Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music

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Time to throw Down EP - Dawl (Craigie Knowes)

Title: Time to Throw Down EP

Artist: Dawl

Label: Craigie Knowes

Cat Number: CKNOWEP19

Genre: Modern Realisation of Rave Cross-Pollination

1: Let’s Go

2: Drop It

3: Heavyweight

4: Overdub

Everything you need and more. The pervasive Dawl debuts on Craigie Knowes with four high octane post rave tunes which stretch break beats to new limits and add a glossy sheen to the proceedings. This type of purloining reminds me of ‘The Fifth Element’, which shamelessly cherry picked so much from contemporary space sci-fi it was beyond a joke. There is one important difference though: ‘The Fifth Element’ is derivative crap, while ‘Time to Throw Down’ breaks new ground with its uninhibited glance across the trenches of acidic cross-pollination. The production is tighter than a pair of Peter Sagan’s shorts which results in a fullness of sound and the feeling that you’re riding on the crest of the hardcore continuum.

Everybody In The Place

Not late to this at all, but only back from holiday last night so embedded for posterity now. Most of you who take the time to look at this blog will have probably already seen this masterwork. It's appeal lies in its simplicity. The clarity with which Dellar joins the dots between club culture and social upheaval is effortless, and the format is original and inspiring.

Plastic Entertainment - Alfie (Outer Zone)

Title: Plastic Entertainment

Artist: Alfie

Label: Outer Zone

Cat Number: OUZ03

Genre: Techno

A1: Coasting

A2: Jaded Dream

B1: Return to Planet E

B2: The Escapist

An alias of The Burrell Connection; Alfie releases on La Cheetah Club’s in house label and manages to create a temporal autonomous zone within which a heady, dense concoction of incantatory electronica resides. This is a smashing EP, full of variety and depth. There are so many tones and textures overlaid within each track that it feels futile to go into detail on each. So I’ll summarise by saying that this is one of the best releases I’ve heard all year. From the dense, otherworldy vibes of ‘Coasting’, to the break beat casbar ambience of ‘The Escapist’, interrupted by the bottom heavy urgent electro of ‘Jaded Dreams’ and ‘Return to Planet E’ (s) fleet-footed solar sleight of hand, this is bang on the money. 

Permanently On The Cusp

I want to write something about not going out anymore. This is something I have done before, and probably will again. It’s not a comment on being an old fart and having made a conscious decision not to engage, rather something which I suppose has been fallen into with the option of climbing out at any time. What could make this happen is a reconfigurement of the clubbing experience to suit me. I would imagine we are all after something to suit our individual needs, while being realistic enough to acknowledge that individually we are not both the centre of the universe and simultaneously having to search for sonic solace to suit ourselves. Clubs reinvent themselves all the time, but are often culturally constricted depending on where they are located. As well as this, the DJ is a person who while being derided for not being a proper musician and consequently often much lower on the evolutionary scale, works his/her arse off, doesn’t lead a normal life, is constantly on show and judged, all of which can lead to depression and low self-esteem. The pressure to be perfect and to constantly rock parties is immense. Promoters can be shifty being on the breadline is a lot closer than a lot of people realize. 

Money talks and with it artistic dilution often follows. So it may seem contradictory that while I acknowledge the fact that everyone has to earn a decent wage and not be burdened by the wolf at the door, I feel it beyond me to pay what I regard as over the odds to go to clubs and festivals. Without wanting to sound like an old arse, but knowing that I do, it really was “better in my day” as far as these devil’s dumplings of entertainment are concerned. Even though I would love to go again, I couldn’t pay the price for most festival tickets knowing that the same amount of money would pay for an all-inclusive city break in the European location of my choice. There are a few exceptions, but maybe for next year now: Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival in Sete, and Andy Weatherall’s Covenanza in Carcassonne. Both pricey, inasmuch as you have to get to the south of France for each, but much less stressful to prepare for: no ear to the phone for intractable amounts of time only to be told you haven’t got a ticket, no feeding numerous corporate interests, etc . . . Once there I would expect the level of intensity to be bespoke and the level of intimacy high for the occasion. This fits in nicely with the Weatherall and Sean Johnston helmed ‘A Love From Outer Space’ whose ethos is:

“The tempo of the tracks played never exceeds 122bpm, to create “An oasis of slowness in a world of increasing velocity”.

The Worldwide Festival is a bit less leftfield than this, but any event whose partners are culturally connected to the area where the festival takes place, as well as jazz, and who don’t seem to be opportunistic are fine by me. Like Covenanza the festival is divided between live music and DJ sets and covers a wide range of bases, and like Covenanza the setting is everything. In each case the locality is actively promoted, through food, drink and other cultural characteristics: Mr. Weatherall has an interest in the history of the Cathars and if you’re there for the weekend, a trip to see the ruins of their forts shouldn’t be missed.

I’m all for getting as far away from an experience that treats you like cattle as possible. Is this getting old? Probably; of course you never feel you’re being exploited too much when you’re younger, in spite of being herded around in uncomfortable spaces with barely room to breath. I’m also a big fan of daytime clubbing: why does this always have to happen at night? It’s easy to say that in The UK we don’t have the climate for it, but I’m not really on about being outdoors. Anywhere will do within reason; it doesn’t even have to be all about dancing. Listening bars are wonderful. I remember going to Amsterdam in the early eighties and being struck by the emphasis on music in the coffeshops. Most, if not all of those I visited had turntables, (not a pair of Technics mind, rather a normal belt drive with accompanying rack hi-fi system), accompanying a large stack of vinyl and cassettes. The last thing you wanted to do was dance in these establishments; getting baked being the modus operandi. It made an impression though, and is one of those sonic snapshots I carry with me to this day, endlessly hypothesizing regarding what might have been, and maybe could still be. I’ve never been one of those people who says that my DJing career got off the ground when I was barely into double figures courtesy of playing Man Parrish by accident when I was 9. There’s no need to talk about it at all, it’s simply another layer of life.  A slab of sound that is pervasive, all day every day. I play music every day at home, but not always in the way I want to. It’s mostly on the computer on itunes;  that much maligned piece of software which has never been an issue for me. I have a pair of 1210s, as well as a NAD pre and power amp, Yamaha cassette player and radio. All of these components have been with me for more than the last twenty years. Well cared for, they are my most prized possessions, yet I don’t use them as much as I should. I think that this is out of a sense of care and love. I don’t want to run them into the ground. I’d be lost without them and I want them around forever. Once I’m back from holiday I will finally invest in some CDJs, try to get rid of quite a bit of vinyl and concentrate on being more bespoke. I’m in awe of the technically proficient and plan to be the same.

And finally, how difficult is it to get rid of records? I have a few I’d like to see the back of, and am looking to start selling on Discogs once I get back from my holiday, but the hassle of doing this, coupled with the likely trickle, rather than torrent, of stuff from my house, makes me want to cut my losses and give them all away. I have a lot of good stuff and am not looking for amazing prices, a little bit of pocket money would be nice. I’m also regularly hearing about what a pain in the arse some of the customers can be. This seems to be a thing with Discogs; maybe it’s manifest nerdiness in the form of fastidiousness. The Chinese rebuilt most of Shanghai quicker than my procrastinating over this. 

Skyhealer EP - Miles Atmospheric (Firescope)

Title: Sky Healer EP

Artist: Miles Atmospheric

Label: Firescope

Cat Number: FS020

Genre: Lush

A1: Exoplanetology

A2: Our Future

B1: Waters of Life

B2: See the Light

Firescope’s latest release fuses it with one of the UK underground’s unsung heroes. Miles Sagnia has been making emotively charged deep house for some time now so releasing on Steven Rutter’s label must have been an obvious course of action. This quadruple header presents the listener with a delicately modulated selection of blissed-out beats, each of which highlights Sagnia’s skill in the department of aural architectural mind bending. The tunes here range from the twinkly ambience of ‘Our Future’ to the surging, interstellar journey which is ‘Exoplanetology’. In between ‘Waters of Life’ and ‘See the Light’ respectively evoke primeval and metropolitan transcendental worlds, whose symmetry, while not always obvious, feels natural here.

Spasm, Turbulence - Maelstrom (C-Know -Evil)

Title: Spasm/Turbulence

Artist: Maelstrom

Label: C-Know-Evil

Cat Number: EVIL002

Genre: Techno/Electro

1: Spasm

2: Turbulence

‘Spasm’ is a throb of suppressed power from beginning to end. It bides its time, safe in the knowledge of its ability to wreak dance floor destruction whenever it pleases. ‘Turbulence’ burns a little more slowly but peaks more intensely. Both tracks are nicely rough around the edges, not in the sense of any lack of completion, more of a calculated one of disciplined dissonance. Maelstrom, aka  Joan-Mael Peneau, knows his onions and has crafted two tracks for Craigie Knowes sub-label which are both snapshot soundtracks to a fast-forwarded third law of thermodynamics.

Chart: 7/19

Hallo Androiden – John Beltran (Delsin)

Available on pink vinyl from Delsin’s shop, which is always a good reason to have stuff like this sent to your door instead of buying it at the shop.This is proficient, classy stuff from Beltran, which strikes a nice balance between beats and immersive ambience. You won’t splash around too much in the floatation tank to this collection.

Mind Drift EP – ARDB (Geodesic)

Cracking stuff. The title track stands out but is well-supported by a trio which contribute almost equally to an EP which is a cosmic techno/electro breath of fresh air. Reedale Rise remixes ‘Inversion’ without overshadowing the original.

Bring the Noise – Diego Krause (Unison Wax)

I’m glad I finally discovered Diego Krause, but sad it’s taken this long as he makes tunes which I love. On the face of it these are low slung groove monsters with syncopation in spades . . . and that’s about all really. So many do this type of thing but they come out hollow in the process. Not Mr. Krause, who on checking his back catalogue, has been conducting object lessons in MDMA funk for some time now.

Description EP – Anderson (Tresydos)

I hadn’t heard of Anderson before this release, but am happy to say that now I have, I’m impressed. ‘Description’ sounds warm, dense and would mix in very well with something off ‘Bring the Noise’. Great drums throughout means that there is always a recognizable foundation around which the bass can wind. A little bit whimsical too, which is nice.

Soa – Tofu Productions (Perlon)

Fumiya Tanaka and Thomas Melchior make up Tofu Productions and together they have come up with  a double header which, while it does take a predictable Perlon path, is off-kilter and eccentric enough to keep things interesting. There’s a reassuring thump in ‘I Believe I Need’ and a nice off key organ in ‘SOA’ which absorb and give body when needed.

A Glimpse Beyond EP – V/A (Fake Society)

I was led here by Camelia, whose spacey journeys I find most agreeable. This seems to be Fake Society’s signature sonic footprint, and it’s great to have records like this to wash the  more minimal, and sometimes one-dimensional tracks in the mix. Lizz, Sublee and Los Bastoneros also feature.

Programmed Memories – Blotter Trax (Frustrated Funk)

A nom de plume of Magda and TB Arthur, I don’t know why but I’m surprised to see their output released on this label. On listening to this I’m immediately struck by a resemblance to Louderbach/Troy Pierce. It’s certainly a bit of a departure for Frustrated Funk. It has menace though, and that’s an important quality.

The Orbitants 2 – V/A (FU ME)

A various artists release on red vinyl featuring, amongst others, Heinrich Dressel, Jensen Interceptor and Galaxian. Dressel does ambient, but for everyone else it’s a bit more uptempo. A lot of bases are covered here, with Lake Haze’s Lovecraft influenced ‘System Glitch’ being my favourite.

Time Heals All Wounds – George Earnest/Der Opium Queen (Echovolt)

A subtly varied three tracker, with ‘Ultralush’ standing out as an abstract floor filler, the type that envelops the dance and endows it with a dream-like ambience. ‘Rainy Day’ is an onomatopoeic stroll on wet pavement while ‘Time Heals All Wounds’ does something similar but at a more joyful tempo. This is a clever release.

Fall of the Humanoids – Dawl & Sween (Klasse Wrecks)

I like Dawl a lot, which also means that I must like Sween too, as he is a long-time collaborator. This EP, which follows up last year’s ‘Rise . . .’ is again a very competent blend of electro, techno, bleep and beats with the all important pervasive rave ingredient thrown in. Ominously funky.

Eli Verveine

Storming mix from Switzerland's finest. The highest compliment I can pay this is that it would go off at Wiggle. If you want a taste of what tech house used to be before it became bastardised, check it out.