Soul Center

With his Soul Center releases, Cologne's <a href="spotify:artist:0B9u04x4naufkcVHymVPBC">Thomas Brinkmann</a> stripped funk down to its bare essence and fused taught loops and sly samples to his oft-emulated brand of minimal techno. As opposed to taking advantage of the sublime hooks that run rampant in funk and soul records from the '60s and '70s, <a href="spotify:artist:0B9u04x4naufkcVHymVPBC">Brinkmann</a> was keen on accentuating and basing entire tracks on minute nuances, whether it was a simple bass figure, one hit from a snare, or an exclamatory vocal phrase. The prolific and highly regarded producer unveiled his alias as Soul Center in 1999 with a self-titled full-length on his own W.v.B Enterprises label, and a second self-titled volume (also released on W.v.B) followed the next year. <a href="spotify:artist:0B9u04x4naufkcVHymVPBC">Brinkmann</a>, who normally operates on small labels, surprisingly joined the high-profile Novamute roster for the third volume of Soul Center in 2002. The increased visibility probably forced <a href="spotify:artist:0B9u04x4naufkcVHymVPBC">Brinkmann</a> to be comparatively conservative with his samples, which shamelessly raided the vaults of labels like Stax and Motown on the first two installments. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi