November 2005 Archives
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Sprawl
Wednesday 9th November 2005
Charterhouse Bar, Charterhouse Street, London
Considering the history of London and electronic music, this capital should have experimental electronic music nights coming out of its ears. True, the high-brow arts scene has irregular forays into such left-field activities. But Douglas Benford (aka Si-Cut.Db) and Iris Garrelffs have managed to keep their Sprawl nights on an accessible street level for nearly 10 years.
Tonight's entertainment consists of three white guys staring motionless into computer equipment.
Mike Cooper, I'm told, has an extensive discography and has moved from all forms of guitar work into more experimental and electronic territories. Armed with a miniture pedal steel, sample bank and mini-disc player. He coaxes an ever-fluctuating drone that takes in textural analysis, found sounds and noise to hypnotic effect.
Octex navigates through weightless dub that intrigues before familiar percussive patterns render his set slightly predictable. It's left up to AM/PM to conclude the evening with style. His accessible fusion of classicist tones and micro-techno rhythmics are exploratory and revealing.
Needless to say, its about as exciting as watching paint dry. But then, these nights aren't about stage theatrics.
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Various Artists: Low End Dubs (Boka) - 12"
Number 2 and 3 from Boka Records: more welcome additions to the dubstep movement. DJ Distance impressed with his first 12" and whilst Mark One continues to explore areas less concerned with the dancefloor. The two offerings on this 12" seemed a bit too sparse, too disjointed for my liking. 'Lost Gold' weaves arabic / indian motifs into its pattern, whilst 'The Greatest' stutters electro handclaps to free-falling sub bass.
More successful are the offerings on 'Low End Dubs'. Slaughter Mob finally managing to deliver something that I actually like. 'Tinji' cranks up the tension with slow build; smart drum programming and an ever mutating B-line are the essential ingredients. Professor J-S also impresses with a multi-layered approach on 'Militia'; where roughed up bass leads and everything else follows.
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Node1: State Zero (Boxer Sport) - 12"
As much as I try to write something clever and original about this release, I just can't seem to shake off the comment that some smart-arse wrote on Discogs: "sounds like Trentemoller sold his soul to the devil to make the record." That sounds about right. The other releases on this fledgling Danish label don't quite reach the stunning heights scaled by Trentemoller, but they're just as engaging.
Meanwhile Koln's Boxer Sport have been going for nearly four years and in that time, have notched up an impressive number of releases. None of which I've heard. This release is by Node1; it came out in May 2003, is the only release i have on this label and is pretty fucking sweet. You'd have thought that the remix by Reinhard Voight would be the highlight, but it isn't. The title track is sophisticated schaffel with smatterings of midnight jazz and suppressed acid. Yes.
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Jackie Mitoo: Ayatollah (Basic Replay) - 12"
Tenastelin & Keety Roots: Burial Tonight (Basic Replay) - 12"
Stunning slice of dancehall_reggae courtesy of Chessie Roots at the controls with nephew Ackie on the mic. The A-side is a smart excursion into scuzzed-bass dynamics peppered with 8-bit machine gun fire, whilst the B-side is its natural extension. superior re-configured dub from North London via Berlin. Essential.
Jackie Mittoo scares the shit out of everyone on 'Ayatollah': psychedlic swirls and rapid-fire echoes with what little vocals are left being pushed down in the mix. Before buying everyone a round of drinks on 'Mash Down Babylon'. The forces of good and dread battle it out on a single piece of vinyl. Special.
Finally, Tenastalin graces an innovative mix of R'n B and reggae on this sublime cut. 'Commercial Bwoy' actually swings along to a ragga swagger; sweet honey-dripped vocals against machine-drum antics. 'Burial Tonight' is more straightforward, but its simplicity is its charm.
No filler. All Killa.
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Buying drum'n bass records has a certain 'hard man' quality to it. Label, artist and track names all ooze masculinity to the max. I mean, I'm totally intimidated when I'm downstairs at Black Market Records. Attitude and a steadfast refusal to go away have played a part in the scene's longevity.
But even with all this front, I find that the majority of records simply don't cut it. You have to remember I flirt with the likes of Venetian Snares and Merzbow here: I can take a sonic punishment. These records seem to be all talk and no action.
But Barcode Recordings are an exception. Relentless, pounding and hyper hyper. Their entire catalogue will totally appeal to those who find solace in breakcore and all its ilk. Whilst still retaining that pop edge that exists in all the best jungle. This release is all I had to hand, but needless to say I doubt there's a duffer in any of the other thirteen releases so far.
Girls need not apply. It's a bloke thing.
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Milos: M.Case Remixed (!"@.*!%) - 12"
What were they thinking when they came up with the name for this label. Still, shows that the people responsible must have a sense of humour. 'Cos there's nothing funny about any of the four, deeply frozen nuggets of techno here. Basically, two are great and the other two merely grate. 'Silence' and '35MM' are reserved and explore areas of sub to superb effect. But the remaining duo of 'See the Dawn' and 'Ich Weiss Nicht' contain repetitive, brittle melodies that eventually lead to mild annoyance. A 12" of two halves then.
Oh yes! Remixes too....Tomas Jirku instantly warming things up with a disco-fired crank revision of 'Silence' that far outdoes with original. Portable tackles the same track, stripping the original's starkness and injecting microbes of african loopism.
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Favourite London Things No.342 in an ongoing series: New Piccadilly Cafe
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Occasional writing stints for KultureFlash have reminded me of established music journalist etiquette. Like where you mention records around the time of the release date. But i'd always fuck that up by either slinging or losing the accompanying press release.
Proof being in these very pages, where music that came out possibly years ago gets written about as if they've only just been released. Hoping that none of you people will notice this clerical error. So here's something that won't see the light of day until January 2006. I think the powers-that-be refer to this as a preview.
The Blow: touchy-feely indie from somewhere in the U.S, probably all very nice. I don't know, not heard it and in some ways I don't really have to. But this is something special, something that goes beyond the usual 'indie meets electronic' exercise.
Caro throws in two mixes: 'Puddles of Love' and 'Sea of Love'. The latter is epic, emotional and overwrought. Every syllable of Khaela Maricich's vocals are punctuated by stop/start beats. Interluded with 808 workouts and filmic strings.
But unless something else comes out before Christmas, Strategy's remix will remain as the most astonishing electronic pop record I'll have heard in 2005. Mutated vocoder vocals, dampened piano riffs and sparingly used beats elevate this to the next level.
"Pick it up, try it, get tired of it, rewind."
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I guess the appeal stems from a long standing fascination with digital noise. Terms like dark ambient, drone and doom metal might sound silly to those who object to music's never-ending classifications. But totally speaks to the likes of me. I'm having difficulty trying to put how I feel about these records into words. Needless to say they've seemed to occupy my listening post on an almost daily basis. Once i've worked out what exactly is going on, I'll try to impart some opinions. In the meantime, just backtrack like I did and purchase everything else this lot have done.
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Hug: The Angry Ghost (K2) - 12"
Robert Babicz: Mister Head! (K2) - 12"
Gui Boratto: Arquipélago (K2) - 12"
Kompakt, not content with dominating the minimal house demographic, decide to launch K2: a techno offshoot. Utterly desirable; the beautifully rich black and red packaging, that familiar and comfortable Kompakt font and the cool, calculated sense of detachment. It's fucking difficult to resist.
Steadycam's flush velvet glide of 'Caress' is a good start as any; chorded blips underpin bass kicks, moody asides slide by with sneer and venom. Hug is better known as John Dahlback and continues his raucous, flirty approach to minimal sequencing. 'Fluteorgie' containing enough drama and tension to propel you towards the dancefloor with 'Pip' really turning the screws.
Robert Babicz gets all blissed out with an overtly melancholic jaunt in 'Sonntag' and propulsive, euphoric acid disco on 'Mister Head'. But Gul Boratto wins out over all with two flights of refined restraint that contain ideas above their station. Hailing from Brazil, this naturally sounds loose and limber. Natural, unenforced build up of ideas and sounds lead to a trade-off that's worth the wait.
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Transmat's release policy makes no sense at all. As in, it's totally non existent. Their decrepit, crumbling (but oh-so-techno looking) website schedules releases from artists that have never seen the light of day. I mean, I know Derrick May is a slack fucker, but what's the excuse of the others?
Still, this compilation points to what might have been. Twenty-one tracks of new wave Detroit Techno. Sitting together, they form a formidable force. Individually, some of these tracks could go on to 'classic' status.
I'll leave the final word to Jonathan Burnip of Soul Jazz Records: "This could have been a feather in the cap for Detroit techno and a black eye for European minimalism."
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Always meant to write something about this Rotterdam-based label. But they don't make it easy. Transparency not exactly a major characteristic of minimal techno. The impenetrable website and sleeve artwork give absolutely nothing away. But with the likes of Frank Bretschneider, Taylor Deupree and Anders Ilar gracing their small but perfectly formed roster, it's got be worth investigating.
My first experience of Audio.nl came quite late. 2002, Barcelona, Sonar Festival. Was record shopping with the late, great John Peel. Ended up in some shop called CD.Drome (stones throw from the CCCB complex, where the festival was being held). Flitting through the rack of pixel graphics and reserved colours that made up the minimal techno section, I chanced across a group of records draped in loud orange.
We both took turns to listen to the four available releases.
The free-floating propulsion of 'Gok' by Motor could fuel an entire night at a club. Weightless showers of resonance engulf submerged bass kicks. No wonder we both spent an hour at the customer turntables.
We took whatever they had left in the shop. The urgent impulsive haze that consumes any lover of vinyl came over us both. Quickly followed by a warm glow and beaming smiles. And in John's case, a gentlemanly nod to indicate extra satisfaction.
Fast forward to May 2005 and the last release came from Sweden's Anders Ilar. 'Enkel' is best described as isolationist, dub-inspired techno. Cyclic, hypnotic and mysterious. Not a single slack moment here; the clipped shear of opener 'Paragraf' leads you out of the light, before the logic-gate propelled abstraction of 'Endast' clip and anchor themselves to a groove.
A limited palette means that it might be too dry for some. But its not all introverted digital inspection. Movements like 'Tenfold' and the excellent 'Kondensator' even hint at tonal melody that bring it closer to minimal house.
But like most of Audio.nl's output, I'd be lying if I said it was surefire dancefloor material. These guys are more interested in texture and mathematics. Exploring the extreme edges of spaces that we're familiar with. Receptive, alert, senses on enter.
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After a stressful period of moving flat, it seemed quite apt that the piece of music that should glue the old and new flat together is entitled 'Transitions'. Richie Hawtin's latest Mix CD has been totally worth the wait and definitely eased the pain of shifting boxes into a Transit.
Must mention the old place. We'd been there 5 and a half years. So we'd grown attached to it, despite the fact that (at the time) it was in an undesirable area and the flat itself resembled something that you bought from Ikea. Cheap materials, could be constructed from flat-pack.
For those who know our capital, it was in Cricklewood. A disjointed, shabby part of North West London. Even people who knew London, didn't know where it was. I'd then have to describe how it was sandwiched in between Kilburn (earthy, busy) and Golders Green (posh, Jewish).
With no real outstanding landmarks to speak of other than the B&Q DIY Centre, it's main focus of attention was the rag-tag collection of London-standard lo-grade shops that made up the Broadway. Shopping nirvana if your idea of heaven is purchasing fried chicken, phonecards, one-pound household items and foreign vegetables.
But as time wore on, the curse of the single professional took over and before you knew it. A Holmes Place gym had opened up (resulting in house prices creeping up in the immediate area), Hummers, Jeeps and sports cars replaced the ageing saloons parked on streets. Irish drinking dens transformed into showroom style bars and, heck, even a 5-star hotel opened up on the high road.
Progress, I guess.
Where are we now? The media-ridden enclave of Muswell Hill. Where middle-class mum's in pushchairs rule the streets and British TV actors lurk in overpriced coffee shops. Disagreeable to the max, but for now...it's home.
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Koerner & Treplec: Unterumgehtsbesser (Milnor Modern) - 12"
Milnor Modern rapidly ascending new heights with these two releases. On the first 12", the opening tilted schaffel of Nisios 'Divagadora' is refreshing and sexy. Just waiting for smart DJ's to play this out loud.
Koerner & Treplec soundtrack a night time drive through American cities in a convertible. Beats streak and trail like passing lights forever chasing distant darkness. Phases of out-of-focus chords, echoed vocals and subtle tweaks to the rhythm weave in and out of the sequenced traffic. Propulsion eases in and things move up a gear.
Actually, there's nothing to really review here, just purchase everything on this label and we'll get on just fine. Pick up the Robag Whrume 12" that came out before these two as well. (The smart graphic design of the sleeves is also worthy of mention.)
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Various Artists: Adjunct Volume Two (Adjunct Audio) - 12"
Stellar start for this new US label pushing more accessible adventures in click. On 'Volume One' its the A-side that makes the mark. Pheek's 'Boot Me' making the drums do all the hard work: harmonising beats and the merest of nods to a melody. But fuck me, John Tejada's effort puts everything else in its place. An epic, bass-heavy transition from minimal house to uplifting acid. The subsequent efforts by Bruno Pronsato and [a]pendics.shuffle struggle to cope in its wake.
On the second 12", Paradroid dazzles with a Sutekh inspired turn of burnt crisp techno. Jazz flourishes and funky dispersments of glitch nudge this along nicely. Mikael Stavostrand dilutes his mix with teaspoons of funk, and Tomas Jirku surprises with a flickered exercise in bass weight.
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Nicely timed release from AM/PM. The sun-drenched streets of Barcelona as depicted on the cover art betray the contents within. As clock's shift back, degree's drop and light reduces. The arrival of winter now has an appropriate soundtrack. Rhythms reduced down to efficient arctic blips and melodies encased in frosted matter. Compositions that create tint and temperature. Reference: Pantone Colour 249M.
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Amazes me that labels actually bother to release mix CD's. Do people still listen to them? With the proliferation of the DIY ethic perpetuated by the Internet. Artists, blog writers and bedroom DJ's have relegated the art of the mix down to free MP3's.
But Mr. Hawtin is different, he digitally boils down loads of carefully selected loops of minimal techno / house into a tight 97 minute lesson in reductionism using Ableton's Live software. Part mix, part software showoff.
It moves through the motions; snippets of disco, pulse-driven techno and machine coded percussion. Construction parts supplied by the likes of Sleeparchive, Thomas Brinkmann and his mate Villalobos.
The CD knocks the mix down to 74 minutes, but the DVD contains the full mix as a movie and as an MP3. The extra content is just that: extra, but this release is more about sonic purity and Hawtin's exploration of getting even closer to the edit.
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You wait all year for a decent mix CD to turn up and two come along at once! Whilst 'Transitions' (above) socialises in more technical circles, Mr. Galluzzi's mix fritters to good times. With only thirteen tracks mixed to a total running time of just over an hour, it's an unhurried and relaxed effort.
From the lesser known practitioners of click such as Ali Khan and C:C/P (nope, me neither) to more internationally recognised brands such as Lusine and Wighnomy Brothers. It's a nicely balanced / finely judged lesson in all things minimal. Besides, any mix that includes the stunning 'Easy Woman' by Metaboman demands your attention.
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