"Really happy to see this one get a repress. Originally released in 2017 on Art Yard records it collects together productions by Berlin's Alexander Christou, a.k.a. Al Chem, recorded between 2000 and 2005.
I bought a copy on a whim when it first came out and it's become a firm under the radar favourite of mine though judging by the rising Discogs prices it looks like I'm not the only one to have discovered its charms. I think it's fair to say the centre piece of the album is Al's extraordinary cover of Ras Michael's No Hopper which transports the originally into a parallel universe of hazy psychedelic dub techno. You get two versions here - the floaty mystical vocal cut and a stripped back instrumental dub.
But it would be a disservice to the record to only mention that tune as there's plenty of of other amazing musical discoveries to be made here including the Basic Channel dub minimalism of "Prophet" and the deeply immersive percussive ambience of "Baudelaire."
Overall a really interesting and very personal take on the dub techno genre that has most definitely stood the test of time and remains a very special listen that will I imagine get you plenty of track id requests when played out.
Tracklist
A1 No Hopper
A2 Prophet
A3 The Red Tower
B1 Baudelaire
B2 No Hopper Inst
B3 Ladder Of Perfection