Kenny Larkin
Azimuth

Kenny Larkin is one of the most melodic exponents of the Detroit techno scene, often decidedly less 'sponsored' compared to much more famous colleagues, but what is certain is that every creation by this man is a guarantee of immense quality, masterpieces that have nonetheless made him one of the most important and respected artists.

His is an angelic techno, with intimate and shining tones, you can sense funk in his records, you can sense the purest soul, as if the grey motor-city is momentarily reimagined as a sort of Eden, artistic and musical. Lands of joy and peace where Larkin’s gentle canvases linger in the air, never so pure, never so human, where industrial residues and that aura of steam represent only a faint memory. A convinced supporter, like almost all of Detroit's techno heads, of analogue, his sound is, in turn, warm and enveloping, at times close to the hyper-organic ambient-techno of the period - not by chance the album in question is released by Warp - at others even orchestral, palpable by hand, as only the greatest synthesizers and the most historic drum-machines can be - obviously if supported by a melody master like the good Kenny.

The celebrated "Azimuth" is the absolute manifesto of Larkin's sound, one of the most beautiful things to come out of Detroit, and that's saying a lot in a landscape that has been able to offer, in large doses, what are still among the best stories of all electronics. Of course, even the subsequent releases, as already mentioned, constitute indispensable gems, with interesting variations on the theme such as the dark and visionary "Metaphor", but it is this 1994 album with the so-called extra gear: exciting, deep, a velvety sound like the best Carl Craig, but at the same time close to the groove science of Jeff Mills, thick rims that even the hardest Robert Hood can't match, but never intrusive, as with the rhythms, with their rich and metallic sounds, but which always travel on tiptoe, sinuous and graceful. More simply Spiritual Techno.

If Carl Craig has often been dubbed with the heavy but overall fitting nickname of the Miles Davis of techno - although I would attribute such a moniker to the more eclectic and visionary Jeff Mills (but that’s another story) -, Kenny Larkin can be compared to His Majesty John Coltrane, and not for that charming face, the very dark skin or the icy and penetrating gaze, but for the music, their art, that comes from the depths of the soul to reach out to third parties, of souls, where the sound becomes one not only with the artist, but also with the enchanted listener of it. A sound that sometimes assumes sacred tones, imposing peaks of 'humanity', that knows how to stand out to often and willingly plunge into that element which is the oxygen of techno as it was of the noblest jazz: experimentation.

"Azimuth" is a journey, a daydreaming, a timeless work that never and then never feels the ruthless effects of the latter, for an hour of detachment from the world, not just from Detroit. Majestic.