Data Breaker

Seattle’s techno scene has added yet another potent weapon to its
arsenal with From 0-1. Led by Midwestern transplants Justin
Pennell (aka Milkplant) and Brian Sonnleitner (aka
Sone), this label/studio/concept intends to “[explore] the space
that exists between the archetypal zero and one,” according to a
manifesto on their website.

More about that idea later. In practical sonic terms, From 0-1 aims
to be a repository for hard, heady techno barreling out of the studios
of Seattle’s deep talent pool. The new compilation The Black White
Vol. 01 offers 12 specimens of mind-expanding, 4/4 excursions that
explore dance music’s more rugged realms. Sone and Milkplant’s
excellent contributions rub chafed elbows with brainy bangers by
Jerry Abstract, Aaron Nesbit, Kris Moon,
m.0., Electrosect, Ryan Bird, Justin
Byrnes, and Kynd. Realize that this is merely the tip of the
iceberg and marvel at our city’s plentitude of high-caliber
electronic-music producers.

Both Pennell and Sonnleitner grew up in Wisconsin and agree that
they were “heavily influenced by our punk-rock backgrounds, Drop Bass
Network, and the general shittiness of the Milwaukee winter.” Both had
their “eureka” moments in 1999: Pennell via Richie Hawtin’s

Plastikman recordings (“It was truly alien—the weirdest shit
I’d ever heard”),
Sonnleitner through the Even Further Festival,
where Drop Bass and Chris Liberator blew his mind. Pennell moved to
Seattle in 2004, Sonnleitner a year later, after he attended the
Decibel Festival, fell in love with the city, and decided he needed to
join this techno-hotbed orgy.

From 0-1 had been germinating in Pennell’s mind for much of the last
decade. “[It just] needed the right ingredients to manifest,” he
states. “Seattle currently has the right ingredients… mad fuckin’
talent. It just needs focus.” As for The Black White disc, it
seems like Pennell and Sonnleitner are going for a tough, danceable
style that also favors heady, disorienting sound design.

“We wanted it to build and break like a DJ set,” Pennell observes.
“We are into the hard, disorienting sound, to an extent. Sparse, big,
epic sound design is a lot of fun. And people take their clothes off to
it….”

From 0-1’s members combine that hedonistic spirit with a
philosophical grounding. “Many ancient traditions identify the concept
of a dualistic nature of our reality,” they note. “The digital one and
zero is a modern representation of this archetypical theme. Exploration
(via musical/mystical means) of the ‘space between’ is the intended,
active disillusionment of this duality, revealing that they are in fact
one and the same, inseparably connected, a higher reality.” It makes
more sense if you ponder it while dancing….

Pennell and Sonnleitner are already planning From 0-1’s second comp
and accepting demos. Show ’em whatcha got.