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Plus 8 (also spelled as Plus8) is a Canadian techno record label founded by Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva in 1990 that's based in Windsor, Ontario. [1] [2] Along with Underground Resistance and Planet E, Plus 8 was one of the early producers of Detroit Techno's 'Second Wave' music at the start of the 1990s.
The label's name referred to the fact that on most turntables, +8% is the maximum amount by which one can increase the speed of playback. [1] Initial releases were a series of increasingly faster industrial hardcore recordings by the pair themselves and their friends, using aliases such as States of Mind and Cybersonik, along with other Detroit-based musicians such as Kenny Larkin. [1]
The label began to retreat from hard and fast tempo after the release of Circuit Breaker's "Overkill/Frenz-E" and Cybersonik's "Thrash" in 1992. Hawtin and Aquaviva lost interest in the drug-fueled dynamic and rave culture that was driving hardcore techno. In 1992, after observing a crowd in a Rotterdam club shouting an anti-semitic football chant over Plus 8's song, Cybersonik's "Thrash", Hawtin and Aquaviva decided to change musical direction by slowing down the tempo and bringing funk and soul back into their music. [3]
Plus 8 releases include early 12-inch singles from Speedy J, and from Richie Hawtin's many pseudonyms including F.U.S.E. and Plastikman. By 1996 Plus 8 had also released a number of dance compilation albums. [4] The label was suspended in 1997, as Acquaviva concentrated on DJing and Hawtin on his new label, M nus, but releases (and re-releases of early material often licensed to other labels) have appeared from time to time, notably 2000's Plus 8 Classics triple 12-inch vinyl and CD retrospective. In 2015, Richie Hawtin released From My Mind to Yours. [5] [6]
Breakbeat hardcore is a music genre that spawned from the UK rave scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In addition to the inclusion of breakbeats, the genre also features shuffled drum machine patterns, hoover, and other noises originating from new beat and Belgian techno, sounds from acid house and bleep techno, and often upbeat house piano riffs and vocals.
Intelligent dance music (IDM) is a style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, defined by idiosyncratic experimentation rather than specific genre constraints. It emerged from the culture and sound palette of electronic styles such as ambient techno, acid house, Detroit techno and breakbeat; it has been regarded as better suited to home listening than dancing. Prominent artists associated with it include Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Higher Intelligence Agency, Telefon Tel Aviv, μ-Ziq, The Black Dog, The Future Sound of London, Mouse on Mars, Biosphere, Orbital and Luke Vibert.
Warp Records is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon. It is currently based in London.
Richard "Richie" Hawtin is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He became known for his recordings under the Plastikman and F.U.S.E. aliases. Under the latter, he released his debut album Dimension Intrusion (1993) as part of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series.
Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Kevin Saunderson, Blake Baxter, Drexciya, Mike Banks, James Pennington and Robert Hood. Artists like Terrence Parker and his lead vocalist, Nicole Gregory, set the tone for Detroit's piano techno house sound.
Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, The Orb, The Future Sound of London, the Black Dog, Pete Namlook and Biosphere.
Hardcore is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorted sawtooth kick, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music. It would spawn subgenres such as gabber.
Acid techno, sometimes known generally as "acid", is a genre of techno that was derived from acid house and developed in Europe in the late 1980s to early 1990s. It saw younger artists apply the "squelching" synthesizer sound of Chicago acid house to harder-edged techno material.
Novamute Records is the electronic dance music subsidiary of Mute Records, which was started in 1992. The label's staff included Mick Paterson (promotions), Pepe Jansz (A&R), and producer Seth Hodder, and it was originally set up to give UK releases to white label 12-inch singles and imports. In the United States it was distributed by Tommy Boy Records while the Mute parent label was distributed by Elektra Records.
Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detroit-based producers Robert Hood and Daniel Bell.
Daniel Bell is an American minimal techno DJ. He was born in Sacramento, California, but grew up outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and later moved to Detroit, where he collaborated with Richie Hawtin as Cybersonik for three years on Plus 8. In 1991, he started his own label, Accelerate, where he released a string of influential releases as DBX.
Jochem George Paap, known by his stage name Speedy J, is a Dutch electronic music producer based in Rotterdam. His breakthrough came with the release in 1992 of the minimal techno track "Pullover". He released music as part of Warp Records' Artificial Intelligence series in the 1990s, including his debut LP Ginger (1993).
B12 are a British electronic music duo consisting of Mike Golding and Steve Rutter. First appearing in the early 1990s under a variety of monikers, including Musicology, Redcell and Cmetric, the duo were often mistaken as hailing from Detroit, their sound being comparable to the so-called second wave of Detroit techno. This was compounded by the signature style of their initial releases on their own imprint B12 Records, limited editions on coloured 12" vinyl with cryptic messages etched into the run-out grooves, and the fact that Golding and Rutter tended to shy away from the press, and rarely gave interviews, which added to the mystery of their identities.
John Acquaviva is an Italian-Canadian DJ, producer, and musical entrepreneur.
Ginger is the debut studio album by Dutch electronic music producer Speedy J. Released via a joint deal between Plus 8 and Warp in September 1993, the album was the sixth release in Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, which focused on "electronic listening music" by different artists. It peaked at number 68 on the UK Albums Chart and remains Speedy J's most successful album there.
Blake Baxter is an American techno musician, associated with the first wave of Detroit techno. AllMusic called him "perhaps the most underrated figure" of the early Detroit techno scene.
Kenny Larkin is an American techno producer from Detroit. He has been described by AllMusic as "massively influential" on American, British, and German techno.
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range of 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often characterized by a repetitive four on the floor beat. Artists may use electronic instruments such as drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, as well as digital audio workstations. Drum machines from the 1980s such as Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro instruments are popular.
From My Mind to Yours is a 2015 studio album by Richie Hawtin. It was released through Plus 8 on 11 December 2015 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the record label. It features productions under Hawtin's own name and his aliases Plastikman, Robotman, Childsplay, F.U.S.E., 80xx, Circuit Breaker, and R.H.X. It peaked at number 20 on the UK Dance Albums Chart.
Justin James Warnock, commonly known by his stage name Justin James, is a Canadian electronic musician, DJ, educator and label owner. He has become an influential part of Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan’s Techno scenes. He is best known for his work with Richie Hawtin’s "Minus" records and Dubfire’s "Sci+Tec" record label, as well for his DJing techno sets making use of laptop computers and digital mixing equipment. In May 2014, James founded his own record label, Refused.