Octave One

by John BushOne of the more anachronistic teams in the Detroit techno underground, Octave Ones rough-and-tumble production values gel with most Motor City crews but for Lawrence Burden and his two brothers, the focus is completely on music with little political or social aesthetics behind their tracks. Burden originally began DJing in 1987 in a collective named VLE Nu AGE, then recorded a single in 1989 with the help of brothers Lynell and Lenny plus Anthony Shakir, Jay Denham and Juan Atkins. Originally released on Derrick Mays Transmat Records, I Believe made waves after being compiled onto the British Detroit compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit, helping the Burdens form Direct Beat/430 West Records (originally located at 430 West 8 Mile Road in Detroit). The labels became favored names for hard-hitting electro-bass tracks from Aux 88, Alien FM and Underground Resistance mainman Mad Mike Banks. Besides later Octave One output like The X Files, the Foundation EP and the Cymbolic mini-LP, 430 West released several volumes in the bass compilation Detroit: Techno City and Direct Beat obliged with the compilation Techno Bass: The Mission. In late 1997, Octave One released their debut album, The Living Key (To Images from Above). The following year brought The Collective, a look at the groups back catalogue. Releases from other Octave One incarnations have also appeared, including Never on Sunday, Random Noise Generation (RNG) and Metro D.