- A decade later, Binh's label still remains the standard for sinister, low-slung minimal techno and electro.
- Back in 2015, the media averse Germann Nguyen, AKA Binh, sat with Resident Advisor for his first interview. The year before, he had released Visio, a breakthrough 12-inch on the esteemed Perlon label. Soon, he founded his own label, Time Passages, and was getting more and more international bookings. After years of digging for obscure '90s records and throwing parties at minimal's spiritual home, Club Der Visionaere, alongside the likes of Margaret Dygas and Önur Özer (with whom he produced records as Treatment), it seemed like Nguyen was about to have a moment.
Still, Nguyen remained understated and low-key, steering clear of social media. At the start of the Instagram DJ era, he was, as RA described him, "pleasantly uncomplicated" in his approach. He would spend countless hours falling down Discogs wormholes in order to find music "you're not going to hear anywhere else" without worrying about the accoutrement and posturing of the jet-set lifestyle.
Now, a decade later, it's clear just how pivotal that moment was. Since then, Nguyen has rightfully ascended to his throne as one of the crown princes of minimal's second generation. Following the lead of trailblazers of the late '90s such as Zip, Baby Ford and Daniel Bell, Nguyen and Time Passages began to transform minimal from its icy, austere Robert Hood origins. Alongside longtime friend Nicolas Lutz (Binh's second interview features his six-month-old hanging with Lutz's son, Jupiter), the two popularised an electro-soldered techno format that is loopy and funky, but maintains plenty of bite thanks to gnarled 808s slipping in and out of minor keys. Time Passages's back catalogue is filled with masterpieces written in this style.
To celebrate ten years of the label, Nguyen is releasing a double-pack that captures the label's trademark sound at its freshest. Across nine tracks, the record brings together label favourites like Innershades, electroclash legend DJ Hell, and a few unexpected cameos (I, for one, didn't expect to see former Honey Soundsystem member Bézier, who is best known for his Italo-inspired electro). The result is a record that plots out the future of contemporary minimal: from punchy, percussive electro workouts to swaggering techno with an Italo twist.
Like the best compilations, Time Passages 10 Years is an homage to the past that never feels overly nostalgic. There is the low-slung and sinister techno that Binh has been playing for the past decade. DJ Hell's "Alienation" starts with a wall of feedback before a haunted arpeggio kicks in. Likewise, scene hero Z@P marries a spine-tingling chord progression with slightly off-beat drum programming to induce a druggy and hypnotic state of paranoia.
These tunes, as well as the contributions from Barnt and The Model, are Time Passages doing what it does best: platforming classy and trippy techno, from Montevideo to Bucharest. But what really sets Time Passages 10 Years apart is when the producers push the envelope forward. Italo isn't a term associated with the new minimal scene, but both Lattress's "Last Thing" and DC Salas's "Perceptions of Truth" play with the genre: Lattress adds a hint of reverb to soaring chords while "Perceptions of Truth" is built around a towering synth and loose snares you might have heard on a ZYX release circa 1980.
Don't get me wrong: these tunes share parts of Nguyen's tried-and-true formula (check Lattress's crunchy bassline and DC Salas's claustrophobic arpeggio), but they're also unafraid to go bigger and bolder. This all comes to a climax on '90s acid pioneer Hardfloor's soaring remix of Andrew Red Hand's Nightmare on Elm Street tribute, "In the Cemetery." The minor key pads are viscous and eerie, like they were lifted from the horror film, but then a gargantuan synth lead comes crashing in. As the tune builds to a melodic crescendo, it gets close to the dramatic highs of Bicep or Overmono. For a label long associated with the more cerebral corners of the underground, it's a curveball. If there was ever a Printworks-ready Time Passages tune—this is it.
A decade is a long time in dance music. In those years, Nguyen has gone from an insurgent upstart to one of the scene's most respected statesmen. Yet his approach hasn't changed all that much. He doesn't use socials, releases one or two records a year, and, all this time later, is still playing records that no algorithm can track down. And while Time Passages doesn't exactly mark a sea change for the sort of marathon parties Binh and co play week in and week out, it does show that they aren't resting on their laurels. Minimal is alive and well, even if it isn't very minimal.
トラックリストA1 DJ Hell - Alienation
A2 The Model - Eat More House
B1 Barnt - Text You
B2 Bezier - Roter Faden
B3 Z@p - Unclear
C1 DC Salas - Perception Of Truth
C2 Innershades - Juno
D1 Latress - Last Thing
D2 Andrew Red Hand - In the Cemetery (Hardfloor Remix)