With a retrospective album, ’23,’ out last week, the latest platter from Opit boss lady Subeena lands on her fledging label. Harbouring three tracks it shows a different side to the producer who worked with Jamie Woon on ‘Solidify,’ with a trio that jumps from spaced out ballads to brooding tech-house and jackin’ acid. The looped strung melodies on ‘Wrong For Me’ are luscious and warm, sounding a little like Addison Groove’s latest sample excursion on the A side of his forthcoming 3024 12”, giving Subeena’s mid range heavy vocals the pillow to fall back on as the scattergun snares pit er pat into being. It’s an odd pairing - the two melody lines fight for life atop the fizzing bitcrushed hi hats – but once the final revolution of drums comes into effect you can see where the track was all the time building to.
‘Space of Flow’ draws on a blend of UK flavours, pairing that UK funky flutter with a hard tech-house kick drum and surging saw waves. The snares add some rudeness but overall it’s kind of restrained given the brashness of the components. Full of brooding and slow melodic tension it has an uneasy air, but benefits wholly from the harmonic progression and drum detail. ‘End of Reason’ bumps like a bastard hybrid of funky and Chicago house, playing of that muted bass tone that Egyptrixx harnessed so well on his debut full length ‘Bible Eyes.’ Squiggling with acid (a vibe that, along with Blawan, Subeena looks to be bringing back this year) it’s not a million miles away from something you might hear from Altered Natives - it’s got that same knowing swagger to it.
It’s hard to place Subeena with the styles presented on this 12”, and that’s something that after a few listens you can tell she’s aiming for. With a more militant discography sitting in the wings it’s fascinating to hear her using her voice as a new element and with a multitude of styles at her fingertips it’ll be interesting to hear where she goes next.
Words: James Balf & Oli Marlow // Out: 29th March 2011
A series of destructively brilliant 12”s have swiftly shifted Kassem Mosse’s profile from little-known purveyor of slo-mo, deconstructionist techno to something of a spearhead for a particular strain of house music. Along with his contemporaries and friends on the Workshop label (particularly Lowtec and Even Tuell), as well as UK devotees like Kowton, Instra:mental and Joy Orbison, his is a slowed-down, sub-heavy and druggy sound. Its overall effect is intoxicating in the extreme, insistent analogue grooves transposed into odd new dimensions and sounding liable to crumble at any second. With its obsession with bass, space and swing, it’s perhaps unsurprising that his music’s been picked up and widely adored by large swathes of the UK’s bass scene.
Mosse’s music is one of stasis, of single moments looped and stretched out into infinity, of single grooves allowed to run their course until they simply fall away. That was immediately evident on his earlier Workshop releases - the stuttering electro of Workshop 03’s A-side is a particularly potent example – as well as the build-release churn of the subtly anthemic ‘578’ (the Omar-S remix of which was the highlight of last year’s Freerotation festival). It’s even more explosively apparent in his sprawling live sets, which send minds into an even more extreme version of his recorded output’s fucked tunnelvision.
But if his recent 12” on Kinda Soul was Mosse at his warmest and most welcoming, its finest moment ‘Thalassocalyce’ emitting the same vaguely dystopian glow as Autechre’s Amber, this new Workshop release finds him at his most forbidding. Its tracks operate at faster pace than his usual narcoleptic, smacked-out tempo, but appear locked into even darker moods than usual. The untitled A-side sets up the same sort of infinity loop, but this time with a short and stammering vocal sample which hangs in space above his familiar, albeit peculiarly muted, bass gurgle. The main B-side’s rattling drum syncopations and uneasy, sinister drone constitute an inversion of deep house stereotypes - music of alienation and separation, despite its distinctly human warmth. It’s just as effortlessly beautiful though, and its soft pulses of melody imply something else again, tiny flickers of hope in a sea of darkness.
It’s Mosse’s finest contribution to the unerringly on-point Workshop label so far, and sits neatly alongside his best work. And as ever, excitingly, with another release for Nonplus in the pipeline, it feels like just the tip of a mighty, mighty iceberg.
The internet’s got a lot to answer for. One consequence of it’s of access to media is becoming clearer as broadband becomes an ever more entrenched feature of modern life: a new generation of musicians are starting to take influence from across the board, with scant regard for genres or scenes. Sydney’s Dro Carey is a great example. His music draws from a host of sources – dubstep and UK bass sounds, classic house and techno, R’n’B, noise, jazz – and works them all into strange, asymmetric shapes.
Some feel immediately linked to the dancefloor, albeit abstracted, with upcoming Hum & Buzz release ‘Hungry Horse’ and recent track ‘Wreckshop Sugar’ stuttering with the same nervous energy that drives Night Slugs and Hessle Audio. Others, like the music from his recent Venus Knock EP, sound more in line with the warped lo-fi tape and synth experiments of travelers like Oneohtrix Point Never and Mordant Music. All are bound together by their twitchy, nervous energy, as though recorded live rather than sequenced, and all are presented as part of Carey’s complete online persona. His BRAIN-SO-SOFT Tumblr site places his tracks in the context of the music and art that influence them. Alongside his home-made videos and the prolific stream of sound constantly finding its way onto YouTube, the resulting sprawl is a subversion of social networking’s ability to summarise peoples’ entire lives for easy consumption, nigh on impossible to unpick or decode easily.
We caught up with Carey for a chat about his music making process, R’n’B’s current peak in popularity and how he became interested in UK dancefloor sounds despite living on the other side of the planet. In return, he’s recorded us a mix that offers a clue as to the diversity of his tastes, and how his music brings them together in jarring, but strangely coherent, ways.
SR: How long ago did you start making music?
Dro Carey: It was really when I was about thirteen or so, but I was actually doing scratch DJing, and was first inspired by hearing DJ Shadow. Then I wanted to do cutting up records and things, so that was the beginning, but I moved through a lot of different types of music. I played in free improv, noisy groups, a lot of different stuff – I’ve done ambient music too, there are some secret ambient releases under a different name.
When did the Dro Carey music start happening?
It was a couple of years ago when I thought of the name. It was just to do with hip-hop beats, basically, so that’s why it’s a marijuana pun. I was inspired by mixtapes where they have parodies of celebrity names, like Antwan Swisher and stuff like that, so it was Drew Carey to Dro Carey. It’s a fairly simplistic kind of thing. It was almost a bit of a joke because I was doing more experimental things at the time, and I thought this would be rap stuff, but I then just started working more with software rather than live instruments, and the electronic stuff still stayed as Dro Carey even when it veered away from straight-up rap stuff.
What sort of music inspires the stuff you’re making at the moment?
There’s definitely a lot of UK influence. I guess about a year ago I heard Shackleton for the first time and I hadn’t really listened to any UK electronic stuff, and then I just went through listening to everything on Hyperdub, a lot of grime, Joker, all the big dubstep names. It took a while to get into it actually, because I guess I wasn’t coming from any kind of club scene, and the interest I had wasn’t about that side of it. I’ve been going to more things recently because I’ve been getting to the stage of doing live sets myself, but really I didn’t come from a background like that, so it was more from listening to them in a personal space and it wasn’t about the heaviness of the bass.
Sonic interest, rather than functionality?
Definitely. And I’m still really interested in all the different strains of the UK stuff, I can’t quite separate all of those sub genres, but I profess to like garage, two-step, funky… I’ve listened to a number of old releases but probably, at the end of the day, there’s more of an American influence: techno and house, particularly Detroit artists. Classic stuff and more recent artists like Omar S, guys who are still going like Moodymann and Theo Parrish. Even the oldest acid stuff, definitely Model 500, Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir…
So you came to the UK stuff with very little club context – is there much of a scene where you are?
Electro and electro house is particularly popular in Australia. There’s obviously interest in dubstep but on a particular level – it’s the early or mid 2000s in terms of UK stuff, the 12”s on Deep Medi, Loefah, Skream, big on the wobble but with a fairly basic sub. They’re definitely not fully aware of all the influences you’ve got coming into it now, especially with a label like Night Slugs. There are obviously some places that have nights with more interesting stuff, but it’s largely electro and nu-disco. It’s quite different, the scene here, really, and I guess it fits with the sunny weather and vibe. But that’s not what really resonated with me. It was usually the gloomy London and Detroit sounds.
Has there been much interest in your music where you are?
It’s usually been abroad – Japan, obviously the UK, the US, in New Zealand.
I suppose the internet allows people much further afield to swiftly find your music.
Yeah, you say that, but I was on a message board thread to promote a Canberra show, and they were all saying they didn’t know Dro Carey was Australian. So the problem can be that the internet makes you so mysterious that people might not even know you’re there!
You seem to be one of the first musicians (alongside people like Odd Future) really taking advantage of Tumblr to create an online space for your music and project a complete personality online.
My idea of how you put music online has changed from what it used to be. For past projects I’d make a MySpace page or stream them on Soundcloud, but I was actually inspired by the way hip-hop is promoted online, particularly by Lil B. The way he would deliver songs in their first appearance online would be a YouTube video. You just build an archive of things that people can gradually get into. That idea came from his stuff, and from not really worrying whether people were actually seeing it. The Tumblr is weird, it’s quite impersonal with a fairly stark design, but it just groups everything together and I post whatever images are interesting me. And then there’s Twitter and Facebook pages, so an assault from every angle.
What approach do you take when producing?
I would like to get some analogue equipment but right now it’s just a midi keyboard hooked into Reason. I take an approach whereby I sample everything and try to adapt those to form elements of the track. So it may not be a bass synth I’m sampling but I would make it into one, or it wouldn’t be a keyboard or percussion but I would make it sound like that. It’s really sample based, but not really loop-based, playing samples as if they were actually instruments. But I try to make sure that… Well, if things are still too recognisable I feel they haven’t really served the purpose of re-appropriation. Then again, I’ve got some fairly long vocal loops from R’n’B that people probably can pick up on sometimes. I guess the rules are different for acapellas, you can jack more of that.
I suppose it depends what you’re aiming to get across. There might be something specific in the vocal loop you’re interested in.
Yeah, you hear something in the vocal you want. But I do often try to modify them quite a bit.
That’s happening quite a lot at the moment, there are an awful lot more people referencing people like DJ Screw as an influence on the way they treat vocals.
That was a big influence on me before I’d ever heard of witch house. Admittedly, it may have only been for a few months before, but I’d heard of screw tapes before that.
It’s interesting the way that’s happened recently. There are an awful lot more people, perhaps vogueishly, referencing R’n’B, juke, chopped and screwed hip-hop and so on.
R’n’B didn’t used to be cool! It’s funny, because I’ve read quite a few reviews of the Venus Knock EP on Trilogy Tapes where people talk about an R’n’B influence. While I like R’n’B, on that record a lot of my tracks don’t sound like it. They’re quite harsh and gritty, where R’n’B is about really smooth, slick production. So I’m kind of surprised that people have mentioned that. But then it’s a reference point that’s quite in fashion at the moment.
Do you tend to have a specific aim for a track in mind when you start?
Yeah, but often I stop right in the middle and redo everything, and it ends up sounding totally different. There’s a track called ‘Much Coke,’ which is a bit sunny. The original one was much darker and I didn’t like how it was sounding. It was all in the same sitting, I just switched everything up, worked with the same samples but it totally changed from what I envisioned. It took on a new cocaine association, Miami kind of thing.
Intensity’s an interesting thing when you’re doing instrumental beats. I try to build up and strip down percussion over the course of a track and generally keep things quite quantized. But I’m not ever trying to make a particular format or genre, or even aim for a club track, but I do appreciate the linearity of those type of tracks. I admire an evolving techno track more than a one and a half minute, Los Angeles, jumping all over the place kind of thing. I do like that kind of stuff but I tend to like longer and perhaps more ‘compositional’ electronic music.
But there’s a certain similarity between your music and, say, a lot of the current LA beats stuff in the sense that it’s really grainy and gritty sounding…
I never really consciously seek to downgrade the quality of a sample. I’m not trying to do really lo-fi stuff. I put it through a lot of effects, but I guess the main device I use is changing the pitch or the speed. That brings out a lot of interesting textures.
There’s a turntable-based musician/sound artist called Philip Jeck who’s talked a lot in interviews about the process of slowing samples down – the fact that when everything’s slowed down you start to hear new things you didn’t even realise were in the original track. On a separate note, it’s quite interesting that you live in Sydney, where it’s a lot brighter and sunnier, but your music’s so much darker.
It is. As I was saying earlier, it’s drawing from totally different places. It’s darker and it’s more reflective of internal things – of me, rather than external influences.
You talked about playing in free-improv and noise groups earlier. Do you find that the process of being expressive when making electronic music different to that process when playing an instrument? Do you feel you have the same capacity for emotional expression when you’re making sequenced electronic music?
I think once you’ve got a foundation going, you’ve got a bit of a beat going, you like it and you start to jig around in your chair, nodding your head, dancing in your seat, you start to experiment on the keyboard playing live over it. That’s what I do – not going in and penciling in all the individual midi sequences, but maybe playing something live and then quantizing it afterwards. I get into a pretty similar zone as when I was playing jazz on piano and clarinet.
Shackleton’s always adamant that he avoids strictly quantizing and using loops, in favour of something that’s more spontaneous. I suppose that’s why his music sounds so human. That, and the fact that melody is so often implicit in his percussion rather than being made explicit through synths.
It reflects that point, that there’s almost a melodic thing going on with percussion that you wouldn’t actually call ‘tuned percussion’ in the technical sense, like a vibraphone. You’re using a kick or a snare, but technology allows you to turn it into tuned percussion.
How did you get involved with Ikonika for the Hum & Buzz release?
She was looking at YouTube actually. Sometimes I do videos for other artists’ tracks if I’m into them, and she was looking up Girl Unit and watched the video I’d made for ‘Shade On’. It was cool that Girl Unit, Jam City, Night Slugs, they welcomed the videos I made, they actually used them to promote the tracks. And then the artists followed me back on Twitter. It’s weird, because I put those up before there was a lot of buzz about that label – that’s from Girl Unit’s first EP. I really love that EP, ‘Wut’ is anthemic, but it’s not as interesting to me as that first EP.
But yeah, she saw that video on my channel, saw some of my tracks on there – tracks like ‘Venus Knock’, the synths on that one appealed to her. It’s interesting; I don’t think I would do anything as repetitive as that again, it’s a bit hypnotic. She started following me on Twitter, and then she asked if I could send any tracks I’d been working on, so I sent a zip file. She said she wanted to put out two of them, ‘Candy Red’ and ‘Hungry Horse’, on the third 12” from her new label Hum & Buzz. She’s been great. I’m also working on an album for them as well. She’s pretty harsh about it, she’s pretty much going to curate it! I had a bit of a session a few days ago where I did a load of tracks, which I thought could probably be the album, and I sent them through and she only wanted one [laughs]. I really appreciate that in the end though, because we’re in no rush and she’s trying to get the best possible music out of me. It’s great because I’m always doing tracks and I probably would have wanted to change them anyway!
And you’ve got more music coming out on Trilogy Tapes in the near future, right?
We’ve got about four more different records in the works. What basically happens is that I put something online and Will [Bankhead, Trilogy Tapes boss] gets in contact and says ‘this should be on the record.’ And I’ll possibly be doing a limited white label of R’n’B remixes as well, but I haven’t done one for a while. They’re the only things I’ve had negative feedback for. But I think even guys like Deadboy cop criticism for their remixes. I guess people out there hold the originals quite close to their heart, and they may not particularly understand what we’re doing to them.
There’s been a real fad for R’n’B refixes recently…
There’s this weird fascination with Cassy in particular. The Local Action record is good, I liked it, but I got this sense that there was a bit of a glut of R’n’B remixes so I stopped doing them for the moment. I’m working on remixing Diddy’s ‘Dirty Money’ - this is something I guarantee no-one thinks is cool! But it’s actually a really good album. The production on it’s incredible, though the rapping isn’t very good. I’m into the whole package of those tracks really. I’ve listened to The Dream’s albums a hell of a lot, I’m into the saccharine, sugary melodies, I like those as much as whatever interesting synths I might hear. I like to think I appreciate it as a genre, rather than some sort of cultural platter to pick from.
What are your plans for the future, beyond the album with Hum & Buzz? Do you have any plans for live shows?
Yeah, I definitely want to do more live shows. I want to do two kinds, one where I’m constructing tracks live, and also DJ sets. As I mentioned, I’m doing more limited vinyl runs for Trilogy Tapes, and I’ve also got one coming out on Ramp. It’s quite different, it’s probably a bit more polished sounding than the Venus Knock stuff, and I guess it’s more paying tribute to classic house and techno. I’ve also got a release coming out on a Sydney-based label called Templar. I start a lot of projects, and what tends to happen is that they get interrupted by people who want to release my tracks from those projects. I’m working on a remix album of Australian experimental artists, with material going back to the eighties and early nineties. I get a lot of ideas like that, do one or two tracks, then come back later at some point.
It’s weird, I’ve never done any promotion of any of this stuff myself. It’s always just been people coming to me. I never cease to be surprised.
Missy Elliott – Ching-a-Ling The Notorious B.I.G. – Nasty Girl feat. Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge and Avery Storm (Instrumental) [Prod. Jazze Pha] Jozif – Jus You Moodymann – Runaway Blackstreet – Deep Busy Signal – Jafrican Ting Levon Vincent – Six Figures Optimum – Light Year X-103 – The Gardens Urban Tribe – Program 1 Portable – Find Me Max B – Techno Shit feat. French Montana Bok Bok – Ripe Banana Steel – Shake That DJ Clap Pina – Bass GuaraChazz Dro Carey – All Behind Wingless Low Deep – Down Like That (Instrumental) Missy Elliott – Hot Boyz Remix Acapella Lloyd Banks – Fly Like The Wind Feat. Jim Jones (Instrumental) [Prod. Germ] Abner Malaty – Spirals The Seer of Sound Drake – Unforgettable Feat. Young Jeezy
Remix swaps, whilst always popular amongst producers, are becoming hard currency of late with artists swapping stems in an attempt to out do each other. The latest duo to trade off in this manner, re-working each others music are Local Action’s Contakt (who did SR Mix 68) and UK upstart Melé – who released his Mugged EP today on Sinden’s Grizzly label. You can however, download the fruits of their labour for nothing below...
In this freebie, coined by Local Action and Grizzly, Melé funks up Contakt’s ‘Rhodophyta’ giving it more of a hip hop patterned drum lean before shattering it with snare drums and the kind of drop that kicks you square in the nuts – the ultimate ‘pods’ end game finisher if you will - whilst Contakt regiments Melé’s ‘Trappin’ using an offbeat hi hat as one of the most driving forces of his rigid techno pattern.
"Divided in terms of tempo, both tracks share a fiery, red aesthetic that makes them perfect sparring partners.”
After catching the wind and floating into our attention span with his releases on Wigflex's first 3 split releases Taylor has a new album coming and a new moniker to release it under. Taken from his middle names, whereas Taylor was his surname, Morris Cowan will release Circa on Zaubernuss, a sub label of German imprint, Traum.
We made him the subject of the February instalment of our Quietus column after he sent us the music and to quote ourselves his "compositions are sprawling 7 minute-plus slices of electronica, set firmly at the techno tempo, they're extra melodic, working away from the heat and intensity of a dancefloor as well as they do on it. Much like his Wigflex counterpart Hizatron, Taylor crafts a sound set completely his own, setting his kick drums back a little so that the melody draws the focus."
To live alongside the article he kindly put together a mix showcasing his production work which we've packaged up as part one of our 70th Sonic Router Mix. Stream only at this time it features a load of album tracks and many an unreleased gem from his hard drive...
1. Taylor – CMB [Super] 2. Taylor – Noob [On The Edge] 3. Morris Cowan – Flutterby [forthcoming Zaubernuss] 4. Morris Cowan – Sunnyville [forthcoming Zaubernuss] 5. Morris Cowan – Magnetor [forthcoming Zaubernuss] 6. Morris Cowan – Conflate [forthcoming Zaubernuss] 7. Morris Cowan – The Good Ship Fellow [Connect for Music] 8. Thomas Bjerring – Ice (Morris Cowan Remix) [Traum] 9. Morris Cowan – Afield [Super]
...but to run as his entry in our humble mix series he's today provided a downloadable mix, or SR #70.2, for your enjoyment. Described in his own words as "house/boogie tempo for the most part.. it's a mix, but i'm not quite sure what it is," its the second part of the duo of mixes he provided in lieu of his debut album and this being our 2nd birthday month.
As localised a sound as the current strains of house tempoed music emanating from London are, its humbling to think that everything can reach the furthest corners of the globe, thanks, undoubtedly, to the invention of the internet and the level of reach its given producers. The New York based Contakt - who has this week released his debut EP for the Local Action label - is one of the many benefactors of the information superhighway, able to discover and follow new trends and productions happening here and represent them properly in his adopted home at his co-run TURBOTAX parties.
His 3 tracker single ‘Not Forgotten’ also benefits from the technoid edge of UK funky, it sits comfortably alongside releases from the Deep Teknologi camp and the work of T.Williams, which can also be found on Local Action. Contakt brings his own distinctive vibe to proceedings, his tracks full of dry kicks that hit hard and snares that sound like a rally cry for listeners to shake their hypes in time to the carving synthesized riffs. He straddles an odd boundary that hasn’t really been breached yet, keeping his productions raw with an unabashed dancefloor bump, yet rooting his sounds in a deep techno pallet.
We caught up with him on the week of his release, to grab our 68th Sonic Router mix and discuss many things, including his production, the state of play in the US of A and that fertile middle ground between techno and London house music...
SR: What do you do on the daily and where are you from?
Contakt: I grew up in Lansing, Michigan, which is remarkable only in how unremarkable of a city it is. Much like the rest of the rust belt, Lansing is a very blue-collar city, hit hard over the last two decades by the disintegration of the auto industry and the accompanying loss of jobs. Even though Lansing is the capital of Michigan, there wasn’t and still isn’t much going on, so we would head to Chicago or Detroit for concerts, raves, etc and as soon as I was done with school I moved to NYC and have been here ever since working in the music industry and media.
What’s the scene like out in NY? You’ve got Dub War kicking off, FaltyDL dropping Sushi science all over his beats, Sepalcure making Natalie Portman dance in blockbusters…
The scene in NYC is different than a lot of people think. It’s smaller than you would expect for being one of the biggest, densest cities in the states, in fact, the scene for this music in America is much smaller than you would expect from a country so huge. It seems much different from London, where there can be several clubs the same night, all with amazing DJs booked and all having a successful night. Even electronic music is “underground” in the states, and that underground is just starting to discover dubstep (and by that I mean brostep), so whatever this music is called is the underground of the underground. The nice thing about it being small is the intimacy and the friendship. When FaltyDL plays all the DJs from Dub War, TURRBOTAX®, and all the artists tend to come out and support each other and have fun – the same goes for visiting DJs which is really fun.
What first brought you to the UK sounds?
Right around 2000, I somehow discovered 2-step, I don’t even remember how, but I immediately fell in love with the melodies and rhythms and was hunting down as many MJ Cole, Artful Dodger, So Solid, and even Craig David. Back then finding these records was a true challenge (and expensive) without the convenience of the online stores we have access to now so I bought what few records I could find. The collective rediscovery and reinvention of these sounds by people like Burial, FaltyDL, and Zomby has been equally, if not even more so inspiring.
What first got you into production and what’s your set-up like? Have you got a favourite bit of kit and how do you approach working in the studio?
I first got into production through in the mid 90’s inspired by hip-hop producers like Premier, Pete Rock, J-Dilla (then known as Jaydee) as well as electro sounds of Cybotron/Model 500, Aux88, and Drexciya. My best friend bought an MPC2000 that I had unlimited access to and I essentially ended up skipping class most of my last year of high school (secondary school) to teach myself how to make beats. It wasn’t until I moved to NYC that I really developed my skills working with J-Zone. He was my first true mentor and I learned so many priceless techniques from him that I still utilize today.
My studio these days is a combination of hardware and software after long period of using only hardware, and short period of using only software. That said, I am firm believer in it not being what you use, it’s how you use it. I have old hip-hop “beat tapes” that were just MPC straight to mini-disc that still sound good in this really raw way (it’s my current Moby Dick), and loads of amazing 90’s techno and house was recorded to cassette 4-track. I will say, I do have one piece of gear that I do truly love and use on every track; the E-Mu SP-1200. It’s a 12 bit sampler with only 10 seconds total of sample time, but it sounds amazing, it’s really chunky, dark, and gritty and the filter has a really distinct “ringing” sound that can’t be imitated.
How would you describe your sound? There is this sweet vibe going around right now, which somehow unites the loose raw end of techno with the hyped up sounds of the UK underground. You seem to play with those sounds yourself. How do you get it to work?
It seems like you have really nailed the description – it may sound simplistic, or even obvious, but I think my sound really reflects the music I have grown up on and DJed for years. If you listen, there are little references to everyone from Kevin Saunderson to Just Blaze to Shortstuff and to be honest, I don’t know how I get it to work, it’s one of those things that I turn on my sampler or synth and this is what comes out.
Tell us about TURRBOTAX®, how are the nights going, what inspired it and what have you got in store for up and coming events?
It’s been a tremendous couple of years for TURRBOTAX® and 2011 is off to an amazing start. We really couldn’t be any more thankful. Rem Koolhaus and I conceived the idea as a reaction to there being no club nights in NYC (or even America) focusing on the new sounds we were hearing from UK artists like Untold, Cooly G, Brackles, Roska, etc as well as the local club scene’s focus on what people are wearing, club photography, and being seen. We wanted to do a night strictly focused on experiencing groundbreaking music with the vibe we grew up on – out of control basement and warehouse parties, not posh clubs with photographers, horrible “emcees,” and overpriced drinks. Thankfully people find it as refreshing and exciting as we do - every month I find myself as excited a fan as I am a resident. I don’t think there is anywhere else in the world that Laurel Halo shares a bill with Kyle Hall and Shortstuff, or Todd Edwards with Lemonade, or Doc Daneeka with Delorean. People not from NYC always think our line-ups look a bit odd on paper, but when you hear the artists/DJs in the context of the night it really connects the dots in a way you wouldn’t expect.
You’ve got you’re debut EP on the way with Local Action tell us a bit about that release, what’s the inspiration for the tracks?
The record just came out this week which is (of course) really exciting. I have to say this entire experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I have worked at record distributors, labels, in media, etc through out my career and I couldn’t imagine a better response. The inspiration for ‘Not Forgotten’ is a bit personal, but the vibe of tracks I think reflect all 15 years of being a DJ and collecting records – everything from Innercity to Pete Rock to Martyn. I am not sure if anyone else hears it, but I feel it.
Who hooked up that sweet Rolando remix? He’s a bit of a techno legend, its not every day you get remixed by a guy from Underground Resistance, how’s that feel?
To be honest, it feels like a dream to have a hero remix one of your songs. I remember when Rolando hit the scene in the 90’s and he has been a massive influence and inspiration to me ever since. We met this summer in the UK and admittedly, as an adult, I was nervous and reverted back to a 16 year old techno fan at first. Just meeting was an amazing moment, hearing stories and insight from someone with so much experience and talent is something that you can’t put a price tag on, and to for him to do a remix is beyond words.
What music are you feeling at the moment, any producers you think the world should know about?
It’s a really exciting time for music right now, maybe even the most exciting time I have experienced. There is something really special going on (even if it doesn’t have a genre name) and the speed things are changing and evolving is really interesting. There are so many great records that have come out recently or are on the way from the next “stars” of this sound – folks like DJ Dom, xxxy, Optimum, and Jacques Greene, etc who are all making outstanding records and all pushing things in different directions.
After this Local Action 12” arrives what have you got in store for us? Any more releases you can chat about on the horizon…
2011 is off to hectic start, I am not sure about release dates yet, but I feel like I have spent almost every day this year in my studio. The next projects I have coming up are remixes for Grizzly and Palms Out Sounds, a sophomore single for Local Action, a collaboration with Mayster from TURRBOTAX® on Dutty Artz and a return to the UK for more gigs, pints, and haggis this summer.
Tell us about the mix you’ve turned in for us...
This mix I didn’t focus on exclusives (although there are a few on there), I really just went for records I love to play. One noteworthy song is Los Hermanos - ‘Tescat,’ specifically because it’s 10 years old, yet sounds totally fresh. Mixing the old with the new is a big part of how I play, there are so many outstanding, but forgotten records out there that still sound ahead of their time – the new Planet E compilation, and the Shake one last year are great places to start, but they are just the tip of the iceberg.
Have you got any words of wisdom for our readers?
I wish I had some words of wisdom for your readers; perhaps they have some for me?
01. Rolando – Junie – Ostgut Ton 02. Shy One – Comfortable (Numan Remix) – DVA Music 03. Cosmin TRG – Seperat – 50 Weapons 04. Martin Kemp – Cracks – Unreleased 05. Aril Brikha – Read Only Memory (Octave One Remix) – Art of Vengeance 06. DJ Dom – Untitled – Ptn 07. Robert Hood – Clash – M Plant 08. Contakt – Not Forgotten (Rolando Remix) – Local Action 09. Los Hermanos – Tescat – Los Hermanos 10. Julio Bashmore – Ribble to Amazon – 3024 11. xxxy – Think Twice – Unreleased 12. Contakt – Still Up – Unreleased
Contakt’s ‘Not Forgotten’ is out now on Local Action.
The 17th edition of the Sonic Router column of theQuietus focuses on Rinse FM DJ, Braiden. With his debut release, 'The Alps,' now sold out release on Joy Orbison's Doldrums imprint and a steadily building reputation as a selector we treated him to lunch on a snowy afternoon last December and sat eating quietly as he monologued...
"UK music is so based on rhythm, you know what I mean? You look at a lot of drum and bass, UK funky, dubstep etc and a lot of those genres would look down on 4x4 music because it's one rhythm – which is totally missing the trick – but, they would say that. And a lot of it is rhythmically focused but it doesn't have any atmosphere to it, or doesn't really experiment with the emotive qualities of the music. You get that a lot more in techno - I think sometimes you get that too much in techno - but it's very much about the atmosphere and the sounds made, but they don't do anything interesting rhythmically. That's what I'm trying to bring together: something that is emotive, in an interesting headspace that does a lot for the mind but is also rhythmically interesting." - Braiden
2010 was one hell of a year for London duo Instra:mental. Alongside spearheading the Autonomic sound’s drastic, frequently stunning reinvention of drum ‘n’ bass, alongside labelmate/collaborator dBridge and the likes of ASC and Consequence, their output away from 170bpm continued to broaden into slo-mo house, synth-driven electro and minimalist dubstep forms. To be fair, on initial inspection that might seem par for the course in the current bass landscape: if there’s been one overarching trend during the last couple of years, it’s been the distinct absence of the strict limitations dubstep once imposed on its producers. But very few have managed the transition between styles with such flair.
I suspect it’s in part due to the shapeshifting nature of the Autonomic sound they developed. Much like the process that transformed UK garage into early dubstep, it’s predominantly characterised by peeling away extraneous layers, leaving progressively fewer elements to work alongside one another: literally stripping dance music down to it’s barest essentials. Fused with the hefty Detroit techno influence at play in ‘Watching You’ and the Drexciyan depth charge of ‘Futurist’, in 2010 that spacious template spawned house so deep it was practically subaquatic (‘Let’s Talk’), acidic electro (‘Voyeur’ and Boddika’s ‘Boddika’s House’) and an expansive Fabriclive drum ‘n bass mix. In sheer breadth of vision, it’s pretty safe to say that Instra:mental embody a certain mongrel state of health in UK bass – one that finds kindred deconstructionist spirits all the way from Swamp81’s juke-tinged 808 workouts to Peverelist’s rolling, junglist grooves, via widescreen innovations from the likes of Kowton, Hessle Audio, Ostgut Ton and Kassem Mosse.
The duo’s latest release Zones (strictly their final 12” of last year) is a seriously limited preview of two tracks from this spring’s full-length album. And if this pair are anything to go by it’s a pretty unique proposition; advance reports have already confirmed a move away from drum ‘n’ bass tempo to a varied region between 100 and 140 bpm, and Boddika’s upcoming Swamp81 release is pure synthetic electro. Both ‘Love Arp’ and ‘Sun Rec’ slot neatly alongside, and offer a tantalising taste of what’s to come in April. ‘Sun Rec’s fusion of shattered percussion and pure eighties synthesis seems tailor made to attract adjectives like ‘lush’ and ‘sumptuous’. It’s a slow and considered trip through arpeggios that drift and cascade like the spray around a waterfall, discovering a groove that’s perhaps a little too unstable for easy dancing but which through a good system transforms into a beast both hulking and deceptively sensitive.
‘Love Arp’ is even better. Occupying a similar retrofuturistic space as much of Instra:mental’s recent output, it’s reminiscent of nothing so much as a vision of 2011 as imagined by the population of the late seventies: gaudy and polished to a high sheen, but with the tiniest hint of grit running beneath the surface. It’s neither entirely fatalistic (like the terrifying police-run London of ‘No Future’) nor wholly utopian (‘Watching You’s paean to finally requited digital love), but sits somewhere comfortably in between. In the end, it’s not so far off what the real 2011 might sound like, were it that easy to simply package a year into four minutes of music.
Words: Rory Gibb Out: Now (limited to 300 vinyl copies. No digital)
Admittedly there are more important things to be doing in December than making lists about what’s happened over the past 12 months. We're not the biggest fans of doing so over here plus someone has actually already done the hard work for everyone, creating the most essential list of occurrences in 2010 right here, but, well... here’s our tuppence worth, should you need to reaffirm your faith in our compliance with journalistic culture...
LPs of 2010:
fabric 55: Shackleton [fabric]
Less a mix, more a complete and perfect summation of Shackleton’s work to date, fabric 55 contains unreleased material, re-workings and edits from one of dance music’s true idealists. A bold and perfect vision captured impeccably.
Guido – Anidea [Punch Drunk]
Synths may have got weirder in 2010, but one person who absolutely owned his craft this year was Guido. Ever since we heard ‘Beautiful Complication’ at Rooted Records in Bristol, we knew Peverelist was onto a winner with the then untitled album project. What followed was a glimpse into the unique world of a deft musician on Anidea.
Actress – Splaszh [Werk Discs]
Darren Cunningham returned with sharpened nuances back in May for his debut on Honest Jons. Continuing to sound like the outside world listening in to club culture from a soapbox stuck outside of Barnet and wielding his EQs and filters in ways that seemed to filter out any kind of smiles or good intentions Splaszh became a dirty piece of history.
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma [Warp]
Impossible to ignore, Flying Lotus’ second album for Warp Records trod a line between beat based genius and absolute freeform madness as the Californian producer went deep into his own universe. As far as crystalline productions go Cosmogramma was a space opera that ‘marks Ellison out as a true experimenalist’.
Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers [Hotflush]
If there’s one thing that unifies our picks for our albums of 2010 it’s the fact that each one presented a unique vision. Mount Kimbie’s offering was no different, with Crooks & Lovers veering almost awkwardly through some of the most melodically shattered beats of the year. A hit across the board it subverted a lot of dancefloor trends but still made appearances in sets from the best DJs out there.
Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner [Notown]
It feels a little terrifying to admit that sometimes the hype machine is completely on point and Gold Panda is a case in point. After various lowkey EPs on Various Prouction’s imprint, including the excellent ‘Back Home,’ the man known only as Derwin released Lucky Shiner - a sampledelic tapestry of up and down tempo music that mixes really well, at times, with UK funky.
Gold Panda also tops the SR ‘dreamboat of the year’ list pipping Drake, Reggie Yates and Zain from One Direction to the accolade. Congratulations to him.
Honourable mentions:Rudi Zygadlo, Liars, Ikonika, Darkstar, Deftones, Scuba and more.
::
Compilations of 2010:
V/A – Modeselektion Vol. 1 [Monkeytown]
Aligning the clubbing underground’s elite is no mean feat, but to obtain exclusives from each one of them and introduce artists like Robag Wruhme and Housemeister in the same breath is kind of game changing.
V/A – Astro:dynamics [Astro:dynamics]
In the absence of any Beat Dimensions style offerings this year, Rekordah offered up a great set of beats A&Red, packaged and released by himself. His Astro:dynamics compilation remains an accomplished arrangement after repeated listens.
Kode9 – DJ KiCKS [!K7]
Kode9’s brand of UK funky is different. He’s pretty much become the pioneer of bastard house in our eyes and his mix for !K7 caught his style perfectly. Gutter yet danceable, it’s the real sound of his London 6-8 months ago.
V/A – Elevator Music Vol. 1 [fabric]
Yep – one for the bias aware out there - this collection, released in February of this year, gave some of this year’s stand out troupe (Mosca, Hackman, Julio Bashmore, Hot City, Doc Daneeka, xxxy) their first outing to the world in emphatic and beautifully packaged style.
V/A - Tropical Heat Vol 1 & Vol 2 [Myor]
Released in two parts across two 12"s the Tropical Heat series has a homespun feel. Its obvious from speaking with its curator, Coco Bryce, that he's as much in love with the music as we are with the quality of this year's Sonic Router mixes, and he manages to straddle the divide between skweee simplicity and boom bap technology across these 12"s with beats from people like Slow Hand Motem, Slugabed, Niño and Mesak.
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..
If you’ve followed us on here or over on our associated Quietus Column, you’ll be aware of our bias towards the Wigflex imprint but the forthcoming WF004 by former Sonic Router mix giver and rude boy techno master, The Hizatron, definitely carves its own niche. Full of squeals and bubbling leads that fumble around the pummeling 4 four kick drum on the A side, ‘Telescope Dope,’ it’s the forgotten EP we couldn’t live without. ‘Executive Ball Scratcher’ on the flip harnesses the lower frequencies of bass pressure with huge stabs permeating the multicolour drunken melodies, epitomizing the stylistic approach of the HZA man perfectly, before ‘Klondyke’ then descends into saw tooth propelled darkness.
After his low key announcement on dubstepforum recently, we tracked down Wigflex boss Spamchop, to discuss WF004 and the end of his Nottingham club night’s summer hiatus.
Sonic Router: It’s been a little bit quiet for Wigflex over the summer. What’s been going down? What have you been up to?
Spam Chop: It has been a little quiet, I guess it's because Nottingham becomes a bit of a ghost town in the summer, what with the student's going home and people going to festival's/holiday… We don't really put any nights on as it would be hard to fill the venue we are at. We have launched a Wigflex night up in Manchester though and had MCDE, Actress, Darkstar, Cooly G and Deep Teknologi pass through the basement of Sound Control so far. I'm looking forward to next couple of guest's we have booked for these sessions a lot!
Your coming back strong with a new EP from Hizatron. Tell us a little bit about that in your own words? What made you want to come back with that?
I just love the tunes really; it’s that trippy filth that Hiza's so good at making. I’ve been playing these out for a while now and they always get a good reaction in clubs, so it just made sense these would be the next release.
Hizatron – Telescope Dope [Wigflex]
Hizatron – Executive Ball Scratcher [Wigflex]
Hizatron – Klondyke [Wigflex]
What else is coming up for the label? That Metaphi LP done up yet? Hahahaha…
Hehe, yeah man it’s ready and it’s rather good if I do say so myself! That’ll be Wigflex 005… After that we have a Lone tune coming out and an album by Taylor.
So the nights are back on in Notts... what/who have you got coming up?
We have some big lineups planned for autumn in Nottingham as well as up in Manchester. I’m currently creating some collectable fliers with cut out Wigflex character nets on the front for these events… We are going to run some sort of competition for our favorite photo of these toys I get back, not sure what the prize will be yet mind.....
October 22nd @ Stealth Nottingham
James Holden, Luke Abbott, Ikonika, Untold, Cooly G, Pariah, Kavsrave, Lone, Spam Chop, Metaphi, Erra, Spare
November 6th @ Sound Control Manchester
Roman Flugel, Spam Chop, Taylor
November 19th @ Stealth Nottingham
Jamie XX, Joy Orbison, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Hudson Mohawke, James Blake, Jackmaster, Lone, Spam Chop, Hizatron
It’s been pretty hard to ignore the massive expansion in column inches given to the Hotflush label in the last year or so, and certainly since a certain ‘Hyph Mngo’ burst onto the scene. But beyond the obvious big hitters like label boss Scuba, Joy Orbison or Mount Kimbie, the imprint’s success certainly seems to have allowed Paul Rose to branch out further with the artists and sounds he’s supporting. This year, that’s taken the form of a host of special one-offs (tracks like Ation’s wonderful ‘Lover’s Dub’, which crept out with next to no fanfare), but it’s also been seen in the continued output of some of the label’s longer running, but less well-known, artists.
Since the release of his first twelve for the label, ‘Bruised’ b/w ‘Expansions’, in January 2009, James Sigha has been one of its quietest but most prolific sons, putting out three further releases on the Hotflush Two subsidiary since. His latest, the Shake EP, pulls together a typically varied collection of music – the title track is all monochrome, slow and ocean-deep, but ‘Shapes’ is pacier, clocking in somewhere close to that hallowed region where dubstep reaches techno. Its ascetic nature and lack of obvious melodic development has tended to ensure that’s exactly where Sigha’s music tends to be categorised, but over the last year or so it’s felt as though he has finally begun to shed its London exterior to reveal a rapidly pulsing Berlin heart.
They’re certainly a far cry from anything as obvious as build-drop dynamics or catchy vocal hooks, but the four releases he’s clocked up so far have been hypnotically addictive. We caught up with James to find out a little more about how things have been going, and why Sonic Youth still inspire him as much as Marcel Dettmann does.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who might not know you with a bit of background info?
Sigha: I write music and DJ predominantly under the name Sigha. I’m lucky enough to be part of the Hotflush family, and my last EP dropped on Hotflush Two at the end of May.
Outside of music, who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I don’t really do much outside music to be honest. I still work one day a week, but even that’s in a record shop (London's BM Soho), so it’s literally permeated everything I seem to do. I’m starting to paint to give myself some headspace from it really - its good to be passionate, but to escape sometimes would make me a happier person I think.
An average day for me is waking up mid morning, checking my emails in bed, drinking A LOT of coffee and then heading downstairs into the studio. If things are going well in there, that’s where I’ll stay for the majority of the day. If not, I might head out to a gallery, watch a film, read a book, just try and pick up some inspiration really.
You’ve said before that you originally started off playing in bands. What changed your perspective and led to you start making dance music?
I generally don’t find working with other people very easy. The collaboration process itself can be great, especially if you’re writing with a friend, but I think that often the end product is watered down in terms of the original concept, and keeping that pure is something that’s very important to me. When I first started experimenting with electronic music, I was really inspired by the fact that it was just me and a computer, there was no one there to tell me this wouldn’t work, or if I did that it would sound bad. That was really key in shifting my emphasis towards dance music. I could write a whole track by myself, and so was totally free to be as self-indulgent as I liked. At the same time I was going to a lot of warehouse parties at the weekends, and I was hearing sounds I’d never heard before, or at least not in that context. All this came together at the right time and I just fell in love with it as a way of making music.
How did your experience in bands translate across into electronic music? Do you enjoy the difference in process between playing in a band and making music by yourself?
Um, it’s really different. I don’t have to run my ideas past anyone else first, which like I say is a major plus. It’s probably given me an insight into music, both the creative process and sound itself, which I probably wouldn’t have had if I’d started out writing electronica/dance music. I’m fairly solitary, so over all it suits me well.
I do really miss playing live with other people though, the connection you get when you’re jamming and it’s going well is incredible. I miss that a lot. At some point soon I really want to work on a live project.
Do you think that your music as Sigha still takes influence or inspiration from the non-electronic stuff you listen to?
I think so - more obviously in terms of what drives me creatively though, rather than the sound pallet. I listen to bands like My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division and Sonic Youth on a daily basis, more so than any single electronic artist probably. I’m sitting in my kitchen listening to Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation' right now. There’s so much raw energy and power, combined with moments of really intense beauty, in what they have done over the years. If I can translate even a small amount of that into what I’m trying to do I’ll be really happy.
What’s your production set-up like?
That would be telling! But it’s nothing too exciting I promise. I’m a big believer in the idea that 'its not what you use, its what you do with it.' I suppose given that I should have no problems revealing all, but I reckon a little bit of mystery is good.
“for me the best music seems to do nothing at all, but somehow manages to hold your attention for its duration.”
There’s a lot of Berlin in your music, but there’s also a lot of London in there. How have the sounds of those two cities inspired your music?
I’ve lived in London all my life, so part of that is always going to be lurking in what I do somewhere. It’s got a great history for music and is a real melting pot of different sounds, so it’s been really inspiring growing up here musically. I think though that I’ve become a little numb to it, just through over familiarity... It’s easy to take what you’ve got for granted. In terms of electronic music, drum ‘n’ bass, garage and dubstep are sounds that run deep here, and they've definitely moved me.
Having said all that, I feel more at home musically in Berlin these days. There’s an amazing creative vibe in the city that’s incredibly inspiring. I suppose it’s because the cheap cost of living has encouraged a kind of artist migration over there. So much great music has come out of that city over the years, and the place itself is magic. East Berlin feels like it’s in this state of slow dilapidation, there’s a sense that everything is decaying which is very beautiful to me.
Marcel Dettmann’s just remixed one of your tracks, and there’s obviously some influence from the Berghain school of techno in your sound. I presume you’ve been to the Berghain - did the club itself and hearing techno in that kind of environment change your perspective on your music?
Berghain seems to be at the center of this revival in techno at the moment. It’s brought together some very talented likeminded artists and DJs, which has been really important to give people a focal point I think. Before I’d even been to Berghain, I already had a very strong impression of what it was and what it would be like inside. They've created a really powerful brand with the club, which is definitely helped by the no photos rule and strict door policy. Everything about it seems to go hand-in-hand with the music it represents, which only serves to heighten the experience for a techno lover. I don’t think there’s another club in the world you can get quite so lost in both figuratively and literally. I was listening to, playing and writing techno before I visited the club, but hearing Dettmann play for four hours at eight in the morning was a real eye opener for me. Obviously his sets are legendary, but it was the crowd that really blew me away. The place was packed and full of energy on Sunday lunchtime - that isn’t something you can find in the UK week-in-week-out. That really made me think, ‘I’m in the wrong city’.
Your sound is really stripped back and lean, with little in the way of obvious melodic development. Is that a style you specifically aim for, or is it just the way it seems to come out?
I’m not a big fan of anything too obvious in music. I try to create soundscapes that are really immersive and that the listener can really get lost in. For me, when I write and listen, music is about introspection, and big melodies always seem to get in the way of that. Development of a track in general is something I’m really particular about - for me the best music seems to do nothing at all, but somehow manages to hold your attention for its duration. I suppose that’s what I’m aiming for. There is something in UK bass-oriented club music that is very extrovert, from the way the tracks are constructed, with huge emphasis on the impact of the drop, to the individual sounds used. I’m fairly introverted and have always like my music 'eyes down' so to speak, so that comes out in my own tracks I guess.
Your tracks, especially the slower ones like ‘Rawww’ and ‘Shake’, have that weird ability techno has to put people into a trancelike, dreamlike state. Is conveying that sort of mood something you consciously work towards?
Music is a really powerful thing. I just mentioned the UK’s obsession with impact, and that in itself can deliver a huge buzz when it’s done right. But personally I love the otherworldly feeling that good techno or house can bring. Repetitive rhythms actually cause your brain to produce serotonin - and what’s more repetitive than a four-four beat, right? To immerse yourself completely in the music and the feeling of hundreds of people around you sharing this experience is truly amazing. So yes, after all that, it’s definitely something I bear in mind while writing. Maybe it’s the most important thing, in fact.
You obviously have a connection with dubstep and garage, especially in your earlier Hotflush releases, but recently the techno and house influences in your sound seem to have moved further to the fore. Has that been an intentional shift?
Since my first release with Hotflush I think that it’s been a really natural move from one side of the dubstep/techno divide to the other for me. ‘Bruised’, for instance, was totally influenced by a Dettmann track specifically that I was playing again and again at the time. I couldn’t find anything that was 'dubstep' but had that same vibe, so I tried to write what I was looking for. People seemed to pick up on those influences and noticed the Berlin references in the track. Now with tunes like ‘Rawww’ and ‘Shake’ the tempos dropped, and they are both out-and-out techno tracks, but people have pointed out UK dubstep and garage influences throughout both of those tunes.
I think I’ll always have that connection to dubstep and garage in my sound - as I mentioned earlier, living in London it’s hard not to - but Sigha has grown very organically into a techno project. To start writing dubstep (whatever that is now) or garage would feel like a step back rather than forward. That’s not taking anything away from either of these styles at all, I mean in terms of my own personal development. I’m still writing dubstep under a different alias, and I’m going to be pushing that more over the next twelve months.
What are you listening to/watching/reading/etc at the moment that’s really inspiring you?
I’ve been reading a lot of Ernest Hemingway and Christopher Isherwood recently. They both have a beautifully simple and engaging style of writing. I’m a massive fan of sci-fi, Philip K Dick particularly. 'Valis' is one of my favourite books of all time. I’ve just re-read Ian Bank's 'The Wasp Factory' as well. I think in terms of books, film, art etc, I like things that make me think differently.
I’ve become a bit obsessed with watching physics documentaries right now. I’ve always been awful at science, and have no idea what they are talking about; but that’s what I love about it, that sense that there are these huge fundamentals that are just out of my reach. It’s a feeling that’s really hard to put into words, but that is what inspires me more than anything.
Your music’s got quite a cinematic feel – are you influenced by films at all?
Totally, films like Solaris or The Fountain, that again seem to suggest something intangible just out of sight, or are really, really depressing, haha. Something like Requiem for a Dream for instance - it’s so dark and bleak, but intensely beautiful as well. I don’t know where I’m getting that sense of beauty from, everyone I’ve spoken to about this seems to think I’m nuts, but to me it’s a heart-wrenchingly beautiful film.
More so than most other labels, Scuba seems to have pulled together an incredibly diverse but very like-minded set of musicians on Hotflush. When I spoke to Dom Kimbie about it the other week he described it as being more of a movement than a label. It must be inspiring to be a part of such an exciting musical community?
Yeah, I think he’s hit the nail on the head there really. It’s a really great thing to be a part of, I feel very lucky and proud, but it can feel pretty intimidating too! Mount Kimbie, those guys are so talented it’s crazy. To be on a roster alongside guys like that, Scuba, Joy Orbison, it’s pretty intense. I feel really lucky that Paul’s got such an open mind too. You mentioned earlier how my sound has developed over the last year and a half - I doubt that I would have had the scope to push out in the direction I wanted to on many other labels. He’s built a great thing in the label, and I feel blessed to be a small part of it!
What projects have you got in the pipeline for the future? Any imminent things coming up?
The main project I’m working on right now is the launch of my own label, 'Our Circula Sound.' The first release will be out in August, with a Dettmann remix of my own 'Early Morning Lights' and a new track by myself called 'Over The Edge' on the flip. The site is still in development but should be up soon, so keep checking www.ourcirculasound.com if you’re interested. I’ve got some big things planned for the imprint, so watch this space basically!
Apart from that I’ve just finished a remix for Commix's Re:Call To Mind LP on Metalheadz, and am working on more for Kevin Gorman’s Microwave label and Echochord. I’m starting to think about a larger scale Sigha project as well, and planning the next few 12”s.
Keeping busy, basically…
Any words of wisdom for our readers?
Stay true to yourself, Do what makes you happy. And buy my music.
Coming recommended by people like Appleblim and Headhunter, the Orphan101 name has been something bandied about our intrinsically small world for a while now. Possible inclusions on line ups we had an in on along with mixes for other blogs all piqued our interest but it’s when we received the promo for his 'Tribtek Pt.s 1 and 2' that we went on the chase. Splitting his moody singular creation across 2 sides of wax for a brand new label, the freshly minted Saigon Records, with its highly reverbed conga’s, ocean sized atmospherics and relentless punch it felt a little like if Shackleton had embraced pads with the same gusto he welcomes sine waves.
We’re pleased to welcome the 49th Sonic Router mix from Bristol’s Orphan101.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Opran101: My name is Rob Davies I grew up and live in Bristol England and I go by the production name of Orphan101. I suppose I make a melt of house, techno and dubstep. I really don’t think about what genre my tunes fit into when I make them but those three probably sum them up.
What inspired the Orphan101 moniker?
Well I’m a bit of a lost soul so orphan fits me well and the 101 is just to be different from anybody else who wants or calls them self orphan or already has.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?
I started making music about 5 years ago with Headhunter all my close friends make music and I got into it, really its pretty simple no interesting stories to tell. Now its takes up the majority of my time.
What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?
A computer, I use several different types of programmes for different things from Ableton to Logic to Reason, what ever I’m trying to achieve ill use what I think I need to.
Where do you take inspiration from when making music?
I suppose it all depends on what time of the day it is and the events of that day that sum up my attitude at that point in time; sometimes lazy sometimes serious even depressed all types of moods really.
How would you describe your sound? It seems to focus heavily on four four technoid drum patterns…
Well it varies for the reasons stated above but there’s no set theme or mood, just how I feel at the time when I make any particular tune.
Your first release on the freshly minted Saigon Recordings is out now. What’s the deal, what can we expect from the release?
Well the tune was originally about 15 mins long so I split it in two for the vinyl I avoid trying to describe what it is I suppose it’s up to the listener to decide for them self.
You’ve also got bits dropping on Apple Pips and Deca Rhythm which is a new label between you, Headhunter and Bloodman I gather? What other projects have you got on the label and in the pipeline in general?
I’m pretty busy with the Deca thing with Headhunter and Bloodman just getting the releases sorted for this year see how it pans out and go from there. I mite release something on it next year because I already have releases sorted for this year and the Applepips release will happen when it happens no rush really me and Appleblim keep changing it.
What’s happening with you in the rest of 2010? Gigs, releases, personal growth etc?
I’m off to Copenhagen in August with Pips and I play at the Pips nights in Bristol, besides that not a lot really; odd podcast and radio show, I just like making tunes. I’m not too fussed about all the other stuff I’m kinda easy going when it comes to the future.
The entire concept of dubstep multiplied by techno – thrown as an overarching blanket over the sort of static-drenched cuts that made up Appleblim’s Dubstep Allstars mix a couple of years ago – is essentially a redundant one at this point. Much as it’s easy to single out groups of producers making stuff that’s heavily influenced by both stables, in most cases there’s such a density of things going on that any attempt to unravel them into two such broad regions runs the risk of tunnelvision. Scuba’s excellent Triangulation album is one recent example; Al Tourettes’ latest plate for If Symptoms Persist is another.
As a regular Appleblim co-conspirator and Bristol resident, the techno comparison was always going to be there. But where many of that stable take the ashen motion of the Berlin set as a primary source, there’s a lot more Detroit in Al Tourettes’ music. Certainly, if there’s one common trait most easily singled out, it’s both tracks’ sheer, irresistible funk. ‘When I Rest I Rust’ positively oozes body movement, powered by an irresistibly liquid groove that acts in stark contrast to the ferrous vocal motif that gradually seizes up across its length. It panders far more to Drexciya’s oceanic obsessions than to dubstep’s bassweight fetish, and relishes in the tension of an all-too-long interlude that carves through the centre. There’s swing here for sure, but it relinquishes its power to a restless, jittery mood that offsets party vibes for something far more sinister.
Over on the A, the clipped two-step stylings of ‘The Next Meal’ prove less immediate, but vertiginous in depth. Although neither track makes any kind of concession to dancefloor ease – far from it – it’d probably be easier to get down to; its garagey flex ebbs and flows around warm gusts of sub that drift up from some subterranean lair. Hardly easy listening then, but a seriously impressive display of how it’s possible to assimilate the best bits from a host of other influences – techno, electro, dubstep, even noise – and reimagine them as something that’s entirely its own. It’s certainly a damn sight more compelling than his debut 12” for Apple Pips, and is suggestive of the emergence of something totally unique that for now remains hidden just around the next corner.
As much as his output as 2562 is exciting and intriguing in equal measure, Dave Huismans’ house and techno inspired music as A Made Up Sound manages to retain a sheer visceral thrill that just pips his other material to the post. Last year’s incredible 'Rework'/'Closer' EP is still on heavy rotation round these parts, the lead track’s lurching parabolic motion somehow even more exciting now than when it first emerged, and its follow up 'Sun Touch showcased a suitably deeper and more experimental bent. This month sees two new releases from the man like AMUS: a new pair of original tracks for his own label, and a pair of razor sharp remixes of Basic Soul Unit’s ‘Jack’d Freq’.
Huismans’ take on Basic Soul Unit is a little reminiscent of the awkward, peak-time power of his DJ sets; his ‘Puur Natuur’ remix rides off a gloriously bizarre, broken beat which maintains a relentless momentum despite its minimalist structure. Over the top he strafes the track with jagged barbs of synth, culminating in a slow peak and gradual dissociation. The ‘Acid Bonus’ mix on the flip fills in the gaps, pushing the A-side’s more considered shapes into overdriven techno territory. ‘Acid Bonus’ is about as terrifyingly apt a description as you could get as well, the track’s central motif a bracing wall of abrasive squiggle that takes the prettier melody of ‘Love In Outer Space’ and feeds it through a retro-futuristic blender.
His latest for his own AMUS label, the 'Alarm'/'Crisis' 12”, acts as a real contrast to the less straightforward ‘Jack’d Freq’ remixes: both tracks are among the most direct he’s put out. ‘Alarm’ retains their acid-tinted feel, but sets it over a heavy percussive jack, but ‘Crisis’ is the real gem here. It’s probably the thickest and most heady groove his A Made Up Sound music has ever managed to lock into, powered by steamroller bottom-end and his characteristic offbeat hi-hat figures. The overall result is sheer, brainmelting peak-time techno, but delivered in Huismans’ distinctive style it’s somehow both deliciously subtle and utterly brainless at once. Once again, he’s less leading the pack than forming a kind of vanguard, entering unknown and exciting territory long before anyone else even dares to follow.
