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.