Elegant Systems (Kirk Degiorgio Presents As One)

A little over a year after Ubiquity released As One's Out of the Darkness, Kirk Degiorgio quietly slipped another full-length album of material onto the doorstep of the good folks at French imprint Versatile. With Elegant Systems, Degiorgio makes a deliberate effort to abandon his recent broken beat direction, stripping away the collaborations with vocalists (which would come later with his Beauty Room project) and getting back to basics. He does this well, delivering a no-frills, back-to-basics techno record that is reminiscent of his early years on Clear and ART. The album's opener, "Rumors," somehow makes its way to the heart and soul of Detroit, with a beat that no doubt would be bumped in the back seat of any of Kenny Dixon, Jr.'s souped-up station wagons, complete with chord stabs that would make Mad Mike blush with pride at the textbook Detroit techno melodies. And the Detroit nods don't stop with the opening track: "This Precious Life" and the title track are every bit as classic as anything from 69's Sound on Sound. The album's midpoint track, "Cocoon," has such wild chord changes and drum programming it's as if Theo Parrish were sitting back in the studio, smiling politely while Degiorgio arranged the track. Of course, no As One album would be complete without the gentle introspective moments, and Degiorgio delivers a one-two punch with some of the finest in his entire catalog: the wonderful "An Hysteric Bonding" and "Lucas Smile," a beautiful jazz number that closes out the album brilliantly. Like his colleague Carl Craig, DeGiorgio continues to inspire and innovate with ease, with one foot already out the door and on to the next project with reckless awe and abandon, making him one of the most exciting producers to watch on either side of the pond.