Ekoplekz might well have first come into view via the 20th release on Punch Drunk late last year, an unexpected and downright refreshing 12" for the label that acted like a jagged edged palette cleanser. Label boss Peverelist was simply (once again) indulging his penchant for the sonic curve ball with two cuts of dubbed-out beat-less noise, fully allowing the analogue freakout. Given it probably wasn’t what the world was expecting from one of the leading lights in the, for want of a better word, dubstep scene for their landmark release, but Pev’s open policy of putting out pretty much anything he’s feeling from his surrounding Bristol geography has paid off in droves.
Upon further digging the move makes a lot of sense sonically. Noisy freakouts aren’t so far removed from dubstep’s outer limits (see The Bug and or Cloaks) and the label under the microscope here, Mordant Music, have been working alongside one of dance music’s most warped producers, Shackleton, for years. You can connect these threads further afield too, Ben UFO pretty much played a experimental noise set the other night on Rinse, debuting some extreme guitar excursions by Andrew Coltrane from Trilogy Tapes - the label who’ve dropped a 12” from Dro Carey who has been known to get a bit fractured with his samples, whilst keeping his dancefloor slant rolling – and the same goes for a producer like Egyptrixx, whose work is distressed and frayed yet decisively melodic.
Memowrekz is an epic thirty three track workout of dub infused dissonant synth music, and as such, it’s kind of a tough one to pin down. It’s a dystopian vision but one that draws you in; it’s discordant but never gets overtly confrontational. Incredibly tough to draw comparisons, the record sits somewhere within that bunch of freaks on Olde English Spelling Bee: Stella Om Source and maybe even Forest Swords; it’s got the synths of one and the heavy dub of the other. You could also draw parallels with the Not Not Fun stable: Sun Araw’s and Peaking Lights dub-psych jams, both the heavy and breezy angles... It even fits next to Oneohtrix Point Never, but in a way it's more free flowing and compelling.
The improvisational manner in which Ekoplekz works really shines and pays dividends here. His deep synthesized squiggles get shaped and treated before your ears; beats bubble up and under – when they appear at all – and echo drenched surges of noise build upon themselves atop layers of warm synth tones. Intertwining the odd bass and guitar line, dropping them deftly into the synthetic ocean of sound, Memowerkz makes for a really enjoyable listen. The blissful bright passages mark a tonal change in mood and texture and they really pop out during the full listening experience. The extremities in sound are balanced with ease though, giving Ekoplekz and Mordant Music a killer combination of industrially tinged experimental composition.
Accurate or not, there’s always a certain canon that immediately springs to mind when you think of Bristol. The likes of Peverelist, Rob Smith, Headhunter/Addison Groove, Appleblim and Pinch make up part of a core group who’ve had a major hand in developing the scene into its current state of health. Up until fairly recently it felt as though they remained the central hub in the city, but over the last couple of years or so there’s been a real burst of activity from a newer generation of producers taking inspiration from those that came before them. With new music coming from people like Hodge and Artifact on what feels like a daily basis, and the rise (and rise) of Julio Bashmore, it feels as though Bristol is currently poised to unleash another wave of sound on a largely unsuspecting rest of the country.
Kahn’s another one to add to that list; part of the Sureskank collective (which also includes recent Punch Drunk signee Superisk), he’s an established DJ presence within the city already and recently released the garage-infused Altar EP on A Future Without. This new release for Punch Drunk represents a considerable step upward though – along with Superisk’s ‘Find Your Way’ it’s another great example of Peverelist’s seemingly effortless ability to squeeze great tracks out of newer producers. In this case, fitting neatly with their casually hipster-psychedelic (hah) artwork, both ‘Like We Used To’ and ‘Helter Skelter’ wring surprisingly dance-friendly results from tightly meshed layers of synth.
The former betrays a sophisticated grasp of melody and composition, setting a deftly sliced vocal refrain adrift in space above a gradually developing percussive backbone. Impressively, at certain tiny moments the two appear to snag upon one another as momentary harmonies flicker before dissipating. The same trick is used, sans vocals, for ‘Helter Skelter’, which, as its name suggests, spirals around buoyant pulses of effervescent synth and diffuse, skittering percussion that’s not a million miles away from Peverelist’s own signature drum sound. The overall effect is both energising and calming at once, perhaps mimicking that wobbly lucidity it’s only possible to achieve at three or four in the morning, assisted by a headful of sub-bass and cheap booze.
Punch Drunk serves up a massive collaboration from label boss Peverelist and collaborative tour de force Hyetal, whose first release on the imprint came sharing production duties with Blunted Robot Shortstuff at the turn of the year. Following big singles from each part of this production team - Peverelist’s ‘Better Ways Of Living’ came out recently on Punch Drunk and the freshly minted Orca Records released ‘Pheonix’ from Hyetal a month or so back - it’s not the first time the two producers have worked together with Pev’s remix of Hyetal’s debut release ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ twisting the original in a trippy number that still sounds like nothing else around. This time the two hook up for a duo of original productions with Peverelist’s knack for hypnotic techy dubbed-out sounds and Hyetal’s bittersweet melodic sensibilities merging perfectly.
The two tracks ‘The Hum’ and ‘rrrr’ feel like early electro experiments that were forgotten but dug up, rearranged and lovingly finished especially to move dancefloors. There’s a retro feel in there but it’s one that’s brought on by the melancholic melodies and synthesized sounds rather than any kind of revivalism. You can hear Peverelist’s swirling dubbed-out percussive ticks and bumpy rhythms and Hyetal’s knack for shimmering synthesized melody in both of these tracks and as a result the rhythms feel hypnotic and introspective but the bright synth tones and subtle funk keep them from being ultra deep eyes down material. With a slightly unnerving uplifting quality the tracks hit that magic bittersweet middle ground that never fails to deliver in the dance.
For me Guido absolutely excels the 'purple wow' tag thrust upon him, Gemmy and Joker, creating a deep and varied mixture of moods, conveying a distinct sense of melancholy on his debut album Anidea for Peverelist's Punch Drunk label.
Bristol's Hyetal completely surpassed our expectations last year, providing one of our very favourite Sonic Router mixes and releasing vinyl encoded with his music on Formant, Reduction and Soul Motive before 2009 was out. He also launched 2010 in style, with the immense collaborative 12" with Shortstuff on Punch Drunk - which is still heavy in rotation at SR HQ - so we welcomed the polite and informative email we received from him this morning with a high level of glee.
Touting his mix for the Lucky Me collective - which just went live last Friday - he went on to divulge that his "next release will be my tune 'Phoenix' on Orca Recordings, after the XI/Headhunter 12", so it'll be sometime this summer..."
"I've been collaborating a lot as well as writing solo; new stuff with Shortstuff, Peverelist and Baobinga will be surfacing on various labels later this year and there's a bunch of remixes on their way too... so there's lots on the horizon."
If you follow any of dubstep's 'super DJs' on twitter you'll have read two or three weeks ago about a forthcoming Guido album, something Punch Drunk label boss, Peverelist, has today confirmed. Called Anidea, the album follows two trail blazing 12 inches - 'Orchestral Lab' and 'Beautiful Complication' - for the label from the Bristol based producer who recently contributed remixes for Pinch, Lauren Pritchard and Wedge & Shadz on the If Symptoms Persist label.
Part of the Purple Trinity, a trio of incredibly brave and melodically inventive producers that includes Joker and Gemmy, Guido's will be the first album from the three artists to be released and it comes with no exaggeration to say that we are awesomely excited at the prospect and extremely proud to be able to bring you some advance previews of three album tracks.
Cue gumpf:
Guido cut his teeth in the embryonic mid-decade Bristol Grime scene, producing instrumentals for MCs and vocalists culminating in his ‘Unleashed’ mixtape in 2006. His production style shares the ultra vivid colour, melody and rugged texture of golden era Davinche, Skepta and Ruff Squad’s Rapid but also the playfulness and pop sensibility of Timbaland or Neptunes without losing underground edge or appeal...
The album will be preceded by a digital single, ‘Way U Make Me Feel’ featuring a vocal from Yolanda who has recently been touring with Massive Attack and who also featured on Pinch’s recent ‘Get Up’ 12” on Tectonic.
Tom Ford makes music as Peverelist; his debut album, 'Jarvik Mindstate' (read the SR penned RA review here), came out late last year to mass acclaim. Its not everyday you get a Pev mix -the only one I recall seeing at this moment in time is on the DubWar NYC podcast - so its a coo for FACT and for the world to be treated to a mix from the Punch Drunk kingpin.
Plex return, taking over Corsica Studios with two rooms of music that blurs the angular greyscale shaded lines between dubstep and techno. Headliners Sandwell District and Forward Strategy Group get support from heavyweights in their own right, people like Peverelist, TRG, TVO and Subeena.
In addition to the monthly column on The Quietus you'll now be able to catch Sonic Router writing on URB.com too.
Between you and I the SRQ series will now focus on interviews and profile pieces whereas the URB column will centre around upcoming releases. With that said...
2nd Drop Records are like the tireless beavers in the pack, always working to better their environment. Call it too much early morning Animal 24/7 in my ocular diet, but you can’t not admit that Markle - owner of officially the best banana smile in the business – and associates have been putting out brilliant platters since their inception. Kicking off proper with Ramadanman’s ‘Good Feeling’ their stable has since become home to heaters from Sully, Clouds, 23Hz & Numaestro and the ever present LD.
Their 9th release to date then hides a good few punches with its highly coloured, scrawled artwork, Kent based producer J-Kenzo’s ‘Conqueror’ manages to fuse numerous plusses; the rolling almost paniced percussion of Untold, the spatial awareness and taught bass sensibilities of Skream and the shuddering snare drum delay of Peverelist. There's no real melody to it, its just a fully formed glorious marching kick drum onslaught that gets peppered continually with differing lines of driving woodblocks.
LD’s ‘Derailment’ fixes a more anxious gaze, creating the tension in the minor key horns and breathy atmospherics before letting fly with a rolling snare-on-every-3rd-beat-of-the-bar loop that’s never overshadowed by the bitcrusher soaked bass riff and the array of swelling chords. The second revolution turns things up a notch with the addition of a squealing daggering riff, realising the angst of his drum work perfectly and positively amping the scope for wheel backs tenfold.
Words: Oli Marlow Out: 14th December 2009
AND, in fine gentlemanly Christmas fashion the 2nd Drop fam have offered up 4 copies of the release to win. 2 lucky entrants will scoop the full 12” with bespoke artwork by UIU UIU, and 2 runners up will get the full digital bundle and quite possibly an email lovingly written by a human.
Punch Drunk boss, Peverelist, released 'Jarvik Mindstate' - his debut 'album' yesterday. It is a truly hynotic collection of songs packed full of must have beatscapes.
Celebrating 5 years of Bristol's pioneering dubstep rave, Subloaded, Tectonic boss Pinch brings a fire line up to Corsica next Friday, [insert shit pun about Christmas coming early here].
Having banged on about the "this album will own you" factor for a hot minute now, its my pleasure to be able to provide you with this aural preview of Peverelist's new CD, 'Jarvick Mindstate.'
Tom Ford's command of space is definitely one of the most arresting things about this collection of songs.
Find it in stores on the 30th November, available on CD and triple vinyl.
Get the skinny on the new 2562 LP and Peverelist's forthcoming CD plus news on new Guido, Gemmy, Headhunter, Sigha, Joy Orbison and Untold by reading this month's Sonic Router Column on The Quietus.
Following on from the Desto mix, and filling the void between gaps in his Pitchfork column, Martin Clark presents another pearl of an exclusive mix from Bristol based producer Kowton (sometimes known as Narcossist), who has been freshly signed to Blackdown's Keysound label.
Its usually me, virtually hotfooting it over to RA, entering one of our interviews into the news feed and waiting with baited breath to see if it gets published. Way more often than not they do get displayed, so, as if in some gratuitous turn of fate, when they sent me this link I simply had to shout about it.
Here Richard Carnes goes deep on some of the most prominent dubstep producers to emerge all year.
Known to us only as Dave, Hyetal has pricked up the attention of many with his productions, obtaining that hallowed MAH mix slot and garnering releases on Formant, Reduction, Planet Mu and (imminently) Soul Motive. His beats even recently prompted a member of Californian crunk smiths Lazer Sword to describe his music as feeling "like... I just won a marathon race and I'm at the dubstep rave and everyone is pouring champagne on me and I'm eating wedding cake with all my ex-girlfriends... and they just told me they still love me. All of them."
Suffice to say his music demands your attention. We tracked him down to an IP address, threw down the mix gauntlet and asked him a few un-intrusive questions.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Hyetal: I’m originally from Southampton but Bristol has been my home for the last 5 years. I make bass heavy melodic music. My first release was on Formant Recordings, a Texas based label run by Sines.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I’ve just finished uni. I’m rewarding myself with a few months to concentrate on beats and stuff.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
I’ve always been on it in some form. I played in bands as a kid but it was hip-hop that got me interested in programmed music. I had an MPC and used to make sample based beats. I wasn’t really into making tunes with computers until I started my degree in 2005.
What aspects of dubstep connect with you, and similarly spur you on to continue producing?
The lack of defined rules. I can draw influence from the strangest reference points and some people will still dance to it as long as there’s a sub under it.
What’s your production set up like? Has it changed a lot since day dot?
Yeah I used to be nearly completely sample based. I had my MPC, records and a couple of analogue mono synths for bass and FX. I managed to blag a laptop when I went to uni, so now quite a bit of what I make is logic and soft synths.
Your part of the new wave of Bristol producers making moves at the moment, it’s almost like new blood is coming through all the time and adding so much to the scene. What’s the city like for you to make music in and what’s it like having that network around you?
There are some amazing producers, labels and nights. Most people have been really supportive, and I chat to a lot of people regularly to swap tunes and that.
Who do you consider to be of great influence on your output?
That’s a really tough question. Without wanting to seem non-committal there is genuinely loads and I could never pick just one. I suppose the main influences that are most relevant on my current output are: Timbaland, Boards Of Canada and John Carpenter.
Your ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ 12” is out now. How did you link the Peverelist remix and the release? What’s the inspiration behind it?
I wrote ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ in 2007. A lot of the music around at the time was really dark, some of which I liked, but a lot of it I found very generic. I wanted to make a tune that was uplifting and nostalgic. It was made during the transition from writing on the MPC to logic so the main parts were sampled and sequenced in hardware. There’s loads of stuff in there, mega drive samples, little bits of old disco tunes, a rim shot sample from an old band practice I found on a tape. I sent it to everyone I knew in Bristol at the time, Pev and Diccon had both been very encouraging about it. Diccon wanted to release it then but he was having some problems with the label. Last year he told me it was back on but it needed a b side, I’d never had anyone remix a tune of mine before so was interested in going that route. Pev is a friend and someone who I have total faith in musically so he was an obvious choice.
There’s a lot of talk of synesthesia flying wildly around at the moment, mainly in relation to the purple wow sound, but - much like PRS’ title - your sound seems more like an amalgamation of colours, rather than a block shade. What colour would you say use to describe it and why?
I would totally agree with you... can I choose all of them please? I do especially enjoy silver, purple and anything neon though.
Your Shortstuff collabo, ‘Ice Cream,’ is up on your myspace. How was it working with him? Who else would you like to get in the studio with?
Yeah wicked, we did it all online which was an interesting process. I’ve written another tune with him and the two will be released later in the year but we’re supposed to be keeping details quiet for a bit. I want to write more with Shortstuff and I’m already collaborating with a couple of other people.
What else have you got coming up?
‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ came out on Reduction this week, I signed ‘We Should Light A Fire’ to the next Mary Anne Hobbs comp (‘Wild Angels’), that is out on Planet Mu on the 14th. ‘Neon Speech’ and ‘Gold Or Soul’ should be dropping on Soul Motive very late this month or early October.
I’m playing at Fabric on 11th September and have a bunch of other stuff booked, including most Season 5 nights at which I’m a resident in Bristol.
If you could remix anybody who would it be and on the flip to that who would you most like to remix you?
In the realms of fantasy I’d really like to remix Sa-Ra or Boards of Canada and would be stoked if they remixed me.
Can you take us through your mix that you’ve done for us?
It’s pretty much a reflection of the kind of sets I’ve been playing recently... gradually working the tempo up. The Brackles, Martin Kemp and Shortstuff tracks are both sick, those guys make amazing beats. There’s some of my forthcoming stuff in there, a new slower thing I made called ‘The Rhythm In Light’ that I still need to properly finish. The Untold track is incredible; I’ve been feeling all of his newer bits... I obviously love all the tunes, hopefully there’s no filler.
Have you got any words of wisdom for the interweb?
The second installment of Hessle Audio's Room 3 takeover at fabric has been announced with Punch Drunk Records boss, Peverelist, officially named as the guest headliner. He'll be joining Ramadanman, Ben UFO, Pangaea and Untold pon the night.
It's also our pleasure to announce that the Hessle camp have confirmed its now a residency and that they'll be taking the event quarterly as of 2010.
