Surgeon HHV Records 6 Items

Tresor Records is fortunate enough to be sitting on a catalogue of past releases that no other label in electronic
music would turn down. Three of the nest in this collection were contributed by Surgeon: “Basictonalvocabulary”,
“Balance” and “Force + Form” all originally came out on the Berlin institution between 1997 and 1999.
Surgeon’s inimitable combination of Detroit techno and post-industrial sounds emanating from his British
homeland found its fullest expression in these masterful trio of releases on Tresor. Tresor Records have decided
that its high time to give these seminal albums another airing, and will present each in a staggered series of 2LP
represses throughout the year.
“Force + Form” is the last chapter of this re-issue series, centered around Surgeon and represents a turning point
both in the artist’s career as well as for the history of techno music. Tresor117 was remastered in 2015 by Matt
Colton at Alchemy Mastering, London.

Tresor Records is fortunate enough to be sitting on a catalogue of past releases that no other label in electronic
music would turn down. Three of the finest in this collection were contributed by Surgeon;
“Basictonalvocabulary”, “Balance” and “Force + Form”, which all came out between 1997 and 1999.
Surgeon’s inimitable combination of Detroit techno and post-industrial sounds emanating from his British
homeland found its fullest expression in these masterful trio of releases.
Following the release of Surgeon's first album in 5 years "Crash Recoil" earlier in 2023, Tresor Records have decided
that its high time to give these seminal albums another airing.

Two years after releasing the acclaimed Crash Recoil, Anthony Child aka Surgeon returns to Tresor with new LP, Shell~Wave. Retaining the minimal equipment list and studio-version-of-live-show-sets approach of the previous album in order to focus on
the work itself, Shell~Wave is a deeply personal document of both where Surgeon is and has been, converging three decades of experience with a continued curiosity in the untested.
“To make this project, I had to dig really deep in terms of what my relationship was to techno; I’ve been involved with it for a really long time and there’s a lot about it I feel dislocated from, so I had to really think hard about what techno is to me. I often
get asked “what is techno to you?” but I can’t answer that with words; this album is the answer.” From the complex, twisting track Infinite Eye to the caustic Soul Fire, the eight tracks that make up the body of the album are single-take explorations of the
vast, hard yet minimal techno Child is synonymous with.
Neatly dividing the record in two, the emotional centre of the record comes in the form of Dying, a vibrating, beatless piece that with a mantra-like vocal loop steeped in reverberating effects. Further echoes of dub production appear throughout the record
as tracks like Divine Shadow, and Empty Cloud have an almost ever-present mist of reverberation, driven by the appearance of a new delay unit in the equipment list; while much of the philosophy of Crash Recoil’s creation is present, the process and the
instruments have changed as Child again switches up his approach to studio work.
This insistence on trying novel techniques doesn’t preclude returning to old ones, as this use of modern digital machines with live, hands-on takes that are as inspired by 60s producer Joe Meek and 70s reggae as they are by this year’s synthesiser expos.
“For me, it’s an interesting experience returning to old techniques again after 30 years. [I’m] always exploring and finding myself back at the beginning. Connecting the present with the past.”
This philosophy of ‘time travel’ is inherent to the music itself as the synchronised loops repeat while the delay and effects branch out, forming unique eddies; distinct quantum moments within the circular whole; the future leaking through the spaces
between the sounds. All of the concepts on the album are perfectly communicated through the painting by Taiwanese artist Jazz Szu-Ying Chen which suggests the movement of water, sound waves, and the chitinous shells of sea creatures.

Cover is close to NM. Few paper scuffs. 2014 reissue.

Tresor Records is fortunate enough to be sitting on a catalogue of past releases that no other label in electronic
music would turn down. Three of the finest in this collection were contributed by Surgeon;
“Basictonalvocabulary”, “Balance” and “Force + Form”, which all came out between 1997 and 1999.
Surgeon’s inimitable combination of Detroit techno and post-industrial sounds emanating from his British
homeland found its fullest expression in these masterful trio of releases.
Following the release of Surgeon's first album in 5 years "Crash Recoil" earlier in 2023, Tresor Records have decided
that its high time to give these seminal albums another airing.