Hawtin’s Thumping House Music Gives Fans Plenty to Rave About

Dance music has flown off in many different directions in recent years, from Fatboy Slim’s confectionary collages to electronica artist Luke Vibert’s pairing with pedal steel master BJ Cole that landed in L.A. last week.

At the Viper Room on Tuesday, though, artist-producer Richie Hawtin (whose alter ego Plastikman has been among the most influential techno figures) brought it all back to ground level when he took the stage with his decks and devices: the railway-like thump thump thump of the house-music beat.

There was no buildup, no ambient prelude, just a launch of the rhythm that’s the essence of house music and its varieties, inspired by ‘70s German pioneers Kraftwerk, refined and toughened in the Detroit acid-house scene (where Hawtin trained) and spread around the globe in a colorful ‘90s diaspora.

Needless to say this was not the place for anyone who only knows of the electronica and deejay world via Fatboy or Apollo Four Forty singles. And indeed it was the purists and rave regulars who packed the Viper, following every twist and turn Hawtin navigated, turning the rhythms back on themselves, subtly altering the counterpoint undercurrents and boosting the beat to a bone-rattling rumble. It’s nothing that will bring Hawtin to mainstream stardom, but it’s plenty of evidence as to why he’s rave royalty.