I haven't heard the record in question, but there's some very perceptive comments on the nature of minimal techno here.

Interesting account of Shackleton's exploits across the pond over at Deep Time. Paul's setlist almost reads like a quiet night in at Gutter HQ. I don't know how, or when, but me and Autonomic are destined to go back-2-back one day.

Innit

THIS YEAR'S MODELL

For all addicts of dubby ambient minimal techno, you gotta grab a copy of the new Deep Chord release. It ain't cheap, but 'Vantage Isle' is some of the deepest shit you're likely to hear this year. The various versions are spread over two 12-inch and one clear-vinyl 7-inch, sheathed in a plastic sleeve. As usual, produced in Detroit by Rod Modell, but with additional remix/collaboration from Convextion and Soultek, this is the sound of the Motor City dubmerged in Berlin. The ongoing data-exchange between these two cities can still throw out some incredibly subtle, emotional music. Modell has been a shadowy figure for a number of years releasing limited-run vinyl transmissions, but this release, the first from new imprint Echospace, suggests he's ready to start claiming some much-deserved respect and attention in the current Basic Channel-inspired climate of atmospheric chord-based, echo-drenched techno mindscapes. Grab it at Boomkat (if you can afford it!)

On a similar tip, look out for Marko Furstenburg's 'Surphased EP' (A.R.T less), Quantec's 'Subsurface Structure EP' (on Denmark's Echocord label) and of course 'Reverberation/Reverberate', the second release from Substance & Vainqueur's Scion Versions imprint.

Kwikchord Mix
(15 mins, 128kbps, see 'lyrics' for tracklist)

I noticed I was getting a few referrals from this forum thread. 1991 business at FWD>>? Oris Jay dropping 'LFO' in his set? Makes sense for a Northern lad to be proud of his heritage. Brapple. But I imagine a '91 set at FWD>> will be more about early breakbeat rave and proto-jungle. I'll be interested to hear how it went..

Nice overview of Rob Smith's career over at Roots & Wires blog. Don't forget that Rob's debut dubstep-flavoured release is now in the shops. Check Kek's review, which is absolutely spot-on - there's nothing more to add. Another quality release from Bristol's Punch Drunk imprint! The next one's gonna be from Gatekeeper, I think...

Further investigation of the Bristol-Berlin connection in Blackdown's latest Pitchfork column. Essential reading, as always. Also, for a nice, objective, unbiased view of the Skull Disco CD, check 11V's review. (and no, I'm not gonna put you right on anything, Colin - your opinion's as good as anyone else's).

SOME PICTURES...

I could make all sorts of excuses for the lack of substantial posts here recently, but if I'm being really honest, the main problem is another crippling bout of writer's block. Seriously, my mind is a beautiful blank. I have fuck all to say about fucking anything, and frankly my dear I don't give a shit. But that doesn't mean I'm not still loving the music and enjoying the underground club scene here in Bristol. So I figured I'd brighten the place up with a few photos I took recently on my new 'Cyber-shot' mobile phone during my recent adventures at Highroad and H.E.N.C.H. Thanks to Chris and Tony for giving me a couple of rare opportunities to play out again, and big-up all the crew who came down, cos it's always a pleasure to see you guys. Special mention for my Highroad djing 'partner' Delsa (our grimey head-to-head was gloriously ramshackle) and also for my old buddies Mike and Aaron, not forgetting the redoubtable Doppelganger, for dragging their crusty carcases off the sofa for a good night out.

Highroad's genial host, Mr. Chris, warming-up the room nicely

Shiny happy bassheadz

Headhunter gets ill

Hair-raising: Gatekeeper fondles the faders

I was thinking of sending this one to Mixmag, lol

Peverelist, Jakes and Appleblim

Pinch handing over to Joker

The Highroad ravers

Jakes preaching to the H.E.N.C.H congregation

Komanazmuk gets mucky

Ol' Dirty Gutter gets frisky with the Superhenchwench

Bring On the MCs: Big Bear spits verbals

Blazey strikes a pose

Despite being a strapping six-footer, here I am being dwarfed by Atki2

Ladies and gentlemen...and Delsa

Oh, and for the benefit of Headhunter and any other interested parties, my setlist at H.E.N.C.H (which went very well, thanks for asking) was as follows:

Monolake - Plumbicon [Live In Osaka] (Monolake/Imbalance), Surgeon - Bad Hands Break (Dynamic Tension), Monolake - Alaska [Surgeon Remix] (Monolake/Imbalance), Gaiser - Separation (M_nus), Deadbeat - Random Brown (Cynosure), T++ - Space Break (Erosion), Mathias Schaffhauser - Go To Hell (Lebensfreude), Cornell - Polimer (Minimise), Deadbeat - One.Two.Six (~scape), Sweet Excorcist - Clonk [Freebass] (Warp), Sleeparchive - Papercup (Sleeparchive), Shackleton - Blood On My Hands [Villalobos Apocalypso Now Mix prt.1] (Skull Disco), Marcel Dettmann - Quicksand (Ostgut Tontrager), Mala - Left Leg Out (DMZ), Peverelist - The Grind (Punch Drunk), Rusko - Acton Dread (Dub Police), LFO - LFO [Leeds Warehouse Mix] (Warp)

I was originally intending to play 50/50 techno and dubstep, but I sort of got a bit carried away. No one seemed to mind, anyway. Biggest response was for the final tune - seventeen years on, 'LFO' still shakes the room.

BLOGARIDDIMS ORGY

11 hours (Weds 16/5, 10 pm to Thur 17/5, 9 am)
+ 12 hours (Thur 17/5, 8 pm to Fri 18/5, 8 am)
= 23 hours of the entire Blogariddims podcast in order of appearance.

A co-production of the Record Hospital and The Darker Side, both programs of WHRB Cambridge. Broadcasting live across Boston on 95.3 FM / Streaming live on the web at www.whrb.org.
Brought to you by blogariddimist-to-be GRS-One.

The Orgy commences tomorrow. Turn on, tune in, shit blood, etc...

IT'S A FACT

My review of Urban Tribe's new album is now up at FACT's online reviews section. But make sure you check Kiran's review of Skull Disco's first CD compilation too.

TOWARDS INFINITY

Had a fantastic time at Highroad last night - the stuff of legend. See Peverelist in action (left) dropping fresh bombs, especially "Infinity Is Now" which is an instant classic, trust me. I'll upload some more pictures soon. In the meantime, I must remind my little fanbase (all three of them!) that I'll be playing a full hour at H.E.N.C.H this Thursday (17th) along with D1, Blazey and the residents. All happening at The Tube Bar, Bristol, 10pm-4am. Door tax is just three quid. I think I'll be playing the 11pm-midnight slot. See you there...

The above advertisment once appeared on the back cover of many UK comic books. For the record, this scan was taken from Hulk Weekly issue no. 58, dated April 10th 1980. Examining it now, I still feel a brief flicker of interest; a vague trace element of the profound excitement that overtook me, as a child, whenever I saw it. I actually sent off for the figure, and, after an almost unbearable period that felt like 28 weeks, rather than days, Boba arrived on the doormat. It was a Thursday morning, just before school. I remember it like it was yesterday. The box was plain white and rather small, but I knew immediately that it contained Boba. I think I may have let out a screech of delight as I bounded down the hallway to snatch him up triumphantly. Of course, the actual Boba Fett figure was far less impressive than the advertisement suggested. And yet, even though all my other Star Wars figures have long gone, Boba remains with me...

I suppose that the almost unbearable period of anticipation imbued this Boba Fett figure with an extra level of personal historicity, and I suspect it will remain with me forever. And yet I feel very little when holding or observing the object itself. It is merely a relic, a dead thing. Strangely, it's the original advertisement that seems to hold a little jolt of haunted electricity. The connection with the child lies somewhere within it...

In a reversal of the norm, I recently discovered these original Matchbox, er, boxes, flattened at the bottom of an old, erm, box of junk in my garage. Now, if I could just locate the contents of these boxes, in tip-top condition, I could have an e-bay frenzy on my hands....

LEAVE IT TO THE PROFESSIONALS...

EL KANO - BUMP! (bootyquake)

Respect to the guv'nor, each and every...

Holy shit. My thoughts and prayers are with you, Robert.

CARETAKEN

More haunted audio, 'recalled' by The Caretaker. After last year's colossally impenetrable six-CD collection 'Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia' James Kirby returns with a more concise, more accessible (but no less confounding) collection of nebulous memoradelia on a double vinyl set care of Belgian label We/Me. This limited vinyl approach is the complete opposite of what James was doing last year with the free internet downloads and CD releases - this album is ultra-exclusive, ultra-brittle, and only about 300 listeners in the world will be able to experience it in it's intended form.

The decision to release on vinyl is significant. The music has been deliberately mastered at low level to encourage the build up of surface noise over time. This music is not meant to be enshrined in pristine digital clarity for all eternity, it is subject to entropy. The state of decay is part of the listening experience. This isn't as crazy as it sounds: I like old music to sound old - I'm not particularly keen on digital remasters. That's why I only listen to the pop music of my childhood via crackly 7" singles or my secret stash of K-Tel compilations, where 20 songs are crushed onto a single plate of wax, compressed and tinny, just like the way they sounded on MW transistor radios in the seventies.

While I'm on this subject, one of the things I find incomprehensible about the otherwise worthy Ghost Box label is that they insist on only releasing their music on CD, that invention of the Thatcherite eighties, completely at odds with the post-war British environment that they wish to invoke. It shouldn't be about convenience or unit costs - the format itself should be integral to the project. The other point about Ghostbox that I find mildly disconcerting is the way that they veer dangerously into the realms of pastiche, deliberately recreating the sonic signifiers of a bygone age, encouraging a cuddly sense of nostalgia. When they get it right, it can be profoundly affecting, but still I find the Caretaker's approach is braver. There's nothing you can really cling onto as specifically familiar (although if pushed I might make vague comparisons to "Zeit"-period Tangerine Dream or the 'Monolith' scenes in Kubrick's '2001 - A Space Odyssey'), it's more about creating an atmosphere, an aged tint, a ghostly non-place that induces reverie rather than a wry smile. A place where buried memories might leak out. The really brave aspect of The Caretaker project is that James puts his faith in the listener to map his or her own psyche across these drifting plains of amorphous choral harmonics and slivers of somnolent static. You only get out of it what you're prepared to put in. You wanna know what I get out of it? None of your damn business. Grab a copy while you can and start facing your own demons.

The new viscosity...

HALF A DOZEN TWELVES +1

Substance & Vainqueur - Reverberation/Reverberate (Scion Versions)
Second release from the new Scion imprint, continuing the good work S & V started via Chain Reaction in the previous decade. Not much has changed - why mess with perfection? - the beats are ultra-minimal, acting as pure metronomic clicktrack for the obsessively processed chordal textures and chasm-like layers of ambient landscape. Listen intently for the subleties, or just let the whole thing float around you in a soul-cleansing mist of abstract emotion. Lush as fuck, standard.

Pendle Coven - Hex EP (Modern Love)
Love the name...conjures images of nocturnal sisterhood of Lancastrian witches...hints of ancient, evil secrets in hidden pockets of the English landscape. The music doesn't quite live up to that image, but this is a moody three-tracker with the foreboding 4/4 slammer 'Waveplate' taking-up side A, although it's 'Brittle Bones' on the flip that really caught my ear, with its stuttery, hyperactive electro vibe, overdriven bass warble and pensive slivers of reverberated synth. Final track 'Golden Hadron' takes the bpms right down and drifts through dank, stalactite-encrusted caves of dub refraction. Chilly...

Deadbeat - Version Immersion (~scape)
I'm still undecided on the new Pole album, but this EP from Stefen Betke's near-legendary Berlin imprint is hitting all the right erogenous zones. 'One.One.Five' and 'One.Two.Six' mine similar territory, with percussion-heavy grooves weighty sub bass, etc etc...

Patrick Pulsinger - Dogmatic Sequences III (Disco B)
Jesus, I was buying Patrick Pulsinger records ten+ years ago, yet here he is continuing the 'Dogmatic' series in '07 and the results are stupendous. Opener 'R0uleur' is a fucking crucial techno-thrash allied with some dutty bassline bizzniz that writhes 'n wobbles inna righteous dubstep stylee - my man Pulsinger is on the case! 'Looq' and 'Numb Thrust' maintain the headlong rush with slamming beats, chugging bass and rippling washes of synth-colour, but then - what the fuck is this?! - 'Transforming Language' hires in a live drummer and guitarist for some kinda jazz noodle freak-out. Head-scratcher or chin-stroker? Who knows, but let's not forget that Pulsinger pioneered that jazzy techno thing with his iO project (I still hear 'Claire' used in TV programs occasionally) so I guess that's a genuine aspect of his musical gene-pool. More power to him - he's the coolest goddam Austrain on the planet.

Cornell - Polimer/Flounce (Minimise)
Minimal, abstract, four-to-tha-fucking-floor, but I'm definately feeling a sly sense of humour lurking somewhere. 'Polimer' is a playful arrangement of tuned blips, swooshes, crackles and gasps that gradually works itself up into a disorientating lather , with sounds flying at you from all across the stereo field. Probably sounds scary as hell on drugs. The b-side is actually the more obviously catchy number, adding a resolute chord-riff for your frazzled psyche to cling onto, but still paying close attention to unexpected elements swooping from nowhere. Stealthy!

Move-D - Ac1d/Sheffield Dance (Modern Love)
Modern Love are so fucking on it, right now - practically every release is a must have. Here, David Moufang delivers two brilliantly individual slices of abstract dance, with 'Ac1d' held together by a nagging chord-stab and rocksteady kick drum, over which all manner of samples, synth oscillations and 707 drumkit weave a trippy spell. But its all about the flip for me - I mean, c'mon, calling the track 'Sheffield Dance' was bound to perk up the ears of an old bleep-junkie like myself. Clearly a homage of sorts to the original 1990-91 sound, but without descending into outright nostalgia, its wonderful to hear more fidgety 808 snare programming again. Lots of subby undertow and squelchy synth riffs make for a complex web of rhythm that bursts through the straightjacket of over-simplification that dogs a significant preportion of modern techno music. Hope this one has an influential effect...

Bovill - Differentiate EP (Meanwhile.)
Oh my god - how deep is this shit? Four tracks of sublime, precision-tooled perfection from the mysterious Mr. Bovill, care of the increasingly relevant Meanwhile imprint. Opener 'Rate Of Change' is a heavenly blend of clavinet chords, swooping Detroit pads and succulant bass undertow, held down by conservative yet stealthy 4/4 riddim, whilst 'Featheredge' gets lean with 808 rimshots, fluttering hi-hats and playful, life-affirming melodic phrases. On the flip, 'Making Time' is a harder track with hint of acid and more of those gorgeous , reverb-heavy chords, before 'Torque (2)' strips naked to the barest ingredients in quest of the minimal Holy Grail - damn, its so good it hurts! Buy it, play it, kiss it, cuddle it. Bovill, I love you...

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK...

Highroad returns for it's third outing next month, and Chris has pulled out all the stops to cram in as many of Bristol's top-brass producers as possible. Top of the pile is the mighty Pinch, fresh from blowing minds on Mary Anne Hobbs' Radio 1 show with his Techno Vs. Dubstep mix - if you missed the live broadcast, check it here. Mining similar creative veins are Peverelist and Appleblim, plus Headhunter and Jakes reppin' the H.E.N.C.H axis and a rare live outing from Gatekeeper. Spearheading the future sound of Grime we got Joker and Blazey. Not forgetting Delsa playing...whatever the hell it is he plays (I just realised that, even though I've known him for ages, I've never actually seen or heard a Delsa mix!). For some reason, known only to himself, Chris has offered me a spot too, and of course I jumped at the chance, having not played out since last July. Funnily enough, I've actually got two gigs in May...but more on the other one shortly. Anyway, this is gonna be a fucking mental soundclash...I think everyone's gonna be paired-up back-2-back style, which means I'll probably be jostling over the decks with Delsa for the first hour. All happening at Cosies on Portland Square, on Saturday the 12th, for the stupidly cheap price of two quid. Jesus, that little venue is gonna be heaving - make sure to get there early to avoid disappointment!

----------------------------

Watch out for issue 19 of Fact magazine (it's free!) featuring a couple of small reviews by Yours Truly - my first writing to be published on real paper (not counting the odd missive on the letters page of Melody Maker, Uncut, Mojo, etc...). It's not the first time I've been invited to write reviews for the inkies, but this was the first offer I felt comfortable with. Fact is a bit of a blogger's playground, with regular contributions from K-Punk, Simon Silverdollar and Kek-W (who seems to have a monopoly on the dubstep reviews) so I felt they'd be more sympathetic to my amateurish enthusiasm. Having been used to writing slightly rambling blog posts of unpredictable length, it was a challenge to condense my thoughts into just seventy words per review, like trying to compose a perfect miniature. Hopefully they'll let me do it again sometime. Actually, I've already been asked to write an album review for the online version. Watch that space...

DAT'S DAT (REQUIEM FOR A DYING FORMAT)

The urge for a bloody good Spring-clean has come upon me and, as part of the effort to rid my groaning shelves and choked cupboards of all superfluous flotsom, I took the decision to finally dispose of all my DAT tapes. This is not something I do lightly: Those DATs represent nearly a decade of personal musical expression and experimentation. But I haven't had a working DAT player for several years and besides all the best stuff got transferred to cd-r ages ago. I had half a mind to try and sell them, but I'd only do that if they were blanked first, which I have neither the time, inclination or facility to do. So they've been consigned to the dustbin, for the sake of a few extra precious inches of space in my little den.

It occurs to me that there might be some readers who don't even know what DAT tapes are. For a quick history check the Wikipedia entry. DAT tape never caught on as a serious alternative to cassette or cd in the consumer electronics market, but by the early nineties it had become the standard format for mastering in professional and amateur studios alike. All your favourite tunes from the early hardcore/jungle days were almost certainly recorded on these babies. I bought my first DAT recorder in 1993 - a budget model by Aiwa - and it completely revolutionised my recording methods, simply because I was able to record, copy and playback music in perfect digital fidelity for the first time. Those tapes weren't cheap - about a fiver for a 90-minute version - but I loved them. I remained loyal even when mini-discs came out offering cool editing features. Yet now, in the age of cheap hard disc recording solutions and even cheaper supplies of CD-r/CD-wr/DVD-r , they seem as archaic as the old 8-track cartridges of the seventies.

Farewell, my beauties, you have served me well...

LINK-BACK

Thanks to The Blissblogger for sending all his loyal readership over to check my 'UK Pressure Mix'. My bandwidth is getting annihilated as I type. Check the 'Woebot/Funky House' controversy while you're there. Matt's championing of the funky 'scene' (which is in itself open to interpretation) coupled with his pouring scorn on the dubstep and minimal/micro scenes and postulating that innovation within the 'nuum is essentially dead, was bound to trigger heated debate among the Dissensus cognoscenti, which was no doubt his intention. But I'm a 'live and let live' kinda guy these days (definitely going soft in my old age - as long as people keep making music I like, then I'm happy) so I'm not gonna get embroiled in all that, but it does make for fascinating reading.

Thanks also to Droid for the linkage and additional commentary. When I wrote about the difficulties of mixing at slower tempos, I hadn't even considered that the tracks themselves, powered by steam-driven sequencers and sloppily edited loops, might actually have minor tempo variations hidden within them like booby traps waiting for the unwary dj! How much truth there is in that I'm not sure, but I'm prepared to put my faith in Droid's appraisal, cos it makes me feel better about things!

PS. Over 18 months after I gave this blog a makeover, I finally got around to giving it a logo (see top of page). Now at last passing surfers will know what this blog's called!

ATTACK MODE

Another name to add to the growing list of Bristol-based dubstep labels: Mode Recordings. Mode will be tapping into the vast resources of the local scene, along with some choice international artists. The first release is due to drop this week, featuring the long overdue vinyl debut of White Boi (left) in collaboration with Komazmuk. The A side is 'Shank Step' (as featured in the mix I recorded for riddim.ca last July) with 'Bless' on the flip, perfectly showcasing the high production values and textural depth that these guys bring to the agenda. Muted trumpets parry and thrust with wraith-like vocal swoons, spooked-out echo droplets and fibrous layers of dub-tissue flicker across these typically brooding halfstep workouts. As anyone who tunes into Wedge's weekly Sub FM radio show will know, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There's already an enormous backlog of material waiting in the wings, but hopefully Mode's commitment to a monthly release schedule (which will also be available to download via Boomkat's MP3 boutique shortly) will help to redress the balance.