Anguilla Electrica by Porter Ricks

Ever since their initial singles were released in the mid-1990s and became international calling cards for the Chain Reaction label, the Porter Ricks duo of Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig have represented that crucible point in which techno music leaked into new social environments and became the background music for cutting-edge cultural critique. Their submerged “scuba” sound, presented in dark tone colors and reverberating to infinity, is now instantly identifiable as one of the ‘soundmarks’ of Berlin club culture. Just as importantly, it is still a palpable aftershock of a pre-millenial genre explosion that saw deep dub, shimmering post-rock, abstract hip-hop and art-damaged noise all drinking from the same well of inspiration.

For proof of Porter Ricks’ enduring legacy, look no further than the fact that “dub techno” is now a stylistic movement that has expanded far beyond the confines of Berlin and the Basic Channel / Chain Reaction label alliance (where Mellwig’s mastering skills also played a starring role). Lurid traces of PR’s aesthetic can now be found in the work of producers like Andy Stott and Miles Whittaker, showing the potential for the duo’s unique ‘aquatic’ techniques to be applied to a variety of different musical contexts.

Their 2017 album on Tresor, Anguilla Electrica, may be their first full-length release in seventeen full years, but it radiates with confidence and with a clarity and intensity rarely seen in a world so oversaturated with communications noise. It’s made clear at once that it’s a continuation of a sonic ideal rather than a tribute to what has already been achieved: the duo is not idly sitting back while their newer acolytes do their talking for them.

This LP is well worth the wait and is a life-affirming one in an uncertain and perilous time, drowning out daily anxieties like a rush of incoming surf - yet it is far more invigorating than relaxing. True to the Porter Ricks tradition, it will be just as exciting hearing this music as it will be to experience what new cultural mutations it leaves in its wake.

When Tresor opened on March 13th 1991 in a shack on Potsdamer Platz, beneath which the vault of the Wertheim department store lay, no one would have thought that from there would arise an institution that one day would celebrate 33 years of existence.

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