The track – and its title – takes Kraftwerk’s quotation ‘ich bin eine maschine’ as its starting point and explores the various avenues this offers. Here, those avenues are rendered explicit in ATOM’s summary statement: ‘Ich bin meine maschine is a spiritual track. Ich bin meine maschine is a musical track. Ich bin meine maschine is a scientific track.’ To this end, this release presents three remixes of the track (plus the original album version to round off the EP) designed to examine each of these three threads individually.
The Boys Noize remix is characterised by a mechanised beat and robotix vocal. The Linear remix is altogether more organic and significantly sparser, less beat-orientated and yet naggingly insistent at the same time. A bass throb pulses at the heart of the instrumental interpretation of the track as it slowly builds.
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The function remix focuses on a solid 4/4 rhythm, the vocal track whittled to a dubbed loop, spiralling on a groove that doesn’t give up – but doesn’t really go anywhere either.
The album version – the source material – is every bit the Kraftwerkian klang you’d expect. Stark, restrained, utilitarian. Industrial and repetitive to a fault, its impact lies in the way it’s so unforgiving, relentless and cold.
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