Plastikman

The 30th Anniversary edition of Plastikman’s ‘Musik’, the second studio album by Richie Hawtin as Plastikman, was recently announced for release on NovaMute on 6 December 2024. The album, originally released via NovaMute / Plus 8, followed 1993’s Sheet One and apparently propelled Hawtin into new levels of international success. 

On its initial release, in Nov 1994, Hawtin was part of a burgeoning underground scene in Detroit, and the album, which expands on his minimal techno world, was launched with Plastikman’s first-ever live performance in Aug 1994 – at the derelict Packard Plant in Detroit, in a room encased in black plastic sheets.

Before the full album hit the shelves, ‘Plastique’, set the stage for a more dancefloor friendly album, albeit one with an unsettling and sinister side.

‘Musik’, which featured tracks such as ‘Freek’, ‘Kriket’ (which Raf Simons used earlier this year in the Prada Men Spring/Summer 2025 show), ‘Fuk’ and ‘Marbles’, was soon heard by a much wider audience.

Plastikman live appearances at Glastonbury, Tribal Gathering and a headline slot at Megadog followed soon after.

Now, 30 years later, to mark its anniversary, the album has been remastered from the original tapes, aimed at reminding us why Plastikman is possibly a name that still resonates and that the album’s intensity may not have lost any of its potency in the intervening years.

© justaweemusicblog.com