Richard H. Kirk has immersed himself in the spirit of techno after his heroic time at Cabaret Voltaire with a variety of project names. He was most consistent and productive under his alias Sandoz. It all began with a handful of EPs released in 1992 and 1993 on Kirk’s own label Intone. From two of these EPs, Second Circle has now selected two tracks each that fit perfectly into the golden Warp era – as one half of Sweet Exorcist, Richard H. Kirk was even one of the creators of the Clonks. From today’s point of view, these four early Sandoz numbers delight on the one hand through elegantly reduced production, in which Kirk proves to be a master of omission, and on the other hand he reveals himself to be an unobtrusive visionary with various also discreetly used samples of African rhythms, for example. Titles like “Chocolate Machine” with their mixture of drum computer stiffness, relaxed breaks and various references beyond the purely artificial club paradise fit perfectly, despite their audible time of origin, into the present, in which the softening of genre distinctions perceived as boundaries has long since become standard. But as good as Kirk you have to get that right first.
Sandoz
