Pheek

Montréal's Pheek (aka Jean-Patrice Rémillard) has gained quite a reputation over the past decade as a serious name in techno. Rémillard started out on various small imprints, including the Thinner net label, which helped launch his career internationally. He now heads his own imprint, Archipel, which this year celebrated its fifth anniversary with Alike Minds, a superb compilation of the label's artists, including such acts as Offthesky and Sensual Physics. Channeling (Worlds) is the second part in his Channeling series ― the first part, (Cycles), was released last month. This two-part release constitutes Pheek's tenth full-length album and his first in four years. The music is intricate, fascinating and has something in common with Plastikman, who is both an influence and admirer of Pheek's. In Channeling (Worlds), he builds upon discarded sketches of tunes from his archives to create a brooding, claustrophobic inner world that opens out into intriguing vistas, flowing organically from headphone fodder towards an apex of banging beats.