Bass Magnetic

The vocoder never left Detroit; Aux 88 simply made it heavier. Bass Magnetic pushes machine-funk through Miami-weight low end, with the metallic voices and clipped electro rhythm intact and the bottom end enormous. A scene record and not a landmark, and the scene it connects mattered. On a proper system, the low end lands through the chest.

While Detroit chased techno, Hamilton and Tucker kept the 808 and the vocoder in service. Bass-heavy, unfashionable at the time, and load-bearing for everything the revival did ten years later.