Echospace

Detroit's <a href="spotify:artist:6ZX4eVTPQBJ7q0cIShOmKD">Rod Modell</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:45g23Apmqo2x4obM7LjmpW">Deepchord</a>) and Chicago's Steven Hitchell (<a href="spotify:artist:3CWQ6k34DbG3G2UJpo8W1U">Intrusion</a>, Variant, <a href="spotify:artist:0Vg7WNQBVprdJleEWYmSJA">Soultek</a>), two highly prolific and esteemed ambient dub-techno producers in their own right, create some of their most immersive work as Echospace. Using an arsenal of vintage equipment, including analog synthesizers and tape delay, the duo lace their expansive, ethereal soundscapes with field recordings captured in their home cities. Echospace's debut, 2007's The Coldest Season, was instantly hailed as a dub-techno classic, and is commonly regarded as one of the high points of the genre. Since then, the duo have released numerous albums, singles, and DVDs as both Echospace and the more prolific CV313, primarily on their own eponymous label. They've also received acclaim for their expertly paced live performances, as documented on releases like 2017's Live in Detroit [Ghost in the Sound].

Echospace introduced themselves with a series of 12" singles on England's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Modern+Love%22">Modern Love</a> label, all of which were compiled on a CD named after the series, The Coldest Season (2007). The same year, the duo also issued a pair of singles on Lee Purkis' <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Fortune8%22">Fortune8</a> label, as well as an additional release on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22echospace+%5Bdetroit%5D%22">echospace [detroit]</a>. As with much of the two artists' output, Echospace were deeply rooted in the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Basic+Channel%22">Basic Channel</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chain+Reaction%22">Chain Reaction</a> school of dub-techno, emphasizing deep throbs and alternately soothing and unsettling ambience (manipulated field recordings, for the most part). A second album for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Modern+Love%22">Modern Love</a>, the relatively harsh Liumin, followed in 2010, with the non-album single Vibrational Studies (In Echospace) arriving concurrently.

<a href="spotify:artist:6ZX4eVTPQBJ7q0cIShOmKD">Modell</a> and Hitchell explored similar terrain with their other project, CV313, but Echospace remained an active concern. In 2012, the duo released Silent World, the soundtrack to a yet unreleased film produced by <a href="spotify:artist:6ZX4eVTPQBJ7q0cIShOmKD">Modell</a>. Following the release of two production sound library DVDs in 2015, Echospace issued Sea Shell City, a reworking of material by the late ambient composer <a href="spotify:artist:4DGM6nP7LgjHSEwvHKeyLu">Michael Mantra</a>, in 2016. Live in Detroit [Ghost in the Sound], a recording of an Echospace gig from 2013, was released in 2017. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson, Rovi