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Plus Device, "Puncture"
Back when many techno and electro producers operated in perpetual pseudonymity and even anonymity, the intent was to put the focus on the music and not on the people behind it, as well as to add a certain underground mystique to these rebellious sounds. Sadly, many of today's labels cannot help but exploit the secrecy behind their artists' identities, cheapening the legacy of the Underground Resistance posse and like minded artists.
The Detroit pioneers whom we revere as living gods in clubs and at festivals didn't start out as larger-than-life celebrities, but their consumers' rabid obsession with unmasking and deciphering the unknown caused that to happen, an unintended consequence that I'm sure at least some of those producers are grateful for nowadays. I've read countless message board and forum discussions consisting of (mostly) young men fascinating themselves over who such-and-such act might be. I don't particularly care to waste my time trying to out Plus Device despite Hefty's buzz-seeking overemphasis of its incognito status. When marketing gimmickry this blatant is employed to sell records, while not the most heinous crime in my book, it hardly matters that the artist or artists can't or won't name names, nor does it matter why.
All that aside, the music here bumps and grinds with a fealty to the aforementioned deities. The bulk of Puncture consists of smooth, deep electro workouts with Roland X0X gear or passable emulators at their core. Opener "Pupil Measurement" jacks with snappy snares and bleepy hiccups, repeating a delayed spacey sparkle every bar. While a nice cut, it pales in comparison to "Body Heat," a vocoded funk jam that matches the pseudo-pornographic cover art. Adult themes are repeated throughout the album, though occasionally with laughable results. The lackadaisical, vulgar vocal delivery on "Sexual Harassment" makes even the most talentless Dirty South spitter sound half-decent, spoiling a perfectly good almost Drexciyan quality track. "Come Inside Of Me" atones for that misstep with a Daft Punk panache of analog flourishes and a repeated robotic voice hook.
For the most part, Puncture accomplishes more without words than it does with them. "Public Transport" melds tech-house stabs and textures with tough electro beats, offering up some compelling squiggly melodies. In a similar fashion, "Ultra Seductive" opens deeper and soulful before throwing in almost unexpectedly quirky, neck-jerking beats. After all that funk, Plus Device throws one last curveball in the finale "Refreshing, Invigorating" by belatedly adopting the 4/4 kick-snare pattern that a lesser artist might have been content to rely on throughout the album. This last laugh, if meant that way, demonstrates that, despite off-putting manufactured hype and circumstance, the spirit of Detroit cannot be destroyed.
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