imputor? Press Clippings

Plastiq Phantom :: best of Seattle 2000

2000-07-20
Seattle Weekly
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0029/best-icons.shtml


Best free-form DJ

Darrin Wiener, a.k.a. Plastiq Phantom, is fast attaining local-legend status thanks to the smartly sculpted post-techno of his stellar four-cut EP, Select Imputor? (Sweet Mother). But just as fun as his brainy track-making or his taste in obscure samples is what he does when he swaps his sequencers and mixing board for a crate of wax and a pair of Technics. Like most "free-form" DJs, the 22-year-old has a serious jones for juxtaposing goofy source material: He'll throw silly sound effects on top of abstracted post-dub, or segue from kiddie korn into one of Aphex Twin's more level-headed, dance-floor-friendly tracks. But unlike most of his conceptually minded peers, the Phantom actually makes something of his willfully eclectic foundations, building sets that flow with the instinctive logic of his records, and even though he rarely uses straight dance tracks, he gets bodies moving just fine.