Pieces Of A Pensive State Of Mind
Missin’ You EP
Like each and every one of the first four U-TRAX releases, this fourth release also marked a debut, in this case of Dutch dark electro phenom Frank de Groodt.
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Pieces Of A Pensive State Of Mind
From the original 1994 press release:
This 12" is made by Frank de Groodt, a 19 year‑old guy from Hoevelaken, not far from Utrecht. He bought a Roland JV‑30 synthesizer and a sequencer more than a year ago and managed to create an impressive amount of really stunning tracks. His style can best be described as techno‑ambient: most of his tracks are very deep and very ambient, but the sounds he uses are widely regarded to be typically 'techno'. The most important thing however, is that he has some really refreshing ideas about creating songsstructures, rhythms and melodies. This 12" features his more danceable stuff, but many techno‑ambient tracks signed to U‑TRAX are scheduled to be released on CD later this year. He also will release a techno‑ambient CD as Optic Crux on another recordlabel soon.
Only recently, Frank found out that he has diabetes, a discovery that changed his life very drasticly. A small reference to his disease can be found in the naming of the two sides of his record: the hypo‑side and the hyper‑side. Being forced to quit his job because of all this, this does give him time to explore his new toy: a sampler! No need to say that this purchase will result in many new tracks in the near future...
Missin' You is a good example of one of his first tracks, made only with the JV‑30. It will be no suprise that the issue here has something to do with a person of the opposite sex. It was released earlier on the Utrecht‑based cassette‑label DROME Tapes.
The AWAX Reorganisation of it was done by DJ WHite Delight and DJ Zero One, adding a real 808 for deeper feel (and the divine snares of course!). The main thing we did, was reorganising the seperate parts of the song, causing a rather cool effect. This version sounds more like the so‑called ambient‑techno, a 'new form of techno'. At least that's what the press and recordlabels want us to believe...
Echoic features another one of Frank's new machines: a Korg Poly 800. The funky bassline produced with it, together with the techno rhythms, create an early techno‑feel, like we were used to hear from projects like Juan Atkins' Model 500. Of course, the godfather of techno is one of Frank's favorite producers.
Channel Pressure is another example of the terrible things you can do with a JV‑30. Every sound from it was led through a flanger‑effect, which makes the track sound rather techno for most people. The fierce rhythms make it perfectly suitable for the dancefloors that are dominated by fast techno‑tracks similar to this one.
Original release on blue vinyl and limited black vinyl: January 1994
This EP has been remastered and re-released in January 2019, click here for more details.
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