12 TUNES OF CHRISTMAS: Incredible Intros. #6: X-101 – Sonic Destroyer [1991]
Continuing our look at the most impressive intros ever committed to wax, this next track not only made an aural impact, but also helped to launch a record label.
X-101 was an Underground Resistance-related project of legends Mike Banks, Jeff Mills and Robert Hood, and the Sonic Destroyer EP has to go down in each’s canon as a high water mark.
While the other tracks on the EP, which was the first release on the now legendary Tresor Records label, are both tough and melodic – Rave New World and Mindpower for example – the opener is a jagged, scything techno masterpiece that couldn’t really have been made anywhere outside Detroit.
What I love most about this opening is the pause at around the 14 second mark, an opportunity for the listener to catch his or her breath before the beats kick in. And boy do they kick in… 🙂
More than 25 years later, Tresor Records, Mills, Hood and co are still going strong. When you make opening statements as strong as this, that doesn’t surprise me.
12 TUNES OF CHRISTMAS: The Story So Far
#12: Royal House – Can You Party
#11: LFO – Freak
#10: Maurice – This Is Acid (K & T Mix)
#9: T99 – Anasthasia
#8: Laurent Garnier – Sound of the Big Babou
#7: Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy
#6: X-101 – Sonic Destroyer
#5: ???
[Kudos to Hideyuki for the YouTube upload]
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