K2: September 2010

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Richie Hawtin

Richard (Richie) Hawtin (born June 4, 1970, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England) is a English-Canadian electronic musician and internationally-touring DJ who was an influential part of Detroit techno's second wave of artists in the early 1990s. Hawtin is best known for his haunting, minimal works under the alias [artist]Plastikman[/artist], a moniker he continued to use into the mid 2000s.

Hawtin is also known for DJing intelligent, minimal techno sets making use of high-tech electronics such as drum machines and digital mixing equipment. With fellow second-waver John Acquaviva he founded and still runs the Plus 8 record label in May 1990, and in 1998 he launched Minus, primarily for his own projects.

Hawtin has recorded music under the aliases Plastikman, F.U.S.E, Concept 1, Circuit Breaker, The Hard Brothers, Hard Trax, Jack Master, and UP!. He also recorded and performed, in combination with other artists, under group names such as 0733, Cybersonik, Final Exposure, Spawn (with Fred Giannelli and Daniel Bell), and States Of Mind. Additionally, Richie and Pete Namlook collaborated to produce the From Within series of albums blending minimal techno and ambient sounds. He has also released an album Sounds of the Third Season with Sven Väth.

Although he was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire in England, Hawtin has spent most of his life in LaSalle, Ontario, a suburb of Windsor, Ontario. Hawtin attended Sandwich Secondary High School in LaSalle. He spent part of 2002 and 2003 living in New York City, and has since moved to Berlin, Germany. He has one brother, Matthew, who is a visual artist and ambient music DJ. Circa 1993, Hawtin was billed for DJ appearances under the name Richie Rich, a name also used by an American hip hop music DJ who was a member of 3rd Bass, and also a UK house music DJ who was actively producing remixes around the same time. Hawtin collaborated with choreographer Enzo Cosimi to create a composition called "9.20" for the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

In 2007, Slices DVD magazine launched a series of biographies called "Pioneers of Electronic Music", with the first issue being a roughly 60 minute documentary dedicated to the life of Richie Hawtin. The film follows his career from his early days crossing the border to Detroit to his current life in Berlin, interviewing many colleagues and family members.

m-nus

Plastikman

Plastikman is the main recording identity for [placeformed]Windsor, Ontario, Canada[/placeformed]'s Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman, Fuse, Circuit Breaker, from within to name a few). since his debut as states of mind and fuse in 1990 to the launch of Plastikman in [yearformed]1992[/yearformed], his sound has developed through early connotations of acidic techno and extreme levels of energy (1993's 'Spastik') to sonic experiments in futuristic-rhythms and off-world ambience (1998's 'Consumed' LP). More minimal approaches were evident through his year long 12-record project 'Concept 1' from 1996. His recording attention is matched head-on by his groundbreaking DJ performances, which incorporate turntables, effects processors and additional instruments (the 909 Drum Machine and Roland SH-101 Synthesizer). His world-renown enhanced DJ set-up of decks, efx & 909 has kept pushing the boundaries of what a DJ can do by increasing the potential of creativity through once again, technology.