Various Artists
clicks_+_cuts

It’s probably reasonable to assume that someone, somewhere, has a radio telescope pointed at our sick little planet and has, for the last 100 years, been monitoring our throwaway emissions. The bulk of what they have received is probably just the audio detritus and unstructured noise that has been radiating into space over the short history of our electronic culture.

It’s probably less reasonable to assume that any of the artists featured on clicks_+_cuts are extra-terrestrials, but the bedrock of all the tracks here is indeed a subtly shifting layer of, as the blurb inside the sleeve puts it, "the most unessentialist sounds ever," the likes of which might well have been collected by some deep space listening node. The introduction to clicks_+_cuts provides a nice introduction to the compilation’s ethic, and contains much dubious theorising on minimalism and modern sound design, as one might expect from any label with a name inspired by Deleuze. But the principle seems to be one of taking the aforementioned audio detritus, amplifying and looping it as the basis for sparse, cerebral techno. With the exception of Jake Mandell, who puts in a suspiciously maximalist and rather unfocused effort, all the artists involved adhere to the formula, but still manage to arrive at enjoyably diverse conclusions. Clicks, hums, voices and found sounds are all used as means to diverse ends, from Vladislav Delay’s warm but paradoxically percussive ambience to the hypnotic German ‘n’ Gamelan of Ester Brinkmann. Mille Plateaux’s only mistake here is the inclusion of the Kid606 track, which isn’t big, clever or even worth the plastic it’s committed to. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that it’s sequenced almost at the end of the second CD and I’d be very disappointed if it were just a cheap attempt to get a big name on board.

One of the best things about clicks_+_cuts, however, is that it’s graced with a contribution from almost every electronic musician about whom there is currently any excitement. It’s highly enjoyable if you’re interested in this sort of thing. And for anyone still wondering who Delay, 606 or a variety of others are, clicks_+_cuts is practically a one-stop introduction.

Reviewed by Robin Howells
03.12.01