestus, has been responsible for some of the world's finest minimal techno. The label formally ceased operation in the mid-'90s, succeeded by several offshoots, most notably the experimental Chain Reaction and Imbalance Computer Music imprints. But the Porter Ricks story begins earlier, with the fractal electronica of Andy Mellwig (Async Sense) and the zero-below Antarctic ambient and gong experiments of Thomas Koener. Then Mellwig met Koener, the duo recorded several Chain Reaction 12-inches, and the axis of underground techno shifted forever toward depth and digital dub.Porter Ricks' algorithm is simple but sublime--a further compression of Basic Channel's already extreme minimalization of Detroit techno's rhythmic grid and house music's cyclical beat. Relying on dub-like effects that homogenize and hypnotize, Porter Ricks makes music that is chasmic and multi-tiered--low-level melodic radiance layered above sonar bass pulses, 4/4 thumps submerged beneath briny fathoms. BIOKINETICS is by turns relentless and boundless. Propulsive rhythm tracks like "Port of Call," "Port Gentil," and "Port Nuba" are the immediate grabbers, but it's the subtler pleasures of "Nautical Dub" or "Biokinetics 2" that cast the disc's unbreakable and unforgettable spell.
