Amid the adulation directed toward the Cologne and Berlin scenes during the early part of the 2000s, the crew at Windsor, Ontario-based M-nus quietly assembled a talented roster of minimal producers stretching to all parts of the globe while cultivating talent in their own backyard and across the river in Detroit. Rather than throw together previously released compositions from vinyl-only releases, Minimize to Maximize surveys the label's seven-year output with new tracks from nearly every single artist to appear on M-nus (the sole exception is the mysterious disappearance of its first artist,
Theorem). Packed together, the compilation shows the wide scope of interpretations and textures in the pigeonholed genre of minimal techno; the quiet minimal clicks of
I.A. Bericochea and
Niederflur balance out the funkier, bouncier contributions from Magda,
Marc Houle, and the Magda/
Houle collaborative project Run Stop Restore. This also marks the first production appearance for Magda after several years of being the apprentice to label founder Richie Hawtin and opening for him on several tours worldwide. Newcomer Hearthrob also gives a glimpse of M-nus' immediate future, signaling a new direction away from the clinical rhythms and micro melodies that have characterized the label since its inception. The tracks are nowhere near the finest in the M-nus catalog, but suffice as an adequate survey for those wishing to dig deeper into one of North America's revered dance labels. ~ Rob Theakston