Hard to believe this is the fourth instalment in Ostgut Ton’s series of mix CDs from residents of Berghain. The Berlin club and label continues to dominate techno like a religion, its heavy, grainy, nostalgic sound sweeping away the spindly frame of ‘minimal’, fuelling – and fuelled by – the polysexual hedonism feeding the city’s endless afterparties. Marcel Dettmann set the bar very high with Berghain 02, Len Faki’s 03 was a diverse, confused effort, but Ben Klock’s 04 might be the finest yet. I guess the Minus heyday does seem a long time ago…
Klock’s opening moments imply more flexibility than we’re used to, 154′s flowing ambient pads opening out to the bright melodic tone patterns of DVS1′s ‘Pressure’, picking up where Tama Sumo’s Panoramabar mix of last year finished up. Dettmann’s Junior Boys remix is among his softer productions, and its not until Klock’s canny mix from an STL locked groove into Levon Vincent’s ‘The Long Life’ that we enter the familiar walls of dank granite. Jonas Kopp’s stunning ‘Michigan Lake’ introduces the obligatory Basic Channel homage, Rolando’s ‘De Cago’ nods to Detroit and Chicago, and through to track 15 its solid grey banging, subtly shuffled by Tyree’s cracked Prosumer-esque vocal bites.
The final stretch returns to the warehouse, toying with ‘nuum tropes – Klock’s own ‘Elfin Flight’ with Elif Bicer recalls a Berlin take on Funky, Rolando’s ‘Junie’ closes with spare broken beats – but defined more closely by the stinging dub techno of James Ruskin and The Echologist. This is where Klock succeeds: Berghain 04 is a remarkably smooth and consistent collection, heavily championing the distinctive sound that has defined the club, label and their spokesmen, yet writhing and squirming into new, fresh forms. There’s less of the lapel-grabbing pummel of Dettmann, less of Faki’s studied variety, but a linearity that is effortlessly funky and very much Klock’s own.
Joshua Meggitt
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