Plus 8 (also spelled as Plus8) is a Canadian

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

founded by Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

that's based in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Along with

Underground Resistance Underground Resistance (commonly abbreviated to UR) are an American musical collective from Detroit, Michigan. Producing primarily Detroit techno since 1990 with a grungy four-track musical aesthetic, they are also renowned for their militant ...

and Planet E, Plus 8 was one of the early producers of

Detroit techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mi ...

's 'Second Wave' music at the start of the 1990s.

History

The label's name referred to the fact that on most turntables, +8% is the maximum amount by which one can increase the speed of playback. Initial releases were a series of increasingly faster

industrial hardcore Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

recordings by the pair themselves and their friends, using aliases such as States of Mind and Cybersonik, along with other

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

-based musicians such as

Kenny Larkin Kenny Larkin (who also releases as Dark Comedy) is an American techno producer from Detroit. He has been described by AllMusic as "massively influential" on American, British, and German techno. Larkin was born in 1968 and raised in Detroit, but ...

. The label began to retreat from hard and fast tempo after the release of Circuit Breaker's "Overkill/Frenz-E" and Cybersonik's "Thrash" in 1992. Hawtin and Aquaviva lost interest in the drug-fueled dynamic and rave culture that was driving hardcore techno. In 1992, after observing a crowd in a

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

club shouting an

anti-semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

football chant A football chant or terrace chant is a form of vocalisation performed by supporters of association football, typically during football matches. Football chanting is an expression of collective identity, most often used by fans to express their ...

over Plus 8's song, Cybersonik's "Thrash", Hawtin and Aquaviva decided to change musical direction by slowing down the tempo and bringing funk and soul back into their music. Plus 8 releases include early

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

s from

Speedy J Jochem George Paap (born 14 February 1969, in Rotterdam), known by his stage name Speedy J, is a Dutch electronic music producer based in Rotterdam. His breakthrough came with the release in 1992 of the minimal techno track "Pullover". He releas ...

, and from Richie Hawtin's many

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s including

F.U.S.E. Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...

and Plastikman. By 1996, Plus 8 had also released a number of dance compilation albums. The label was suspended in 1997, as Acquaviva concentrated on DJing and Hawtin on his new label,

M nus Minus or M-nus is a recording label based in Berlin, Germany and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Canada. It was created in 1998 by Richie Hawtin when Plus 8, a label previously created by Hawtin, was put on hold. By 2005, M-nus was releasing two to th ...

, but releases (and re-releases of early material often licensed to other labels) have appeared from time to time, notably 2000's ''Plus 8 Classics'' triple 12-inch vinyl and CD retrospective. In 2015, Richie Hawtin released ''From My Mind to Yours''.

References

;Citations

External links

Official site
* {{Authority control Canadian independent record labels Record labels established in 1990 Techno record labels

History

See also

References

External links