Richie Hawtin, the Plastikman, and his song ‘Spastik’.

British born Canadian producer, DJ and Label Manager Richie Hawtin (Richard Michael Hawtin) has developed his own style of producing, making influences in the music industry. He is also known by the alias ‘Plastikman’ in most of his work. Hawtin was mainly inspired by Detroit techno which is known to be quite ‘hard’ and noisy to a more minimal deep techno sound. In the rise of the 90’s emo-techno underground music scene, German techno has been taking influences from Detroit, Chicago and Frankfurt for their evolvement in techno. During the early 90s illegal underground techno parties had thrived off the fall of the Berlin Wall where the walls from the abandoned landmark. This soon proceeded to the now known German nightlife where youths come to rave and party.  

In his song ‘Spastik’, it opens with repetitive percussion, drawing in the audience, helping them form the energy needed to rave. I believe that in his work, he plays with the energy of the audience, often experimenting with different dynamics and volumes. The beat never seems to change and only seems to be hidden in some moments of the track. Around the 2 minute and a half mark, we start to hear other synths come in. Transitioning into the third minute, we start to hear a breakdown in the song. This song in particular is seen as a German staple in nightclubs. Hawtin frequently used his “heavily processed james on his Roland 707, 808 and 909 drum machines,” (Aykan Esen for Attack, 2021).

 Citations

Discogs. “Richie Hawtin.” Discogs, www.discogs.com/artist/835-Richie-Hawtin.

Esen, Aykan. “Spastik-Style Percussive Techno.” Attack Magazine, 23 Sept. 2022, www.attackmagazine.com/technique/beat-dissected/spastik-style-percussive-techno/.

“German Electronic Music.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Oct. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_electronic_music.

ovokx. “Plastikman – Spastik.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Dec. 2007, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsct-e-HVE0.