Saturday, September 26, 2015

20 years old




and this one is 22 years old (originally released 93)



Pun stuff

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

sheer lunacE



madding up the place!

(via Blog to the old skool)

the remix, from Vol 4




there's just so much Hkore, it's endless, a bottomless well

half tempted to post a load of Moon-themed ardkore but this blissy beauty will have to suffice for now




Sunday, September 13, 2015

The Present Illusion




terrific twisty-but-pummelling tune by The Present (Rusty Santos + Mina Ohashi) that taps into the sensual darkness of 93-96 but transplants it to 2015

the EP it's from - 'Energy & Sound Vol. 1 - is excellent

buy 

press release:

"On The Present's new EP ',' NYC based electronic music duo Mina Ohashi and Rusty Santos let loose an explosion of texture and raw energy.  Distorted sub bass, oblique melodies, rolling breaks bring to mind jungle/drum 'n' bass, footwork, and rave.  These elements are unified by Mina's fervent vocals and Rusty's production. "

wishing on stars









genre watch

dude at dissensus with inventory of new dance-ish genres of the 2010's so far and asks which one appears to be the biggest paradigm shift?

the list:

 - Deep Tech

- Jackin House

- Brostep 

- Chicago Bop

- Gqom

- Moombathon

- Trap

- Nu-grime/art-grime/industrial grime

- Ratchet

- Drumstep

- Zouk


paradigm shift? well lemme have a think 


deep tech
yes, down with this (although 2015 output been a bit flat, seemingly). that said, even its most fervent proponents ie. Dominic Datwun would not claim it as a Paradigm Shift

jackin house
niiiice - recombinant, though, another nuum-composite - and also it's gone away now, hasn't it?

brostep 
more a late 2000s thing? - fun enough, up to a point - the bastardization of dubstep and the best thing that could happen to it IMO (better than postdubstep's delta of diffusion) . Generative of some genuinely 21st Century sounds. Yes, verily, a paradigm shift.

chicago bop
a lusher Mustard-y extension of drill?

gquom
a distant relative of funky house? broken beat meets kwaito



Moombathon
s'alright. recombinant bizniz though.


trap
in the EDM sense (and things like DJ Snake, 'turn down for what') pretty exciting, but wears out its welcome.  Bit paradigm shifty, though. In the pure hip hop sense, gangsta part 345, so no P's shifted whatsoever.

Nu-grime/art-grime/industrial grime
the IDM-ification of a 13 or 14 year old genre; instrumentalizm, MC-free. As stand-alone audio objects, often impressively ugly, imposingly abstract. Stripped of all social energy = big minus for me.

Ratchet
yes love it, my favorite music of the 2010's so far probably. Although Mustard has spread himself a bit thin. But the extension of a long-running, not-terribly-fast-moving West Coast rap continuuum, if judged sternly. No Paradigm Shift, then. And perhaps run out of steam now, judging by what's been on the radio this year.

Drumstep
sort of baroque brostep really.... 




zouk 
cheesy! carnival sounds = knees up mother brown bizniz really. what Dr Paul Gilroy calls the sounds of "small island rapture"





Dissneus dude also mentions these are older-rooted sound that achieved wider popularity in the last 5 years:


- Footwork

- Jersey/Philly Club

- Azonto/Naija

- Kuduro


Of these I'd have to say that only footwork gets beyond recombinant bizness OR exoticified developing-world twist to existing North American/UK/European template

and footwork - it's got boring, don't you think? it's exhausted my interest anyway.





Another person on the tread mentions ballroom as a long established sound reaching a wider audience

Nightslugsy stuff also mentioned as nu - and i would agree that while mostly composite/recombinant they did in certain instances come up with some bracing and imposingly different - Classical Curves etc - but was it actually enjoyable I suppose is what I ask myself....  listening I would often think "yes this is striking - literally - the rhythms battering at one's body - but do i ever feel like listening to it again?' but perhaps this a lightweight objection....  i certainly don't mind "punishing" but there has to be some sense of bursting jouissance coming out of the ordeal

^^^^^^^^^


Overall i'd have to say, the tally is pretty poor, in terms of paradigm shifts


rare groove versus jungle

smooth soulful jungle and the rare groove / souljazz / quiet storm / jazzfunk tunes they cannibalised




(via Matos)

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

RIP Colin Faver

Uk acid and tekno krusader (and postpunk / industrial activist) Colin Faver remembered at -

FACT

Mixmag

RBMA

Resident Advisor



a life in left field music (borrowed from somewhere):

DJ Colin Faver's first involvement with music came when his friend offered him a part time job in a record shop, Small Wonder Records. He became a big fan of the punk and new wave music the shop specialized in and began to look for new acts to sign up and release on the newly formed Small Wonder record label.

Colin also designed and produced label & sleeve artwork for many of the fifty odd releases.
It was during this period he began to be a regular visitor to many of London's clubs and live venues. Eventually this lead to his first ever live DJ performance, when he was asked to stand-in for the regular dj at the legendary Marquee club in Soho. He then began to play regularly at this club and several other top punk clubs, THE Roxy, Vortex and the notorious Speakesy club (an after-hours club frequented by Hendrix in the 60’s and Sid Viscous in the 70’s)
After meeting many of the leading bands involved in the scene, Colin decided to promote his own concerts and club nights. With partner Kevin Millins he started a company Final Solution for this purpose. Their different approach to the business and creative selection of venues and line-ups gained them a great reputation in the industry. JOY DIVISION, NEW ORDER, CABARET VOLTAIRE, THROBBING GRISTLE, BAUHAUS, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN and CULTURE CLUB are just a few of the many acts he worked with.
Colin Favor's DJ career continued to gain momentum and apart from playing at his own nights, he could be heard at many trendy one-nighters including Cha Cha’s and The Bat Cave.
In 1982 the Camden Palace nightclub was opened and Colin was employed as head DJ, playing a wide selection of music, including soul, disco, hip hop, hi nrg, alternative, electro, and house every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This continued until 1988.
When the acid house scene exploded in London, Colin became involved with many new one nighters including THE SHOOM CLUB, HEDONISM, ENTER THE DRAGON and RIP. He also took up weekly residencies at THE ASYLUM and PYRAMID, two very popular nights in HEAVEN (London’s largest gay club). Alongside Eddie Richards he started his own weekly night at the WAG club in Wardour Street. On Tuesdays Colin jetted off to Paris to play a residency at THE REX CLUB.
In the late 80’s, early 90’s Colin Favor began to spin music all over the UK. He was heard frequently at the HACIENDA in Manchester, THE WAREHOUSE in Doncaster, STERNS in Worthing and THE ORBIT in Leeds. He also played at the huge rave events: RAINDANCE, SUNRISE, ENERGY, BACK TO THE FUTURE and BIOLOGY. Back in London he was one of the resident djs at RAGE in HEAVEN, when the breakbeat scene really took off. Colin began to spend much of his time globe trotting around the world, playing regularly in Europe and further a field to Japan, Australia, USA and Canada.
Next came the legendary "KNOWLEDGE", co-promoted by Colin Faver, Jane Howard and long time DJ colleague Colin Dale. It was there that many of the now world famous DJ’s first got to spin in the UK, including SVEN VATH, FRANKIE BONES, JOEY BELTRAM and RICHIE HAWTIN. The club gained worldwide recognition in the techno scene and one-off KNOWLEDGE night were held at many clubs throughout the UK. Colin has also played at many of the best techno events and clubs around the world: MAYDAY, LOVE PARADE, TRESOR and E-WERKS (Berlin), TUNNEL and UNIT (Hamburg), THE OMEN & DORIAN GRAY (Frankfurt), ULTRASCHALL (Munich), THE FUSE and HELLRAISER (Belgium), STREET PARADE (Zurich), TWILO (New York), DESTINY (Toronto), ARRIVAL FESTIVAL (Montreal) and the debut of Tribal Gathering in the UK.
In 1993 alongside Colin Dale he teamed up with Brenda Russell to start a new night called DEEPSPACE. This ran for 9 months as a weekly Friday event at The Paddocks (now Leisure Lounge) in Holborn, London. In ‘95 DEEP SPACE was relaunched as a monthly Saturday night party at THE END nightclub. This lead to SUBMERGE, a weekly night on Wednesdays at the legendary Gossips nightclub in London’s Soho.
He has also made regular guest appearances, at LOST, EUROBEAT 2000, SEX LOVE AND MOTION,ANALOGUE CITY and ULTIMATE BASE in London. Also ATOMIC JAM (Birmingham), OUTERLIMITS (Bournemouth), GUESHKY (Portsmouth) and the LAKOTA (Bristol).
His radio work began with a weekly Sunday show at Moorfields Eye Hospital in the 70’s, which he gave up after he began to play too many Sex Pistols tracks instead of the Andy Williams songs the patients had actually requested! He was later to be one of the founder members of pirate station KISS FM, which applied and gained legal status in September 1990. Colin presented many different shows on the station, including his weekly techno show which was on the air every Tuesday night until June 1997. On this show he featured cutting edge techno music and interviewed many international artists/ DJ’s: DERRICK MAY, KRAFTWERK, JUAN ATKINS, KEVIN SAUDERSON, JOEY BELTRAM, DAMON WILD, IAN POOLEY, APHEX TWIN, HARDFLOOR, KELLI HAND, LAWRENCE BURDEN and CARI LEKEBUSCH just to name a few.
He has also presented music on GAIA LIVE and performed live mixes from THE GLOBAL CAFE, on the internet. Plus one-of shows on FESTIVAL RADIO in Brighton and Edinburgh. His mixes have also been heard on Euronet Weekend Rave which was broadcast to the whole of Europe via satellite, RADIO1, KISSFM in Berlin and NOVA in Paris.
The RABBIT CITY record label was co-founded by Colin and Gordan Matthewman in 1991. The first release was their own production under the alias of Razor Boy and Mirror Man. Many more releases followed including early work by the APHEX TWIN, Spiral Tribe and FORCE MASS MOTION, who had sent demo tapes to Colin’s radio show. He has also been involved with production work for MUTE Records and remixes for FORTRAN FIVE, S-EXPRESS and BABY FORD.
Colin Favor was asked to mix one of the TRANCE CENTRAL cds for the KICKIN Label and in ‘96 he compiled and mixed the first in the TECHMIX series on the same label. In 1997 he compiled and mixed the CREATIVE TECHNO cd for the CLUB MASTERS series.
Recently he has compiled and mixed the second in the series of REWIND THE CLASSICS cds for UNDERCOVER MUSIC. Featuring tracks from UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE, JEFF MILLS, LUKE SLATER and many of the other artists from the KNOWLEDGE era of 92-93.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I knew about Final Solution - and tried, without success, to interview Faver for Rip It Up. But not about the Small Wonder connection - wonder if it was him who A&R-ed my faves Fatal Microbes as in "Violence Grows"?



Also didn't know about his involvement with Rabbit City Records, a great little UK hardcore / hard tekno label.... 







I do remember his Kiss FM shows, which tended towards the pure tekno but would occasionally allow a bit of ardkore in  (in fact I can recite from memory the exact way he would introduce such tracks with a tinge of ironic distance - "a lickle bitta ardkore")







I also remember Knowledge, which was impressively committed in vibe, but for me too austere and slaphead-puritan

a whole bunch of trax popular with the Knowledge massive

including this one




this though is a tribute to Knowledge by artists on the techno-leaning end of jungle



flipside not unaptly titled "Punishment" given the vaguely flagellatory atmosphere of the harder end of pure techno in the early-mid 90s

I believe PCP crew made an appearance at Knowledge - that's something I would have liked to witnessed


More Rabbit City banging bizniz from back in the ravey day













In addition to 58 Force Mass Motion tracks, Rabbit City also put out Analogue Bubblebath 2 by Aphex Twin

Which includes this track, which discogs says is titled "Alien Fanny Farts"



An untitled track from the EP



the lead track