Slash Dot Dash Podcast 020: Northern Structures

For our 20th podcast we feature our first live set from two rising stars of techno. Northern Structures, Troels Baunbæk-Knudsen and Lasse Buhl, is a Copenhagen techno based duo focusing on organic and industrial inspired electronic music. Their debut on the label of Adam X, Sonic Groove, hit the techno scene hard in early 2011. The “Self Similarity EP” was played- and charted by DJ’s such as Regis, Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann, Tommy Four Seven, Chris Liebing, Rolando, Xhin and Milton Bradley etc.

Shortly after the first 12” was released, Northern Structures performed their first liveset; powerful and hands-on techno, heavily influenced by the guys’ individual backgrounds in everything from house over dubtechno to drum’n'bass. Very diverse and yet focused, constantly changing and with no standard tracklist every set is unique. Their second release, the “Service and Devotion EP” on Sonic Groove, also received a lot of positive exposure, making 2011 a very successful year and Northern Structures continue their no-compromise approach to music in 2013.

The mix displays everything that's making them feature across many dancefloors worldwide. Powerful kicks, eerie submersed drones, metallic industrial hits and oscillating crescendos expertly combined to produce an hour of unrelenting techno weaponry.

You can subscribe to our podcast series in iTunes or you can download or stream the mix from the Soundcloud player below

For more info on Northern Structures, head over to their Facebook Fan Page. If you happen to be in Berlin at the end of the month you can catch Northern Structures alongside a whole load of techno talent at Magdelena. More info on Resident Advisor.

Mix Of The Day: Sigha & Shifted - Our Eternal Destination

Sigha and Shifted are two of UK Techno's biggest success stories over the last few years. Rising to international acclaim with a string of forward thinking releases and stella DJ sets. Sigha got his break through Scuba's Hotflush label, whilst Shifted made his name on another of the UK's best labels, Mote Evolver. 2012 saw both of them release their debuts albums, 'Living With Ghosts' for Sigha and 'Crossed Paths' for Shifted, which featured in the plenty of 'best albums of 2012' lists around the techno world.

It was always going to be a matter of time before the pair launched their own labels to give a true platform of their sound. Sigha's came in 2010 as Our Circula Sound launched with Marcel Dettmann remixed Sigha's 'Early Morning Lights'. The very next year Shifted's (and Ventress's) Avian imprint hit the stores with the aptly titled 'AVN #001'. The ever growing closeness of these two collectives and the intertwining of artists on both labels has lead to a number of Avian vs OCS label nights, firstly in Paris and secondly at Berlin's legendary Berghain. The next outing is back in the place where it all began, London, at fabric this Saturday.

To celebrate the occasion, the duo have put together a taster of what to expect from Saturday's b2b performance with a mix for the fabric blog. It may be just under 40 mins long but it's packed full of the distinctive and originals sounds that have made Sigha, Shifted and their labels so respected amongst their fans and peers. Throbbing basslines, metallic industrial tendencies and swirling organic atmospherics are all present in this absorbing recording, which you can download it or stream the mix from the soundcloud player below. And while you're listening, head over to the fabric blog for the interview.

As we mentioned earlier you can catch the Avian vs OCS showcase in Room 2 at fabric as they take care of Room 2 duties for Craig Richards' 'The Nothing Special'. As well as the b2b special set from the duo, Silent Servant and MPIA3 both feature with Terry Francis on his usual warm up business. Tickets are available from the fabric website and you can find all the rest of the info here

Oscar Mulero - Transversal EP (Truncate & Sleeparchive Remixes) [Modularz 11]

American based record label, Modularz, have found their way on to their 11th release since it's conception in 2006. The imprint, which has already seen the likes of Developer, Silent Servant, Jeroen Search, Shifted, Stanislav Tolkachev, Jonas Kopp and more, invited Spanish based producer Oscar Mulero to join their ever increasing family.

The end result is the Transversal EP. Two original tracks from Mulero and two remixes, one from Truncate and one from Sleeparchive. The EP kicks off with the original of 'Rótula'. Metallic percussion overlays trembling basslines and stuttering delayed stabs. Truncate's version of 'Rótula' takes a more stripped down, slightly sedated approach whilst still maintaining the originals intensity. The B Side sees Mulero continue the same theme with 'Transversal'. High energy and hypnotic rhythms oscillate amongst each other. Finally Sleeparchive's take on 'Transversal' rounds of the release perfectly with typical Germanic precision engineering. Check out the samples from the soundcloud player below


The EP will be available on both vinyl and digital in June. More info on Oscar Mulero can be found on his Facebook Fan Page. For Modularz, head to their Website and back to Facebook for Truncate and Sleeparchive. If you want to catch Oscar Mulero performing live he'll be in Germany tomorrow and Poland on Saturday. A full list of his gigs can be found on his Resident Advisor Page

Slash Dot Dash Podcast 019: Alex Bau

It's new SDD Podcast time and our 19th episode comes from Germany, care of Alex Bau. As a DJ he's travelled the world playing infront of small crowds in basements as well as in front of 1000s at festivals like Love Parade, Nature One and Rave on Snow. He knows how to thrill any sized crowd with his very own brand of 'Gringo Techno'. As a producer, his music has graced such labels as CLR, Sleaze, Credo, Freitag, Prosthetic Pressings and many more.

We've been lucky enough to catch Alex a few times over the last 6 months and we was thrilled when he agreed to contribute to our podcast series. The mix is an hours worth of his recent set in Italy at the Wespeak Techno event and is chocked full of hard hitting, no compromise techno. Using a combination of Traktor, Ableton and Native Instrument's Machine controller he creates something that's truly original and unlike anything you're likely to hear across techno venues worldwide. 

You can subscribe to our podcast series in iTunes or you can download or stream the mix from the Soundcloud player below

More info on Alex can be found via his Facebook Fan Page.

MDR Night @ Culture Box (25th Apr 13)

On Friday, the people of Denmark, have a national holiday for Repentance and Prayer (check here, we're not making it up) so the good people at Culture Box have organised a Thursday night of debauchery to give you something to be sorry for as they've invited Marcel Dettmann to descend on the Black Box, with the help of Wincent Kunth, to showcase the considerable sounds of MDR Records. The Berghain resident oozes techno from every creative orifice and some would say his MDR imprint is the most pure reflection of the passion and knowledge Marcel has towards his chosen artform. His Boiler Room set from last year should certainly help get you in the mood for tomorrow night.

Warming up the room will be our very own XI, as he makes his debut in the Danish capital. Having learnt the art of warm up DJ'ing across the venues of London, we know he'll have the room set up perfectly for the stars of the show to unleash their sonic offensive.

The whole club will be open with US house legend George Morel heading things up in the Red Box and Rasmus Bro in the White Box. Full event info can be found on the Culture Box Website.

fabric 69: Sandwell District

Hot on the heels of Ben Klock's contribution to the fabric CD series we have another techno selection from our favourite techno duo as Function and Regis, as Sandwell District, bring you fabric 69. Although the pair still DJ together regularly all over the world, this is the first release in any form, as Sandwell District, since the label ceased on NYE '11.

What starts off a dark intense examination of your psyche steadily grows and expands into a full on techno workout laying homage to the 20 years of techno that the pair have been so instrumental in building and so heavily influences their sound. Check out the official teaser video from fabric below

fabric 69: Sandwell District emerges from the static from Fabric London on Vimeo.

Tracklisting

1) Silent Servant - A Path External [Hospital Productions]
2) Function - Voiceprint (Loop/Edit) [Ostgut Ton]
3) VCMG - Spock (Regis Remix) (Loop/Edit) [Mute]
4) Boyd Rice / Frank Tovey - Extraction 7 [Mute]
5) Raime - Exist In The Repeat Of Practice [Blackest Ever Black]
6) Ike Yard - Loss (Regis Version) [Blackest Ever Black]
7) Vatican Shadow - Church Of All Images (Regis Version) [Blackest Ever Black]
8) Fiedel - Andreas (Bonus Beats) [Fiedelone]
9) Cub - CU2 (UST Funk Mix) [Cub]
10) Mary Velo - Detune [Frozen Border]
11) JPLS - Basis [Minus]
12) Rrose - Wedge [Eaux]
13) Ø - Syvåys [Såhkö]
14) Rrose - Wedge [Euax]
15) Function - Modifier [Ostgut Ton]
16) Carl Craig - Darkness [Plant E]
17) Markus Suckut - Hunt [Figure SPC]
18) Samuel Kerridge - Waiting For Love Part 1[Downwards]
19) Untold - Motion The Dance [Hemlock]
20) Surgeon - As You Breathe Here Now [Semantica]
21) Mark Ernestus - Mark Ernestus Meets BBC [Honest Jons]
22) Plastikman - Plasticine [Plus 8]
23) Trevino - Uptight [Klockworks]
24) VCMG - Spock (Regis Remix) [Mute]
25) Planetary Assault Systems - Flat Tire [Mote-Evolver]
26) Factory Floor - 16-2-16-9-20-1-14-9-7 [Blast First Petite]
27) James Ruskin - Into A Circle [Jealous God Music]
28) SS/S - Sicario de Dios: Siglo 2 [Jealous God Music]
29) Laurent Garnier - At Night [F Communications]
30) Function - Voiceprint (Reprise) [Ostgut Ton]

fabric first members will of already found the CD on their doorsteps or in their postboxes. For those of you that aren't members you can grab your copy from the fabric Website.

If you're lucky enough to be in London this weekend then fabric's Room 2 will be hosting the official CD launch party. If you've caught Sandwell District at fabric in the last few years you'll know just how special these occasions turn out to be. They'll be joined by Sandwell District artist Rrose, who will be making his fabric debut. As one of techno's most mysterious, yet captivating characters, the live show is likely to be one of the most impressive things you'll see. Terry Francis has been entrusted with the all important task of warming up the room as he has done expertly on many many occasions in the past.

Tickets are available through the fabric website, where you'll find you can get a discount if you buy your tickets and CD together.

Jeroen Search: Captured in one take

As many of you will know, our last SDD Podcast was recorded by one of the brightest jewels in the Dutch techno crown, Jeroen Search. The man, who's spent the last 20 years honing his talents and building his reputation worldwide as a DJ, producer and label owner, provided us with a sensational mix to add to our ever expanding series, but we wanted to get to know a little bit more about him, so we got together and fired a few questions at him. Here's what he had to say....


1) ) We're now a quarter of the way through 2013, how's it been for you so far?

Well 2013 has been great so far, lots of producing, had some great liveset experiences and lots more coming up… The A&S imprint is really doing well and it’s growing with each release so no complaints from my side in 2013 so far!

2) You've recently recorded our 18th podcast. How did you put the mix together?

It’s a studio mix using cdj’s only, recorded in one take.

3) The worldwide techno scene is in the midst of a current resurgence and Holland seems to be one of the main driving forces behind this. What, for you, has been the contributing factors behind it and what effect has it had on you personally?

I feel techno is more appreciated nowadays than for instance a few years back, because a lot of the big names have been promoting and playing more and more techno so people get more or less used to it.

For me personally it is very nice to be an actual part of this resurgence and it feels like my music is finally getting the appreciation that I think it deserves. I have been doing this for quite a long time now, my first record was released in 1994 and I managed to maintain my own specific sound for all those years.

4) So who will be the next wave of Dutch talent we should all look out for?

I’m a big fan of the ESHU crew, really like what they are doing music wise and on stage
There’s a lot more Dutch talent and abroad for sure.


5) We hear you're working away in the studio on some new material, what do we have to look forward to?


Just signed 2 new solo releases and info about those will be available shortly, working on some remixes, new A&S in progress and working on an album with Dimi (Angelis), so there’s a lot to look forward to.


6) Can you talk us through the way you work in the studio?

In the studio I use hardware so no vst/plugins, I really like to be able to touch the machines instead of watching a screen and using a mouse. I record everything in one take doing all edits (tweaking, efxs and muting the channels) live when recording.


Funny detail: there’s no chair in front of my mixing desk so I’m making some great dancing moves when producing music. For me it’s all about trying to capture a certain emotion/feel/moment.


Thanks again to Jeroen for the amazing podcast and giving us a little insight into his mind. If you missed the Podcast first time round you can listen or download it from the Soundcloud player below, or subscribe to our podcast in iTunes.


For more info on Jeroen Search, head over to his Facebook Fan Page. If you happen to be in Amsterdam tomorrow night you'll be lucky enough to be able to catch him perform live with Dimi Angelis, under their Counterpart alias, as part of the huge Henk In De Fabriek festival which also includes the likes of Function, Tobias and Kassem Mosse. Full event info on and tickets on the Henk Website