Substance: Rise and Shine (Ostgut-Ton)
Peter Kuschnereit dons his Substance alias for the first time in over 20 years with the release of this 5-track EP for Berlin's Ostgut-Ton imprint. Anyone who's been a fan of techno for that long is likely to be as geeked as I was when I heard that new music was on the way from him; his previous efforts for Basic Channel's sublabel Chain Reaction (who, aside from the music itself, might be best known for their obtuse hinged metal CD cases) are part of a wave of pure dub techno perfection that appeared in the mid to late 90s. His contemporaries Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus have continued to make waves through their various projects, though their material as Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound may likely always be considered the genre's vanguard. What then of Substance, whose name may have faded a bit from view in his prolonged absence?
Rise And Shine by Substance
Rise and Shine feels appropriately like a far-off extrapolation of the techno he was making 20+ years ago. There are hints of the bubbly dubbiness in a short track like “Distance,” but most of these tracks feel like a survey of current and past trends. “Countdown”'s flanged hihats and and pads are a throwback to early Warp but would feel right at home in a current techno set, a neat marriage of the past and present. “Cruising” is another dancefloor banger with a punchier kick and urgent, writhing synth patterns. As is title suggests, Rise and Shine feels sort of like a call to action for Kuschnereit, a proclamation that “I’m still here, and I’ve got more to say.” He successfully manages to avoid repeating his past repertoire without discarding it, and instead broadens his horizons with a more varied selection of tracks that hopefully hints at more variety and material to come.
Buy it: Ostgut-Ton Bandcamp
