CONVEXTION

Convextion

Genre: TECHNO / HOUSE

2LP (Black Vinyl)

Boomkat Product Review:

One of the greatest techno albums of the 2000's is mercifully made available on vinyl again with cult Texan label Downlow, some 17 years since its first coming - essential RIYL Juan Atkins, Drexciya, UR, Basic Channel, DeepChord.

A fathoms deep, dubwise techno masterclass is in session with Gerard Hanson’s eponymous first album as Convextion. Originally issued in 2006 and out of print ever since, ‘Convextion’ paid up on the unique promise of Gerard Hanson’s run of releases under this name and E.R.P. from the mid ‘90s, all produced and deployed from his remote Detroit star base in Dallas, Texas. It's since become a key piece of US techno lore, adored by those quick enough to pick up a copy back then, and regularly name-checked due to its timeless atmospheric potential and seductive slant on Motor City mind and body propulsion. 17 years later it still comes non-more-highly-recommended to anyone with a passion for timeless electronic romance and club music.

‘Convextion’, with hindsight, marks the end of a certain golden era of electronic music. Made from the ground-up with synths, drum machines and FX in the old skool way, it now feels like an elegy for a bygone spirit that has become lost in translation by waves of producers and DJs who arguably threw this sort of baby out with the bathwater in subsequent years. Tuff but tender, synthetic but intuitively human, trance-y but definitely techno; it flows with a breathtaking quality that the artist themselves term “emotional punishment”, and rarely fails to fire on empathetic nerves, especially those sweetened by MDMA. Personally that link is incredibly important, reminding us of the high quality of pink love hearts guzzled during years around the LP’s release, and especially its peerless live performances at the time, a few of which we memorably hosted in Manchester and still give us shivers thanks to evidence uploaded to YouTube.

Syncing minds to the cool but strident lushness of ‘Equanimity’, the album roils between sub-heavy dub techno genius in ‘Solum Ferrum’, and Juan Atkins-style Model 500 depths of ‘Desolate Hub’, to the aerial string symphony of ‘Astrum’, thru the steady endorphin release of ‘Premiata’, and pounding Detroit standards of ’Sulphur Vent’ and ultimately the Basic Channel-esque ‘JMA020603’ with an unswerving vision of techno at its most affective, heady and sensuous. No doubt it has indelibly coloured the listening lives and imaginations of a generation, and long may it continue to do so. We will warn ya, however, that we’ve been pestering for a repress for well over a decade, so make your move quickly or forever hold your peace and weep.

2LP (Black Vinyl) (8)