Reel By Real - 20 Years Surkit

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  • It takes all of about three seconds for Reel By Real's 1990 classic "Surkit" to reveal itself for what it is: a sumptuously mechanistic and enduringly soulful piece of Detroit techno of the kind that has helped make "Detroit techno" mean what it means today. Among its many impressive attributes is the way it moves, less by way of momentum than by way of mood. The pace changes significantly through a few distinct fits and starts, and, rarer still, the whole track sounds as if it has strangely started to think about itself as it cycles through different stages of contemplation and release. "Surkit" comes here, in a release split into two parts, in Martin Bond's original 1990 version and an "I-102 1991 Version" that is more roughly hewn, dreamy, and atmospheric—quite different, really. Others on the docket, sharing remastering by Redshape, include "Vessels in Distress," which bounds by with a heavily arpeggiated billow and John Carpenter-like keyboard, and "Sundog," a markedly distinctive blend of murky tribal banging constricted and reduced into something completely singular. "Distance" follows with a funkily blipped-out sense of euphoria, and "Serene" goes comparatively spacious as the result of a collaboration between Bonds and fellow Detroiter Anthony "Shake" Shakir. There's an incredible amount of range covered here, all of it somehow suffused with the same sense of place.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Surkit (1990 Original Version) A2 Vessel In Distress B Sundog C1 Distance C2 Surkit (1991 I-102 Version) D Serene
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