Basic Channel

Basic Channel is a minimal techno production team and record label, composed of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, that originated in Berlin, Germany in 1993.^[1] The duo released a number of vinyl-only tracks under various aliases, each of which employed their signature brand of dissonant dub techno. The nine original releases were each primarily identified as Basic Channel productions by their catalogue numbers, as the Basic Channel logo on the label became more distorted and unreadable with each subsequent release. The Basic Channel record label released only a single CD, a self-titled compilation of edited versions of their extended vinyl tracks, which exemplified their seminal brand of dub informed Detroit techno. All Basic Channel CDs were released in recognisable aluminum packaging which notoriously cracked the CDs when they were removed.

The duo set up a studio in Berlin on Paul-Lincke-Ufer, in a building which was eventually to house Mark Ernestus’ distributing company and shop Hard Wax, and the label's mastering studio Dubplates & Mastering, set up to ensure a desired dynamic quality for the vinyl^[2].

The Basic Channel imprint ceased business in 1995 (apart from two releases almost a decade later that were originally issued on Carl Craig's Planet E label), but were followed by a string of similar labels. Among the most important were Chain Reaction, which released non-Von Oswald/Ernestus productions and helped launch the careers of dub-influenced minimal techno producers such as Monolake and Porter Ricks; Basic Replay, which specialises in reggae and dancehall re-issues; Main Street, for house-related releases; and Burial Mix and Rhythm & Sound, which saw the duo's sound move away from the Detroit blueprint and closer to vocal-lead dub and reggae. Their With The Artists album, released as Rhythm & Sound and featuring celebrated reggae and dancehall vocalists such as Sugar Minott, featured in the top 50 records of the year for 2003 in The Wire magazine.

Basic Channel also run a comprehensive programme of re-issues for the American reggae label Wackies.

The label artwork for releases BC-02, 07 and 08, showing the progressive distortion of the Basic Channel logo

Discography

Selected Burial Mix Releases

Rhythm & Sound w/ Paul St. Hilaire Showcase CD (BMD-1, 1996)
Rhythm & Sound w/ The Artists Rhythm & Sound w/ The Artists CD (BMD-2, 2003)
Rhythm & Sound The Versions CD (BMD-2, 2003)
Rhythm & Sound See Mi Ya 7" box set (BMD-14-20, 2005)
Rhythm & Sound See Mi Ya CD (BMD-4, 2005)
Rhythm & Sound See Mi Ya Remixes CD (BMXD-1, 2006)

Other Related CD Albums

Various ...Compiled (Chain Reaction, CRD-06, 1998)
Round One - Round Five 1993-99 Main Street Records (Main Street Records, MSD-01, 1999)
Rhythm & Sound Rhythm & Sound (Rhythm & Sound, RSD-01, 2001)
Scion Scion Arrange And Process Basic Channel Tracks (Tresor, Tresor 200, 2002)
Maurizio M Series (Maurizio, MCD, 2003)
Various Basic Replay (Basic Replay, BR-1, 2007)

Paul St. Hilaire

Paul St. Hilaire (aka Tikiman) is a reggae vocalist from the island of Dominica in the Caribbean, and was the second vocalist (after Andy Caine) to collaborate with Von Oswald and Ernestus, steering their sounds away from 4/4 techno. In 2003 he set up the Basic Channel subsidiary False Tuned. His vocals have appeared on many electronic releases, including those by pioneers Modeselektor and Stereotyp. Two self-produced CDs have been released by him - "Unspecified" and "Adsom".

References

External links

Basic Channel -- official homepage.
Basic Channel (artist) / Basic Channel (label) discographies at Discogs.
Template:Last.fm.
The Wire: Basic Channel.
Stylus: Basic Channel.
dig: Basic Channel
Moritz von Oswald Trio premier at CTM08

[allmusic-1] usic ((( Basic Channel > Biography )))

[2] The Wire: Adventures in Modern Music: Article

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