Plastikman & Chilly Gonzales

In 1998, techno legend Richie Hawtin released the seminal album ‘Consumed’ under his Plastikman alias on his own Minus label. A masterpiece of restraint, depth, and music as architectural vision, ‘Consumed’ was profoundly influential, defining the soon-to-emerge minimal movement and counting among its biggest fans creative, cultural icons such as sculptor Anish Kapoor, fashion designer Raf Simons and two decades later entertainer Chilly Gonzales. 

After hearing ‘Consumed’ for the first time shortly after the album’s 20th anniversary, Chilly felt that the record’s loose use of melody and negative space threatened his musical sensibility. Furthermore, the album’s unique timing structure and flow fueled his curiosity and pushed him towards an idea of composing accompanying piano pieces (counterparts) for each of the tracks. It would not be a remix. It would be one composer instinctively reacting to – and finding space within – another composers already completed work. As an experiment, Chilly completed a series of demos and later mentioned it to his friend Tiga, the Turbo Recordings label boss, who as a Plastikman & ‘Consumed’ fan urged Chilly to continue and suggested that he reach out to Hawtin. 

As Tiga was also a friend of Hawtin, he intuitively stepped in as the conduit between both artists and became a sounding board of ideas, helping to translate the thought processes of two artists coming from distinctly different worlds. They all agreed that Chilly should continue recording his solitaire interpretations and then once finished, Hawtin would come on board to mix the new combined work. This allowed each artist their own space within the project, more of a sonic conversation between them than a conventional collaboration. 

‘Consumed in Key’ is born of the obsessive love of a timeless work of art, an obsessive fascination untempered by fearful reverence. It is the result of a 30-year cycle of musical evolution and inspiration, a touch of Canadian kismet (all three are from Canada) and artists finding common ground where others would see none.  

Now, forget the story. Forget the words. Listen.  

“Consumed in Key” is set to be released April 1st.