PETER VAN HOESEN

LIFE PERFORMANCE (Tresor)

13/20

There’s something innately reassuring about techno artists who play with a table full of hardware in front of them. It’s something which those at the tougher end of the spectrum have excelled in, from the likes of Planetary Assault Systems, Shed, Skudge, Karenn and the more noise-centric Pete Swanson proving to be standout live machinists of late. Belgian Peter Van Hoesen’s contribution to techno’s live canon has been captured on Life Performance, a recording of a special show in the original Berlin techno den of debauchery Tresor. Harnessing almost every cliché in hard techno at the moment, the music is singularly paced, 4/4, the cover displays a bleak, austere landscape and the tracks have stern, elemental titles such as Carbon, Turmoil and Force Withdrawn. And herein lies the problem with creating a lasting chronicle of a tough techno club set designed for peak time Tresor; it probably wouldn’t be the most fertile space for breaking fresh techno interpretations. That said, the techno on display is industrial, tough and the transitions are fast-paced and varied, encapsulating the experience of clubbing to this kind of music in that kind of place.

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Words: Thomas Frost