Deepchord, real name Rod Modell, will release his first album in five years next month.
On Functional Designs, the enigmatic Detroit-based producer delivers what he calls “night-walks through numerous cities,” which is to say the music is connected to various places he’s visited – like a “sonic postcard from each city.” Across 11 new tracks, he uses field recordings, holographic synth tones, cosmic sounds, and the hiss of electric wires.
The album is a “perfect example of electroacoustic techno transmitted from undisclosed locations,” we’re told, and “the amalgamation of swirling tapestries of sound and lifeforms moving around underneath the grid.”
While a living in Detroit, near to the “techno boulevard” made famous by the likes of Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson during that time, Modell began looking for a more experimental sound. He co-founded the DeepChord record label in Detroit during the mid-’90s, after declining offers from top techno labels of the time, and he’s shared more than 16 releases using the alias, including 2017’s Auratones on Glasgow’s Soma Recordings. You can read more about him in his EDMjunkies podcast here.
The album will be preceded by Functional Extraits 1, an EP off off-cuts, and Functional Extraits 2, which is scheduled for October release.
Tracklisting
01. Amber
02. Darkness Falls
03. Transit Systems
04. Strangers
05. Panacast
06. CloudSat
07. Pressure
08. Ebb and Flow
09. Sun
10. Memories
11. Drassanes
Functional Designs LP is scheduled for September 30 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Strangers” below and pre-order here.
