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$23.50
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ARTIST
TITLE
Gymnastics (21st Anniversary Edition)
FORMAT
2LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
DNLP 002R-LP DNLP 002R-LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
8/11/2017

For the 21st anniversary of Regis's pivotal debut album, the Brum techno overlord has remade the scene of the crime from original stems and salvaged 8-track tapes. The unyielding results effectively present a doctored version of his seminal -- some may say game-changing -- record, featuring new studio versions and unreleased sequences. It's basically a stronger, fitter version of his most prized LP, loaded with sounds as brutally functional as the city which birthed them. Originally recorded in September 1996 in Room 406, Digbeth, Birmingham aka Scorn's studio -- sandwiched between Tony De Vit and Broadcast's recording spaces -- Regis used one drum machine, one synth, and one FX unit to nail home a back-to-basics approach to techno; one inspired as much by the direct immediacy of Chicago house as the febrile DJ sets of Jeff Mills, but also drawing a crucial "X factor" from his background as a bit of a hooligan, with form in a number of post-industrial, EBM, and punk units. When Gymnastics first hit the 'floor, it was considered shocking anathema to the swell of manicured, proggy arrangements which were by then dominating the spotlight of British dance in clubs and the media. It was loopy, stripped-to-the-bone, and shark-eyed, always moving forward and without the faintest recourse to melody or harmony -- simply reveling in the gnashing tension and swerve of raw, clattering drum machines, and monophonic synth jabs. Big Beat or trance it fucking well wasn't. 21 years later its lip-biting force is now felt stronger than ever. From the grumbling refusal of "We Said No" and the austere wall-banger "Allies" that boot off the album, through the 16th note nag of "Translation" to the rictus jag of "Sand" and the metallic bite of "The Black Freighter", this is timeless, primal dance music that still causes friction wherever it's deployed. James Brown is dead. Long live Regis. New reworked artwork (original featured the Twin Towers photographed in 1996). Remastered and cut by Matt Colton.