Sheet One

For the Plastikman concept, Plus 8 founder Richie Hawtin sought to create an all-encompassing sonic environment, a slowly evolving "plastic world," in which the listener could commune with the machines. On Sheet One, the classic Roland boxes that made Detroit techno possible are placed front and center, bringing to light the psychedelic subtext of modern dance music. Meditative and hypnotic rhythms mingle with the distinctive undulating pulse of the TB-303 synthesizer, extracting and highlighting the essence of dance music. But unlike a dance-floor stormer, Sheet One's tension is not dramatically built and released; the point here is to slow down and listen closely, noticing change only after the fact, if at all. The ideas laid out in this album are later explored in the two subsequent Plastikman LPs as well as the limited-edition Concept series of 12-inches. But Sheet One is the most conceptually solid (as well as the most listener-accessible) LP of them all. --Matthew Corwine