Shell~Wave

After 30 years in the game, the walls seem to be closing in on Surgeon's definition of techno. The press writings for this album indicate that he not only is feeling increasingly disconnected from techno's brand-centered evolution. He also seemingly has no other response to said development than old faithful: a live jam/studio hybrid that squeezes the absolute maximum out of a handful of loops through the manipulation of the space and time they exist in. There is no synthesis or compromise to be found. Classicist heads will probably applaud him for sticking to his guns. The problem is: the number of such heads, who think the juice is still worth it, is shrinking. At some point, the blueprint for Surgeon's recent album offerings will be too slow to keep up with the compressed time frame techno's main current is raging through. So, what happens when there isn't sufficient space left for Surgeon to manipulate? Who will he be making music for? What happens when people no longer think the payoff is worth it?