Had a tremendous time at the Level club last night. Plasticman was once again unbe-fucking-lievably great. This time he was using his laptop with one of those clever programs that allows you to manipulate digital files using a standard turntable, giving him the flexibility and control that can only be achieved with a proper deck but still pushing new digital innovation. After a shaky start due to problems with one of the styli, Plastic proceeded to completely melt my brain with a crucial selection of beats. Not many of his own tracks though. True, he played "Cha" and "Vio-lent" but also Wiley's "Merkle" and "Ice Cream Man" (that's the one with the bleepy sound like a bar-code reader) , Slew Dem's "Grime EP", Skream's "Request Line" (was that a brief 4x4 remix I heard in there somewhere too?!) and the classic "What" by Wonder among many others. But it's the way it all gets channeled through Plastic's consciousness that makes it so special. I haven't heard any dj who can match 'n' mash beats as precisely and spectacularly as the Plasticman. Listening to him last night, or on any of his recorded mixes, I'm often struck by that 'what the fuck is this?!' sensation - there's a blinding culture-shock newness about the best Grime that, for me, is at it's most mind-fuckingly extreme when orchestrated by the guiding hand of Plasticman. There just aren't any reference points for this sound. It's like music's just been invented all over again and, for a jaded old raver like me, that's something to be truly treasured. His confidence seems unstoppable now. State of the art, at every level.
Maximum respect to Pinch, Blazey, Joker and the various MCs providing first-class support. Zero respect for Lethal Bizzle for failing to show up. Big-up Appleblim, Wedge, Tom and the gang for reaching, plus the surprise appearance of Jamie from Vex'd, who happened to be in town on 'business'. A pleasure, each and every...
Special mention for my bloggin' colleagues Psychbloke and Kek-W for attending, although Psychbloke left early as per usual and missed all the fun - here's his brief post on the subject. Kek came up all the way from Yoevil. Although he's been writing fairly regularly about grime and dubstep, I think this was the first event he's been to and, judging by his own post, he had a great time, even if he was the oldest swinger in town (I'm a spring chicken compared to Kek - I just hope I'm as enthusiastic about new music when I get to his age!). Kek's excellent account of the evening pretty much covers everything else so I wont bother repeating it. My only slight grievence was that the PA wasn't bassy enough and far too trebley - I was getting mild tinitus, which I don't normally experience at these sort of events. Plasticman and entourage were all heading over to Noir afterwards, and I reckon Kek would've gone along as well, but it was 2am and I'd had enough so we agreed to call it a night. Great to see him again anyway, and hope he bagged a few tunes at Rooted this morning before heading back home.
27 November 2005
25 November 2005
BLISS-BLEEPS
In one of my occasional e-mail exchanges with the mighty Blissblogger, Simon recounted how he recently played out some classic bleep 'n' bass, with a set that sounds uncannily similar to my own at Ruffnek Discotek a couple of months ago:
"I actually deejayed Geeta's birthday at Sub-Tonic at the weekend (clashing with Kode 9 who was playing a few blocks away) and did a 1990 set (cos that was when she first got into music seriously), played some 'Baggy' (One Dove, Stone Roses) but it was mostly Bleep -- you would have enjoyed it, inept mixing aside! -- and then I went from Warp/Unique 3, etc straight into Loefah's 'Bombay Squad' and Skream's 'Request Line' (thought I'd merk Kode 9 !) . The crowd (slight exaggeration) really dug it, heavy sub-dub presha."
Cool! Wish I'd been there to witness it. One of the things I found when assembling the tracks for my dj set was that, once you get past 'Warp/Unique 3', it's actually quite difficult to find other truly great, timeless Bleep classics. Sure, lots of tunes sounded nice to my ears in a nostalgic way, but it's hard to imagine how they'd make much impression on a new audience today. Thinking about it, a lot of UK House and Techno in those days was quite tepid in the sense that it focused on being soulful and smooth with very little aggressive content; very much in awe of it's Chicago and Detroit influences, which is probably why I was still listening to a lot of rhythm-heavy Industrial stuff (Front Line Assembly, Ministry, etc) and also taking a keen interest in the new hardcore sounds emanating from Belgium, which seemed to have a much heavier quantity of 'darkness' - an element I've always been drawn towards. But more on that another time - it's getting late here and I realise that I havn't prepared anything for this week's retro post. I know I keep hinting about recording a Bleepy mix for download, but right now my expectations for it are far greater than my actual capabilities! But I've been gradually ripping some of the old vinyls, so for now here's a couple of the tunes lying around in my harddrive. I don't think either of these are currently available anywhere legally, but if anyone knows different let me know and I'll remove 'em.
FORGEMASTERS - STRESS
Someone mentioned this one in my comments box last week, so thought I'd share it with you lot. It's definitely one of my favourites of the period, really pushing the sound into new experimental areas. It's from "The Black Steel EP", released on Network Records in 1991.
UBIK - HARMONISE ME
From the "System Overload EP", released on Zoom Records in the same year. One of the guys from Ubik has a little tribute site here. I really like this track, and I played it at Ruffnek. Dunno why really...too tired to even try explaining. I'm off to bed - I need my beauty sleep if I'm gonna manage the Plasticman gig tomorrow night.
"I actually deejayed Geeta's birthday at Sub-Tonic at the weekend (clashing with Kode 9 who was playing a few blocks away) and did a 1990 set (cos that was when she first got into music seriously), played some 'Baggy' (One Dove, Stone Roses) but it was mostly Bleep -- you would have enjoyed it, inept mixing aside! -- and then I went from Warp/Unique 3, etc straight into Loefah's 'Bombay Squad' and Skream's 'Request Line' (thought I'd merk Kode 9 !) . The crowd (slight exaggeration) really dug it, heavy sub-dub presha."
Cool! Wish I'd been there to witness it. One of the things I found when assembling the tracks for my dj set was that, once you get past 'Warp/Unique 3', it's actually quite difficult to find other truly great, timeless Bleep classics. Sure, lots of tunes sounded nice to my ears in a nostalgic way, but it's hard to imagine how they'd make much impression on a new audience today. Thinking about it, a lot of UK House and Techno in those days was quite tepid in the sense that it focused on being soulful and smooth with very little aggressive content; very much in awe of it's Chicago and Detroit influences, which is probably why I was still listening to a lot of rhythm-heavy Industrial stuff (Front Line Assembly, Ministry, etc) and also taking a keen interest in the new hardcore sounds emanating from Belgium, which seemed to have a much heavier quantity of 'darkness' - an element I've always been drawn towards. But more on that another time - it's getting late here and I realise that I havn't prepared anything for this week's retro post. I know I keep hinting about recording a Bleepy mix for download, but right now my expectations for it are far greater than my actual capabilities! But I've been gradually ripping some of the old vinyls, so for now here's a couple of the tunes lying around in my harddrive. I don't think either of these are currently available anywhere legally, but if anyone knows different let me know and I'll remove 'em.
Someone mentioned this one in my comments box last week, so thought I'd share it with you lot. It's definitely one of my favourites of the period, really pushing the sound into new experimental areas. It's from "The Black Steel EP", released on Network Records in 1991.
From the "System Overload EP", released on Zoom Records in the same year. One of the guys from Ubik has a little tribute site here. I really like this track, and I played it at Ruffnek. Dunno why really...too tired to even try explaining. I'm off to bed - I need my beauty sleep if I'm gonna manage the Plasticman gig tomorrow night.
22 November 2005
VIDEO NASTY
Earlier this evening I was hanging out with my eldest kid in his bedroom, watching him on one of his Playstation games. I'm not really into those things myself. I'm not very good at them and the games are too complicated for my little brain to cope with. For some reason I started lecturing him about how simple, addictive and totally brilliant computer games were when I was a lad. My generation were the first computer game obsessives, trading cassettes in lunch break at school filled with all manner of primitive bleepy zero-pixel gaming nonsense and loading them into our ZX Spectrums and Vic-20s. Then I started regaling him with fond memories of the original iconic video game: Space Invaders. It came out as an arcade machine in the late '70s and was an overnight sensation. Whenever I saw one stationed in a public place I'd be pestering my dad for 10 pence (or however much it cost back then) so I could play it. My son seemed vaguely interested in what I was saying (which is quite unusual these days), so I thought I'd have a look on the internet and see if there was anything I could show him to illustrate what Space Invaders was all about. Lo' and behold, straight away we found this site, which covers the history of the game, along with many images, wallpapers, screen savers, merchandise etc, etc. AND....you can actually play the original game on your PC, for free. It does a pretty fine job of replicating the original graphics, along with that particular bloopy music that accompanied it. My boy found it quite amusing...a bit like looking at cave paintings for him, I suppose. He soon got bored and went off to do his thing, leaving me staring at the screen and drinking in the nostalgia for something that hadn't even crossed my mind for years. Problem is, I'm already getting addicted to playing it again. I've only just managed to tear myself away to tell you lot about it. This is bad fucking news. If the blog goes quiet for a few days...you know why.
PS. Don't play the game!!! It'll have you in it's grip quicker than a month's supply of crack cocaine.
Don't say I didn't warn you...
Earlier this evening I was hanging out with my eldest kid in his bedroom, watching him on one of his Playstation games. I'm not really into those things myself. I'm not very good at them and the games are too complicated for my little brain to cope with. For some reason I started lecturing him about how simple, addictive and totally brilliant computer games were when I was a lad. My generation were the first computer game obsessives, trading cassettes in lunch break at school filled with all manner of primitive bleepy zero-pixel gaming nonsense and loading them into our ZX Spectrums and Vic-20s. Then I started regaling him with fond memories of the original iconic video game: Space Invaders. It came out as an arcade machine in the late '70s and was an overnight sensation. Whenever I saw one stationed in a public place I'd be pestering my dad for 10 pence (or however much it cost back then) so I could play it. My son seemed vaguely interested in what I was saying (which is quite unusual these days), so I thought I'd have a look on the internet and see if there was anything I could show him to illustrate what Space Invaders was all about. Lo' and behold, straight away we found this site, which covers the history of the game, along with many images, wallpapers, screen savers, merchandise etc, etc. AND....you can actually play the original game on your PC, for free. It does a pretty fine job of replicating the original graphics, along with that particular bloopy music that accompanied it. My boy found it quite amusing...a bit like looking at cave paintings for him, I suppose. He soon got bored and went off to do his thing, leaving me staring at the screen and drinking in the nostalgia for something that hadn't even crossed my mind for years. Problem is, I'm already getting addicted to playing it again. I've only just managed to tear myself away to tell you lot about it. This is bad fucking news. If the blog goes quiet for a few days...you know why.
PS. Don't play the game!!! It'll have you in it's grip quicker than a month's supply of crack cocaine.
Don't say I didn't warn you...
21 November 2005
AOTEAROAN STEPPAZ
00:00 Capslock
04:38 Bill Trouble
13:55 W.T.F.O
17:12 Dubmugga
23:11 Grrrind
31:25 Sparticle (feat. Jordan Reyne)
35:53 Winter Mourning
39:58 Rainforest
Regular visitors to the Dubstep forum will no doubt be familiar with Dubmugga, the outspoken mouthpiece of New Zealand underground production team Hell Science Dept who, along with Baddie, are the only artists (that I know of) pushing dubstep influences on the Kiwi Isles. Listening to their mix, I was impressed by the production quality, in particular the drum programming which is hard and 'steppy' whilst maintaining an undeniably fluid funk factor that I could envisage working in, say, a Search & Destroy set. One big difference I'm feeling is Hell Science's willingness to get into longer, extended exercises in repetition. It's almost trancey, though not in the sense of Trancey Techno, more like 'eyes rolling in the back of head' voodoo mantra trancey - a sense of losing oneself in the rhythm of the drums, which is quite sharply in contrast with UK underground's emphasis on head-nodding bassline skank and restless, angular beats.
One thing I would've liked would be a few more riffs and melodies to add some extra 'hookiness' to the barrage of beats, bass and atmospheric dub effects. When I put this to Dubmugga he kind of agreed:
"Yeah, we got an old keyboard that just needs midi'd up so we can actually play melodies and stuff in real time as opposed to step-editing them in. Hence the lack of melodies cos it's a li'l bit hard faking subtle nuances one note at a time by shuffling little boxes around on a screen."04:38 Bill Trouble
13:55 W.T.F.O
17:12 Dubmugga
23:11 Grrrind
31:25 Sparticle (feat. Jordan Reyne)
35:53 Winter Mourning
39:58 Rainforest
Regular visitors to the Dubstep forum will no doubt be familiar with Dubmugga, the outspoken mouthpiece of New Zealand underground production team Hell Science Dept who, along with Baddie, are the only artists (that I know of) pushing dubstep influences on the Kiwi Isles. Listening to their mix, I was impressed by the production quality, in particular the drum programming which is hard and 'steppy' whilst maintaining an undeniably fluid funk factor that I could envisage working in, say, a Search & Destroy set. One big difference I'm feeling is Hell Science's willingness to get into longer, extended exercises in repetition. It's almost trancey, though not in the sense of Trancey Techno, more like 'eyes rolling in the back of head' voodoo mantra trancey - a sense of losing oneself in the rhythm of the drums, which is quite sharply in contrast with UK underground's emphasis on head-nodding bassline skank and restless, angular beats.
One thing I would've liked would be a few more riffs and melodies to add some extra 'hookiness' to the barrage of beats, bass and atmospheric dub effects. When I put this to Dubmugga he kind of agreed:
Also, I was thinking the basslines could be a bit more upfront and twisted ('wobbly') to get the UK scene's attention. Dubmugga responds:
"The wobbly bass thing is something we are almost trying to steer clear of cos it's almost expected and we don't really want to clone anybody's sound to the point where we even try to keep the beats pretty straight. Might do a Toasty/Boxcutter/Ve'xd type one for a change..."
I know that Dubmugga is keen to point out that, although influenced by dubstep, he doesn't see himself as being a part the whole dubplate culture thing we've got over here. So what are the aims of Hell Science, and how do they wish to be perceived...?
"I'm hoping we can carve out a little niche for ourselves with a readily identifiable sound that still registers with the dubstep community yet reflects the geographically altered strain of the musical virus which went underground after UKG died and mutated to spontaneously appear all over the globe as dubstep."
Hopefully this will be a good start...
17 November 2005
OUT WITH THE NEW, IN WITH THE OLD: LET THE BASS KICK
Thanks for all the suggestions for other web hosting services. Some interesting options there, but I'm not gonna financially commit to anything until after Xmas. For now I'm just gonna be disseminating audio information by any means necessary. Aside from my own miniscule 100mb server space, Yousendit is limited but useful, whilst Rapidshare offers no restrictions on number of downloads, but only allows 50mb uploads at a time and you have to be a paid-up member to get hi-speed downloads. I've uploaded a couple of mixes that I wanted to keep online to Rapidshare and changed the links accordingly. It ain't perfect but it'll have to do for now. As I said previously, if anyone wants a mix that's currently offline, e-mail me and I'll get it to you somehow.
My server space is now cleared out completely. So what now? Well, there's a couple of mixes forthcoming at some point soon, and I'll figure out what to do with them when the time comes. But actually this situation is coinciding with my urge to get back into some 'traditional' MP3 blogging. I haven't been sharing individual full-length tracks for quite a while now, the main reason being that I've gotten too deep into the dubstep scene, to the point where I actually feel involved, rather than simply observing/appreciating, and I would feel uncomfortable sharing out tunes by people who, in a weird sort of way, I feel like I know and feel concerned for their rights and their welfare. The whole thing with me practicing my mixing and buying new decks etc is all about trying to create better MP3 mixes (which seems to be the acceptable way to share the music online) so that I can spread these amazing tracks as far and wide as possible without feeling that I'm hurting anyone or messing with record sales, etc. But it's so difficult! Nevertheless I'm gonna keep plugging away at it.
But then what about sharing a few older tunes? Since I 'dismantled' the Gutterbox back in the summer I haven't been pushing any classic cuts online, which is partly down to laziness and partly because I've been so obsessed with following the zeitgeist that I didn't have any appetite for it. But now I reckon it's time I started reppin' some old skool beats again, to once again start looking back at where I'm from, rather than only where I'm at. I'm aiming to do one post a week, with maybe 3 or 4 MP3s per post from now on. Here's the first selection, featuring some bass-heavy electronic shit from three different phases of dance muzik evolution...
N-JOI - RHYTHM ZONE
It's 1991. Drum'n'bass does not exist, yet electronic dance music is possibly at it's all time commercial peak, with all kinds of extreme ravey 12 inch sounds from London to Ghent ram-raiding the charts on a weekly basis. It sounds implausible now, but at the time it really seemed that the majors were running scared under an onslaught of independent releases from a rapidly expanding army of underground dance labels. Although easily bracketed into the 'chart-busting rave' category, N-Joi knew their production chops and had the enviable ability to combine sonic depth with accessible arrangements. "Rhythm Zone" comes from the "Adrenalin" EP (#23 chart hit in March '91) , and shows them at their most stealthy and intense, with sub bass pressure points worthy of any soundsystem fiend's attention, and enough bleep-factor to keep me excited nearly 15 years later.
NEURO-PROJECT - WIZARD OF THE FOUR WINDS
It's 1993. Drum'n'bass almost exists, in the form of early prototype darkcore/jungle. Everyone seems to have fond memories of that stuff now, but not many care to reminisce over the the golden age off album-orientated 'intelligent techno' that was developing in parallel. True, there was some absolute rubbish coming out, but still loads of fantastic music too that still moves me to this day, whenever I return to it. Neuro Project's solitary release was the album "The Electric Mothers Of Invention" on the Liverpool-based Three Beat label. I had a magazine article about them, but I seem to have lost it somewhere over the years, so can't tell you much about them, other than what it says on the sleeve notes (hey, wait a minute - "additional production on track 4 by Chris Reed" - wow, Plasticman would've only been about 10 years old back then, how'd he manage that?!). Anyway, they were a three-piece unit, augmented by several guest musicians and the album in general still sounds pretty listenable, covering most of the bases of the electronica spectrum at that time. But it's the twelve minute long "Wizard Of The Four Winds" that really sticks out for me now. Seriously dubbed-out head music, with a relentless bass undertow, strong eastern melodies and rumbling digeredoo drones. Almost like dubstep if it went from half-step to genuinely downtempo chilled-beats. Also reminds me of some of the stuff The Agriculture are releasing these days. Roll yerself a fat one and get hip to this shit, kids...
NINE MILE DUB - HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?
Who? Actually it's one of the many pseudonyms used by Richard H. Kirk who, as far as I'm concerned, is the father of modern music. Since his early '70s experiments in Sheffield with Cabaret Voltaire, Kirk has ploughed a singular path that has seen him embrace everything from dub, avant-funk, electro, techno, ambient and beyond. He definitely gets my vote for Greatest Living Englishman. This particular track was recorded sometime between 1995-97, but only released last year on the URP Vol. 3 'unreleased projects' collection. To all intents and purposes, this is dubstep, albeit an extremely prescient prototype. The way the rhythm functions at two different tempos, with the kick/snare on the halfbeat offset by the busy hi-hats is halfstep by any other name. Over the years Kirk has acquired an enviable arsenal of outboard fx gear, which he uses here to devastating effect for some truly vicious distorted delays. It's a mixing desk dubsession in the truest sense. I'm starting to hear something approaching that analogue-saturated echo extremity in some of Loefah's latest productions. I've been following Kirk's output religiously for 20 years now. Listening to a track like this, I guess it's hardly surprising that I felt such a natural affinity for dubstep...
My server space is now cleared out completely. So what now? Well, there's a couple of mixes forthcoming at some point soon, and I'll figure out what to do with them when the time comes. But actually this situation is coinciding with my urge to get back into some 'traditional' MP3 blogging. I haven't been sharing individual full-length tracks for quite a while now, the main reason being that I've gotten too deep into the dubstep scene, to the point where I actually feel involved, rather than simply observing/appreciating, and I would feel uncomfortable sharing out tunes by people who, in a weird sort of way, I feel like I know and feel concerned for their rights and their welfare. The whole thing with me practicing my mixing and buying new decks etc is all about trying to create better MP3 mixes (which seems to be the acceptable way to share the music online) so that I can spread these amazing tracks as far and wide as possible without feeling that I'm hurting anyone or messing with record sales, etc. But it's so difficult! Nevertheless I'm gonna keep plugging away at it.
But then what about sharing a few older tunes? Since I 'dismantled' the Gutterbox back in the summer I haven't been pushing any classic cuts online, which is partly down to laziness and partly because I've been so obsessed with following the zeitgeist that I didn't have any appetite for it. But now I reckon it's time I started reppin' some old skool beats again, to once again start looking back at where I'm from, rather than only where I'm at. I'm aiming to do one post a week, with maybe 3 or 4 MP3s per post from now on. Here's the first selection, featuring some bass-heavy electronic shit from three different phases of dance muzik evolution...
It's 1991. Drum'n'bass does not exist, yet electronic dance music is possibly at it's all time commercial peak, with all kinds of extreme ravey 12 inch sounds from London to Ghent ram-raiding the charts on a weekly basis. It sounds implausible now, but at the time it really seemed that the majors were running scared under an onslaught of independent releases from a rapidly expanding army of underground dance labels. Although easily bracketed into the 'chart-busting rave' category, N-Joi knew their production chops and had the enviable ability to combine sonic depth with accessible arrangements. "Rhythm Zone" comes from the "Adrenalin" EP (#23 chart hit in March '91) , and shows them at their most stealthy and intense, with sub bass pressure points worthy of any soundsystem fiend's attention, and enough bleep-factor to keep me excited nearly 15 years later.It's 1993. Drum'n'bass almost exists, in the form of early prototype darkcore/jungle. Everyone seems to have fond memories of that stuff now, but not many care to reminisce over the the golden age off album-orientated 'intelligent techno' that was developing in parallel. True, there was some absolute rubbish coming out, but still loads of fantastic music too that still moves me to this day, whenever I return to it. Neuro Project's solitary release was the album "The Electric Mothers Of Invention" on the Liverpool-based Three Beat label. I had a magazine article about them, but I seem to have lost it somewhere over the years, so can't tell you much about them, other than what it says on the sleeve notes (hey, wait a minute - "additional production on track 4 by Chris Reed" - wow, Plasticman would've only been about 10 years old back then, how'd he manage that?!). Anyway, they were a three-piece unit, augmented by several guest musicians and the album in general still sounds pretty listenable, covering most of the bases of the electronica spectrum at that time. But it's the twelve minute long "Wizard Of The Four Winds" that really sticks out for me now. Seriously dubbed-out head music, with a relentless bass undertow, strong eastern melodies and rumbling digeredoo drones. Almost like dubstep if it went from half-step to genuinely downtempo chilled-beats. Also reminds me of some of the stuff The Agriculture are releasing these days. Roll yerself a fat one and get hip to this shit, kids...Who? Actually it's one of the many pseudonyms used by Richard H. Kirk who, as far as I'm concerned, is the father of modern music. Since his early '70s experiments in Sheffield with Cabaret Voltaire, Kirk has ploughed a singular path that has seen him embrace everything from dub, avant-funk, electro, techno, ambient and beyond. He definitely gets my vote for Greatest Living Englishman. This particular track was recorded sometime between 1995-97, but only released last year on the URP Vol. 3 'unreleased projects' collection. To all intents and purposes, this is dubstep, albeit an extremely prescient prototype. The way the rhythm functions at two different tempos, with the kick/snare on the halfbeat offset by the busy hi-hats is halfstep by any other name. Over the years Kirk has acquired an enviable arsenal of outboard fx gear, which he uses here to devastating effect for some truly vicious distorted delays. It's a mixing desk dubsession in the truest sense. I'm starting to hear something approaching that analogue-saturated echo extremity in some of Loefah's latest productions. I've been following Kirk's output religiously for 20 years now. Listening to a track like this, I guess it's hardly surprising that I felt such a natural affinity for dubstep...
13 November 2005
LONG LIVE THE BLOGS!!
Okay, firstly a big thanks to everyone who left comments and e-mails over the last couple of days. Sometimes my conviction gets a bit shaky, so it's good to get a lift from you guys. The old egos firmly back in place now, so looks like I'm gonna keep spouting bullshit at this blog for a while yet. Then there's the contents of my real inbox this morning:
A promo of DJ Maxximus' "Bass The World" mix CD straight outta Germany, plus a cd-r of fresh joints all the way from New Zealand, courtesy of Hell Science Dept. The international community reaches out to the Gutta once again - it fucking exciting and deeply humbling at the same time. I'd be crazy to throw in the towel now. The story ain't finished yet.
A couple of points raised that need answering...
Robert thinks I should try blogging less often, which might be true. I'll tell you why I post so regularly: Guilt. I just can't seem to summon the strength to write those longer, more involved posts I was doing earlier in the year, and my insecure little brain thinks that by firing out lots of less substantial posts I can make up for it. That's fucked-up, isn't it?
The thing about comments. I do get a bit frustrated sometimes when I don't get much reaction to (what I consider to be) open-ended posts that invite opinion. But I know I get my fair share of comments, and I know I'm as guilty of not leaving them at other blogs. How do you think my man Patternloader must feel? Dunno how many hits he's getting, but here's a guy out in Milwaukee regularly writing thoughtful, deeply personal posts on his life and music and getting practically no feedback whatsoever! Dirt, innit.
Which brings me to Cyclic Defrost's suggestion that many people "just read the RSS feeds of various blogs". Probably some truth in that, but these site feeds are useful for keeping track of blog updates. I'm currently using Kinja to track blogs. It seems to be working okay and I like the way it only gives you the first couple of lines of a blog entry - you have to physically (in the most abstract sense, of course) visit the actual blog to read the whole post. Call me a sentimental prick, but I like to actually enter a blogger's personal space when reading their work. It just seems more personal than an endless stream of entries on a site feed. It's really easy to set up your own Kinja digest, and if you're still navigating the blogosphere manually, I reckon you should give it a go. Or just check my Kinja digest regularly (the button is always at the bottom of my links bar). Quite a few blogs on there that aren't on my blogroll here (I've been a bit lazy with updates I'm afraid). Also, any bloggers out there who aren't on my Kinja list who think they should be, get in touch! Let's keep the blogger momentum alive. And yes, Paul - you gotta get back on the blog trail too!
Btw, thanks to Headphone Sex for the link to this article on 'blogger-speak'. Haha! To be honest, most blogs I read seem to write in a pretty straight forward fashion, but I quite like the idea of a whole new language ('Bloglish'?!) developing from the frenzied minds of the bloggers. One of the problems I have with writing reviews, especially with instrumental music, is that it's hard not to keep repeating yourself with the same descriptive terms. Maybe I should just start making up some crazy batshit and let you lot try to figure out what I mean? I'm gonna start writing about "mong-tastic lightcone somascapes", "polarity-reversing neutron flows", "steel gate ionosphere trax","turd-inducing lofreq plexi-shimmers" and "fully fermented fruits of tha Fruity" from now on!
A promo of DJ Maxximus' "Bass The World" mix CD straight outta Germany, plus a cd-r of fresh joints all the way from New Zealand, courtesy of Hell Science Dept. The international community reaches out to the Gutta once again - it fucking exciting and deeply humbling at the same time. I'd be crazy to throw in the towel now. The story ain't finished yet.
A couple of points raised that need answering...
Robert thinks I should try blogging less often, which might be true. I'll tell you why I post so regularly: Guilt. I just can't seem to summon the strength to write those longer, more involved posts I was doing earlier in the year, and my insecure little brain thinks that by firing out lots of less substantial posts I can make up for it. That's fucked-up, isn't it?
The thing about comments. I do get a bit frustrated sometimes when I don't get much reaction to (what I consider to be) open-ended posts that invite opinion. But I know I get my fair share of comments, and I know I'm as guilty of not leaving them at other blogs. How do you think my man Patternloader must feel? Dunno how many hits he's getting, but here's a guy out in Milwaukee regularly writing thoughtful, deeply personal posts on his life and music and getting practically no feedback whatsoever! Dirt, innit.
Which brings me to Cyclic Defrost's suggestion that many people "just read the RSS feeds of various blogs". Probably some truth in that, but these site feeds are useful for keeping track of blog updates. I'm currently using Kinja to track blogs. It seems to be working okay and I like the way it only gives you the first couple of lines of a blog entry - you have to physically (in the most abstract sense, of course) visit the actual blog to read the whole post. Call me a sentimental prick, but I like to actually enter a blogger's personal space when reading their work. It just seems more personal than an endless stream of entries on a site feed. It's really easy to set up your own Kinja digest, and if you're still navigating the blogosphere manually, I reckon you should give it a go. Or just check my Kinja digest regularly (the button is always at the bottom of my links bar). Quite a few blogs on there that aren't on my blogroll here (I've been a bit lazy with updates I'm afraid). Also, any bloggers out there who aren't on my Kinja list who think they should be, get in touch! Let's keep the blogger momentum alive. And yes, Paul - you gotta get back on the blog trail too!
Btw, thanks to Headphone Sex for the link to this article on 'blogger-speak'. Haha! To be honest, most blogs I read seem to write in a pretty straight forward fashion, but I quite like the idea of a whole new language ('Bloglish'?!) developing from the frenzied minds of the bloggers. One of the problems I have with writing reviews, especially with instrumental music, is that it's hard not to keep repeating yourself with the same descriptive terms. Maybe I should just start making up some crazy batshit and let you lot try to figure out what I mean? I'm gonna start writing about "mong-tastic lightcone somascapes", "polarity-reversing neutron flows", "steel gate ionosphere trax","turd-inducing lofreq plexi-shimmers" and "fully fermented fruits of tha Fruity" from now on!
11 November 2005
RINSING IT
Speaking of Rinse FM (well actually I wasn't, but Blackdown was), my constant companion for the past few weeks has been the epic 6xCD "Rinsessions Vol.1" mixtape pack. Each CD features hour-long mixes from some of the station's biggest names in Grime, including Roll Deep, Ruff Squad and DJ Slimzee (which all feature instrumentals with live mc's spitting mercilessly over the top, and yes - Roll Deep spin Skream's "Request Line" - the only evidence of dubstep's existence on the whole package!), a 'vocal grime' mix from Logan Sama which I'm enjoying far more than I thought I would (although I wish Logan hadn't doused his voice in so much reverb - it sounds too glossy/muddy) and a straight ahead UK Garage disc from Jiggy B, which sounds like pop music by comparison. My copy is one of the first 500 with the bonus DVD of interviews too (thanks to Tom @ Rooted for tracking down a copy for me).All good, and a nice overview of the current state of Grime for those of us who don't follow that side of things so closely. But of course for me it's all about the Plasticman disc, surely one of his most amazing mixdowns so far. It's a four-deck mix featuring 51 tracks over the space of 60 minutes, and it blows my mind every time. Plastic is so fucking on it that words fail me. Kneel to the Boss, muthafuckaz! Along with established riddims like Slew Dem's "Grime EP" (that's the one with the 'machine-gun' snares that I've been a bit obsessed with since I first heard Kode 9 spin it on Rinse a few months ago - finally got hold of my own copy this month, but the instrumental version's only a couple of minutes long! Jammer's vocal version is brilliant though), IMP Batch's "Gimp", Mark One's "Plodder" and Jammer's "Murkel Man" (brilliant, once again), there's plenty of fresh beats to explore, like Plastic's own "Funeral Vibes", featuring superb haunting pads that remind me of Aphex circa "Selected Ambient Works" (yeah, its that good - please let it be on the album, along with the equally brilliant "A Walk In The Car Park" - not included in this mix unfortunately). One of my favourite sections is a real surprise moment ( also displaying Plastic's sense of humour) when he drops the instrumental of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" under an acapella of Crazy Titch's "Singalong" (trust me, it works) and from there straight into the "Cha VIP" - one of the biggest adrenalin rushes I've experienced in...ooooh...decades. The other big surprise comes right at the end, when he finishes with a grimey bootleg of "Planet Rock" by Ed DMX. I wonder if Plasticman's ever heard the original?!
Of course it's a bit disappointing that no dubstep djs were involved in the project (at least N-Type got to design the sleeve!) , but believe me - the Plasticman disc is worth the price of admission alone. Besides, six CDs for under 20 quid? Fuckin' bargain, mate! Comes in a fat DVD case too. If you buy this, along with Youngsta's purist "Dubstep Allstars Vol.2" and the new "Back To The Underground" mix CD from Search & Destroy & Quiet Storm, you'll have a pretty good overview of what's been happening on Rinse this year.
Whilst I'm all hyped about Plasticman again, it gives me great pleasure to announce his return to Bristol later this month, supporting Grime superstar Lethal Bizzle at the Level club on Friday 25th, with additional support from our own Pinch and Blazey.
This looks pretty unmissable to me. Who's up for it? Unfortunately this event clashes with Noir at the Blue Mountain club, so looks like I'll have to miss seeing Slaughter Mob and Hotflush in action. Shame, cos I would've enjoyed linking with Paul and El Sid, and I've heard reports that their set at DMZ was excellent (even though most of the audience had left by that point!). ThinKing's concept of showcasing breaks-affiliated dubstep crews at D'n'B events seems like a good move in terms of spreading the knowledge, and I will reach a future Noir , but put me in a corner and I've gotta go with the breakless pure futurism of Plasticman and co. everytime.
10 November 2005
WOEBOT & THE BLOGS
Well it's already big news at other blogs, but I gotta add my piece. Y'know for the past few months I've been entertaining serious ideas about quitting the blog life, due to an increasing sense of irrelevance and the irrepressible feeling that all the energy was in the forums these days. Maintaining the blog seemed almost like an egotistical urge to maintain a certain cult of personality, when logic told me to just let my consciousness dissolve into the forum matrix - to become just one tiny fragment of the group mind. Yesterday my blog identity hit an all time low, partly due to Simon's decision to end his long-standing and highly respected blog Silverdollarcircle, and also the fact that Blackdown snubbed the bloggers in his Pitchfork article (and it's not a case of bigging anyone up Martin, it's about stating the facts). So yeah, I was pretty dispirited with the whole thing, yet somehow managed to tear yesterday's Rinsessions post from my guts in an effort to prove to myself that I still had something to say. Did I succeed? Dunno. Only one person felt inspired to leave a comment. I never understood why some blogs don't have comments boxes. For me blogging is a two-way thing. Gutterbreakz represents my headspace, but if nobody responds to it and stimulates me in return then what's the point? (incidentaly, have you checked Random Generator recently? The lack of comments has led him to honing his MP3 blog down to the absolute bare essentials. It's like "you can't be bothered, so why should I?" and I completely understand his reasons). There was a time when my comments box was a busy place, but now it's usually derelict - further proof that the forums are where it's at now.But there is hope. Back in January this year Matt 'Woebot' Ingram, Wire contributor, one of the most respected bloggers ever and a personal inspiration for my own entry into blogdom, made the same decision that I have recently been hurtling towards: go with the forums. He created his own forum Dissensus and retired his blog indefinitely. But now, suddenly, he's back! Great timing Matt, you've lifted my spirits no end! I don't always agree with everything Matt writes about (still completely mystified by his dismissal of dubstep) but he expresses himself so brilliantly on so many topics. Take his recent thoughts on objectivity in music journalism, for instance. He totally nails that one - I hate boring objectivity too - and I'm totally biased and always favouring like-minded people who contact me and send me tunes, etc. But it's an unconscious thing that I'd never analysed before - Matt illustrates his point beautifully and hits me right between the eyes, makes me realise what I've been doing all this time (and will continue to do!) . Mind you, I have to take issue with him for not knowing about the Testone video. I thought you read my blog, mate?! Obviously not, otherwise you would've known about it! Congratulations on your return, anyway. Long live Woebot! The blogs will rise again!!
09 November 2005
YOUR 12-STEP RECOVERY PROGRAM...
playlist:
Hell Science Dept - Cold Tap (dub)
Appleblim - Girder (forthcoming on Skulldisco)
S.N.O. - God Loves a Tryer (Terrain)
Skream - Skunk Step (Big Apple)
Skream - Affekz Rmx (Southside)
SLT Mob - Pull Up (Urban Graffiti)
Search & Destroy - Killamanjaro (Destructive)
Warlock - TV Controls Your Mind (Rag & Bone)
F1 - I Hate You (Southside)
Agent X - Killohertz - Alias Rmx (Heatseeker Recordings)
Imp Batch - Fusion - EJ Rmx (A.R.M.Y. Bullet)
Black Ops (DJ Dread-D) - Are 1 (L.D. Cats)
My first mix with the new decks, though I'm afraid they haven't magically turned me into a great dj. If anything it's even more inept and pitiful than usual, which I ascribe to the fact that I'm 'breaking them in' and they respond to touch in a different (probably more accurate) way to the old belt-drives. Never mind, give me six months with these babies and hopefully I'll be able to call myself a 'competent' dj at last. But for now it's all work in progress - guaranteed raw, live and messy. Gutter skillz alert! Still, 'God Loves A Tryer', innit?
Wicked selection of tunes though, if I say so myself. We kick off with a lush exclusive from the Hell Science Department that seems to be coming from the same zone as much of the material on the Vex'd album - harsh beats with spacious, atmospheric arrangements sending shivers down my spine everytime. Hopefully be hearing some more from these guys soon. Hot talent!! Also finally got my hands on the first release from N-Type's Terrain Records, and about bloody time too! He was spinning these tunes on Rinse and saying the EP was 'coming out soon' back in the summer. S.N.O. is apparently some kid from Manchester. The North will rise again!
Two tunes from Skream this month. I dunno, you wait for new material for ages and then two EPs hit the streets at the same time. The Southside EP is only a limited (and pricey!) test pressing at the moment though. Not sure when (and if) the full release will appear, but keep yer eyes peeled. And don't forget that "Request Line/I" has finally arrived, although I haven't actually picked that one up yet. To be honest I've heard those tunes so many times in mixes over the past few months I'm almost bored with them! But of course I'll be purchasing a copy regardless very soon. My man Kek's enjoying it anyway.
Some new personal discoveries including Warlock, who's material on Rag & Bone packs a serious punch. Check his biog at their website. Seems like he's been around as long as I have, which might explain the hard techno edge in some his productions. Nice to hear some brutal kick drums and busy 909 hi-hat patterns again on "TV Controls Your Mind". Then there's F1, who's had a couple of releases on Southside Recordings which I'm very impressed by. Don't have any info on this artist yet though. Anyone care to enlighten me?
Possibly one of my favourite tunes of the year is "Fusion" by Imp Batch (their "Gimp" is pretty sexy too), specialising in dramatic yet extremely catchy orchestral hooks that make me wanna go nuts and pogo around the room like an imbecile everytime I hear it. Why isn't this in the Top 10 National Charts?! Moving to the other extreme, I've been picking up quite a few Jon E Cash/Black Ops releases recently, including the mighty "Cash Beat", but had to go for DJ Dread-D's totally bonkers "Are 1" which simply defies classification. I reckon he must've been off his tits when he programmed that beat, which sounds like a Sublow/Jazz/Rock/Improv band falling down a flight of stairs. Enjoy...
Hell Science Dept - Cold Tap (dub)
Appleblim - Girder (forthcoming on Skulldisco)
S.N.O. - God Loves a Tryer (Terrain)
Skream - Skunk Step (Big Apple)
Skream - Affekz Rmx (Southside)
SLT Mob - Pull Up (Urban Graffiti)
Search & Destroy - Killamanjaro (Destructive)
Warlock - TV Controls Your Mind (Rag & Bone)
F1 - I Hate You (Southside)
Agent X - Killohertz - Alias Rmx (Heatseeker Recordings)
Imp Batch - Fusion - EJ Rmx (A.R.M.Y. Bullet)
Black Ops (DJ Dread-D) - Are 1 (L.D. Cats)
My first mix with the new decks, though I'm afraid they haven't magically turned me into a great dj. If anything it's even more inept and pitiful than usual, which I ascribe to the fact that I'm 'breaking them in' and they respond to touch in a different (probably more accurate) way to the old belt-drives. Never mind, give me six months with these babies and hopefully I'll be able to call myself a 'competent' dj at last. But for now it's all work in progress - guaranteed raw, live and messy. Gutter skillz alert! Still, 'God Loves A Tryer', innit?
Wicked selection of tunes though, if I say so myself. We kick off with a lush exclusive from the Hell Science Department that seems to be coming from the same zone as much of the material on the Vex'd album - harsh beats with spacious, atmospheric arrangements sending shivers down my spine everytime. Hopefully be hearing some more from these guys soon. Hot talent!! Also finally got my hands on the first release from N-Type's Terrain Records, and about bloody time too! He was spinning these tunes on Rinse and saying the EP was 'coming out soon' back in the summer. S.N.O. is apparently some kid from Manchester. The North will rise again!
Two tunes from Skream this month. I dunno, you wait for new material for ages and then two EPs hit the streets at the same time. The Southside EP is only a limited (and pricey!) test pressing at the moment though. Not sure when (and if) the full release will appear, but keep yer eyes peeled. And don't forget that "Request Line/I" has finally arrived, although I haven't actually picked that one up yet. To be honest I've heard those tunes so many times in mixes over the past few months I'm almost bored with them! But of course I'll be purchasing a copy regardless very soon. My man Kek's enjoying it anyway.
Some new personal discoveries including Warlock, who's material on Rag & Bone packs a serious punch. Check his biog at their website. Seems like he's been around as long as I have, which might explain the hard techno edge in some his productions. Nice to hear some brutal kick drums and busy 909 hi-hat patterns again on "TV Controls Your Mind". Then there's F1, who's had a couple of releases on Southside Recordings which I'm very impressed by. Don't have any info on this artist yet though. Anyone care to enlighten me?
Possibly one of my favourite tunes of the year is "Fusion" by Imp Batch (their "Gimp" is pretty sexy too), specialising in dramatic yet extremely catchy orchestral hooks that make me wanna go nuts and pogo around the room like an imbecile everytime I hear it. Why isn't this in the Top 10 National Charts?! Moving to the other extreme, I've been picking up quite a few Jon E Cash/Black Ops releases recently, including the mighty "Cash Beat", but had to go for DJ Dread-D's totally bonkers "Are 1" which simply defies classification. I reckon he must've been off his tits when he programmed that beat, which sounds like a Sublow/Jazz/Rock/Improv band falling down a flight of stairs. Enjoy...
-------------------------
Looks like I'm not the only blogger who fancies himself as a dj. I notice this week that both Dozer and Headphone Sex are having a stab at recording their own extended MP3 showcases, both coming from very different angles. Dozer's latest Dozercast explores the outer limits of electronica in an unmixed form, interspersed oddities from the past cut with random found dialogue, whilst James' first attempt at a mix came out remarkably well. Ignore his comments about a 'few dodgy bits' - his mixing makes me look like a right fool! Mind you, if I stuck to 4/4 disco beats like that I'd probably have a bit more success.
Good on ya, lads!
Good on ya, lads!
06 November 2005
EASY ALL...
Returned home early yesterday to find that my next door neighbour had taken delivery of the 'as new' Stanton turntables I bought off e-bay (see pic in previous post). Wahey! Okay, so they're not exactly Technics, but these entry-level direct drives are a big step up from those crappy belt-drive decks I was working with before, and I got them pretty cheap. Plus a fresh wad of vinyl that I ordered whilst away had also arrived (Blackmarket's delivery service super-fast, as always. Also ordered a couple of releases from Independence Records for the first time ever. Too pricey, but I needed those tunes. Excellent service there as well.) Spent nearly £100 on tunes. Now that's what I call retail therapy!
But what to do with the old decks? I'm gonna give 'em to my old buddy Mike. Or perhaps I should say 'relinquish my stake in their ownership', as we bought those decks between us many years ago. We wanted to make it as djs, but never really got very far. Basically, if anyone we knew was throwing a party, we'd turn up with our gear and play, sometimes right through till dawn. Ahhh, great days. But like most of my long-term friends (all now in their mid-thirties/early- forties) Mike let his music obsession slip into the background as the weight of adult life took over. I still manage to drag him out with me occasionally, so he knows a bit about dubstep now and is always up for hearing new sounds, but he needs to be led. He's got a great collection of vinyl collecting dust in his attic though and hopefully having our old decks will inspire him to start spinning them again. Go Mikey!
Anyway, I went to the Electrotoxic night in Belfast last Sunday and had a wicked time. As always the locals were very friendly and the venue (Lavery's 'middle bar') had a nice vibe with the black walls and the pink circles - like a kinky TARDIS interior or summit.
One slight problem: Boxcutter didn't play!!
It was so frustrating. Poor Barry was having some 'technical problems' with his lappy - basically it kept crashing. He'd set-up some unearthly drones with his guitar and delay pedals that buzzed Doppler-style around the room like malevolent mosquitoes - I was enjoying them on their own! But the goddam 'puter just didn't wanna join in the fun, so Baz had to admit defeat and walk off stage. Heartbreaking! But he took it well (better than I did anyway) and of course it was lovely to finally meet the man in person after regularly corresponding for most of this year. Hopefully we'll be seeing him play in Bristol at some point next year (although it might be worth bringing some cd-r back-ups next time, eh Bazzer?).
Mind you, I was seriously hammered by that point, so might've imagined that bit. I had my crappy little digital video camera with me, and thought I'd have a go at capturing some of the vibe. Here's an8 minute clip of Mr. Exile.
The audio is completely fucked, but I had an excellent view and it's interesting to watch what he's doing. Might give some of you kidz a few ideas about what can be done with a laptop and some extra bits of hardware. Might take a while to download though, so don't bother unless you're really interested.
But what to do with the old decks? I'm gonna give 'em to my old buddy Mike. Or perhaps I should say 'relinquish my stake in their ownership', as we bought those decks between us many years ago. We wanted to make it as djs, but never really got very far. Basically, if anyone we knew was throwing a party, we'd turn up with our gear and play, sometimes right through till dawn. Ahhh, great days. But like most of my long-term friends (all now in their mid-thirties/early- forties) Mike let his music obsession slip into the background as the weight of adult life took over. I still manage to drag him out with me occasionally, so he knows a bit about dubstep now and is always up for hearing new sounds, but he needs to be led. He's got a great collection of vinyl collecting dust in his attic though and hopefully having our old decks will inspire him to start spinning them again. Go Mikey!
Anyway, I went to the Electrotoxic night in Belfast last Sunday and had a wicked time. As always the locals were very friendly and the venue (Lavery's 'middle bar') had a nice vibe with the black walls and the pink circles - like a kinky TARDIS interior or summit.
One slight problem: Boxcutter didn't play!!
It was so frustrating. Poor Barry was having some 'technical problems' with his lappy - basically it kept crashing. He'd set-up some unearthly drones with his guitar and delay pedals that buzzed Doppler-style around the room like malevolent mosquitoes - I was enjoying them on their own! But the goddam 'puter just didn't wanna join in the fun, so Baz had to admit defeat and walk off stage. Heartbreaking! But he took it well (better than I did anyway) and of course it was lovely to finally meet the man in person after regularly corresponding for most of this year. Hopefully we'll be seeing him play in Bristol at some point next year (although it might be worth bringing some cd-r back-ups next time, eh Bazzer?).
"Work, you bastard!!!"
At least I got to see Tim Exile in action. I'd heard reports that his live laptop performances were a bit special, and those reports turned out to be true. Okay maybe his junglist/breakcore style was a bit too messed-up and frantic for my current tastes, but it was fascinating to watch his energetic, humorous, improvised performance, which included processing his own voice in real-time. He seems to have a slightly irreverent approach that's quite similar to Shitmat in terms of his choice of samples. At one point he was playing around with 2 Unlimited's pop-techno hit "No Limits", and I'm sure I heard a loop of Boney M's "Rasputin" in there too."No No, No No No No, There's No Lyrics!"
Mind you, I was seriously hammered by that point, so might've imagined that bit. I had my crappy little digital video camera with me, and thought I'd have a go at capturing some of the vibe. Here's an
The audio is completely fucked, but I had an excellent view and it's interesting to watch what he's doing. Might give some of you kidz a few ideas about what can be done with a laptop and some extra bits of hardware. Might take a while to download though, so don't bother unless you're really interested.
WELL ROOTED
You might recall back in April I featured a jungle mix from Peverlist aka Tom Ford, proprietor of Rooted Records, Bristol's finest underground record shop. Top geezer. Anyway he occasionally plays out, even though he claims to 'hate djing'(!), and sent me a recording of his 4am set at Congo Natty last month. There's an MC giving it large for most of it, although Tom can't remember his name. Strictly old skool junglist bizniz, seen?
Peverlist at Congo Natty October 2005
Tracklist:
DJ Die - 'Live 'n Direct' (Full Cycle)
Roni Size - 'Fashion' (Full Cycle)
Krust - 'Set Speed' (Full Cycle)
Andy C - 'Roll On' (Ram)
The X - 'New Dawn' (Jump Up)
Da Intalex - 'I like it' Remix (Intalex Productions)
Ninja Man - 'Jungle Move' Remarc Remix (Street Tuff)
Major Popular - 'Good Body Girls' Jungle Mix (Jetstar)
Capleton 'Cold Blooded Murder' (Street Tuff Records)
The Godfather - 'Somebody' Shut Up & Dance Remix (Red Light)
Tracklist:
DJ Die - 'Live 'n Direct' (Full Cycle)
Roni Size - 'Fashion' (Full Cycle)
Krust - 'Set Speed' (Full Cycle)
Andy C - 'Roll On' (Ram)
The X - 'New Dawn' (Jump Up)
Da Intalex - 'I like it' Remix (Intalex Productions)
Ninja Man - 'Jungle Move' Remarc Remix (Street Tuff)
Major Popular - 'Good Body Girls' Jungle Mix (Jetstar)
Capleton 'Cold Blooded Murder' (Street Tuff Records)
The Godfather - 'Somebody' Shut Up & Dance Remix (Red Light)
Visit Congo Natty official website.
23 October 2005
SUBLOADED III - THE AFTERMATH
I reckon at least 50% of the punters were wearing ear-plugs. Such is the reputation of Subloaded, powered by the Dissident soundsystem. I didn't bother with the plugs, cos I'm fuckin' hard. Not that it mattered, as #3 wasn't quite in the same league as the previous one in terms of sonic density. You see, the Black Swan has had the environmental people on it's back and has been forced to take measures to reduce the volume, which means putting in limiters and so forth. In fact, I understand there were some people from the council there on the night monitoring the decibels. Which means that, sound-wise, it was heavy, but not fucking heavy, if you know what I mean. And maybe it was the bad weather, but the turn-out was noticeably lower than at #2 as well. True, there were enough punters to keep the main room looking respectably busy, but then if you looked out into room 2 and the bar area, it was practically deserted. Factor in that the previous week's Toxic Dancehall at the same venue was apparently too busy, and you realise that maybe it's still too early to say that dubstep has taken Bristol by storm. It feels that perhaps #3 was a step back, rather than forward, but this is entertainment on the frontier of sonic innovation, and breaking this sound to a new audience is gonna take time, resulting in hard-won increments of success tempered by occasional set-backs and disappointments.
But for those who did show up...oh, what a night.
Having spent a little time in the bar having a couple of beers, chatting with a few local headz and saying hello to Skream, Vex'd and N-Type as they wandered in, I made my way into the main room where Thinking was already well into his set, kicking out some quality darkness with an emphasis on breakstep, although there was one really nasty tekstep tune that stuck out for me and I had to enquire who it was by. Turns out it was a cd-r dub from Cogent, a guy I've corresponded with a little, but who I haven't really heard much music from. On the strength of that beat, I reckon he's one to watch out for. Next up was N-Type, undoubtedly one of my favourite Rinse FM djs, due to his quality selection of tunes that always runs across the board from grime, dubstep and breaks, along with his charismatic personality and amusing chatter and it was great to see the man in action at last. Big tunes, as always.
Shortly before DMZ took to the stage, I made a quick exit to get some refreshments at the bar, only to be confronted by the slightly surreal sight of Jamie and Rollie (aka Vex'd - Planet Mu recording artists, fresh from an American tour and possibly the most high-profile act on the bill) playing strictly roots and dub reggae in the second room to an audience of, er, practically nobody. They seemed to be having a great time though - just a couple of mates playing a few old favourites and having a laugh together. As I stood there for a few moments, observing Vex'd at play, a voice came in my left ear saying "Hi, are you Nick?". I turned around to see none other than Mike Paradinas standing next to me. As you can imagine it was a bit of a shock, as I had no idea he was coming down to the event. Of course it was great to finally have a face-to-face chat with a man I've admired for many years, but actually it left me feeling a little dispirited. I'd assumed that Planet Mu, with it's long-standing reputation for innovative music, hectic release schedule and roster of established artists was still doing well, but according to Mike the truth is very different. I don't want to go into all the details, but the fact is that the label is barely keeping its head above water financially, and don't forget Mike doesn't even take a wage from it. Another strange point he made was that people keep telling him he releases too much 'old fashioned' music, despite that fact that he's been signing some fantastic new talent recently. It seems like a ridiculous idea, yet as I looked around the empty room - just me, Mike and Vex'd - I felt a cold shadow of doubt creep over me....could this really be the end of an era?
Thankfully my spirits were quickly lifted when I returned to the main room where Loefah and Mala, with Sgt. Pokes on the mic, were just warming-up for another devastating DMZ set. Awesome vibes as always and some seriously heavyweight dubs in evidence. Yet another spiritually uplifting set that included Mala's VIP mix of "Request Line" which sounded really fresh. Then there was that tune with the two-note staccato keyboard riff that reminded me of the intro to Abba's "Mama Mia"! Loefah's showcase revealed his sound is getting even more extreme, dropping ultra-minimal paranoid riddims awash with analogue-style distorted delay lines rippling into infinity like some distopian King Tubby cyborg. Pure dread vibes. I could've really used a break after that, but there was no time! Next up was a solo set from Skream that simply couldn't be missed. Like a one man Kraftwerk, his set started with a robot voice saying "Subloaded...are you ready?" before launching into a selection of immaculately conceived electro-tek-grime tunes full of sparkling melodies and phat bass wobblers. A few things I recognised from his recent mix, including that one with the Amen break (can't remember the title at the moment, but I'm sure someone will remind me!) yet also the surprise inclusion of DJ Distance's "1 On 1" delivering some uncustomary mid-range attack into the mix. Champion sounds from start to finish.
After nearly three hours solid of the DMZ/Skream experience I was just about knackered, emotionally and physically. It was 3am and a large proportion of the crowd had drifted off home by that point too, but I managed to hang-on for another half hour or so to watch the bulk of Black Ops' set, which was fantastic. Although I generally write about dubstep, whenever I'm in a situation listening to hardcore grimey sublow sounds like this I just feel like it's the best music ever. But these all-nighters are a bit much for my weary old bones and so I decided to drift off into the night. I think the final hour was the turn of our hosts, so sorry I missed them. Pinch seemed a bit edgy - possibly due to the fact that he was facing a big financial loss on this event - and poor old Blazey was very subdued, due to the fact that he's still not feeling very well. Mate, you really need to take an extended break. Hope their set went okay, but by that point Gutta was tucking himself up in bed.
Big-up all the crew who made it down - Pete, Kymatik, Appleblim (sporting a wicked Skull Disco T-shirt - I want one, mate!), Ali and Toxic crew representing, Jack and the guy from Bath who's name I've forgotten, plus the other Room 2 players Tom Peverlist and Dub Boy. See you all at the next one...
But for those who did show up...oh, what a night.
Having spent a little time in the bar having a couple of beers, chatting with a few local headz and saying hello to Skream, Vex'd and N-Type as they wandered in, I made my way into the main room where Thinking was already well into his set, kicking out some quality darkness with an emphasis on breakstep, although there was one really nasty tekstep tune that stuck out for me and I had to enquire who it was by. Turns out it was a cd-r dub from Cogent, a guy I've corresponded with a little, but who I haven't really heard much music from. On the strength of that beat, I reckon he's one to watch out for. Next up was N-Type, undoubtedly one of my favourite Rinse FM djs, due to his quality selection of tunes that always runs across the board from grime, dubstep and breaks, along with his charismatic personality and amusing chatter and it was great to see the man in action at last. Big tunes, as always.
Shortly before DMZ took to the stage, I made a quick exit to get some refreshments at the bar, only to be confronted by the slightly surreal sight of Jamie and Rollie (aka Vex'd - Planet Mu recording artists, fresh from an American tour and possibly the most high-profile act on the bill) playing strictly roots and dub reggae in the second room to an audience of, er, practically nobody. They seemed to be having a great time though - just a couple of mates playing a few old favourites and having a laugh together. As I stood there for a few moments, observing Vex'd at play, a voice came in my left ear saying "Hi, are you Nick?". I turned around to see none other than Mike Paradinas standing next to me. As you can imagine it was a bit of a shock, as I had no idea he was coming down to the event. Of course it was great to finally have a face-to-face chat with a man I've admired for many years, but actually it left me feeling a little dispirited. I'd assumed that Planet Mu, with it's long-standing reputation for innovative music, hectic release schedule and roster of established artists was still doing well, but according to Mike the truth is very different. I don't want to go into all the details, but the fact is that the label is barely keeping its head above water financially, and don't forget Mike doesn't even take a wage from it. Another strange point he made was that people keep telling him he releases too much 'old fashioned' music, despite that fact that he's been signing some fantastic new talent recently. It seems like a ridiculous idea, yet as I looked around the empty room - just me, Mike and Vex'd - I felt a cold shadow of doubt creep over me....could this really be the end of an era?
Thankfully my spirits were quickly lifted when I returned to the main room where Loefah and Mala, with Sgt. Pokes on the mic, were just warming-up for another devastating DMZ set. Awesome vibes as always and some seriously heavyweight dubs in evidence. Yet another spiritually uplifting set that included Mala's VIP mix of "Request Line" which sounded really fresh. Then there was that tune with the two-note staccato keyboard riff that reminded me of the intro to Abba's "Mama Mia"! Loefah's showcase revealed his sound is getting even more extreme, dropping ultra-minimal paranoid riddims awash with analogue-style distorted delay lines rippling into infinity like some distopian King Tubby cyborg. Pure dread vibes. I could've really used a break after that, but there was no time! Next up was a solo set from Skream that simply couldn't be missed. Like a one man Kraftwerk, his set started with a robot voice saying "Subloaded...are you ready?" before launching into a selection of immaculately conceived electro-tek-grime tunes full of sparkling melodies and phat bass wobblers. A few things I recognised from his recent mix, including that one with the Amen break (can't remember the title at the moment, but I'm sure someone will remind me!) yet also the surprise inclusion of DJ Distance's "1 On 1" delivering some uncustomary mid-range attack into the mix. Champion sounds from start to finish.
After nearly three hours solid of the DMZ/Skream experience I was just about knackered, emotionally and physically. It was 3am and a large proportion of the crowd had drifted off home by that point too, but I managed to hang-on for another half hour or so to watch the bulk of Black Ops' set, which was fantastic. Although I generally write about dubstep, whenever I'm in a situation listening to hardcore grimey sublow sounds like this I just feel like it's the best music ever. But these all-nighters are a bit much for my weary old bones and so I decided to drift off into the night. I think the final hour was the turn of our hosts, so sorry I missed them. Pinch seemed a bit edgy - possibly due to the fact that he was facing a big financial loss on this event - and poor old Blazey was very subdued, due to the fact that he's still not feeling very well. Mate, you really need to take an extended break. Hope their set went okay, but by that point Gutta was tucking himself up in bed.
Big-up all the crew who made it down - Pete, Kymatik, Appleblim (sporting a wicked Skull Disco T-shirt - I want one, mate!), Ali and Toxic crew representing, Jack and the guy from Bath who's name I've forgotten, plus the other Room 2 players Tom Peverlist and Dub Boy. See you all at the next one...
17 October 2005
AN INTERVIEW WITH BOXCUTTER
Imagine if there was an electronica version of the X-Factor competition. The panel of judges - possibly Steve Beckett (Warp), Mike Paradinas (Planet Mu) and Grant Wilson-Claridge (Rephlex) - preside over an endless stream of young hopefuls, eager to seduce with the little tunes they put together on some bootlegged software. Some of it's terrible. Some of it has potential, but needs development. An alarming amount of applicants are very, very good, or at least worthy, and the pass-rate is high. The judges know they're going to have a hard time whittling it down to the final twelve.
Then during the last hour of auditions, in walks a young man who introduces himself (in a soft Northern-Irish accent) simply as 'Barry'. "Hello Barry" says Beckett condscendingly, "thanks for coming along. What are you going to play for us?" Carefully jacking his laptop into the PA system, then unpacking an electric guitar and fx-pedal board, Barry mumbles from under his hoody "ummm...this is a track called Tauhid". He then sits down and begins to play...
A metallic drone rises as shards of echo-smeared sound matter flicker pensively...a sense of mounting tension...before a wave of shimmering, sustained bell-like tones radiate from the guitar amplifier, bathing the room in a radiant glow that seems to penetrate into every corner. Almost simultaneuosly the laptop starts spitting out a blurry half-step rhythm and resonant, writhing bassline. A haunting synth-pad rises from the mix, mournful yet life-affirming as further note-clusters trickle from the fretboard, spiralling through the air, reflecting back from every surface. Then the music seems to momentarily evaporate in a cloud of penetrating ring-sounds before a sudden adrenelin shot of DSP-soaked breakbeat abstraction bursts through the speakers in a flurry of ride cymbals and time-stretched snares, whilst all the while the morphed guitar textures soar majestically above, undulating towards ever-increasing levels of ecstatic intensity. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, the beats implode in a puff of reverbated delay, leaving only the chiming feedback-loop of guitar amplification.
As the final coruscating notes disolve into the electrified air, the judges remain silent for a few moments. Beckett's jaw is hanging loosely as he stares vacantly in Barry's general direction. Paradinas is grinning like an idiot, nodding his head fervently at no-one in particular. Wilson-Claridge sits back, lights a generously packed spliff, stares blanky at the ceiling, then mutters "fuck me, I haven't felt like this since seeing Squarepusher at the George Robey in '94...". Coming back to their senses, the judges glance at each other briefly. Then, without even bothering to confer with the others, Beckett says simply, "Barry...you're through to the next round".
Although I don't claim to hear a huge amount of unreleased material in my role as a blogger, I do get to hear quite a few interesting things. Most of it is very good. But nothing could quite prepare me for the first e-mail from Ulster-based Barry Lynn (above) earlier this year. Listening to the MP3 of his track "Brood", I was completely floored by the production levels and emotional insensity. I realised immediately that here was The Real Deal - a fully-formed talent who needed exposure immediately. Shortly after playlisting "Brood" on the first GutterFM transmission back in May, I learned that it was to be released by Hotflush Recordings. This month it's finally arrived, released under the alias Boxcutter, backed with "Sunshine"- a remarkable free jazz-inspired take on dubstep that reveals yet another fascinating direction for this music. With this in mind, I figured it was time to learn a bit more about Mr. Lynn, and so present here the first in-depth interview with the man himself....
Gutta: Could you explain a little about your background, how you started making music, etc.
Barry Lynn: I got my first guitar aged 15 and remained strictly a guitarist until I turned 18. I played in a lot of different bands in this period, playing all sorts of styles but mainly focused on instrumental jam-based rock music. Jimi Hendrix was and still is a massive influence on my playing and songwriting. But I found myself drawn more and more toward electronic music and was then spending most of my time playing one-handed guitar whilst tweaking every pedal I could get my hands on to make odd sounds from my guitar playing. I became fascinated with the possiblities of electronic equipment and especially sampling, which is probably a continuation of my interest in delay pedals - my playing at this time was very
Robert Fripp-influenced. So then I purchased a cheap PC in 1998 and began producing hip hop-influenced music that incorporated my guitar playing. By this stage I'd also starting practicing keyboards and bass guitar and so they got used also.
G: I get the impression you work in a variety of styles...
BL: I'm not pinned down to one particular style. I've done drum 'n' bass, jungle, uk garage, dubstep, house, techno...
G: So how does your music develop these days - do ideas start with instruments or on the computer?
BL: Sometimes tracks get built out of performances on instruments, like "Sunshine", other stuff is all electronic. I write my music on anything that comes to hand - tracks can start with a breakbeat idea that's been programmed in a sequencer, a melodic phrase on the guitar, a MIDI doodle or a sound I've processed and shaped with DSP software. It's hard to say where ideas come from though...I just try and be around my gear as much as possible so that I can get to work when I'm in the mood... I always feel guilty that I'm not being productive enough.
G: Describe you studio set-up - presumably you're PC-based now, but I guess you have some other instruments/outboard/fx you use too?
BL: I played guitar pretty obsessively for years before I made tracks so everything I know about musical theory and composition comes through that. I have a pretty guitar-centric approach, but I don't really wanna talk about gear cos I think it can take away from the end product. I'll use anything I can get my hands on though - hardware or software, samples and instruments.
G: I think you mentioned to me before that you'd had a couple of low-key releases previously. What were they and what style of music?
BL: They weren't releases proper. I've put a few EPs of stuff up on a netlabel run by local lads (electrotoxic.com). These contained the acid jungle tunes that I started giving out on demos around '02-'03, although every EP was a fairly mixed bag -there was a clickhouse tune made from insect samples, a heavy R&S-inspired dub tune and some granular electro stuff in there.
G: So how long have you been into the grime & dubstep flavas, and where did you first start hearing that sound?
BL: I've been following all sorts of breakbeat based music for ages, since my mid-teens I suppose. I kept up with lots of overlapping scenes. I'd heard a lot of commercial garage but hearing Squarepusher's "My Red Hot Car" was a big moment, plus tracks by leftfield producers like Four Tet and Manitoba that used two-step breaks... I remember hearing "Said the Spider" by Darqwan when it came out and thinking it sounded really fresh. I was heavily into a lot of electro around this time too - for it's basslines mainly - Radioactive Man, Octagon Man... then Mike Paradines' charts on the Planet-Mu site started to contain a lot of excellent proto-dubstep tracks that I tracked down, tunes like the "Pussy Track" remix by Hype that had these heavy beats with bass stabs accenting weird parts of the bar. Also, around the same time I started tuning in to J Da Flex on 1xtra - his show was really important in exposing me to all sorts of different sounds. That's where I first heard Toasty, Vex'd, Search & Destroy...loads of people. Plus I'm well into Rephlex's output so the Grime compilations were important too, although I'd heard of everyone on them prior to the Rephlex releases.
G: Name a few other specific tunes that inspired your dubstep direction...
BL: Toasty's "The Knowledge", Search & Destroy's "Food Chain", Mu-Ziq's "Grape Nut Beats pt2" and "Raindance" by Mark One.
G: To my ears, your own take on dubstep seems to be very much from the IDM/electronica spectrum, yet you've quickly gained support from underground players like J Da Flex, Hot Flush, Rinse DJs etc. How do you explain that?
BL: I think that "Brood" and the tracks I make lately aren't 'idm', but they use some production tricks I picked up from producers associated with that sound. It's just an open-minded attitude on everyone's part I suppose, which I really applaud. I'd like to think it's simply because they're tracks that have an effect on people beyond just impressing them with my production skills or giving them another disposable dj tool. It's a fairly common idea to take underground music and try to make it more 'intelligent', but I think a lot of attempts just dilute the bang of the underground stuff with too much unnecessary sound in the name of making a 'detailed' track - I know this from experience with my own stuff. I'm not sure how effectively breakcore blends with dubstep since space and emptiness are a major factor in dubstep and breakcore is about as busy as you can get, so they're opposites in a lot of ways. Plus a lot of the straight-up underground stuff is as well-made as a lot of 'idm' anyway- it has as many new ideas which is what it's all about, not how many plug-ins you can use. In trying to fuse them I suppose the aim is to make the edits and fx add to the groove of your tune to make it even more intense than it might be otherwise, getting the right balance between repetition and song structure and headfuckery fx stuff.
G: What do you think of this whole 'Grim' idea? Have you heard much of that Monkey Steak/Grim Dubs material? Do you feel any affinity with it?
BL: To be honest it's just a marketing tag for a label that I'm not involved with. I'd feel a bit silly saying I identify with it specifically since the whole idea is an old one - that of idming-up straight-ahead dance music. If that's what the concept is...maybe I've got it wrong... was the press release a sort of pisstake of Rephlex for not releasing a more 'idm'-influenced take on dubstep on the compilations?
G: To a certain extent, yeah. I think the Werk Discs press release was sending-up the Rephlex Grime one a bit, although it was probably more about having a dig at them jumping for the bandwagon, so to speak.
BL: It's a funny read but I think a lot of the tracks they did put out are excellent and fit on Rephlex nicely. I don't think they were bandwagon-jumping.
G: Okay, so maybe it's a 'No' to Grim, but could you see yourself as part of a (not too clearly defined) movement of new post-grime, possibly middle-class, electronic experimentors?
BL: I like working on breaks and adding dubbed-out detail - it's part of the guilt I have about not spending enough time on tunes - plus, like I was saying, when it's done well it adds to the intensity of the tune, but I dunno if that's post-anything. It's far from a new concept, it's just a different approach. Erm... I'm trying to pin down why I think it's unnecessary to have another sub-genre...I think it's because it's such an early stage that everyone is still experimenting and trying new patterns, whether they're making 'grime' or 'grim' - not just middle class geezers! - haha. Plus the big lights of the 'idm' scene (Rephlex/Mu) are equally backing the less edited sound so that just adds to the confusion. A lot of the 'normal' dubstep tunes sound weird as fuck anyway. I rate loads of stuff on Werk though - don't wanna give the impression I'm not into it...
G: Boxcutter. Where'd you get that name from? Sounds a little bit like Squarepusher...
BL: Shit, do you reckon? What about Boxgutter? Or maybe cocks-butter?... haha...nah, it's the name of a tune my mate Kam made - he makes wicked super-edited hiphop and grime stuff... I think it's 9/11 related which suited the dread-y airport panic attack sound of "Brood". Actually I never saw "Sunshine" as fitting with that alias but I wanted to put it out so I let it go. I needed an alias cos I felt a bit exposed using my real name. I dunno if I'm gonna use it again or if I'll pick another one...I like the idea of having loads of different names...
G: Speaking of 'Sunshine', can you remind me about the influences there? I think you mentioned Alice Coltrane before.
BL: I'm well into 'cosmic' jazz, especially all the stuff that developed out of John Coltrane's last band. It all started when a mate lent me "The Creator Has A Masterplan" by Pharoah Sanders. From the first note I knew it was a special record. A lot of people can't hack how free it gets - Leon Thomas' mad african yodelling and screaming and Pharoah's immense overblowing style - but the whole vibe is just amazing. I wanted to take some of the percussion and bells that make the backdrop to those types of records and use similar instrumentation - sax and flute, handclaps, the works - try and keep it sounding really ecstatic and organic and tie it all together with a jam I'd done that started with a delay loop of guitar, which are the first notes you hear in "Sunshine".
G: What else are you playing on that track? Is there some live woodwind? How many instruments can you play?!
BL: I'm playing guitar, bass and keys on that tune - they're the only instruments I've any proficiency on. Some of the sounds are sampled, although I don't wanna say too much about them!
G: It's quite a departure from the usual Hot Flush/dubstep style. What made you/them decide on that one as opposed to, say, "Ricta" or "Grub"?
BL: Hot Flush like to mix their styles up, pairing off heavy tracks with more chilled b-sides. To be honest I was surprised that they wanted to put it out, I almost never sent it cos I didn't think it was heavy enough. It's something I wanna push into more, but I wanna get noisier with it than "Sunshine" turned out.... it's on a fairly melodic tip. But it's nice to have two very different sounds paired off. The EP is a decent wee taster of a lot of the different types of stuff I make.
G: How did the deal with Hot Flush come about anyway? From a demo, or what?
BL: Yeah, I sent them a few mp3 links to stuff which they liked and then when I made "Brood" I sent them an early version of it which they were well into. I also sent it to J da Flex and he started playing it a lot, around which time Paul (Rose, Hot Flush co-founder) phoned me up and it went from there....
G: Tell me as much as you dare about forthcoming releases, either with Hot Flush or Planet Mu. I understand Mike Paradinas has been aware of you for quite some time, and liked your tunes, but thought you were a bit too 'Squarepusher-y'. I take it your garage influences have swung in your favour there...?
BL: Yeah, Mike phoned me around April 2003 about an old demo I'd sent him, but I pissed away my chances of a release at that time by making new stuff that was emulating other producers - mainly acid jungle stuff that was on Squarepusher and AFX's toes too much. It's hard not being influenced by stuff that has a big effect on you. I've learnt a lot from listening to their stuff but I'm making a big effort now to try new things and do things that are more personal to me. So with that in mind, right now I'm chatting with Mike about a 12" and hopefully an album. At the minute I've a shortlist of tunes from him that I'm tidying up for release plus when I come up with new stuff I'm letting him hear it too. It's not just garage by the way - there's some downtempo stuff and a jungle tune too.
G: Now then, I'm gonna be over in Belfast next week visiting relatives and, by happy coincidence, you happen to be playing a gig there on the 30th with Tim Exile. I'm coming to check you out mate!
BL: Yeah that show's gonna be amazing - Exile is a fucking class producer! Looking forward to meeting you!
G: I'm curious to see how you perform your music live...
BL: Initially I started with live sequencing but it was when I started using guitars and basses that I got really good reactions from people. There's just far more performance value watching someone improvise on an instrument as opposed to staring at a laptop screen. I'm well into guitarists like Robert Fripp and Nick McCabe and tend to build up delay loops that I mix in and out over the top of tunes. I've some custom live patches that let me loop and run effects on the sequenced track at the same time. My laptop is showing it's age lately though. When I can afford it I'm gonna upgrade. I've a lot of ideas for live stuff that I can't run on my current set-up.
G: How extensively have you played live in the past, and where?
BL: I've been playing my stuff out for a few years now. I've been a regular at Electrotoxic for over two years now and I've also played a number of other club nights and festivals round Belfast and Derry, such as the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Vis-Sonic (in association with OneDotZero) and the Celtronic Festivaland. Also memorable was when local DJ/Producer David Holmes invited me to play his New Left Bank club night in early 2005. I've played for Bugklinik in Belgium a couple of times too.
G: What's the Northern Ireland underground/electronic music scene like, anyway? Is there a dubstep scene developing yet?
BL: Dunno what to say about NI's music scene really...it's pretty small which means marginal stuff struggles a lot more than it would elsewhere. This goes for everything, not just dubstep.
G: Presumably it's quite a close-knit little community?
BL: Typical leftfield gig turnouts are in the low hundreds at absolute best, usually. Club nights come and go quite a bit - there isn't a great selection of venues which doesn't help.
G: From a political/religious point of view, does the music unite across the Great Divide?
BL: Yeah, course it does. Nobody asks what background anyone else is from cos it's just like anywhere - people out to have a good time and hear good tunes.
G: Any other local headz I should be keeping an eye out for when I'm over?
BL: I'm gonna big up my mates at Electrotoxic especially Iso9 who runs the nights cos he's booked me more than anyone and has a really open-minded attitude. Two local producers I swap a lot of music with and have "producer talks" with are Gary Spence (who records amazing quirky house and soul music as T-Polar) and Filaria (who makes all sorts of weird acidic jazz madness).
G: Wicked...see you on Halloween night, Baz!
"Brood/Sunshine" is out now on Hotflush Recordings. You can buy the 12" here, or the download here.
Then during the last hour of auditions, in walks a young man who introduces himself (in a soft Northern-Irish accent) simply as 'Barry'. "Hello Barry" says Beckett condscendingly, "thanks for coming along. What are you going to play for us?" Carefully jacking his laptop into the PA system, then unpacking an electric guitar and fx-pedal board, Barry mumbles from under his hoody "ummm...this is a track called Tauhid". He then sits down and begins to play...
A metallic drone rises as shards of echo-smeared sound matter flicker pensively...a sense of mounting tension...before a wave of shimmering, sustained bell-like tones radiate from the guitar amplifier, bathing the room in a radiant glow that seems to penetrate into every corner. Almost simultaneuosly the laptop starts spitting out a blurry half-step rhythm and resonant, writhing bassline. A haunting synth-pad rises from the mix, mournful yet life-affirming as further note-clusters trickle from the fretboard, spiralling through the air, reflecting back from every surface. Then the music seems to momentarily evaporate in a cloud of penetrating ring-sounds before a sudden adrenelin shot of DSP-soaked breakbeat abstraction bursts through the speakers in a flurry of ride cymbals and time-stretched snares, whilst all the while the morphed guitar textures soar majestically above, undulating towards ever-increasing levels of ecstatic intensity. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, the beats implode in a puff of reverbated delay, leaving only the chiming feedback-loop of guitar amplification.
As the final coruscating notes disolve into the electrified air, the judges remain silent for a few moments. Beckett's jaw is hanging loosely as he stares vacantly in Barry's general direction. Paradinas is grinning like an idiot, nodding his head fervently at no-one in particular. Wilson-Claridge sits back, lights a generously packed spliff, stares blanky at the ceiling, then mutters "fuck me, I haven't felt like this since seeing Squarepusher at the George Robey in '94...". Coming back to their senses, the judges glance at each other briefly. Then, without even bothering to confer with the others, Beckett says simply, "Barry...you're through to the next round".
--------------------------------
Although I don't claim to hear a huge amount of unreleased material in my role as a blogger, I do get to hear quite a few interesting things. Most of it is very good. But nothing could quite prepare me for the first e-mail from Ulster-based Barry Lynn (above) earlier this year. Listening to the MP3 of his track "Brood", I was completely floored by the production levels and emotional insensity. I realised immediately that here was The Real Deal - a fully-formed talent who needed exposure immediately. Shortly after playlisting "Brood" on the first GutterFM transmission back in May, I learned that it was to be released by Hotflush Recordings. This month it's finally arrived, released under the alias Boxcutter, backed with "Sunshine"- a remarkable free jazz-inspired take on dubstep that reveals yet another fascinating direction for this music. With this in mind, I figured it was time to learn a bit more about Mr. Lynn, and so present here the first in-depth interview with the man himself....
---------------------------------
Gutta: Could you explain a little about your background, how you started making music, etc.
Barry Lynn: I got my first guitar aged 15 and remained strictly a guitarist until I turned 18. I played in a lot of different bands in this period, playing all sorts of styles but mainly focused on instrumental jam-based rock music. Jimi Hendrix was and still is a massive influence on my playing and songwriting. But I found myself drawn more and more toward electronic music and was then spending most of my time playing one-handed guitar whilst tweaking every pedal I could get my hands on to make odd sounds from my guitar playing. I became fascinated with the possiblities of electronic equipment and especially sampling, which is probably a continuation of my interest in delay pedals - my playing at this time was very
Robert Fripp-influenced. So then I purchased a cheap PC in 1998 and began producing hip hop-influenced music that incorporated my guitar playing. By this stage I'd also starting practicing keyboards and bass guitar and so they got used also.
G: I get the impression you work in a variety of styles...
BL: I'm not pinned down to one particular style. I've done drum 'n' bass, jungle, uk garage, dubstep, house, techno...
G: So how does your music develop these days - do ideas start with instruments or on the computer?
BL: Sometimes tracks get built out of performances on instruments, like "Sunshine", other stuff is all electronic. I write my music on anything that comes to hand - tracks can start with a breakbeat idea that's been programmed in a sequencer, a melodic phrase on the guitar, a MIDI doodle or a sound I've processed and shaped with DSP software. It's hard to say where ideas come from though...I just try and be around my gear as much as possible so that I can get to work when I'm in the mood... I always feel guilty that I'm not being productive enough.
G: Describe you studio set-up - presumably you're PC-based now, but I guess you have some other instruments/outboard/fx you use too?
BL: I played guitar pretty obsessively for years before I made tracks so everything I know about musical theory and composition comes through that. I have a pretty guitar-centric approach, but I don't really wanna talk about gear cos I think it can take away from the end product. I'll use anything I can get my hands on though - hardware or software, samples and instruments.
G: I think you mentioned to me before that you'd had a couple of low-key releases previously. What were they and what style of music?
BL: They weren't releases proper. I've put a few EPs of stuff up on a netlabel run by local lads (electrotoxic.com). These contained the acid jungle tunes that I started giving out on demos around '02-'03, although every EP was a fairly mixed bag -there was a clickhouse tune made from insect samples, a heavy R&S-inspired dub tune and some granular electro stuff in there.
G: So how long have you been into the grime & dubstep flavas, and where did you first start hearing that sound?
BL: I've been following all sorts of breakbeat based music for ages, since my mid-teens I suppose. I kept up with lots of overlapping scenes. I'd heard a lot of commercial garage but hearing Squarepusher's "My Red Hot Car" was a big moment, plus tracks by leftfield producers like Four Tet and Manitoba that used two-step breaks... I remember hearing "Said the Spider" by Darqwan when it came out and thinking it sounded really fresh. I was heavily into a lot of electro around this time too - for it's basslines mainly - Radioactive Man, Octagon Man... then Mike Paradines' charts on the Planet-Mu site started to contain a lot of excellent proto-dubstep tracks that I tracked down, tunes like the "Pussy Track" remix by Hype that had these heavy beats with bass stabs accenting weird parts of the bar. Also, around the same time I started tuning in to J Da Flex on 1xtra - his show was really important in exposing me to all sorts of different sounds. That's where I first heard Toasty, Vex'd, Search & Destroy...loads of people. Plus I'm well into Rephlex's output so the Grime compilations were important too, although I'd heard of everyone on them prior to the Rephlex releases.
G: Name a few other specific tunes that inspired your dubstep direction...
BL: Toasty's "The Knowledge", Search & Destroy's "Food Chain", Mu-Ziq's "Grape Nut Beats pt2" and "Raindance" by Mark One.
G: To my ears, your own take on dubstep seems to be very much from the IDM/electronica spectrum, yet you've quickly gained support from underground players like J Da Flex, Hot Flush, Rinse DJs etc. How do you explain that?
BL: I think that "Brood" and the tracks I make lately aren't 'idm', but they use some production tricks I picked up from producers associated with that sound. It's just an open-minded attitude on everyone's part I suppose, which I really applaud. I'd like to think it's simply because they're tracks that have an effect on people beyond just impressing them with my production skills or giving them another disposable dj tool. It's a fairly common idea to take underground music and try to make it more 'intelligent', but I think a lot of attempts just dilute the bang of the underground stuff with too much unnecessary sound in the name of making a 'detailed' track - I know this from experience with my own stuff. I'm not sure how effectively breakcore blends with dubstep since space and emptiness are a major factor in dubstep and breakcore is about as busy as you can get, so they're opposites in a lot of ways. Plus a lot of the straight-up underground stuff is as well-made as a lot of 'idm' anyway- it has as many new ideas which is what it's all about, not how many plug-ins you can use. In trying to fuse them I suppose the aim is to make the edits and fx add to the groove of your tune to make it even more intense than it might be otherwise, getting the right balance between repetition and song structure and headfuckery fx stuff.
G: What do you think of this whole 'Grim' idea? Have you heard much of that Monkey Steak/Grim Dubs material? Do you feel any affinity with it?
BL: To be honest it's just a marketing tag for a label that I'm not involved with. I'd feel a bit silly saying I identify with it specifically since the whole idea is an old one - that of idming-up straight-ahead dance music. If that's what the concept is...maybe I've got it wrong... was the press release a sort of pisstake of Rephlex for not releasing a more 'idm'-influenced take on dubstep on the compilations?
G: To a certain extent, yeah. I think the Werk Discs press release was sending-up the Rephlex Grime one a bit, although it was probably more about having a dig at them jumping for the bandwagon, so to speak.
BL: It's a funny read but I think a lot of the tracks they did put out are excellent and fit on Rephlex nicely. I don't think they were bandwagon-jumping.
G: Okay, so maybe it's a 'No' to Grim, but could you see yourself as part of a (not too clearly defined) movement of new post-grime, possibly middle-class, electronic experimentors?
BL: I like working on breaks and adding dubbed-out detail - it's part of the guilt I have about not spending enough time on tunes - plus, like I was saying, when it's done well it adds to the intensity of the tune, but I dunno if that's post-anything. It's far from a new concept, it's just a different approach. Erm... I'm trying to pin down why I think it's unnecessary to have another sub-genre...I think it's because it's such an early stage that everyone is still experimenting and trying new patterns, whether they're making 'grime' or 'grim' - not just middle class geezers! - haha. Plus the big lights of the 'idm' scene (Rephlex/Mu) are equally backing the less edited sound so that just adds to the confusion. A lot of the 'normal' dubstep tunes sound weird as fuck anyway. I rate loads of stuff on Werk though - don't wanna give the impression I'm not into it...
G: Boxcutter. Where'd you get that name from? Sounds a little bit like Squarepusher...
BL: Shit, do you reckon? What about Boxgutter? Or maybe cocks-butter?... haha...nah, it's the name of a tune my mate Kam made - he makes wicked super-edited hiphop and grime stuff... I think it's 9/11 related which suited the dread-y airport panic attack sound of "Brood". Actually I never saw "Sunshine" as fitting with that alias but I wanted to put it out so I let it go. I needed an alias cos I felt a bit exposed using my real name. I dunno if I'm gonna use it again or if I'll pick another one...I like the idea of having loads of different names...
G: Speaking of 'Sunshine', can you remind me about the influences there? I think you mentioned Alice Coltrane before.
BL: I'm well into 'cosmic' jazz, especially all the stuff that developed out of John Coltrane's last band. It all started when a mate lent me "The Creator Has A Masterplan" by Pharoah Sanders. From the first note I knew it was a special record. A lot of people can't hack how free it gets - Leon Thomas' mad african yodelling and screaming and Pharoah's immense overblowing style - but the whole vibe is just amazing. I wanted to take some of the percussion and bells that make the backdrop to those types of records and use similar instrumentation - sax and flute, handclaps, the works - try and keep it sounding really ecstatic and organic and tie it all together with a jam I'd done that started with a delay loop of guitar, which are the first notes you hear in "Sunshine".
G: What else are you playing on that track? Is there some live woodwind? How many instruments can you play?!
BL: I'm playing guitar, bass and keys on that tune - they're the only instruments I've any proficiency on. Some of the sounds are sampled, although I don't wanna say too much about them!
G: It's quite a departure from the usual Hot Flush/dubstep style. What made you/them decide on that one as opposed to, say, "Ricta" or "Grub"?
BL: Hot Flush like to mix their styles up, pairing off heavy tracks with more chilled b-sides. To be honest I was surprised that they wanted to put it out, I almost never sent it cos I didn't think it was heavy enough. It's something I wanna push into more, but I wanna get noisier with it than "Sunshine" turned out.... it's on a fairly melodic tip. But it's nice to have two very different sounds paired off. The EP is a decent wee taster of a lot of the different types of stuff I make.
G: How did the deal with Hot Flush come about anyway? From a demo, or what?
BL: Yeah, I sent them a few mp3 links to stuff which they liked and then when I made "Brood" I sent them an early version of it which they were well into. I also sent it to J da Flex and he started playing it a lot, around which time Paul (Rose, Hot Flush co-founder) phoned me up and it went from there....
G: Tell me as much as you dare about forthcoming releases, either with Hot Flush or Planet Mu. I understand Mike Paradinas has been aware of you for quite some time, and liked your tunes, but thought you were a bit too 'Squarepusher-y'. I take it your garage influences have swung in your favour there...?
BL: Yeah, Mike phoned me around April 2003 about an old demo I'd sent him, but I pissed away my chances of a release at that time by making new stuff that was emulating other producers - mainly acid jungle stuff that was on Squarepusher and AFX's toes too much. It's hard not being influenced by stuff that has a big effect on you. I've learnt a lot from listening to their stuff but I'm making a big effort now to try new things and do things that are more personal to me. So with that in mind, right now I'm chatting with Mike about a 12" and hopefully an album. At the minute I've a shortlist of tunes from him that I'm tidying up for release plus when I come up with new stuff I'm letting him hear it too. It's not just garage by the way - there's some downtempo stuff and a jungle tune too.
G: Now then, I'm gonna be over in Belfast next week visiting relatives and, by happy coincidence, you happen to be playing a gig there on the 30th with Tim Exile. I'm coming to check you out mate!
BL: Yeah that show's gonna be amazing - Exile is a fucking class producer! Looking forward to meeting you!
G: I'm curious to see how you perform your music live...
BL: Initially I started with live sequencing but it was when I started using guitars and basses that I got really good reactions from people. There's just far more performance value watching someone improvise on an instrument as opposed to staring at a laptop screen. I'm well into guitarists like Robert Fripp and Nick McCabe and tend to build up delay loops that I mix in and out over the top of tunes. I've some custom live patches that let me loop and run effects on the sequenced track at the same time. My laptop is showing it's age lately though. When I can afford it I'm gonna upgrade. I've a lot of ideas for live stuff that I can't run on my current set-up.
G: How extensively have you played live in the past, and where?
BL: I've been playing my stuff out for a few years now. I've been a regular at Electrotoxic for over two years now and I've also played a number of other club nights and festivals round Belfast and Derry, such as the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Vis-Sonic (in association with OneDotZero) and the Celtronic Festivaland. Also memorable was when local DJ/Producer David Holmes invited me to play his New Left Bank club night in early 2005. I've played for Bugklinik in Belgium a couple of times too.
G: What's the Northern Ireland underground/electronic music scene like, anyway? Is there a dubstep scene developing yet?
BL: Dunno what to say about NI's music scene really...it's pretty small which means marginal stuff struggles a lot more than it would elsewhere. This goes for everything, not just dubstep.
G: Presumably it's quite a close-knit little community?
BL: Typical leftfield gig turnouts are in the low hundreds at absolute best, usually. Club nights come and go quite a bit - there isn't a great selection of venues which doesn't help.
G: From a political/religious point of view, does the music unite across the Great Divide?
BL: Yeah, course it does. Nobody asks what background anyone else is from cos it's just like anywhere - people out to have a good time and hear good tunes.
G: Any other local headz I should be keeping an eye out for when I'm over?
BL: I'm gonna big up my mates at Electrotoxic especially Iso9 who runs the nights cos he's booked me more than anyone and has a really open-minded attitude. Two local producers I swap a lot of music with and have "producer talks" with are Gary Spence (who records amazing quirky house and soul music as T-Polar) and Filaria (who makes all sorts of weird acidic jazz madness).
G: Wicked...see you on Halloween night, Baz!
--------------------------------
"Brood/Sunshine" is out now on Hotflush Recordings. You can buy the 12" here, or the download here.
---------------------------------
Details of the forthcoming event that I'll be attending:
Electrotoxic Halloween special featuring the Leechrum Records tour...
TIM EXILE live
(planet-mu/mosquito/moving shadow)
The Person live
(leechrum)
Chris Coffe live
(leechrum)
Barry Lynn live
(bugklinik/hotflush/electrotoxic)
Iso9
(electrotoxic)
Sunday October 30th @ The Bunker
(Laverys middle bar)
Belfast
admission £5 before 10pm, £6 after.
TIM EXILE live
(planet-mu/mosquito/moving shadow)
The Person live
(leechrum)
Chris Coffe live
(leechrum)
Barry Lynn live
(bugklinik/hotflush/electrotoxic)
Iso9
(electrotoxic)
Sunday October 30th @ The Bunker
(Laverys middle bar)
Belfast
admission £5 before 10pm, £6 after.
Full report in due course!
11 October 2005
GUTTA SURVIVES RUFFNEK
I've just recovered from a rather vicious stomach bug that left me practically bed-ridden over the weekend. It was like having a forty-eight hour hangover, minus the headache. I puked, shit and puked some more until I'd pumped my system clean dry. I lost 4lb by the end of it. Fucking awful, and I missed Toxic Dancehall because of it. Boo!! I reckon it must've been the cheeseburger I bought from the burger van outside Timbuk 2 on Thursday night. I tend to avoid such places, but I'd had a few drinks and my judgement was impaired. But at least Ruffnek Discotek #3 was another successful evening.
Having downed a vodka and Red Bull followed by a couple of lagers, I was just about ready for my first serious djing assignment on home turf in nearly a decade. My old skool set seemed to go down quite well with the clientel - apparently there were actually a few punters dancing at one point, although I was too absorbed in not fucking-up to notice. I wasn't technically perfect by any stretch of the imagination, which was annoying cos the practice sessions at home leading up to it had been really encouraging, but I think I just about got away with it. Plus, of course, it was an absolute pleasure to bring all those old bleepy records out of retirement and put them back to work on the dancefloor. I didn't get to play everything I'd hoped (sorry guys, no Tricky Disco this time), yet still managed to over-run the old skool half of the set by fifteen minutes. Then I played Geroche's "Death" from start to finish, followed by a Monkey Steak test-pressing that I'd never heard before (brought along especially by Atki2 - he wouldn't let me keep it, though!) and ended by cramming as many Mark One, Plasticman and DMZ classics as I could before Dub Boy(below) took over. But the biggest shock was about 20 minutes in, when I looked up briefly to see DJ Pinch leering at me over the dj booth. I hadn't expected him to be there and must admit his 'professional' presence unnerved me a bit. Even worse, later on when I dropped Plasticman's "Venom", Pinch leaned over making the circular hand motion indicating he wanted a rewind, which I duly attempted, but managed to accidently knock the needle of the turntable, leading to an embarrassing moment of utter silence. I could've died. But still, I should make it clear that Pinch was only at the event briefly before heading off somewhere else and, as far as I can tell, he'd come down especially to show me support and wasn't aware how nervous he was making me feel.
Later on, El Kano delivered a dark, experimental set featuring tracks from acts like SLT Mob and DJ Distance, getting progressively more abstract and unhinged as he want on. Biggest surprise was when he dropped LFO's mid-90's 'come-back' single "Tied Up", a track that didn't really fit with me at the time, but made complete sense in Kano's world on Thursday. My mate Mike reckoned he saw a girl breakdancing around that point. I missed that unfortunately, although the visual highlight for me was the lumbering, slightly worse-for-wear figure of Psychbloke, in Batman T-shirt and accompanied by his 'clever, attractive wife' going absolutely mental on the dancefloor. Now there's a couple who now how to enjoy themselves. Watch out kids - Dad-bloggers in the area!!
Poor old DJ Blazey (see pic @ top) turned-up just before 1pm, looking palid and sweaty. Turns out he was feeling sick as a dog but gamely soldiered on and, accompanied by Joker, managed to whip the remaining partygoers into a grimey frenzy, despite a few technical hitches in the first half. And who was that kid doing the MCing with the crazy afro-puff hairstyle? Or did I imagine that? I was a bit mashed by that point, I must admit. The last hour is all a little hazy, ending with the notorious cheeseburger incident...but let's not go back there.
04 October 2005
IT CAME FROM DEUTSCHLAND...
Bare props to the man like Geroyche for sending me a finished copy of his EP "Voxxx Series A.1", released on the Ventilator Tonträger label. I know several GutterFM listeners were as enchanted as I was by the opening track "Death" as featured in MP3 form on last month's broadcast. It's a beautifully evocative piece, awash with eerie, serrated melodic drones yet driven by brutal step-breaks - almost like a fusion of Fennesz, Boards Of Canada and Vex'd. There's a video of it too and you watch it here. The other two tracks on side 1, "Tubby" and "Great Expectations" are further fascinating experiments in distressed/ambient textures combined with mutant 2-step/breakcore riddims. Side 2 opens with the bizarre "It's All So Simple Now", featuring a forlorn moog melody over convoluted-yet-steppy rhythmic abstraction - like a swansong for the breakcore era?! Although I'm not familiar with his earlier work, I get the impression that this is a transitional phase for him, resulting in music that's quite strange and unclassifiable. The important thing is, I think I understand it. I can feel what he's trying to achieve at an emotional level, although I can't really put it into words, yet.Top marks on the presentation too. This is the most impressive 12 inch design I've seen since Skull Disco 001, although I reckon the custom die-cut sleeve might just clinch it for best design of the year. The label has a distribution deal with Cargo Records but it's still not known how widely available this is gonna be outside of Germany. Keep yer eyes peeled!
Speaking of Germans, I should mention that I'm hoping to reach Toxic Dancehall at the Black Swan this Saturday, specifically to link-up with DJ Maxximus who's playing in room 2. He's been keeping me informed of his activities, but so far I've not heard very much of the music! Looking forward to checking out some more Teutonic Grime (Krautstep?!!) vibes. It'll also be interesting to see what The Bug has in store for us. I've heard reports that he's been absorbing the dubstep influences recently.
03 October 2005
BLEEP ARCHEOLOGY #2
Actually, whilst I'm on the subject, there's something I needed to ask. Although the "Clonk" 12 inch label specifies two different versions ("Freebass" and "Homebass"), as far as I can tell both sides play exactly the same track. Was this some dadaist joke, or is my copy a mispress? If anyone out there can confirm that there are two different versions, I'll try and track down a properly pressed copy.
Although I'm not a massive fan of their subsequent work, there's no doubt that the earliest releases from Nightmares On Wax were milestones within the hardcore continuum. After debuting with "Dextrous", it was the follow-up "Aftermath" that really made their reputation. Less Bleep, but plenty of bass with added breakbeats skillfully chopped in the right places and of course that diva sample which, if you get him on the subject, will probably still get the Blissblogger foaming at the mouth. In fact, don't bother reading this garbage anymore, just look up page 101 of Energy Flash, where Simon explains it all far better than I ever could...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)