Tuesday 30 November 2010

INTERVIEW: Downliners Sekt [disBoot]



Followers of the writing that appears on this page and the stupefied textures that appear in our radio show should be aware of our penchant for weird abstractions. Long since a fan of Murcof and Philip Jeck, players that harness the full power of white (and pink) noise and - at the risk of sounding like a complete thundercunt - of the fulfilling kind of solace listening to the unfurling of a drone can provide, we like going to art galleries, and or big white painted spaces to listen to a heavy set Japanese dude detune a banjo for an hour and three quarters. Alt-rock band Fog remain one of the most important bands in this blog's editor’s musical history, and in a sense, they hit the nail we’re trying so hard to paint upon, on the head. Fusing conventional pop song melodies with awkward glitches, propelling drum lines and full on horn wig out sections, they’re weird enough to engage our elevated opinions and have pretty enough songs to make us listen to them way more than once.

Downliners Sekt are another one of the acts that appease all sides of our tastes. Ethereal enough to be ceremoniously stamped with a Burial influence, it’s the crackle of static that is the outfit’s biggest star on their June released Hello Lonely, Hold The Nation EP - put out as the first part in a trilogy of EP’s on Barcelona’s disBoot label - and it’s with their acre deep crunch that we’ve so openly bonded. Largely anonymous, never conversing using names, the rotating group began producing music under the Downliners Sekt moniker back in 2004...

“It's the classic story of a bunch of all time friends sharing the same cultural interest,” we’re told by the vocal representative of the group over the course of several emails, “but unlike most bands, we started working together when we got separated and were all living in different cities.”

“Thanks to the internet we broke the gap between us and started collaborating. Back at that time we were more or less involved with different major signed bands that were taking most of our time and energy. Downliners Sekt started to take shape back then, coalescing from individual projects, waiting in the shadows and growing slowly but immaculately from deadlines, budgets schemes, and formats. Because music it's always been a priority to us, we've been arranging our time to keep making it happen. We never know what's coming next, but after a lot of crucial changes and 6 releases, it's good to see we have a history backing us up.”



Stretching across two albums, 2005’s Statement of Purpose and 2008’s The Satire Wave the Sekt have built a catalogue that swims in diversity. From the early dubstep bass weight of Statement of Purpose’s opener ‘Benz’ to the blitzing textures on Hello lonely…’s closing track ‘Negative Green’ and the guitar infusions on their entire Satire Wave album, the group have skewed themselves across almost every genre, style and process. It’s only now, with the gift of hindsight, looking back through their discography and at the time they were constructed, that it becomes so evident how far ahead of their peers the group was, and are now.

“We were teenagers in the 90's so that's where most of our musical influences come from. We could be viewed as an indie/noise/garage band entirely submerged on a rave/DJ/party/drugs culture. With our second album The Saltire Wave, when we were working on it, we took a break from the machines, plugged in our guitars and the album was perceived by some listeners as post rock, which to us sounds a little bit reductive.

"when something we are producing begins to sound too clubby or too fancy we feel like taking an AK47 and shooting that whole dancefloor we've just imagined."

“We're never really sure of what sonic direction we are taking but we get more fun out of a huge noisy bass than a cheap 80's synth preset. We work on a very spontaneous way of producing tracks which is avoiding clichés, pre-made loops and stuff like that. To us it's about creating and destroying. It's like when something we are producing begins to sound too clubby or too fancy we feel like taking an AK47 and shooting that whole dancefloor we've just imagined.”

Positioning Downliners Sekt’s music in a club is another, wholly welcomed contradiction. Sharing little aspects of the beat scene – in that sometimes there is a beat and that the kick drum of that said beat thumps powerfully – their most recent work impacts upon speakers with a stuttered grace. Organic vocals float behind the powerpunch percussion on tracks like ‘Selfish G,’ and, in a traditional lazy point of music journalism reference, echoes the work of Mount Kimbie, whose constructions fuse similar uncomfortable frequencies, beat patterns, vocal snatches and reams of bassweight.

“We've been changing setups and methods of working since day one, but right now its basically laptops and drum pad controllers. Since we started working with computers we've always tried to avoid the machine taking control of our sound and the sequencer taking control of the rhythm patterns. At the end, the computer became just another sophisticated multitrack recorder to us. We've been recently trying some external analog gear, like vintage mixers and preamps but nothing really flashy. The final touch comes from the mastering studio when we work closely with the engineer and try to achieve the kind of sound we have in mind. He brings the gear and techniques while we suggest him to take some directions he wouldn't usually take.”


Downliners Sekt – Negative Green (video by Enrique Muda)

On the cusp of their 2nd EP in the trilogy, We Make Hits, Not The Public, it seems the troup are honing in on the glitches, fully making a feature out of those little crackle powered moments; always letting the snares rip through the mix with the stabbing high end snap of white noise.

“This trilogy is more like an album fragmented into three parts,” we’re informed. “It was a matter of urgency. After the release of 'The Satire Wave' came a long period of experimentation and when we got together again to start working on new material we realized that, because the way we work, it would've probably taken another year or so to complete an album. The guys at disBoot label were thinking on 7" singles or 12" so we started working in that line. It happens that this, more frequent sequence of releases is giving us more constant exposure than releasing a full length in that same period of time.”

On We Make Hits... the poignant roughness of tracks like ‘From Under Spinning Lights’ seeps out in fits, with the jagged edge of the chorus juxtaposing the layered vocals – that are actually just layered, and multi-tracked rather than chopped into fragments and rearranged into make shift sentences in that way so many producers seem to be fond of doing. ‘Incertia Gloria’ hits heavy with electrified kick drums piercing though the current, whilst ‘White Dawn’ paces things slower, making the most out of the sparse percussion and high pitched vocals and ‘Selfish G’ flutters impatiently, almost amplifying the aching anxiety of the whole release with its roughly sampled pads. Making music from such a broad palette can be daunting at times, having too much of a wealth to draw from can sometimes produce a work thats not streamlined enough to work as a whole, but Downliners Sekt make their genius sound casual. The perfect mix of the rugged and raw and the resplendent.

“It's not tough at all to categorize our music,” the anonymous producer ponders. “We have a whole list of styles that fit. When we have to tag our mp3 files we usually fuck around with made up genres: 'electronoise for breakbeat initiates,' 'slower but faster,' 'dawntempo,' 'r&k,' 'heavy mental,' 'noize in the woods,' '(under)grounded,' 'after hours post rock,' 'save as,' 'en descente de Portbou,' 'down the line,' 'by the way'... Really, people shouldn't spend too much time trying to categorize music; its better just listen to it."

Words: Oli Marlow

::

All the releases mentioned are available to download from the Downliners Sekt webstie. We Make Hits, Not The Public is out now.

You can download Downliners Sekt recent mix for the highly regarded Electronic Explorations podcast series, in show number 127 here: http://electronicexplorations.org/the-show/127-downliners-sekt/

Link:
www.downliners-sekt.com

Monday 29 November 2010

STREAM: Sonic Router x Hivemind.fm 28.11.2010



Sonic Router x Hivemind.fm
Hosted by Oli Marlow.
Bi-weekly/every 2nd & 4th Sunday of the month // 10pm -12am

Only about an hour worth of material from this show is in this archive.
A catalogue of errors, stream collapses, internet glitches and shoddy presentership made it so.


NB: Don't watch the Pearson Sound reload. I'm more than aware it is two different tracks.

STREAM: Sonic Router x Hivemind.fm - 28.11.2010



Tracklist:

1. Forest Swords - Glory Gongs [No Pain In Pop]
// WNCL - Mrs Fingers (Ekoplekz Replekz) [Sonic Router Exclusive]
2. Deftones - Sextape [Warners]
3. Microburst - Conformachord [forthcoming Saigon]
4. WNCL - Blonde on Blonde [TEAL]
5. T. Williams - Peoples Choice [forthcoming PTN]
6. Slackk - Theme From (Dub) [forthcoming Numbers]
7. Damu - Skinny Dipper (Jack Dixon Remix) [unreleased]
8. Arp101 - Flush [forthcoming Eglo]
9. A Made Up Sound - Rear Window [Delsin]
10. Julio Bashmore - Everybody Needs A Theme Tune [forthcoming PMR]
11. Manaboo - Delinquent [forthcoming Immerse]
12. Funkystepz - Malibu (FLY)
13. Chirm - Lovin U (Kidkut Fidget Remix) [unreleased]
14. Mistamen - Pantha [unreleased]
15. Ratcatcher - Rain [unreleased]
16. Pearson Sound - Blue Eyes [Hessle Audio]
17. Pearson Sound - Blanked [Hessle Audio]
18. Distal and HxdB - Typewriter Tune [unreleased]
19. Distal - Boss Of The South [unreleased]
20. Neat - Lime & Sugar [Airflex Labs]
21. RSD - Pretty Bright Light [Punch Drunk]
22. Pinch - Qawwali [Tectonic]

Direct Download (Right Click/Save As)

Link:
http://hivemind.fm

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen.

Friday 26 November 2010

INTERVIEW: Gerry Read [Dark Arx]



Described to me over a positive torrent of Old Speckled Hen at an open house several months ago, Gerry Read’s debut EP for the Dark Arx imprint sounded interesting. Given the label’s first two releases’ monochrome explorations around the verges of dub techno, the bold flashes of colour and euphoria illustrated to me through enthusiastic hand movements and extended patter definitely had me curious. Thankfully Read's Patterns EP didn’t disappoint.

Built around a budding tick loaded drum progression, which subtly builds through waves of texture and a repetitive vocal snatch, ‘Patterns’ erupts into life, centring itself around the power and impact of the sawing synthesizer. Then dropping into the track’s most melodic section, it teases and squirms through near silence before bringing just as much vitriol on the second drop. For me it was a wakeup call, a definite kind of jaw drop – reload - repeat five times kind of realisation that still happens regularly. So it’s incredibly rewarding that the flip, ‘Dreamer,’ is just as listenable. Slower, more introverted and layered to perfection, it’s the bass pulse and distorted stabs that really strike a chord on any soundsystem, with the flowery piano touches adding contrast to the harshness of the low end.

So, to keep doing Sonic Router’s thing for label relations whilst keeping my own half cut promises and simultaneously pushing new and exciting music, we proudly present the 61st Sonic Router mix from Gerry Read...

SR: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Gerry Read: Hello, I’m a young DJ/producer by the name of Gerry Read. My debut EP with Dark Arx drops 22nd November 2010.

Outside of music who are you What do you do on the daily?

I’ve just got back to England from living abroad, I was doing a diploma in audio engineering there. Supposed to be finishing that off here but the college I was at was useless, I'm learning a lot more just working and experimenting on my own.

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?

I first started making music when I moved to Australia at the age of 15. It’s actually really hard to make friends and start a completely new life the other side of the world. I'd started school there and wasn’t doing much outside of school, despite being right next to a beach, but believe me that gets boring after a week or two.

It was really isolated where I was so there wasn’t much to do. I used to go out on my BMX by myself just listening to old school jungle mixes. I didn’t know anything about making electronic music but I was really interested to learn, and despite the immense originality of jungle, it sounded quite simple to make.

We were living out of our suitcases for about 8 weeks because all of our stuff was getting shipped. My parents bought a cheap laptop in a sale, to check there bank and what not on. Whenever no-one was on it, I'd just look up how to make tunes and I realised you could just make music, by yourself with a computer in your bedroom. So I started making jungle.

I'd always wanted to play in a band but you need about 3 more people at least to do that; 3 people with similar ideas and abilities, it’s quite hard to find that. So I ended up getting into electronic music and just took it from there.

What’s your production set up like?

Very simple. I will eventually get some really nice equipment; I know you can benefit a lot from it but I’m happy with what I use now at the moment.



How would you describe your sound?

A mixture of stuff I listen to and stuff I don’t. People have told me it’s quite house/techno sounding, but I don’t really listen to that. With a few of my tunes my inspiration is remembering when I had this sound in mind. A sound I spent ages looking for by googling loads of genres, but could never find; just a really urban raw, techno sort of rolling bass sound. So I ended up trying to make it myself, the influence is just coming from my own ideas.

What is an inspiration for you?

The whole vibe of a dancefloor; everyone moving, feeling and agreeing to that one tune. I’ve played out a few times when I lived abroad, rarely played any of my own material though. Now I can’t wait to eventually start playing again, turning what goes on in my bedroom into a moment. I’ve got a lot of tunes I’m confident with now which I'd definitely like to test the floor with.

Where do you see your sound developing?

Into something a lot more experimental, better production wise and a sound that I can call my own... still dancefloor friendly.

Are there any producers you rate that the world should know about? Any peeps not getting the props you think they deserve?

A producer called Lethem. Look him up, not sure if he’s that known but when I first heard his tunes, they gave me a very similar feeling Burial gave me, but a lot more subtle; down tempo, rolling dub. He hasn’t got anything officially released either I don’t think, he puts all his stuff up for free download!

Your Dark Arx release is imminent. What else have you got forthcoming?

I’ve got a Lorca remix forthcoming on a new London based label/clubnight 'Live Ones', and my tune ‘Seraphim’ on a Saigon compilation. Both should be out early 2011 on 12"/digital.

I've actually jumped into lining up a fair few things, some of my more experimental stuff. I’ve had a lot of labels messaging me, but I want to pace my sound but hopefully theres something with a few certain established labels I’ve been speaking to, still in the works though...

Tell us a little bit about the mix you’ve put together for us…

I'd say it’s a representation of how my sound is slowly progressing, in chronological order, with some of my favourite current producers in between. I’ve got a lot more tunes I haven’t included though. 'Climb', my first tune in the mix is about 2 years old. I dug out the only WAV of it to show Tim (Dark Arx), it had a shocking mixdown but he saw potential in it. Now it’s been mastered and sounds like a completely different tune.

Any words of wisdom, for our readers?

Anyone who’s making tunes, just experiment and see what happens..

::

DOWNLOAD: Gerry Read – Sonic Router Mix #61



Tracklist:

Commix - Be True (Burial Remix)
Gerry Read – Climb
KLIC – Forwards
Martyn - Suburbia
Ramadanman – Humber
Lorca - Moments (Gerry Read Nostalgic Mix)
xxxy - Reflections
S^ - Pyramixdupup
Brackles - Get A Job
Appleblim & Peverelist - Over Here (Beat Pharmacy remix)
Gerry Read – Patterns
Joy Orbison - So Derobe
Gerry Read - Backward Step
Gerry Read – Planetarium
Dark Sky - Leave Them
Pedestrian - Hei Poa (Bubblers Edit)

Links:
http://darkarx.blogspot.com/

Thursday 25 November 2010

DOWNLOAD: WNCL - Mrs Fingers (Ekoplekz Replekz)



Long since a bringer of joy and great music to our inbox, West Norwood Cassette Library’s Bob Bhamra’s enthusiasm for the game is infectious. After hearing DJ C in Untold’s FACT mix he made it his own personal mission to track him down and snag a few of his unreleased cuts for his label, and it’s this commitment to going that little bit further to chase something he believes in, which has so genuinely struck a chord with us. As a producer Bharma’s anthemic ‘Blonde on Blonde’ is set to be the first release on the brand new TEAL imprint - hitting like Martyn does with his new trademark booming, relentless kick its coming correct with a deconstructed Pearson Sound remix on the flip – and his ‘What It Is’ track from the first WNCL release still stands out in any mix it’s wheeled out in.

In the wake of his label’s 3rd vinyl release, ‘Mrs Fingers’ - Bhamra’s self styled tribute to Larry Heard, placed over a stripped down dubstep template - he’s not only roped in Echochord’s dub techno don Quantec for a remix on the vinyl version but he’s also sought out Punch Drunk’s most recent artist, Ekoplekz, to submit a version.

“Ekoplekz surprised me this week by sending me a remix (or replekz, if you will) of ‘Mrs Fingers,’ completely out of the blue,” Bhamra recalled to me recently. “I was mostly surprised because his performances (live and recorded) are strictly analogue and improvised so I wasn't sure any remixes were ever on the cards... anyway, I checked the remix and it’s pretty bonkers.”

An experimental musician residing in Bristol, Ekoplekz just released the 20th 12” on Peverlist’s Punch Drunk label, a move that astounded many. Moving acres away from the usual oddball dancefloor pressure the label is so good at housing the two tracks, ‘Distended Dub’ and ‘Stalag Zero’ are pure sound experiments, reportedly made on nothing but analogue equipment. ‘Distended Dub’ takes a suitably heavy bass pulse and splatters it with sheet noise and swells for 8 minutes whilst ‘Stalag Zero’ veers through atmospherics and tortured Indian string instruments in a decidedly ‘BBC Radiophonic Workshop’ kind of way, igniting the ghosts of Delia Derbyshire and John Baker as it careers through its textures.

So to put it simply, we’re stoked and indebted to be able to bring you the premiere of the Ekoplekz ‘Replekz’ version of ‘Mrs Fingers.’ Taking the tonal qualities of the original version’s main riff, Ekoplekz thuds the whole thing out, deploying barrages of distorted kick drums, diamond edged stabs of noise and a severe talent for unleashing the requisite amount of reverb at any given time. It’s a sound experiment that really works; a dark and subtle almost beat-less (in the conventional sense) progression that stamps the Ekoplekz production process all over it while just hinting and the melody of the original.

DOWNLOAD: West Norwood Cassette Library – Mrs Fingers (Ekoplekz Replekz)



Both WNCL003, ‘Mrs Fingers’ b/w Quantec Remix and DRUNK020, Ekoplekz’s ‘Distended Dub’ b/w ‘Stalag Zero’ are out now. TEAL001, WNCL’s ‘Blonde on Blonde’ b/w Pearson Sound Remix is out 20th December.

Audio of nearly all of these is available at our Hivemind.fm show archive: mixcloud.com/sonicrouter


Links:
http://westnorwoodcassettelibrary.blogspot.com
http://ekoplekznews.wordpress.com

Wednesday 24 November 2010

VIDEO: Earnest Endeavours presents Nosaj Thing



Exclusive clip by Spine TV of Earnest Endeavours 1st London party which featured Nosaj Thing doing his visual show and Free The Robots.

Link:
www.earnestendeavours.com

Tuesday 23 November 2010

DOWNLOAD: Pixelord - Magic Firn



Russian producer Pixelord is someone who has long been in our periphery. Floating around that Slugabed/Coco Bryce populated void between, skweee, straight up hip hop and its uptempo dubstep cousin, he’s to date released an EP on the Error Broadcast digital imprint entitled Lucid Freaks alongside a follow up remix package which featured fellow Russian up and comers DZA and Demokracy, amongst others, attacking his source material. Backing it up with the Love Is EP for the Car Crash Set label – a Seattle based label whose grasp on our inbox seemingly grows stronger by the day with top of the line releases from people like King Thing, Distal, MusSck, C.R.S.T. and Mistamen – he’s on the verge a couple more releases.

“I plan to do new EPs in 2011," he told us when we caught up with him. "One EP on 12" vinyl, including an Om Unit remix and there’s another EP with Car Crash Set to come in 2011 too with remixes from SRC, Monky, Doshy, VVV, Pariah, Submerse and more. These are the plans and I’m working really hard to make it all real.”

Structurally his beats manage to really perfect that vital snap, with the snares sitting perfectly on top his winding bass work and primitive pixel edged melodies. It’s a real call and response thing with his music; as soon as it rolls out, it moves you. With determination and the necessary beat talent to back it up – see ‘Cartoon Friend’ or ‘Bossworm’ on the Lucid Freaks EP, he seems more than aware of his niche.

“Pixelord is a solo project by me, Alexy Devyanin. I’m doing music and art, exploring modern electronic music, synths, beats and bass. The Russian new electronic so called ‘beat scene’ is a kind of mutation of past electronic music and new trends, so right now the scene is really small.”

With players like the Sonic Router featured Demokracy, Pixelord himself and the Black Acre destined DZA all firing, it sounds and feels like the core native players have got the necessary legs to develop into something truly special. Having followed his whereabouts via twitter, he got in touch recently to tout his wares and offer Sonic Router readers an exclusive taste of his music.

“I have an amount of unreleased tracks that I like to give away from time to time, when I feel it’s the right time for it. So this track, ‘Magic Firn’ is not really fresh, but it’s a good part of my past work from this year.”

DOWNLOAD: Pixelord – Magic Firn



You can also download the Lucid Freaks EP and its remix package at 192kbps over at Error Broadcast's Bandcamp.



Links:
soundcloud.com/pixelord
twitter.com/pixelord

Monday 22 November 2010

INTERVIEW: Kaiser & Rory Power, Live From The Hive



Having been invited and involved in Hivemind FM since May of this year it’s easy for me to string together a few sentences on why the combined vision of its creators, Kaiser and Rory Power, is so very relevant to what we do here at Sonic Router. Giving people a platform to represent themselves sonically has become a vital thing to offer in this overtly digital age and, admittedly for us, it’s become way more of a focus for us since we joined the family of shows on the station.

Since then though, the station’s roster has expanded and its dominance on our social network feeds has become irreversible. With new shows from labels like Donky Pitch, Well Rounded, Robox Neotech and so many more the station is now less of a secret and with this interview should be set to become less of a mystery. Sonic Router sat down with the duo behind the hive to discuss the project after the launch of their spanking new web interface and in celebration they put together a mix spanning over 90 minutes and just as many micro genres…

SR: So, I’m super familiar with the concept of the Hive but for all those who might not be, what’s the thinking behind the station/site? Obviously the name suggests people with the same vision feeding off each other for a greater good...

Kaiser: I think that Hivemind has always represented something that transcends any kind of genre divisions or departmentalization in music - it's that feeling you get when you go to other parts of the country, or even other parts of the world and you meet people who seem to be on the same page, despite having different influences and backgrounds. I guess the internet is kind of responsible for this - the record-store-centric musical phenomenons of yesteryear have disappeared to some extent, and we now seem to be in a massive melting pot of sound, where you're not just influenced by the other producers & DJs in your postcode, but people from all over the planet. I like to think that the Hive represents this new approach to thinking about music, and that we're documenting this wild variety in some small way. Ultimately, we see Hivemind as more than just a radio station, but a culture or a collective way of thinking, at least in the future anyway.

What made you want to start it?

K: Haha, like most good ideas, alcohol was certainly a factor. We were sitting around Rory's kitchen table at like four in the morning after a night out, listening to some past mixes (Rory used to have a Murderbot-esque habit of making a mix for every single musical theme that seemed to exist) and we thought to ourselves "we should really put these somewhere online for people to listen to". It then evolved from that into the idea of an internet radio station, with other DJ's who we knew played amazing music getting involved. We were obviously aware of people who were already dominant in the field of web-radio, but felt that none of the big names really represented the story we wanted to tell. All of the other stations seemed to just let anyone have a show, and whilst I’m all for promoting grassroots DJs and giving them their opportunity, we didn't feel like there was anywhere where the 'heads' or the guys who had spent years documenting and understanding music (both its history and its production) were gathered.

Everyone who's on the station today has been invited personally by us, because we're aware of how good they are at what they do. We're really happy to have everyone who's on board at the moment, because they all represent everything we intended the Hive to be.

Can you give us more of an idea what shows are on the station?

Rory Power: Being Bristol based is great for us cause it’s definitely the most forward thinking musical hub outside of London. When we started we searched out the best Bristol selectors and crews which makes up the core of our content, people like notorious rave smashers Shit the Bed, Agro and Bashout regularly represent their sounds and on the deeper end of thing’s UFO, Pollen, Work, I Feel Space & Falling Up cover our love of all things house, disco & funky.

Since then we’ve built on this backbone with talent from further afield including Lowriders (NL), Kanji Kinetic & Z-Kat (UK/CZ), Donky Pitch & Slugabed (UK), Slit Jockey (US), Steakhouse & Pollinate records (UK,) Well Rounded (UK), Robox Neotech (DE), and of course yourselves… Plus there’s’ a few more Bristol crew’s in the shape of Tape Echo, Always Everything and Koan Sound. There are loads more besides these and plenty more to be added in the near future so keep ‘em peeled for schedule developments.

That ties in nicely with the next question… what kind of developments are in store for the project?

K: The first thing that we've got going on is the site re-launch. We're aware that up until now, the site's always appeared to be a bit of an empty shell. Due to our limited resources, we've always been reliant on the assistance of others in helping us shape our vision into something that people enjoy interacting with (we're useless at web design!). Fortunately, we found our savior in the form of Kane aka Neka, who's part of the Tape Echo project. Thanks to him, the site has a lot more scope for content, with a new blog feature, featured artist interviews with podcasts, recordings from live events and a much better timetabling system. We've got lots more exciting plans for the site in the future though, as this is essentially only version 1.5 of the Hive. With some of the things we have planned for the future, we hope to see the Hive grow and become a tool for the underground music community to interact with a massive variety of content.

We've also recently started doing nights in Bristol with some of our favourite promoters. The whole premise around the events is 'Hivemind Presents' - whereby we team up with our favourite promoters, and help put on more than just a party, but a snapshot of what's going on in music at a particular point in time. We recently hosted the Chicago Juke Tour in conjunction with our friends from Brock Out. DJ Spinn, Chrissy Murderbot and Girl Unit all absolutely killed it! We also did some mad carnival lazer bass thing with Pacheko, Deville & Hanuman which was probably one of my favourite nights I’ve ever been to in Bristol. We're hoping to expand the whole 'Hivemind Presents' thing to other cities around the UK and all over the world, hooking up with our favourite promoters and helping to show off a wide range of talent from all over.

As people, what have you got coming up worth plugging?

K: Personally, I’ve just put out my debut EP on Slit Jockey records called 'The Art of War' on a kind of synthy-future bass vibe. I got snapped up by Starkey pretty early on in my producing career, and the material on it is all from kind of around that time where I was experimenting a lot and trying to find my own thing. I'm really happy to have it finally out and I've had some nice comments from people about how it flows nicely from start to finish. Otherwise, I've got some nice offers from people and a few different EP's and side projects I’m working on, including a collab with me & Kanji Kinetic. By the looks of things, 2011 should hopefully be pretty exciting.

Can you give us a little bit of an introduction to the mix…

R: The Hivemind principle of shared thought is a presence throughout this mix. Me and Will approach things from totally different angles but we’ve managed to bring together all our influences to represent what we see as the collective vision for Hivemind: a willingness to dig through classics whilst staying ruthlessly on point. There’s a bit of everything we love in there; classic RnB, hip hop from the LA school of beats, synth-laden electronica, NY x UK house & garage, Berlin dub techno, Drexciyan electro, Chi-town juke and its Detroit based booty bass cousin. London is heavily repped with some grime and funky – all with a cheeky nod to the dancefloor and mixed together at a fairly breakneck speed. 62 tracks in 99 minutes ain’t bad!

::

DOWNLOAD: Kaiser & Rory Power – Hivemind FM x Sonic Router Mix



Tracklist:

1. letherette - eye to eye
2. take - neon beams
3. maxmillion dunbar - pretty please
4. oriol - flux
5. tropics - give it up
6. om unit - the corridor
7. american men - tenzin zopa (machinedrum remix)
8. dj rashad - gettin some head
9. kelis & andre 3000 - millionaire
10. pariah - c-beams
11. arpanet - grossvater paradoxon
12. jimmy edgar - one twenty detail
13. space dimension controller - journey to the centre of the unknown sphere
14. 808 state - flow coma (afx remix)
15. kidkut - ilove04
16. karizma - darqness
17. roof light - palm
18. falty dl - odyssey
19. cosmin trg - tower block
20. dva feat fatima - just vybe (soulepower mix)
21. oriol - lw
22. omar s - plesetsk cosmodrome
23. funkineven - heart pound
24. roska & untold - long range
25. aardvarck - cult copy 3 (dub)
26. bok bok & cubic zirconia - reclash (give it to me)
27. green velvet - answering machine
28. lone - once in a while
29. steve poindexter - work that motherfucker (paul johnson remix)
30. ramadanman - mir
31. subeena - wishful talk (ghosts on tape remix)
32. boddika - boddika's house
33. morgan geist - airpour
34. girl unit - wut
35. ti - yeah ya know (instrumental)
36. mosca - square one (bok bok remix)
37. scratcha dva - 32da4
38. terror danjah - power grid
39. royal-t - hot ones (remix)
40. plasticman - cha
41. lv - boomslang
42. seiji - straylight
43. crst - may not be real
44. wax - 10001 a
45. basic channel - phylyps trak ii
46. george morel - let's groove
47. hardrive - deep inside
48. jus ed - marco's love
49. africa hitech - how does it make you feel
50. kingthing - bump
51. boddika - syn chron
52. jameson - urban hero
53. dj funk - booty perk-u-later
54. drexciya - digital tsunami
55. mr de - time space scrilla
56. remote - the swarm
57. redinho - pitter patter
58. dj spinn & dj rashad - daydreamin (juktronik)
59. 2am/fm - landing dock two
60. rustie - dragonfly
61. model 500 - ofi

Link:
http://hivemind.fm

Friday 19 November 2010

COMPETITION: Win Signed Test Presses of Mount Kimbie's Next EP



This year you’ll have been hard pressed to ignore the impact of Mount Kimbie. With 2 EPs and a solid, woozing full length album, called Crooks & Lovers on Scuba’s Hotflush imprint, the duo of Kai Campos and Dominic Maker have - since their album’s release - elevated their live show, touring to devastating effect. Awash with carefully tempered drum patterns, live instruments and warming live vocals, they craft a set that wholly reflects the care and personality they pour into their music.

With the release of their Blind Night Errand EP due on the 29th November we’ve been bestowed the honour of offering our readership 2 signed test presses. The EP features the eponymous track - which was something of an uptempo standout from their LP; ‘Before I Move Off,’ the cluttering, kind of lurching one that gets layered with computerized bleeps , their trademark snatched vocals and hand claps that sound like sharpened finger snaps, along with the ‘Dayglo’ edit of their earlier track ‘William,’ which re-imagines the original into a dancefloor weapon and a live recording, captured at their show at Berghain in Berlin, of their breakout hit, ‘Maybes.’

To be in with a shot a scooping the prize email us the answer to the below question before Weds 24th Nov.

Q: Mount Kimbie remixed which LV & Untold collaboration?



Link:
www.myspace.com/mountkimbie

Monday 15 November 2010

DOWNLOAD: Scientist Meets LoDubs @ Version



What comes as an incredibly timely aside to Tectonic’s Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space project, also ties in gloriously with our movements this coming week. For as well as working with Tectonic boss Pinch, re-versioning tracks from today’s elite producers like Shackleton, Loefah, Guido, Mala and more, it seems Scientist has been hard at work, re-wiring sounds live, creating his own dub versions of the productions he displays.

He’s doing it across the UK throughout November, starting this Thursday at fabric in London, he’ll be touring the country appearing in Glasgow and Brighton. Travelling with Pinch, Mala, Loefah and The Upsetters, who formed the nucleus of The Wailers - famed for their work with Bob Marley, he’ll be remixing the band live, stamping his own technologically savvy swagger across the music they create.

A pearly co-incidence then that Jon from the LoDubs label got in touch, touting a recording of a show he did in his native Portland at his Version club night with Scientist. What follows, in addition to the recording itself, is his explanation of the project:

“We’ve left the recording quite raw on purpose to both preserve the live nature of the recording and to make it just a taste. Many of these tunes will be released as part of our upcoming 12" collaborations with Scientist.”

“As for the story on out involvement with Hopeton [Brown aka Scientist], I received a Myspace message from him out of the blue, in which he expressed his appreciation of the LoDubs sound, in particular the work of 6blocc, and how he would like to collaborate with us in order to bring out our sounds ‘hidden third dimension.’ Of course, we jumped on that, and decided that the best way to go would be for us to do a live show to get it all moving. What followed three weeks later is this recording.”

“The trickiest part, in the interim, was figuring out just HOW to make it happen. Hopeton had a pretty specific set of needs for the equipment, and in addition it became clear that in order for him to be able to manipulate the material correctly, we would need to create multi track feeds of many of the tracks from the back catalogue in order to feed them live to him. We enlisted the assistance of Alter Echo, who is a remarkable dub musician in his own right, and has collaborated in a similar capacity with Mad Professor, DJ Spooky, Dr Israel, and many others. The final link in the chain was Jagga, who is the house vocalist for our two monthlies, VARIOUS and VERSION. The live dubbing of the Scientist over these elements are really the thing that ties it all together.”


DOWNLOAD: Scientist Meets LoDubs @ Version



Tracklist:

1. Hoodz (6blocc & UOME) Bad Mind
2. Meesha - Block Rhythm (Version 1)
3. Egoless - Rainbow Dub
4. El Rakkas - I & I
5. Meesha - Block Rhythm (Version 2)

::

Catch Scientist at fabric this Thursday:



::

Oh and there are two mp3's from the project that just went live over at Tectonic's website, though they are collated here for you also...









Links:
http://tectonicrecordings.com

STREAM: Sonic Router x Hivemind.fm 14.11.2010



Sonic Router on Hivemind.fm
Hosted by Oli Marlow.
Bi-weekly/every 2nd & 4th Sunday of the month // 10pm -12am

STREAM: Sonic Router x Hivemind.fm 14.11.2010



Tracklist:

1. Harmonious Bec - In The Bright Oval [Monotreme]
2. Shobaleader One - Abstract Lover [Warp]
3. The Phantom - Night Game (Zeppy Zep Remix) [forthcoming Senseless)
4. Simon/off - Resistance & Resilience [unreleased]
5. Becoming Real ft. Trim - Like Me [Not Even]
6. Icicle - Anything [Tempa]
7. Mumdance ft. Trim & Jammer - Tarahtid [forthcoming No Hats No Hoods]
8. Blackout - Blackout [Blackout]
9. Fantastic Mr Fox - Over [Black Acre]
10. mlr - Governor [unreleased]
11. Desto - Broken Memory [Ramp]
12. Mite - Keelo [unreleased]
13. Moldy - No Means To Smoke It [forthcoming Embassy]
14. Martyn - Hear Me (Vocal Version) [unreleased]
15. Nocturnal Sunshine - Broke [forthcoming LMD Skunkworks]
16. Jack Dixon - Low Tide [unreleased]
17. ptr1 - Comatose [Concrete Cut]
18. Mistamen - What You Do To Me (C.R.S.T. Remix) [forthcoming Greenmoney]
19. Scuba - On Deck (FaltyDL Remix) [forthcoming Hotflush]
20. Cubic Zirconia - Josephine (Egyptrixx Remix) [forthcoming Lucky Me]
21. The Phantom - Girl [forthcoming Senseless]
22. GuGu - Rock A Bye Baby [forthcoming DVA]
23. SBTRKT - The Unspoken [forthcoming Monkeytown]
24. Hizatron - Executive Ball Scratcher [Wigflex]
25. Taylor - CMB [forthcoming Super]
26. Knowing Looks - Abandoned Skip [forthcoming WNCL]
27. Martyn - Left Hander [forthcoming 3024]
28. Dreadsquad w/ Lady Chann - Money Ah Dem God (The Phantom Remix) [???]
29. Unknown - Unknown [Unknown]
30. Martyn x Mike Slott - All Nights [forthcoming All City]
31. Piece of Shh - Diablo Riddim (Zomby Remix) [forthcoming Svetlana]
32. ptr1 - Above The Structures [Concrete Cut]
33. Eliphino - L F [forthcoming somethinksounds]
34. Cosmin TRG - Space Station Love Affair [forthcoming Monkeytown]
35. Airhead - Paper Street (Nick Hoppner Remix) [forthcoming Brainmath???]
36. Ikonika - Idiot (Funkineven Remix) [Hyperdub]
37. West Norwood Cassette Library - Blonde on Blonde (Pearson Sound Remix) [forthcoming TEAL]
38. Scuba - So You Think You're Special (Joe Remix) [forthcoming Hotflush]
39. MJ Cole & Wiley - From The Drop [forthcoming Prolific]
40. Ratcatcher - Chlorophyll [unreleased]
41. Hypno - Sunkin [forthcoming Ramp]
42. Braiden - The Alps [forthcoming Doldrums]

Direct Download (Right Click/Save As)

Link:
http://hivemind.fm/

Thursday 11 November 2010

DOWNLOAD: MRC Riddims - You Crazy



One half of the incredible, industrial noise hop duo dälek, producer Oktopus - whose work stretches from conceptual white noise infused backdrops to jagged and raw boom bap drum patterns - has joined forces with Merc (from Ifwhen and All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavours) to make music as MRC Riddims. Based in NYC and Berlin respectively, they create a sound thats reportedly influenced by everything from "Jamaica to dub-step to the dirty south to Flying Lotus" and they recently laced us with an inconspicuous link to their soundcloud and bandcamp account where they've upped an example of their hard edged sound concoctions that you can then download under a pay what you want price schematic.

Given the overtly experimental nature of previous projects and our passion for them, it suffices to say we are particularly impressed...

DOWNLOAD: MRC Riddims ft. Miss TK - You Crazy (via Bandcamp)



Link:
www.myspace.com/mrcriddims

READ: SRQ016: Distal [Embassy Recordings]



This month the Sonic Router column on theQuietus profiles Atlantan producer, promoter and Embassy Recordings label boss, Distal. A long time conspirator of ours, his tireless enthusiasm, astonishing commitment to pushing bass heavy sounds in his native territory and his frankly incredible hit rate when it comes to fresh music makes him one our super friends - a hallowed honour bestowed on but a few.

"I remember growing up in Atlanta where liking electronic music was kind of a rebellious movement from the norm. Atlanta has been 100% rap and hip hop since as far back as I can remember; there's never been room for techno!" Distal recalls coyly. "It's a double-edged sword really. On one side, the masses and popular musicians in America are finally into dance music and dubstep in particular, but at what cost?" - Oli Marlow

READ: SRQ016: Distal
DOWNLOAD: Distal - Sonic Router Mix #59




Tracklist:

Distal – 'Amphibian'
Moldy – 'No Means To Smoke It' (Forthcoming Embassy Recordings)
Subreachers – 'Let Go' [Jack Sparrow Remix]
Distal – 'Novocaine Blonde' (Forthcoming Fortified)
Mayhem – 'Freak' (Forthcoming Argon)
Distal – 'Mamanimal'
Rashad – 'Who Tesr'
Distal – 'Boca Ratawn' (Forthcoming GhettoPhiles)
Wheez-ie – 'Barefoot Billy'
Distal & DJ Rashad – 'Stuck Up Money'
Bombaman – 'No Touch' (Aufect)
MachineDrum – 'GYBE'
Ruckspin – 'Shikra' (Pushing Red)
Ramadanman – 'Bass Drums' (Soul Jazz)
Distal – 'EEL' (Forthcoming Seclusiasis)
Mayhem & Distal – 'Frozen Barnacles' (Surefire)
Acre – 'Ghatt' (Embassy Recordings)
Addison Groove – '5 Mins Of Funk'
Distal & HxdB – 'Typewrtier Tune VIP!' (Surefire)
Distal – 'Feed Me'

Link:
www.myspace.com/distaldub

Wednesday 10 November 2010

INTERVIEW: C.R.S.T [No Hats No Hoods]



The Welsh quartet of C.R.S.T. have made a big impact on us of late. First jumping out with their garage tinged selections in promo mixes, their solo and collected productions started to seep out in the wide world of the internet through releases on perfectly formed labels like Well Rounded and Car Crash Set. Bordering the lines between 2-step, syncopated funky and straight house, their remixes have infiltrated our Hivemind.fm selections completely, seemingly popping up without fail, in the run up to the prep for every show.

With their Good Love EP for London based label No Hats No Hoods, out in shops imminently, plus work forthcoming on label’s like Doc Daneeka’s Ten Thousand Yen and tracks like ‘Cervantis Riddim’ heating up our regularly checked blog network, we caught up with the guys to figure how their formula works with 4 pairs of hands reaching for the mouse at any one time and grab our the 60th mix in our ongoing series.

SR: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

C.R.S.T: C.R.S.T stands for Chesus, Rodski, St.Rowdy & Tony Blitz… We are 4 DJs/Producers from Wales that focus on making garage and house and all the stuff in between, basically we like to make tunes that get you moving in the club. We have been making tunes together and playing out as C.R.S.T for just over a year now and things have been moving pretty quickly. Chesus, St.Rowdy & Tony Blitz are from Barry and we have known each other from a very young age and all have similar interests in music. Rodski is from Ystrad Mynach and met Chesus selling trainers in Size (Cardiff). Chesus & Rodski started playing at a few parties together and became Chesus & Rodski and shortly after, came to Barry and started making beats with St.Rowdy & Tony Blitz so it made sense to all come under one name eventually as we were churning out so many tunes in a short space of time.

Outside of music who are you guys? What do you do on the daily?

Chesus is a part time scrappy and has his own microphone to shout "Rag n Bone" out of the window of his transit tipper.

Rodski is half man half mattress so if he's not making beats or on chat roulette, he's sleeping.

St.Rowdy (aka JDS) works at a heating spares company, if you need to know about a boiler, he's your man! you can usually find him at the back door of his works slyly passing his non ferrous scrap metal to chesus.

Tony Blitz works for a large law firm in Cardiff dealing with selling repossessed houses.

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?

Like we mentioned previously, 3 of us are from sunny Barry and have known each other since our first pube, so as we were interested in the same music and all loved to DJ, it seemed like the obvious choice to start making tunes together. Chesus originally got into music by playing garage in the early years and then went on to focus on hip hop as Metabeats. At the same time Tony Blitz was mainly focusing on producing drum & Bass and St.Rowdy was the scratch master of us all. Rodski started off playing breakbeat as a young student. Over the last year and a half, we have all been bit by the garage bug, some call what we do 'future garage' but its straight garage and that’s what we are trying to bring back, all good vibes!

What’s your production set up like? How does it work with the 4 of you producing? Do you all just make your own shit and merge it... ? You’ve had a lot of releases in a short spurt – do you attribute that to the proficiency of the core quad, spewing out beats?

We don't have a set way of working although we have adopted a 'musical chair' style production system. basically if you are at the helm ,and are not getting any ideas out that are any good, you move over and let someone else take over and have a go. We think it helps get a good idea out quick. Sometimes one of us will start something and bring it to the studio and we will all work on it to get it done and sometimes we will all make our own tunes and put it out under the C.R.S.T name. We like to keep a consistent workflow so these techniques allow us to do so. The current main studio is at Tony Blitz's yard but Chesus' studio is nearly done also so expect even more beats to be flying out!

How would you describe your sound?

That’s a hard one, we have made a few different styles but at the moment I think it’s very 'speed garage' orientated.



What is an inspiration for you?

Hearing good new music, there are a lot of up and coming producers and some of the stuff that’s getting played at the moment is amazing.

Where do you see your sound developing?

As there is 4 of us, there is always going to be a number of styles that are involved in any particular tune so it’s hard to say if it will be more on the housey tip or 2step tip. Who knows, we may even develop our own genre and call it Basrastep!

What’s the scene like in Wales? Any recommended jams?

There are a few good nights in Cardiff, there is a Friday night in Cardiff Arts Institute which always has a good little line up; as well as a new night called Signature which also has some good acts. Martyn was down last week, also Mount Kimbie... To be honest, we are always in the studio if we are not playing out so we don't have time to check out too many nights.

Are there any producers you rate that the world should know about? Any peeps not getting the props you think they deserve?

Well there is a big pool of talent in Cardiff: Monky & Stagga have been killing it for a while now and there is Darkhouse Family which Chesus is one half of. Diverse Concepts has been making great music for a while now and also Didz & Chico. People need to check out the stuff coming out from people like Magenta, Mr Healan, Lung and Dan Marshall too.

Like we said, there is a lot of talent, it’s a shame there are not enough nights to showcase them all.

Your NHNH release is out. What else have you got forthcoming?

We have a track coming out on Ten Thousand Yen (Doc Daneeka's label) called 'Roulette' which is the AA side of Didz & Chico – ‘Something New.’ It's a dancefloor smasher for sure! We have a more techno styled release through Catapult Records with a remix from Cooly G and then we have the 2 part EP (6 tunes) coming out through 'Cheap Thrills' early next year. We also have a number of remixes coming out at various dates in between but we have no idea when, including remixes for Kele (Bloc Party), Diamond Lights, Monarchy, The Drop & Mista Men.

We have also just produced the BBC Radio 1 United Nations Theme track which was a bit weird, they gave us 4 lame records to sample and make a beat out of. we did it and you can download it from our soundcloud for free!

DOWNLOAD: C.R.S.T - BBC Radio 1 United Nations Theme

Tell us a little bit about the mix you’ve put together for us…

As you can see we had to cram some garage in. Especially 'Melody' by Masterstepz and the Baffled remix of 'Steppin Through Time'. Another one is the Julio Bashmore remix of Mosca's ‘Tilt Shift.’ Have a listen and you'll see why.

It’s more like an inspirational mix of old and new.

Any words of wisdom, for our readers?

Don't throw away your metal.

::

DOWNLOAD: C.R.S.T. – Sonic Router Mix #60



TrackList:

01. Behling and Simpson – Stress
02. Jera – Another One
03. Mosca – Tilt Shift(Julio Bashmore Remix)
04. JTRP – You Want It
05. Hackman – Made Up My Mind (Hodge’s Undecided Mix)
06. Zomby – A Forest
07. Midland and Ramadanman – Your Words Matter
08. Somore ft. Damon Truett – What You Want (Industry Standard Mix)
09. Tuff Jam – Need Good Love (Tuff Jam D.I.Y. dub)
10. Jeremy Sylvester – Chunky Beats
11. Phillip Bailey – Steppin’ Through Time (Baffled Remix)
12. Mistamen – What Uou Do (C.R.S.T. Remix)
13. Masterstepz – Melody
14. Tina Moore – Nobody Better (Dem2 Unlimited Dub)
15. Didz & Chico – Can’t Compare

The Good Love EP is out on the 15th November on No Hats No Hoods. It features remixes from Doc Daneeka, Mosca and D Malice; oh and it bangs.

Link:
www.myspace.com/crstuk

Monday 8 November 2010

VIDEO: Becoming Real x Trim - Like Me



Premiered on The Fader, reviewed right here, this is the moving picture clip for Becoming Real and Trim's standout collaboration, 'Like Me.'

This one killer.

STREAM: Jack Dixon - Substitue EP [Silverback Recordings]



Versed, as you all should be by now, in our love for all things Polish this post comes to kill two birds with one stone. Silverback Recordings are putting out the debut EP from Jack Dixon, a name you may have seen littered accross our Hivemind.fm show's tracklists, and the 'Substitute EP' features 6 original tracks from the producer coming equipped with remixes from Damu, Cairo, Swarms, Daily and one of our new obsessions, Polish producer, The Phantom - who turns in the stand out remix of the EP with his version of 'I Let You.'

A big fan of synthesized swells, Dixon's production is clean and perfectly measured. With an obvious emphasis on the use of vocal snippets tracks like 'Needin' U' and 'Be There' hint at the talent he possesses - fusing a house tempoed pulse with his freewheeling melodies and thick, almost inaudible low end.

Stream: Jack Dixon - Substitute EP Preview



'Subsitute EP' is out digitally 22nd November.

Link:
http://soundcloud.com/jackdixon

Sunday 7 November 2010

VIDEO: Future Sound



Future Sound is a short documentary that looks into a small cross section of London's forward-thinking underground dance music scene, exploring some of the things that define and affect it as it moves into a new age of digital innovation.

Featuring interviews with Roska, Scratcha DVA, Blackdown, Mark Fisher/K-Punk, and the Wire's Lisa Blanning, plus footage from a live SBTRKT DJ set.

Dir: Jamie Whitby & Rachel Lob-levyt // UK // 2010

Friday 5 November 2010

STREAM: Martyn - Solar Festival Mix



Sometimes things form and merge iconically. The fusion of Dutch producer Martyn's music and the artwork of label artist Erosie seemed to be only the start for the 3024 label, with the two individual's vision working in perfect tandem, but now the whole production has gone one step further, with a fully functional website co-incided to drop at the same time as the tenth release on the label. Martyn's storming 'Shook Up' b/w 'Left Hander' marks the first thing you'll have heard from the producer in a while and it sees him come running out of the blocks with some huge, tuff ended house. An emphatic return if ever there was one; total undeniable proof of his mania enducing dancefloor prowess.

You can hear audio of both the tracks in one of our recent Hivemind fm shows here.

Go check: http://3024world.com, there you will find full and absorbing information on the outlook and aim of the label and amongst other things an exclusive recording of Martyn's set at this years Solar Festival in Holland, that we've linked to directly below.

STREAM: Martyn - Solar Festival Mix



Martyn - 'Shook Up' b/w 'Left Hander' is out 29th November, and its amazing.

Link:
http://3024world.com

Thursday 4 November 2010

NEWSFLASH: Sonic Router x Bleep.Com Podcast #002



Round 2 of your Sonic Router x Bleep.com Podcast is now live.

Featuring a look back at the best of this month's releases from an SR perspective it contains brand newisms from producers like Tokimonsta, Fantastic Mr Fox, SBTRKT, 2562 and Daniel Savio. Stream supreme on Soundcloud, kop the direct download or subscribe to the whole podcast feed - which features other noteworthy shows from Allez Allez, Bleep themselves and Alex Wilson.

DOWNLOAD: Sonic Router x Bleep.com Podcast #002 (Direct Download)
SUBSCRIBE: Bleep.com Podcast




Tracklist:

1. Tokimonsta - Lucid Waking [Listen Up]
2. Madlib - Young Guns [Stones Throw]
3. Samiyam - Bonus Mission [Poobah]
4. Kelpe - No Film [Black Acre]
5. Rustie - Starwolf [Warp]
6. Darkstar - Two Chords [Hyperdub]
7. Dylan Ettinger - Rico's Pawn Shop [Not Not Fun]
8. Daniel Savio - Warhead [Losonofono ]
9. Kontext - Sattva [Immerse]
10. Elgato - Tonight [Hessle Audio]
11. 2562 - The Wind Up [Monkeytown]
12. Hardhouse Banton - Sirens [Soul Jazz]
13. Doc Daneeka - Mario's Mushrooms [PTN]
14. Lone - Once In A While [Werk]
15. Jack Sparrow - Loveless [Tectonic]
16. Girl Unit - Wut [Night Slugs]
17. Numan - XX [Planet Mu]
18. Raffertie - Rank Functions (Ital Tek Remix) [Super]
19. SBTRKT & Jessie Ware - Nervous [Numbers]
20. Fantastic Mr Fox - Over [Black Acre]

Link:
http://bleep.com

Wednesday 3 November 2010

INTERVIEW: Desto [Ramp/Noppa]



Finish producer Desto’s music came as something of a revelation to us. Succintly pushed through Dusk & Blackdown’s radio show, his own fusion of sonics at the dubstep tempo stood out, with his debut release for Ramp Recordings, ‘Disappearing Reappearing Ink,’ pushing that same kind of amped up glitch and offbeat percussion patterning that fellow Ramp artists like Zomby and Shortstuff also did. But it was the central motif of that single's B-side, ‘Broken Memory,' with that juttering synth that dances atop the sub low reverberations, that pushed Desto as far into the elctronic hip hop arena as much as dubstep – something that a lot of artists have positively strived to do since.

With a Noppa release, preceeding his Ramp single, at the turn of this year showcasing a sound that was more conventionally dubstep, Desto was hinting at the diversity of his productions; playing more for the atmospheric side of the club with tracks like ‘Dark Matter’ aiming squarely at the big rigs and beats like ‘Cold VIP’ commanding audience participation with its thick garage influenced skip. Having proved himself adept at both styles and cementing his intentions with a mix for Blackdown’s blog back in September of 2009, he got in touch to inform us of a few projects - including upcoming releases on Ramp again and the blossoming Channel Zero imprint – so we took the opportunity to snag a moment in his company, irking out our 58th Sonic Router mix and learning a little something about his processes as we went.

SR: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Desto: I’m a producer and DJ from Helsinki, Finland. Been making music for ages but started releasing stuff when dubstep came along. This year I’ve released 12”s on Ramp Recordings and Noppa. I co-run two dubstep and related bass music club nights, Slam It and Theory out here with Dead-O of Clouds and Tes La Rok and host a bi-weekly radio show on Basso Radio (FM) with Tes.

Outside of music who are you guys? What do you do on the daily?

Music takes up the majority of my time really. I do freelance work in other fields in order to sustain my independence as an artist, I feel very strongly about keeping financial issues from influencing free creativity in the studio and in music in general.

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?

I got hold of Scream Tracker 3 in ’93. I was just a kid and had nobody to teach me how to use it but in late ’93 I managed to make a track on it. The software was nothing like the DAWs you have nowadays, it was 8-bit sample based, 16 channels, no mouse control, no effects. But it was what a kid could get for free in those days to make music on a PC. And working with those limitations was so much fun discovering techniques to work around them. As for what drove me towards making electronic music is difficult to say really but it always came very naturally. I was classically trained as a pianist for 10 years but I was always drawn to electronic music since I was a child listening to Kraftwerk casettes. I always wanted a synth as a kid but never got one so Freudians might have a thing or two to say about that.

What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?

I use Cubase SX3, Tannoy Reveals and a 10” Reveal sub which I seldom use though, I do most of my monitoring on my Beyerdynamic DT-880 headphones. And my neighbours love me for it. I’m not too fond of VSTi’s, I make most of my sounds on my synths and Commodore 64 plus some effect boxes as well as mics. I like recording audio and treating sound as samples. It’s a lot of fun. VSTi sounds can be a big turnoff although used right they can obviously be useful too but the majority of stuff out there is done with them so I don’t feel I need to contribute into making more of that sound. These are just personal preferences, in the end it’s not about what you make music with but what you get out of your setup.

How would you describe your sound? I mean it’s as much fluorescent like skweee as it is rooted in big drum kind of Joker/Starkey style productions...

I go about doing my music by for example taking a proto-dubstep approach to rhythm and fuse it with my influences and techniques to come up with something that could be an alternative future for what went on in ’02 or ’04. Or take a now-cliché element like wobble bass and come up with something that has a similar effect but in a completely different way. I’m very interested in the psychology of rhythm perception and the element that changes how we hear a rhythm for one way to the other. Not talking about drum patterns alone but entire tracks. The switches that we have built into us that make us experience rhythm in a certain way and how that switch happens by the change of a single element such as the length of a bass note in a track.

I haven’t listened to much skweee although some of the guys are my friends. I guess with skweee as well as Joker and Starkey things, the similarity in sound is down to similar influences, hiphop, soul and all the afro-American musics, computer games and so on. And the bpm is similar.



Would you say the above are an inspiration when making music? What else is an inspiration for you?

They all make great music and when I first heard Joker coming out with the purple sound it was instantly appealing to me. It definitely made me feel there should be more stuff like that out there. I draw from all my musical influences from Kraftwerk to Vangelis to early hardcore to 90s hiphop beats like RZAs work on Tical to DJ Premier and Jay Dilla to jungle to 90s Warp Records to Commodore 64 game music.

Hearing dubstep rhythms in ’06 was a big influence, Digital Mystikz, Loefah, Benga and Skream tunes in Youngsta’s sets got me back into electronic music and production after having been a bit tired of it for a number of years. Also witnessing the family vibes at DMZ and FWD>> and the genuine interest in music was inspiring. I have to mention the electronic hiphop movement too, the likes of the LuckyMe family as well as Dizz1, DéBruit, Rustie and others have made inspiring music. With the risk of sounding clichéd my part of town, Vallila and its residents inspire me. There’s an energy about the place. Last year I had to stay elsewhere for two months and getting back made me realize how much this environment is a part of my music too.

Where do you see your sound developing?

This is a difficult question as it presumes that an artist has a clear view of what he or she is about to create next. I just want to keep on exploring music through my production and continue to be able to not predict what the next tune will sound like. I find I get writers block if I know exactly what I’d have to do.

I think the first time a lot of people got up on you was with the mix you did for Blackdown around the time of your RAMP release... How did those come about? Did you yourself see the spike in interest when it went live?

I sent ‘Disappearing Reappearing Ink’ to Tom@Ramp and it just went from there really… We’d hooked up with Blackdown earlier, he had spotted me on myspace and asked for beats for his and Dusk’s Rinse show. So month after month they kept playing the beats and eventually asked for a mix & interview which I was happy to do as Blackdown’s writings had inspired me and given context to dubstep before I had the chance to visit DMZ and FWD>>. The mix definitely reached a lot of people, so much thanks to Blackdown for letting me do it.

What’s the scene like in Helsinki? I mean we’ve spoken to Non Person before to talk about it and he name checked you as a player in it; but would be great to get your angle...

The Helsinki dubstep scene is vibrant and audiences and producers here are very open to different sounds and flavours without the need to do ‘mandatory’ wobbles, strict halfstep rhythms and overdone compression on tracks - although all of this has a place and a time too. With our own nights we like to keep the sound diverse. Production-wise Finland has risen to new levels this year with new up-n-comers like Teeth, Jkrl, Kfka, Mikael, Koala, Vesicle and others pushing new sounds while the regulars like Clouds and Tes La Rok have been steadily delivering great sounds. I feel lucky to be a part of our Helsinki scene.

Are there any producers you rate that the world should know about? Any peeps not getting the props you think they deserve?

There’s a lot of undiscovered talent about like always, but I think it’s also up to them to get their music out there if that’s what they want. I don’t see anything wrong in doing music without any intention to take it further than your hard drive having done so for 15 years myself. But nobody is going to do nothing for you, come to your doorstep to request for your music unless you’re very very lucky, so you shouldn’t be scared of putting in a little work yourself to earn your stripes.


Desto - Can't Take It/Aquanaut [forthcoming Channel Zero]

In your pitch to us you say your working on projects with “Jimi Tenor as well as solo, got releases coming out on Noppa (Ice Cold) and Ramp (Glass Clouds/Stay Strong) and Channel Zero (Can't Take It/Aquanaut).” In your own words can you tell us what other projects have you got in the pipeline?

Well, that sums a lot of it up nicely. I have a feeling Desto will go live next year, I haven’t done electronic live performances since the few ones I had with an electronic project I was doing around ’98 but it intrigues me now. I’d have to scrape up the money for a few more pieces of equipment and I’d be all set. What I’d like to do is leave the computer at home and go all out hardware just because it’s fun, unpredictable and an electronic live without a laptop would be something that I’d definitely go out to see myself.

Tell us a little bit about the mix you’ve put together for us…

When I play out I play about 50/50 of my own exclusive stuff and music that I’m feeling from other producers. I like to drop in a few old bits and try and connect them into new stuff in a fresh way. There should be a number of my tunes on there that people haven’t heard yet and the recently released bits from the likes of Ramadanman, Hypno, Bok Bok and Mensah were just too good not to be put into the mix.

Any words of wisdom, for our readers?

Having an open mind never hurts.

::

DOWNLOAD: Desto – Sonic Router Mix #58



Tracklist:

Intro
Rustie - Hyperthrust [Warp]
VC - Moon Braggin' (Desto remix) [forthcoming Lo-Fi Funk]
Desto - Glass Clouds [forthcoming Ramp]
Ramadanman - Glut [Hemlock]
Desto - Stay Strong [forthcoming Ramp]
Tes La Rok - Turn It Up [unreleased]
Superrisk - Find Your Way (Mensah remix) [Punch Drunk]
Desto - React [unreleased]
Girl Unit - IRL [Night Slugs]
Desto - Ice Cold [Noppa]
Stutta ft. Jammer - Konk [white]
Fex Fellini - Kolo (Desto remix) [forthcoming Top Billing]
Hypno - Go Shorty [Ramp]
Desto - Disappearing Reappearing Ink VIP [unreleased]
Youngstar - Formula VIP [DDJs Productions]
Desto - Aquanaut [forthcoming Channel Zero]
Desto - Neptune [unreleased]
Bok Bok - Say Stupid Things [Monkey Town Records]
Zomby - Orchid [Ninja Tune]
Desto - 4 a.m. [unreleased]
Desto - Stay Strong (Late remix) [forthcoming Ramp]

Link:
www.myspace.com/destodubs