Plastikman & Richie Hawtin

Remastered releases of ‘Sheet One’, ‘Musik’, ‘Recycled Plastik’ & ‘Artifacts (bc)’

Mute are delighted to announce the release of remastered classic Plastikman albums, Sheet One, Musik, Recycled Plastik and Artifakts [bc].

Plastikman is the just one of the alter egos of Richie Hawtin, who, over the past 20 years has been one of electronic music’s most important artists; as a DJ, a label owner, a producer, a performer, and an avid contributor to the development of music and performance technology.

Born in Oxfordshire, Hawtin’s family moved to Canada when he was nine and, growing up he was heavily influenced by both his father’s diverse record collection and his own acute curiosity for everything electronic, watching from an early age as his father dismantled various electronic devices, rebuilding and modifying them in front of his son’s eyes.  It was inevitable that his passions for music, technology and computers would be finally drawn together, and upon hearing the early sounds of Detroit Techno and Chicago Acid House on Jeff Mills’ late 80’s Detroit radio show, he found his direction.

Travelling between Canada and Detroit, Hawtin was regularly in Detroit and Sheet One, originally released on NovaMute in 1993, was the first Plastikman album release. Hawtin’s stark production was quite unlike anything else on the electronic scene at that time and, that, alongside its controversial acid-blotter cover introduced Plastikman to the world.

This was followed a year later by Recycled Plastik, featuring the infamous 909 percussion track, ‘Spastik’, which later became a live favourite, and by Musik, lauded by many as ‘one’ of the most important electronic albums. The fourth of the remastered releases, Artifakts [bc], originally released in 1998, is a collection of tracks recorded around the time of Musik, and featuring parts of an unfinished album which was cut short when Hawtin was on a temporary exile from the US. The title Artifakts [bc] refers to “Before Consumed” and the album serves as a bridge between Musik and Consumed, which was released in 2003.

Following the release of these groundbreaking albums, Hawtin concentrated on his DJ career and the creation of the label, Minus. In 2010/11, Plastikman returned for a worldwide tour and a series of major festival appearances. Richie Hawtin is currently touring a new concept titled ENTER. Based on the principles of ‘Music. Sake. Technology. Experience’, the concept was born in Ibiza and is about to tour the world.

Sheet One, Musik, Recycled Plastik and Artifakts [bc], remastered by Richie Hawtin, are released on Mute in September 2012