Friday 30 July 2010

Sigha - Early Morning Lights (Marcel Dettmann Remix) [OCS001]

Sigha is a name I've been following for a while now. A string of releases on Scuba's HotFlush label has seen him cement his place as one of the rising stars in techno and dub. He's now setup his own label 'Ourcirculasound' and for his first release he's enlisted the considerable talents of Berghain's very own, Marcel Dettmann.


Inspired By The Creative Freedom found In Berlin, and fused with a Classic UK aesthetic, Sigha’s 'Our Circula Sound’ project represents his growing immersion in the more spacious and abstract realms of Techno. Dark, introspective and hypnotic, the labels output will mirror the sound that Sigha has become know for, with his obsession for detail clear through out. The first release sets the standard for what is to follow; Sigha’s own 'Early Morning Lights’ has been given a stella remix from Marcel Dettmann. Its clattering hats and constant sub throb call to mind Shackletons Skull Disco releases, while its pulsing raw kicks and dry percussion bear all the hall marks of Dettman’s regular output. Over The Edge sits on the B-side and sees Sigha in full-swing. A deep subby kick drives the track forward, while dark dubbed out soundscapes drift hazyly in and out of focus
Support and love from (among others), Peter Van Hoessen, Brendon Moeller, Luke Slater, Scuba/SCB, Jonas Koop, Edit Select, Cio D'ior, Tommy Four Seven, Pfirter, John Tejada, Kevin Goreman, Obtane, Marcel Dettmann and many many more

Check out the samples below

OCS001: Sigha - Over The Edge by Our Circula Sound
OCS001: Sigha - Early Morning Lights (Marcel Dettmann rmx) by Our Circula Sound

The release will be hitting stores very soon so make sure you get yourselves a copy. And here's some official links for you

Resident Advisor speaks to Craig Richards about the tyranny of expectations

Craig Richards has been a big influence on me over the years. His Essential mix from 2004 still gets regular plays. And consider how many mixes I download, that's quite an achievement. Resident Advisor caught up with him to chat about life and art.

You spent time in art school in the '80s. Do you go back to your early artwork in the same way that you might go back to your fabric mixes or DJ sets?

Yeah, I'm into old things. I collect old clothes, I drive an old car, my house is full of old furniture. I also buy a lot of old records, I'm really into blues, jazz, ska and reggae. I have always bought music across the board, and I'm constantly referring to old things. It's the lifeblood of what I do. Right now I've had to move my records into another space. And I've found a lot of old records. Those old records, if they're good records, can make a lot of sense currently. I like the idea of new and old, mixing [them] up.

I think it's important as you progress as an artist, to see the common thread which is running through what you do, as you get used to yourself, the areas you're working in, the things you're interested in. You can only see that if you look back at what you're doing. Musically, I don't understand this constant need to go forward all the time. Especially now, with the way that music is accessed, and the way people share and generate music, the obsession with the new has never been stronger. Just because things are new doesn't mean they're any good. Tracks that you've road tested, and you know are good, still have a relevance. I think it's important to be aware of that when you're playing new music.

When you first heard dance music in the late '80s in London, wasn't the shock of the new one of the things that drew you to it?

Not really. One of my good friends lived in New York, and in 1984 I lived in Hollywood for a year before I went to art school. I spent a lot of time in New York. (My father used to work for British Airways, so I used to get cheap flights which was a big deal in those days. Flying was still relatively expensive.) I'd seen the way things were changing. When I first DJed I was playing funk and soul, and some disco and stuff. Moving into Bowie, Talking Heads, that sort of sound. Then also the more electronic sounds, most of which were coming from England. It was a mixture of all of that. Having been to the Paradise Garage a lot, I could kind of see where things were going.

Was Larry Levan quite an influence on your DJing style?

Certainly in attitude perhaps. I'd never heard people play a record three or four times, and some of the mad things he used to do. I really loved it in there. We were really annoyed that they didn't sell drink in there, because we were British. I loved the mixture of people. Racially, it was very exciting to be around a lot of black and Hispanic people in the same room. It was a pretty wild place. You hear mixed reports about it. But for the most part, most of the stories you hear about it were true. And the sound system, while it probably wouldn't stand up to what we are now used to today, at the time I'd never heard anything like that before.

Tell me about what happened when you got back to London. What were you playing back then, was it mainly funk and soul?

In St Martins [the art school I attended] we used to throw parties in the coffee bar, which was an exciting thing because it was in central London. The coffee bar was the first place The Sex Pistols ever performed, so we were all really excited about throwing parties there, mainly because of that fact.

[My sets were] pretty haphazard, a messy combination of funk and soul and house and electro. Probably quite randomly put together in a way I suppose. At that point I was still very much a record collector and a music person, but predominantly an artist. My plan was to be a painter, or to be working in art in some way. So the DJing was a hobby. I tried to carry on that feeling in spirit. I tried to carry on the concept of being a record collector and an amateur DJ, a hobbyist if you like.

In the beginning, there wasn't necessarily any skill in DJing because with funk and soul records you're not going to mix them anyway. It was more about being a selector, and if you had lots of records, you were the guy that DJed. There was never anything to aspire to professionally as such. Professional DJs were radio DJs that talked on the mic and played commercial music. That wasn't something we aspired to, we were just really into music. It was a chance to wear an old suit and look good. And get drunk I suppose!

Where did you end up meeting Lee [Burridge] and Sasha [with whom you eventually formed Tyrant]?

Sasha, I'd known from going to parties. I used to do a party called Georgie, and I did one at Shepherds Bush Empire which he played at. I used to spend a lot of money on the decor, they were pretty good looking parties. I had some good people around me from after I left art school. I got to know him then, we became good friends. I guess we'd both been to Hong Kong a few times to play, and Lee was the foremost DJ in Hong Kong. He always played at the parties. In '97 when Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese, Lee was planning to leave and come back home. We all got on well, and decided we'd do some parties together.

What was it about their musical taste that struck you, that bonded you together?

We were into beats and stuff. I was always the warm-up DJ, they were always the more accomplished DJs. I was playing some electro, tech house, some Chicago-y things. Even then I hadn't found my feet in terms of how I wanted to piece it together. I was into a lot of different things. I always did the flyers and made the party look good. Iwas happy with a backstage role. Musically, Lee and I were listening to a lot of American stuff. We were all into the San Francisco sound, Garth's label Grayhound, The Mirror Boys, E.T.I. It was a combination of breakbeat and very tripped out slow house. That would be one spot we did meet in. We were all into that tripped out, still bouncy, but kind of deep house.

Were you among only a few DJs who were bringing that sort of sound to the UK, or was that a much larger trend?

I don't think it ever was a large trend, because I don't remember everyone liking it actually at the time. It wasn't that popular, a lot of people thought it was really slow and boring. I think there is a common thread running through what I've played in terms of it being deepish, out there, trippy sounds. I'm hesitant to use the word minimal, but let's say simple, basic sounds.

Playing Basic Channel, Maurizio, some German stuff, in with some San Francisco stuff, in with some Chicago things. Just simple music, in with a lot of the British stuff that was going on. Like Terry [Francis]'s label, southeast London tech house sound, that was skippy, Chicago-y drums. Very simple, sparse. In the early days of Fabric, mixing up those styles... I either played a warm-up set or I played last. It was a deeper, spun-out sound, which is what I became known for. If I'm known for anything, it would be a combination of those sounds, which are coming from different parts of the world but have some sort of resonance and similarity.

Tell me about the residency at The Bomb. That seems to be the place where things took off Tyrant-wise.

Sasha started to get really busy, and we didn't really play that much together. His schedule was taking off, he was remixing lots of people. Lee and I were playing a lot together, and Tyrant became that I suppose. We started doing this back-to-back thing which not that many people were doing at the time. Not one record at a time at least.

When we were good, we were really good. We had an atmosphere to what we were doing, it was like a push-and-pull thing. The Bomb was a phenomenal little club, which was perfect for the sound as well, because it [had] a low ceiling. It's not a sound that's going to fill a large room. It's sound that's got an intensity in a smaller room. Then it's convincing and believable.

While you were doing that you also started doing the Freaky Disco thing with Terry, right? Do you think it was the sound specifically that appealed to the fabric owners when they came to see you?

I think so. We really hit on something that was a new combination. It's hard to tell really, but I think it was quite a British interpretation of what was happening. American DJs have always been part of what was going on here. I remember being very inspired by Derrick Carter, another of my favourites was Gemini. People like that that used to come over. When you heard a Chicago DJ, that DJ bought Chicago music. And again it's quite hard to imagine that really, with all the sharing and access to music we have now. When it was just records, you kind of had to be in Chicago to have that sound. Same with San Francisco and London.

When fabric said "we'd like you two to be residents," maybe it felt like a continuation of what you were [already] doing in a different space...

Yes, in a way. Although we didn't know what it was going to be like. I'd never had a residency in a club, so for me it was recognition of what I was doing. Despite having been DJing for a long time, it was the beginning of feeling like I was a DJ in a way. That I had something that was my own. The muddled up sounds, the way I used to play, it was kind of random and unpredictable. That seemed to have evolved into something a little bit more palatable for the listener I suppose, and actually had something going on for it. Terry was someone I always had a lot of respect for, and to be asked to be resident was a big deal. I was playing a lot at The End, I had a residency there for a bit, and I guess things were just starting to happen. People were taking notice of what I was doing.

Was there a bit of fear? Here's this club, you've seen the inside but it's not really done...

I don't think there was any fear. It was really exciting. I remember going in there, and one of the things I really like about it, one of the secrets to its success is that there is no big room. Although it holds lots of people, it doesn't have any main, vast room. I do believe that that has been one of the keys to its success, apart from the music. I remember being excited by that. The main room wasn't vast.

And also the fact that we were given complete carte blanche over who we would invite, and what we would play and how we would do it. The night would be built around us, the guests would be there as guests. And they would be our guests, rather than us having supporting roles. I don't think I would have been into being a resident, warming up every week.

Was that how it was presented to you at the start?

Yeah, that was how it was presented to Terry and I, that the night was going to be built around us. And that we would invite who we wanted, and we would play when we wanted. That was going to be the strength of the night, that it was going to be built around our residencies. We weren't being asked to be residents, we were being offered residencies. And that, to me, was and is the key. I couldn't have been there for all this time if I was just warming up every week. On that level, I'd like to think it's been a success. They're long-running residencies now, and the success of our residencies has had an enormous part in what goes on there. What Terry and I play is the soundtrack of the club.

Speaking of that, in the fabric oral history we did last year, you said "I tend to be proud of very little, but I'm proud of what I did with that" [about your fabric mix CD]. Did you feel like it was a culmination of what you'd been working towards sound-wise?

Yeah, I think what's on that CD was what I was playing at that time, and I think it's an honest interpretation of what I was playing. There aren't any big tracks on there, it's just a flowing sort of thing, it takes a few ups and downs. I'm not really into the idea of mix CDs being a calling card, or trying to get more gigs out of a mix CD. Sometimes when I hear people's mix CDs I think that's where they've fallen down, in terms of trying to say a bigger thing about themselves rather than saying the real thing about what goes on when they play. I am a fairly modest character, and I try to focus on the music.

Did it take quite a while for people to catch up to that sound? In that same oral history, Judy [Griffith, fabric Promotions Manager] said that there were some moments in which Ricardo [Villalobos] would come over, and no one was really getting what he was doing at the beginning.

I knew what was going to happen. I'd started playing a lot of that music, and I kind of had some idea of what the popularity would be, because I was already playing it. It was me playing it that gave it a possibility. I invited a lot of those people over for the first time, [people that] have now become fairly standard names, who had never played in England before. Be it Ricardo, or Steve Bug, or lots of different people.

I don't remember people being really into it. Things have changed obviously now. These were new names, and more importantly it was a different kind of music. Again, I'm hesitant to use the word minimal, but it was very simple and sparse. I think the fact that I was playing it every week, and the fact that the sound system made it convincing and gave it the room that it needed... slowly, slowly people went for it. But there certainly was a period where it wasn't easy.

Those times still happen, we still take risks and put things on and people don't necessarily always go for it. I have a night which I'm doing at the weekend called Nothing Special, and the idea is that I'm the only DJ and I just have live acts around me. We've put on some quite spacy, sparse stuff. [And] it's quite a big deal to put that sort of thing on in the middle of the night in a club which, when it gets going, is pretty pumping. We never really see it as a risk, but there are some doubts as to how some things will work. I think it's important that we keep taking those risks.

Outside of the club, it seems that your gigs have ebbed and flowed, in terms of international bookings.

I'm not a big fan of travelling. I play in Italy quite a lot, and I go to America and South America as often as I can. With fabric, I never want to leave because it's so good. I found that if I did leave and I went abroad and played, quite often the gigs weren't as good as if I'd stayed in London. I've always been really into London, I love London, my friends live in London, I like to be around London. I'm always working on different projects anyway, so the touring DJ thing doesn't really appeal to me. As I've grown older, I've found disappointment harder to absorb. And the concept of going on tour and it not being a great success...I've got too many other things I'd rather do. Starting with playing at my residency, which is always, consistently brilliant.

It seems like you've found some international promoters that you work with on a regular basis.

Yeah, I've always liked playing for the same people, I've always liked that idea of trying to form some sort of relationship with promoters, being loyal to them. When things started to take off [with Tyrant], I got booked for things, and while we were getting paid well, it felt like the relationship between the money and the size of the gig wasn't always there. I'm a relatively shy person. I'm not a DJ who's going to be jumping around with my hands in the air, I'm relatively private even when I'm DJing, as absurd as that sounds. Smaller gigs suit me, and I really felt like I didn't enjoy some of those big gigs. I didn't feel like the music was right, or that I was right.

Is this why you don't do many festivals?

Yeah, I don't really like them. I don't come away having enjoyed them very much. I've played between bands and things, I quite like that. I played with Autechre one time. I've done different things, I quite like warming up for bands. But in general, playing in a big tent, banging the hell out of it... It's not really me. It's not really my thing. I guess as time goes on, you tick off things. And I've always been someone who looks at what they've done. I think, "Did I enjoy that, do I want to do it again?"

I'm not really driven by money, I'm not driven by fame in any way. So I'm not really bothered about getting my name out there as such. I'm just bothered about doing a good job that's right for me, and hopefully the audience, and feeling OK about the whole thing. I'd rather go and play in a small club in Copenhagen for 200 people and keep it right in my head, than be playing at some grotty old festival and not really feeling right about it.

I've started painting again in the last year, I'm spending a lot of time painting, and I'm hoping to have a show, which will involve a book. So I guess there's always been other things going on in my sphere. Being a DJ is not the be-all and end-all of my life. I'm really serious about it, I'm really serious about music, and I'm very serious about collecting music. I love the idea of playing records, and people liking them as much as I do. That's one of the fundamental reasons for my DJing. But I never really wanted to be a DJ, it's just an extension of my love of it all. I couldn't imagine it being everything, because that would be too much.

Also, the last three years I've been working in the studio which I've never really done before, I've been working with Howie B. He's a friend of mine, we've talked about doing things for a long time. We've amassed a number of things. We worked very hard for the first year-and-a-half, like daily, and we've got an album ready, and lots of singles. We did some music for an animation, and a lot of what we've been doing is beatless, spacy kind of sounds. We're trying to work out what to do with it. We haven't released any of it yet, because every time we think about doing it the record business seems to take a jolt to the left.

I feel like that book you and Howie did is [a good] way to go about it...

Yeah, we did a little box set thing with Howie's poems, and my drawings, and that's sort of where we're going to take it. My dream is to be doing the artwork for records where I've made the music. I'm quite happy to do it in quite a modest way. I'm not really into doing big tunes and selling loads of records, that doesn't really appeal to me. The idea of doing something small and beautiful and limited and personal is a much more appealing thing.

I think if I can get those things to fit together, it will make sense of all of my art school training, and clubs and DJing. If you'd have asked me when I was at college, that would have been my dream: To be making music and doing the covers of the records. That's kind of enough for me, that would make me really happy.

Are there certain visual artists that you find yourself taking after?

Not necessarily. There are a lot of painters that I really like. The painters I tend to like are very painterly, [and there's] more figurative people like Sidney Nolan. I really like Joseph Beuys, he's a massive influence on my drawing. I like a lot of photography as well. Like the Bechers. They're a husband and wife, they take photographs of gas towers and water towers. They're very dry photographs, but they've been doing it for years, going around the world and photographing these things. Colin Self is another person I like.

Do you find that there's a through-line to those influences?

Definitely. I like a lot of very simple, minimal stuff. There's that word again! It used to be a really good word, now I seem to splutter when I say it. It's bastardized I suppose. Donald Judd is someone who I love, I really love the simplicity of his work. [But] I'm interested in various things, I feel different things on different days, and I try to accommodate that. It's like wearing a suit one day and jeans the next.

What's on the horizon?

I have a publisher for my book of drawings. It will be published next year along with a show of my paintings. It also seems that my album with Howie B will take a limited edition book format, my drawings and his crazy poems. That will be released on our label, Blunder.

I have another label coming up as well with London-based producer Jozif called Fist or Finger. The first release should be ready in September. His dance floor smashes will be reinterpreted by me in an ambient manner...fist or finger. We're also going to expand The Nothing Special. It had its initial growth period, and we want to take the idea to other clubs.

Life's much the same [though]. I tend to mind my own business. I do what's right for me, I think the most important thing regarding my career is that I continue my levels of enjoyment. If I do too much DJing, then I don't enjoy it as much. And I'm constantly seeking my own happiness. And one of the beauties of having this life, making my living from being a DJ, is I can please myself. If that involves spending time on my own, or doing exactly what I want to do, I want to make full use of that. I don't want to be a touring DJ going all around the world, and not exploring all of the other avenues I'm interested in.

A lot of people say to me, you had the chance to be really big. But I'm really happy with the way it is. I'm really happy just pottering around, listening to music, making music, painting. DJing a bit, getting drunk, buying clothes, listening to old records. I'm kind of happy in a way. I live a fairly lean lifestyle. With money, it's like how much do you need? The people that are the happiest are the ones that seem to know themselves, and are certain of what they need. Not the ones that are clamouring for more, desperate to be heralded in some way. That's just not necessary for me.

Horizontal Ground 05

Normally I'd like to waffle about the history of the label or the artists, but unfortunately there is none for Horizontal Ground. Expect it's some way related to the Frozen Border Label and they've released 5 EPs. No website, no myspace page. An e-mail address and a logo. That's all you're getting. What this does do is allow them to focus purely on creating music to pass the night away with.

The artists names consist of some bizarre code of numbers and most of the tracks don't even have names, but one thing you can be sure of is quality. The brilliance lies in the subtlety. Atmospheric grooves with tremendous detail on the percussion.

The whole series has attracted the attention of Techno Underground scene in a big way. I'm sure someone knows who's behind it, but everyone's remaining very tight lipped.

You can listen to samples here


The EP is in stores and available to buy at


Normally I like to finish with some links for more information, but there isn't any so............?

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Mix Of The Day: Mount Kimbie (Live) @ 10 Days Off, Day 6 (22nd Jul 10)


Mount Kimbie - 10 days off - day 6 - 2010 07 22 by 10 days off

You'd have to of been living under a rock for the last 6 months if you've not heard of Mount Kimbie. The UK's latest rising stars within the ambient dubstep, IDM scene. Signed to Scuba's massively influential label, HotFlush recordings. The pair of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos have just released their debut album on the label, entitled 'Crooks & Lovers' which is in the stores now.


This rapid rise to the forefront has seem them make appearances throughout Europe and their scheduled to play at events like Big Chill Festival, Field Day, Bestival and the Warehouse Project up in Manchester. This live mix is taken from the 10 Days Off festival in Vooruit, Belgium. Which as the name suggests goes on for a whole 10 days!

The mix comprises a fine selection of forward thinking rhythms, exploring spaces within sounds to create an emotional response with the music. Perfect late night listening, or early morning listening as I'm doing right now

The album is available through all the usual channels and you can follow Mount Kimbie on Twitter or be their friend on Myspace

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Mix Of The Day: Chris Stanford - When It Rained All Summer (July 10)


When It Rained All Summer by Chris Stanford

Slash Dot Dash & Lost Souls resident, Chris Stanford, has been getting busy in the studio and this is what he's come up with. Over an hour and a half of deep melodic beats, progressing into dark tough techno.

Tracklisting

1. The Black Dog - Business Car Park 9
2. Fluxion - Inductance
3. Robert Babicz - Come Closer (Kollektiv Turmstrasse Remix)
4. Andre Lodemann - Zap (Norman Nodge Remix)
5. Tyree - Nuthin Wrong
6. Claro Intelecto - Signals
7. Audision - Forty One Spalding (Alex Smoke remix)
8. Pattern Repeat - Pattern Repeat 03
9. Roman Lindau - Sonnerie
10. Donor & Truss - Sude 3
11. Milton Bradley - Distorted Reality
12. Frank Hellmond - Hurts
13. The Black Dog - CCTV Nation (Redshape Analog Mix)
14. Sawf - Pamfago
15. Donor - Remainder
16. Marcel Dettmann - Viscous
18. Robert Hood - War In The Streets
19. Function vs. Jerome Sydenham - White Light
20. Alex Bau - Lofi Micro (Jonas Kopp Repaint)
21. Tim Xavier - Uplift The Ghetto
22. Avex Axiom - Carbonite (Dustin Zahn Reach Down Remix)
23. Pfirter - The Dub Track (Brian Sanhaji Remix)
24. Deetron - Dark Matter

For all you facebookers, you can join the Chris Stanford Facebook Group or follow him on Soundcloud using the link of the player

Friday 23 July 2010

Mix Of The Day: James Ruskin - FACT Mix 169

Ahead of next Saturdays Blueprint Records Label Party @ Cable with our boys Sandwell District. FACT Mag have tapped Mr Ruskin up to provide a mix for their legendary series.

The mix is available for 3 weeks and can be downloaded here


Tracklisting

Aphex Twin – SAW2 CD1 Track2
Kevin Gorman – 7am Stepper
Marcel Dettman – Captivate
Jesus Jones – Zeros and Ones (Aphex Twin Reconstruction )
Plaid – Booc
O/V/R – Untitled
Terrence Fixmer – Drastic (Planetary Assault Systems Mix)
Gak – Gak 1
James Ruskin – Graphic
Phuture Pfantasy Club – Spank Spank
Emptyset – Gate 3A
DVS1 – Running
Jeff Mills – Belief System
Robert Hood – Self Power
Kenny Larkin – Glob
Hoodlum – Drama
Marcel Dettman – Screen
Kenny Larkin – Glob (Ben Klock Remix)
Scuba – Minerals
Al Tourettes – When I Rust I Rest
Se7en -m0h (Gary Beck Remix)
Silent Servant – Noise Modulation (Kalon Remix)
Jerome Sydenham & Function – Skimming
Mike Parker – Protolanguage
Daniela Stickworth – The Slot (Xhin Remix)
James Ruskin – Massk
Autechre – pce freeze 28i
Mike Dehnert – Eigenbedarf Part 2
Beardman – M6
Zak Khutoretsky – Polyphonic Love
Rhythim Is Rhythim – Nude Photo
KC Flightt – Lets Get Jazzy (Dope Dub Mix)
Planetary Assault Systems – GT (James Ruskin Remix)
Echologist – Dirt (Ben Klock Edit)
Frank Martiniq – Blast Corps
Peter Van Hoesen – Terminal
Dopplereffekt – Rocket Scientist
Traversable Wormhole – Tachyon (James Ruskin Remix)
Traversable Wormhole – Exiting The Milky Way (Surgeon Remix)
Balil – Norte Route
Mark Broom & James Ruskin – Hostage
Underground Resistance – Amazon (4Hero Version)

Tickets for the Blueprint Records night can be found on Ticketweb. Priced at £10 +bf. For everything else there's James Ruskin's Myspace page

Schermate - Schermate 009


Visionary underground dance music, Schermate are Laric & Stefano Greppi. The group was founded in early 2009
after Stefano Greppi & Laric (Alessandro Larice) met in record stores where Stefano worked.
Schermate Recordings Label founded in early 2009 by Schermate that prints only their own productions on limited edition coloured vinyls.

The first 8 releases have found their ways into the hands of Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Boris, Raresh, Traversable Wormhole and many more big names across the world. The releases have covered a mixture of groovy tech house right through to extremely dark techno. These boys put some serious amounts of detailing on their productions and it's really apparent when you listen to their work. Real nice guys as well as I found out when I met up with them in London last month.

For the 9th release in their series they've produced something a little bit special. On the A side is a track called 'Brettenshuffle' but it's the B side which is really interesting. The whole side is made up of 32 'Locked Grooves'. These are essentially loops that will keep playing and playing and playing until you tell them to stop, or move on to the next loop.

Stefano and Laric are definitely ones to look out for in the future. More info can be found on them at their Myspace page

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Traversable Wormhole - The Remixes Vol 1 (Marcel Dettmann & Peter Van Hoesen) [CLR]

In 2009 Traversable Wormhole released a series of 5 anonymously produced ink stamped vinyls which found their way on to the underground techno scene, into stores like Hardwax and Decks.de and into the boxes of techno's big names.

We was so impressed with them at Slash Dot Dash we tracked him down and flew him over to perform his live show at our relaunch. A UK first no less. He also impressed Chris Liebing who signed him to his CLR imprint and has been lining up a string of techno's biggest names to remix the 5 releases. The first EP to reach the light of day contains possibly the biggest name in techno in the world right now, Marcel Dettmann and Time To Express head man, Peter Van Hoesen.

Dettmann's 'Closed Timeline Curve' remix is built for Berghain. Driving rhythms over the top over a thumping kick. Has the feel of his his work with Shed under the Deuce alias. Van Hoesen's 'When 2D Meets 3D' is a much more minimalistic creation that drifts along hypnotising as you go. Check them out for yourself


Now normally 2 heavyweights like this would be enough for a remix project. But CLR are releasing a different EP every month after this first one with remixes from Surgeon, Sleeparchive, Function, Speedy J, Terrence Fixmer and Liebing himself. This is just the start of a very exciting run up to xmas!

For more info check out the following links

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Pär Grindvik - Electronic Groove Podcast 134

The name, Par Grindvik, needs little introduction in the world of Techno. A key member in the Swedish scene for the last 20 years, he's helped the shape the world of Techno as we know it. After opening a record store (Illegal Stockholm) he went on to set up his own label, Stockholm Ltd and helped develop rising artists from Sweden. This has lead him on to becoming a driving force in one of the most influential labels around, Adam Beyers' Drumcode.

Electronicgroove.com enlisted Par to provide the 134th episode in their podcast series and the man didn't disappoint. The mix can be downloaded from the links below


And here's some links for his pages


Those of you in and around London can catch Par Grindvik headlining Room 2 for Lost Souls at the Pryda Warehouse Party on Saturday 31st July at the immense Ewer Street Car Park venue in London Bridge


The full line up is a seriously heavyweight affair

ARCH 1 – PRYDA
Eric Prydz
Gui Boratto (Live)
Popof

With support from Finale
Deporto (LIVE SET), Tim Gale, KillEmillo

ARCH 2 – LOST SOULS
Par Grindvik [Drumcode]

Chris Stanford
Antony Difrancesco
Lee Hume
Rossko
XI

ARCH 3 – CHILL OUT

The Slash Dot Dash and Lost Souls residents XI and Chris Stanford will be in full support and Lost Souls have the cheapest tickets around at just £15. You can get your discount tickets from the Lost Souls Facebook Event Page. All the info on the venue, times and anything else you could possibly want to know.

Monday 19 July 2010

Do Not Resist The Beat - Point of No Return

Do Not Resist The Beat has easily been one of my favourite labels for the last 2 years. Now into their 5th release and there's no let up in quality.

Hardwax describe it as "Just deadly techno cuts - Highly recommended." I don't think i could put it any better myself.

Check out samples of the tracks here


It's now available on vinyl at Hardwax. You can order your copy there.

For more information add Do Not Resist The Beat on Myspace

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Photos from Slash Dot Dash pres Sandwell District & Traversable Wormhole (Live)

You can check out the rest of the photo's on the Facebook Fan Page

After months of hard work and planning the time had finally arrived, and what a time is was. The Hub club will filled with a great friendly crowd just chomping at the bit to consume what was about to come.

XI & Chris Stanford kicked off proceedings deep and slowly built things up as more and more people arrived. Eventually the scene was set and it was the turn of the debut UK appearance of Adam X's new project, Traversable Wormhole. There had been plenty of underground buzz built up around the, until now, secret world of Traversable Wormhole. A series of 7 anonymously stamped white label releases fueled the live set with his signature stripped down industrial techno beats.

Then came the turn of the main event, as Sandwell District took the stage to step the party into over drive. Function & Regis's DJ / Live hybrid set was something more impressive than I thought it would be. The atmosphere became even more electric and the crowd truly got lost in the pounding rhythms filling the air.

Here, at Slash Dot Dash, we'd like to thank everyone that came down to The Hub Club on Saturday night and made us feel proud to be techno fans in London. The people came out in force. One of the best crowds I've seen in London for a long time.

As amazing as Saturday nights party was, we're not content to finish there, oh no no no. We're working away behind the scenes putting together a line up to match the brilliance of the relaunch. You won't be disappointed. You can keep up to date with the all info on our Myspace, Facebook and Resident Advisor pages

Thanks again and see you next time!