After finally getting back to straight-ahead dancefloor techno with
Fusion,
Sven Väth upped the ante with
Contact, an LP filled with track after track of driving electro and hard Detroit techno -- by way of Berlin. Instead of longtime co-producer
Ralf Hildenbeutel,
Väth tapped
Anthony Rother,
Johannes Heil, and
Alter Ego's
Roman Flügel and
Jörn Wuttke as production partners. The move gives
Contact a breadth of sound unequaled by his previous material;
Rother contributes some excellent chunky analogue synth to "Pathfinder" and "Ydolem," while on "Ein Waggon Voller Geschichten,"
Flügel and
Wuttke apply the detuned and slightly distorted effect most famous from
Mr. Oizo's "Flat Beat." The other big difference from
Väth's first three LPs is that half of these tracks have vocals, and they're all by
Väth himself. Surprisingly, these work pretty well, with the man simply vamping over the beats and then heavily processing his vocals afterwards. After so much serious, disappointing music in
Väth's career, it's a refreshing change to hear dance music with a bit of humor to it.