There are labels that stand up as trademarks of quality. Some are bigger than others, and some release more than others.

In 9 EP releases, Basic Channel made itself into one of those labels – a near flawless series of minimal techno vinyl releases that hardly needed a recognisable logo for collector’s to find them.

 

Only one of the seminal BC series releases went under the Basic Channel name – but all revolved around the founders Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus pictured here -

 

Here’s the Basic Channel named release “Octagon” for you to test -

 

Really, if you like it you’ll love the rest. If you didn’t you probably won’t. But they are a perfect collection – distinguished in some experts minds by Von Oswald’s determination to mix “manually” – but I must say I can’t hear that. They are just beautiful stretched works of art and love.

And that was it really. Except for a bunch of side projects under various names and labels - most notably the Rhythm & Sound releases “where dub skank and techno pulse are virtually indistinguishable” and a favourite of mine where Von Oswald and Carl Craig reimagine some classical music for Deutsche Gramaphon (not a bad label in itself). They sound enough like Basic Channel projects to connect, but they aren’t Basic Channel projects so that was that.

It’s a hipsters dream - Small but perfectly formed, collectable, rare and you either get it or you don’t. So there.

For a top 10 of Basic Channel releases and related releases go HERE. It’s a good listen to work through and it highlights the Rhythm and Sound tracks which I actually think I Like better than Basic Channel just now.

-TH

[Cool Accidents was happy to seek the weird and wild world of labels for a Basic Channel equivalent for today and – bypassing the likes of XL, Modular & Young Turks – find the perfect 2014 answer right on its own doorstep. While the work of Future Classic records may not be quite so purist, their roster is even more intriguing and has that same imprint of quality – Flume, Chet Faker, Panama, Flight Facilities, Ta-ku. Nice work fellas]