In Order To Edit

In the early 90s it seemed that there was a techno record designed to blow your mind out every week. The lion’s share of these also seemed to come from one unlikely place: Ghent in Belgium. Now Ghent is best known as the home of 2manydjs but back then it was where R&S records operated from, changing the face of modern music. Their output was prolific, varied and of a very high standard. Twelve inches would appear with the Ferrari horse logo on them and they were melodic, sonically rich, rhythmically fresh and sometimes hard but not steely enough to induce a nosebleed. There were also tracks that genuinely sounded like nothing else – one by an 18 year old New Yorker and the other by a young Cornish chap and these singles – Energy Flash by Joey Beltram and Analogue Bubblebath by Aphex Twin respectively – are included on In Order To Edit. The keys to the R&S back catalogue have been entrusted with JD Twitch of Optimo, who, back in the late 80s and early 90s ran Edinburgh techno club Pure. He’s a good choice as he has included some of the labels bigger hits – DHS House of God, CJ Bolland’s Horsepower and the aforementioned Beltram and Aphex classics – without swamping the whole mix with them. He has cited that during their purple patch he used to receive records from the company without any details on them and only recently, thanks to Discogs, has he worked out what some of them are. Twitch also keeps the selections to R&S’ imperial phase as things tailed off around 1994 with Capricorn’s percussive 20hz one of their last truly great releases (also included here). Anyone with an interest in the genesis of rave (old or new) should get this essential collection. (8)

John Burgess