We wrote about 10-20’s debut album for the Highpoint Lowlife label a while back, dipping our ears into “the poison and pollution of a lifetime spent pondering numerous genres of electronica” and loving every last echo we found. Since then he’s released a series of landform EPs – geographically themed snapshots of a journey through dystopian landscape called ‘Island,’‘Lake’ and ‘Mountain’ - for the label, with the fourth and final installment, ‘Isthmus’ (apparently its a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side), due at some point in the next month.
Much like the eponymous album, much of the work on these releases channels numerous elements of sound; aligning whirrs you’d be accustomed to finding on Autechre records, with the static wash of Burial and the unquantized bump of Dabrye. Out of the three EPs already available ‘Lake’ is possibly the highlight, thanks in no small part to the disjointed mess that is ‘Endzone’ and the insistent post Dilla thump of ‘Boat’ when its given a telling sound designer’s overhaul. ‘Ishtmus’ only further displays 10-20’s ferocious talent for textures; merging the distorted greyscale static of Boards of Canada with his twisted version of a 2-step beat on ‘Halogen.’ The tear out white noise manipulation and ominous throb of ‘Athens’ follows, complete with typewritter chatter percussion, elongated chimes and trickles of awkward melody before it all subsides into the slow motion drum programming of ‘Zizec,’ its kick drums and disturbed chants bumping like it came straight out of a late nineties era Anticon producer’s MPC.
Ultimately these four releases build up the second essential as hell album from 10-20, a scary talent whose productions properly flesh out his noise heavy post-electronica ideas. Thanks to the kind people at HPLL you can download ‘Zizec’ in full glorious technisound here...
DOWNLOAD:10-20 - Zizec [Exclusive Sonic Router download]
You can catch 10-20 alongside Roof Light at the first of HPLL's monthly parties this coming Thursday at the Big Chill Bar, London.
The Village Orchestra aka as Ruaridh Law, has been prolific this year dropping not one but two albums, the first being a techno digi-record called ‘The Dark Is Rising’ on Stuff and the second being an ambient piece ‘I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again’ on Highpoint Lowlife. The Stuff 12” is again on the techno side of things with a re-rub of ‘The Dark Is Rising’ joint ‘Afanc’ and a newer track on the flip. It’s also one of the last 12”s to be released on Stuff before they merge with Dress 2 Sweat and Wireblock to form the mega label Numbers.
The ‘Afanc Remix’ is a hypnotic dubbed out joint that bubbles with subtle 303-like acid grooves and electro inspired drum sounds, filtered pads and dream like synths with orchestral flourishes that eek out a hazy melancholic atmosphere - not unlike his ambient excursions on ‘I Can Hear…’ - set to a techno pulse that feels built to zone out dance floors.
‘Dot and Hashes’ is another ‘zoner’ only with more of an electro feel, that sets skipping robotic grooves against reverberating bleep tones to a head nodding stagger led drum pattern as layers of hypnotic pads evolve and everything breaks into a locked groove, leaving behind the rigid robotic limp and pushing onward with grime-like bass pulses.
His latest turn for the Highpoint Lowlife label, ‘The Starry Wisdom,’ continues in his own very static drenched style, setting electrical currents swirling around constant kick drums whose impact seems to actually ripple on ‘Aklo Cut With Saffron.’ The delayed tom drum textures of ‘Arkham, Mass’ continue the disjointed feel, perplexing the ear with panning low end stabs before everything swells up into this kind of tortured kitchen appliance swamp that’s micro programmed to perfection.
Furthering the almost archaic and grand lineage in song titles, ‘The Esoteric Order of S’ is probably the most forthwith production on offer, as evident when the beat drops, replanning classic electro sounds into a new score in time with the muscular sawing b-line and ‘Non-euclidian’ concentrates its presence harder on the punch of the kick drum as Law splices in repeating claps and off beat plops of melody to the loop progressions.
Law’s distinctive electronic voice definitely sits somewhere between music for the head and tracks the dance floor; ending up not a million miles away from the resulting productions if the idiosyncratic experiments of Mordant Music collided with the hypnotic layered techno of GAS. Both of these releases are heady 12”s for the more adventurous heads out there, pushing an borderline psychedelic strain of no holds barred techno.
Word: James Balf & Oli Marlow Out: Soon/Now (respectively)
To mark these releases Highpoint Lowlife have done us the sterling turn of giving us one of the digital only bundled tracks from ‘The Starry Wisdom’ to give to you at the cost of a couple of mouse clicks.
Scottish producer Gravious, has re-appeared with a glut of live shows, after a seemingly year long hiatus from releases, after 3 singles on HotFlush and its sub label Scuba. His recent 'Futurist EP' (full review here) for the London based Highpoint Lowlife label was reportedly inspired by visions of the future fitting considering that on the strength of it and of his own productions his future is as bright as a certain mobile phone companies idea to give away 2 for 1 cinema tickets.
We caught up with him to learn a little something while we nabbed our 20th exclusive mix.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Gravious: Yes! My name is Ali, and I produce slightly leftfield Dubstep tunes under the alias Gravious. I'm an Edinburgh boy, but have been based in Glasgow for the last 8 years. My first release came out on Scuba, a sub-label of HotFlush Recordings, back in 2006. That was followed by 3 more on HotFlush, and more recently by an EP on Highpoint Lowlife.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
Outside of music, I am still Ali, but I do a 9-to-5 for an organisation distributing funding money to voluntary and community projects, as the music alone doesn't keep me fed and sheltered.
When did you get into producing?
My mate Rob showed me the basics of production back in 2001, and it really took hold over the next few years. Before then I'd played guitar and stuff, and been well into music, so it seemed like the logical step as I got into more electronic styles.
What is your set up like now compared to back then for making music?
To be honest, I'm still on a pretty basic setup compared to most! I just have a PC, a small midi keyboard and a pair of speakers. Most of the software I use is about 5 years out of date, and I don't use much in the way of plug-ins, but the stuff I do use I know inside out. I kind of like being limited in some way, as you can totally lose yourself in all the hundreds of synths, VSTis and stuff out there. I've used a lot of those things, but I find it slows down the creative process if I have too many...
What first sucked you in to dubstep?
I first heard dark-garage and early Dubstep through J Da Flex and Femme Fatale when they were both had 1Xtra shows back in 2004, and that was what really hooked me on the sound. There were tracks they played that just sounded like nothing else – futuristic and bass-heavy, and with really different beats. From there I started buying records, and checking out the forum on the old Dubplate.net, which always had mix-sets and Rinse shows posted up – which was about the only way to hear that stuff up in Scotland. It was about then, 04/05, that I also started producing Dubstep stuff myself.
Gravious – Subterfuge [Hotflush]
There is loads of quality music coming out of Glasgow your hometown at the moment do you get mixed up in all the goings on up there and what are you really feeling at the moment?
There is indeed! Obviously Rustie is putting out some massive tunes, and has been for some time now – likewise HudMo. I'm also feeling Darell's beats at the moment, after seeing a few of his live sets at my mate's night, so check him out.
There's a really healthy scene for that kind of off-kilter bass heavy stuff up here, which is wicked, although I've not been too involved with those guys directly. There are also some really good Glasgow based people on Highpoint Lowlife too – check out The Village Orchestra in particular. I've not been playing that much in Glasgow recently actually! Which is a shame (hint hint promoters, ho ho), I think I need to get myself out there a bit more locally.
Who is exciting you musically at the moment?
In dubstep, people like Hyetal, Peverelist, Untold and Joker are all really doing it for me at the moment. They all have a distinctive sound, and have interesting stuff going on in their tracks that set them apart from much of the rest of the scene. There are always others too, but I have a poor memory! Otherwise, ‘Mirrored’ by Battles has been on constant rotation on my player for the past year.
How did your latest release the ‘Futurist EP’ come about for Highpoint Lowlife and what was the inspiration for it?
Originally, Thorsten from Highpoint Lowlife approached me about some tracks for a compilation album project, at the start of last year, but eventually that ended up being a 3-track EP that came out in May. The three tracks weren't written specifically as an EP, and in fact I made ‘Vultures,’ the second track, back in 2007. It came out of my anger at corporate greed in Africa, as it happens (right on brother...). The other 2, ‘Jupiter Jazz’ and ‘World of Tomorrow’ were more blatantly retro-futuristic in their style, so they are pretty heavily indebted to historical visions of the future, which is something I find really interesting. You can tell a lot about a period in the past from its visions of the future, like the gleaming utopias of the 50s and 60s as opposed to the Terminators and post-apocalytics of the cold-war era.
I can hear a hint of Underground Resistance and Detroit techno in the ‘Futurist EP’ and other bits, you have that futuristic soulful melancholic vibe going on at times but with that dance floor edge, is that an important part of your sound or just coincidence?
To be honest, it is more coincidence than design, although I have been getting more into the UR/Detroit stuff recently. It must have influenced me indirectly though, I'm sure, because I can hear it when I listen to that stuff now. However, I've seen a couple of reviews of my track ‘Jupiter Jazz’ recently that claim I named it after a UR track, but I'm afraid that's nonsense! It's actually a reference to Cowboy Bebop, a slightly obscure but brilliant Anime series which I was mildly obsessed with when I made it.
There is a really melodic sound to your tracks. How do these come about, do you tinkle on a keyboard, pluck them out of thin air or just have a knack and ear for melody?
Melody is really important to me in my tracks, so it's usually the first thing I work on. So much dance music has great sounds, but no tune. Sometimes that's great, but I find it hard to make good tracks that way. For me, if I'm lucky or on a roll, I sometimes just hear something in my head, and put it down, and it works. More often though, it's just mucking about on my little keyboard and seeing what happens, then tidying it up afterwards.
I see you’ve been playing all over the world recently to everywhere from Australia to Holland what has been your favourite moment out on tour?
Running over a 2-metre long snake on the way out to a bush rave in Australia was pretty crazy! Couldn't really call that a favourite moment though... That gig was in this Mad-Max style home-made shack about three stories tall, and it had the most incredible lighting set-up I've ever seen, so that has to be up there.
The view out of the TV-Tower I played in Hungary was pretty awesome as well. Generally, it's still pretty mind-blowing just pitching up to these gigs and finding that people the other side of the country/continent/world recognise some of my tunes!
What does your live show entail?
The live show entails me with a laptop, midi-controller, keyboard and Ableton with Reason plugged into it. Basically I don't have enough arms/RAM to play everything live, so I play bits live, use a bunch of audio loops and effects, and sort of recreate the tracks again on the fly.
Tell us a little bit about the mix you have done for us, what tracks just really had to be there?
There's a bunch of tracks I'm really feeling at the moment on there. ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ by Hyetal is one that I've been caning for a bit now, so I'm glad to say that will be out really soon. It has great futuristic vibes over a solid beat. I threw that DFRNT track in there too, but there were loads of other great tracks of his I could have put in – he's got some big stuff up his sleeves, a fellow Scot as well... The Kaskaad, Vaccine and Funk Ethics tracks are also belters, and the Ikonika one is a an old favourite. There is also, a cheeky first public outing for my remix of Deep Child.
What have you got in the works right now and what’s forthcoming?
The Deep Child remix is out soon on a Sub Continental Dubs 12”, and I have two remixes of tracks by German rudeboy Don Goliath coming in the next few months. I also have 12”s lined up on Pollen records, Davey Jones (a new project from the Clandestine Cultivations guys) and !113g@1 v@1u3 in Australia.
I will also be launching Gravious.com in the next week or so, so check it! It has audio for just about everything I've done, and loads of mixes archived.
Have you got anything else you want to tell us, words of wisdom for our readers?
If you do a live set, stick tennis racket grip-tape to the bottom of your kit – it stops the bass from rattling your laptop onto the floor...
To link you up with a bunch of forthcoming music business on his own Highpoint Lowlife label Mr. Sideb0ard has spun together an eclectic session mix for you featuring bits from The Village Orchestra, Calika and Production Unit...
A special mention goes in right here for 10-20, whos forthcoming EP series I've been lucky enough to hear in their entiriety. Something very special is coming.
Rare Villains - We Love Slice Depakote - Calculator 10-20 - Hallow TVO - non-euclidian Erik XVI - Unionens sista dagar Brassica - show me what music is Dalglish - Ap3p.W9 Calika - Gioconda Production Unit - It's Personal
10-20 has announced a series of 4 limited run EPs called ‘Isthmus’, ‘Mountain’, ‘Island’, and ‘Lake’ to follow up his astounding self titled debut album (full review here) AND, as a taster he's spun together a 15 minute mix featuring some of the forthcoming tracks which you can grab below...
Sci-Fi has been an inspiration for many electronic artists, from Kraftwerk to Herbie Hancock and even El-P every one of them has been influenced by the the use of machines to make sounds. One group who were hugely indebted to the sound were the pioneers of the second wave of Detroit techno, UR. They had a throw back futurism sound that somehow managed to sound like the point were the unknown and the past combined. You can hear this in tracks like ‘Hi-Tech Jazz’ where the sounds are not from this world but the funk and soul is firmly grounded.
Gravious has pulled off a similar feel on the ‘Futurist EP.’ The first track with it’s UR nodding name, ‘Jupiter Jazz’ skips and builds with deep bass, bleeps, emotive pads and machine funk that truly blossoms with texture when the swirls and chiming open hi hats take over transporting it to a dance floor set somewhere between the Green Hill Zone of Sonic The Hedgehog and bar in the first Star Wars film.
‘Vultures’ is a little bit of a shock after the colourful vibes of the EP opener, rolling out a dark bass evolution under open snares and tortured chants. When listened to in succession ‘Vultures’ contrasts the tracks it intersperses so perfectly, providing a whole heap more impact whilst showing that Graviousisn’t all swooning jazz leads and complicated chord sequences by relying solely on bass frequencies and drum pressure to drive the track home.
The finale, ‘World of Tomorrow’ is like a subtle, mellow version of the first track, full of emotive strings tweaks, bleeps and the kind of bass that hits you like a wall of stale air in the dance. Like the soundtrack to some dystopian winged car advert it rushes and swings in much the same way as the output of Brackles and Shortstuff and if their recent spike in profile is anything to go by this producer seems set for great things.
FACT magazine, in conjunction with Highpoint Lowlife, are giving away a free download of the first The Village Orchestra album 'Et In Arcadia Ego.'
They've kindly used the interview we did with Ruaridh a while back, giving our words more scope, impact and a new home. More info and a ZIP link after the jump.
