- You've got to hand it to Fachwerk for having a sense of humour. Techno in Germany is a serious affair, but anniversaries are a celebration. So the trio behind the Berlin institution—and one-time Label Of The Month—chose to ring in eight years by having a bit of fun. There's three to four new works apiece from Mike Dehnert, Roman Lindau and Sascha Rydell, all delivering the superb and slightly out-there calibre we've come to expect from their troupe. Lindau's got his house bounce on, even slipping into something a bit more casual on "Owner." Rydell is owning the blissed-out, dubby end of the record, his three works pooled together to create the feeling of a wonderfully warped after hour. Dehnert toughens up the whole thing.
It's the interludes "Label Dinner" and "Studio Chaos" that make 8 Years Fachwerk more than your average label compilation. As the titles suggest, they're soundbites from a Fachwerk label dinner and some studio banter between the three owners. Where "Studio Chaos" is straight dialogue that tapers out into reverb, "Label Dinner" picks up conversation snippets and sets them to a gentle throb against a din of whispering diners and scraping plates. There's the ding of a waiter's bell, laughter and even someone whistling. Cutting the record up with these intimate moments brings it all back down to earth a bit. Like exclusive behind the scenes footage, they're peepholes into a world unknown by most of us.
8 Years Fachwerk's creeping ambient bookends welcome you to and send you off from the tracklist with a sultry French tongue. That sort of "Why not?" attitude has been with Fachwerk from the beginning, and keeps it a consistently surprising label. More than that, however, the compilation feels up-front and personal in a scene that's all too happy to live in the shadows. Fachwerk have let us into their own private world, and it's a nice place to be.
Tracklist01. Intro
02. Roman Lindau – Staccato
03. Roman Lindau – Owner
04. Mike Dehnert – 8 Years Fachwerk
05. Roman Lindau – Dark Purple
06. Label Dinner
07. Roman Lindau – Give Up
08. Mike Dehnert – Beiwerk
09. Sascha Rydell – Idyllique
10. Sascha Rydell – Casserole
11. Sascha Rydell – Believe
12. Studio Chaos
13. Mike Dehnert – Rewerk
14. Outro