Mille Plateaux, 2001
This Clicks & Cuts is a bit more diverse than the first. Disc 1 features lush basslines and melodies under the clicks. “Circa 1666” by Snd builds a layer cake of electronic bliss. Farben’s “The Videoage (Re-Edit)” is a bit more minimal, but there’s swirling synths under those beats. Disc 2 is a little noisier. “Holiday” by Vladislav Delay has wild whoops of sound before it builds up into a house track. Thomas Brinkmann’s “0100” from Klick is a whirling helicopter of razor-cut vinyl. Finally, Disk 3 is the most abstract with Fennesz’s “Menthol” offering a cacophony of tones and static. “Keine Zähne” by Matmos is fragments of voices and clicks stirred in a big mixing pot.
In the liner notes, Philip Sherbourne writes, “The click is a remainder, the bit spit out of the break.” Clicks are nostalgic of old vinyl and cold as a computer’s pulse, but all in all, they’re just an aesthetically pleasing fad in techno beats.