Rhythm & Sound

by Jason Birchmeier   One of several anonymous projects linked to the mysterious Berlin dub-techno duo Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, Rhythm & Sound released a series of 10 records on Burial Mix and 12 records on Rhythm & Sound, both labels distributed by Hardwax. Von Oswald and Ernestus Rhythm & Sound recordings are much more dub-influenced and less techno-orientated than the duos previous, and more legendary, dub-techno recordings as Basic Channel and Von Oswalds solo work as Maurizio. Where those earlier recordings synthesized a Detroit-influenced style of minimal techno with dub-reggae bass lines, the late-90s Rhythm & Sound productions emphasized the dub-reggae aesthetic rather than the more dancefloor-orientated techno sound of the early-90s Basic Channel and Maurizio recordings. Thus, the Rhythm & Sound records, which often featured reggae vocalist Paul St. Hilaire, werent quite as popular or well-known as the duos Basic Channel recordings, which instead retained their popularity over the years, becoming quite legendary and oft-cited within the techno scene. Nonetheless, Von Oswald and Ernestus Rhythm & Sound work prevailed into the early 2000s, being compiled on two listener-friendly CDs, Showcase (1998) and Rhythm & Sound (2001).