Monday, May 31, 2021
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Saturday, May 29, 2021
Friday, May 28, 2021
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Good Times - Moire (Hypercolour)
Title: Good Times
Artist: Moire
Label: Hypercolour
Cat Number: HYPELP018
Genre: House
1: Know Me feat. Demigosh
2: Low Works
3: Doors feat. Demigosh
4: Madgan
5: Dekade feat. Demigosh
6: Zooland feat. Demigosh
7: Ghana
8: R1
9: Vertigo
10:Telefunk
11: Sour Site feat. Demigosh
12: Time feat. Demigosh
13: Lost In Pacific
On ‘Good Times’ Moire has pulled together a range of styles and united them under a soporific umbrella. This is an album cloaked in a cotton wool fug of optimistic ambience, fluctuating with intermittent energy to occasionally remind you that it can physically move the spirit, (‘Madgan’, ‘R1’, ‘Telefunk’, ‘Lost In Pacific’), even if the majority of its dynamic resides in the cognitive back of beyond. The unique vocal talents of Demigosh, who doesn’t always so much sing as croon or yawn tunefully, are a defining feature of this collection and help to frame it as occupying some sort of rem netherworld overseen by a dissipated lounge lizard. It’s an album which, given the events of the past year, the tone and timbre feels very appropriate and perfectly in tune with the pervasive mental state necessary to reconfigure the listening experience.
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Numbers EP - Sterac (Mote-Evolver)
Title: Numbers EP
Artist: Sterac
Label: Mote-Evolver
Cat Number: MOTE059
Genre: Techno
1: Ghost 37
2: Lost Track 22
3: Rey Fur 2.1
4: Tr-15
Steve Rachmad’s star is very much in the ascendancy right now. That said, it has been for most of his career, which feels odd because he really should be much better known than he is. I’m talking outside the thinking human’s techno circles of course. Maybe his choice of black tee shirt didn’t have a large enough scooped neck at the right time. In any case, here he keeps things resoundingly elemental with four abrasive cuts which sizzle and spark in all the right places. It’s a bit back to basics here, as these tracks lack the depth and sophistication Rachmad has come to be associated with over his career. They’re good examples of what they are, but do feel a bit churned out.
Monday, May 24, 2021
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Saturday, May 22, 2021
Friday, May 21, 2021
Thursday, May 20, 2021
May 2021 Chart
Likemind 06 – Nuron/Fugue (Likemind)
Reflections Of Yesterday – Al Bradley/Scott Hallam (Reflections Of Yesterday)
Landscapes EP – R Hitect (r. hitect)
Epileptix EP – The Abstract Eye (Neroli)
Both Sides Of The Story – Vlad CAIA (Uvar)
ElectroHop 1 – DJ Di’jital (Trust)
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Monday, May 17, 2021
00006 - Ste Roberts (STE)
Title: 00006
Artist: Ste Roberts
Label: STE
Cat Number: STE00006
Genre: Techno/Electro
1: Queen Bee
2: Dominated Until 5am
3: Mr Hyde
4: Jumping To The Beat Of Your Shadow
Functional wonky stuff here on Ste Roberts’ eponymous imprint. ‘Dominated Until 5am’ is a break beat propelled track which makes use of the well-worn ‘Women Beat Their Men’ sample. ‘Jumping To The Beat Of Your Shadow’ is disorientating, druggy electro. ‘Mr Hyde’ a stripped down minimal techno roller that undergoes a few personality changes when it may have been better not to bother. And ‘Queen Bee’ an atmospheric but farting attempt at injecting some gravitas. Very hit and miss.
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Saturday, May 15, 2021
Friday, May 14, 2021
Thursday, May 13, 2021
Ostara Part Two - Upwellings (Mosaic Digital)
Title: Ostara Part Two
Artist: Upswellings
Label: Mosaic Digital
Cat Number: MOSAIC DTL04
Genre: Dub Techno
1: False Realities
2: Snow Dawn (Fletcher Revision)
3: Snow Dawn (Hidden Sequence’s Roots Dub)
4: Ostara (Owain K’s Skip n’ Dip Mix)
5: Ostara (MOOR Remix)
6: Ostara (El Choop Rework)
‘Ostara Part Two’ follows hot on the heels of last months premier portion and is a great excuse to give exposure to a raft of artists currently dipping their toes in the deep, placid dub techno waters. ‘False Realities’ is a wonderfully solemn way to begin proceedings, wrapping an almost beat less, depth charged emotive backdrop around an evocative spoken word sample, very much in the vein of Cabaret Voltaire’s ‘Low Cool’. Then we have ‘Snow Dawn’ and ‘Ostara’, both remixed from April’s outing. What I really like about these tracks is that they all offer something a little bit different from each other while having a dynamic approach. Fletcher’s Revision of ‘Snow Dawn’ is probably the most laid back, but it still packs an understated punch. At the other end of the beat spectrum we have El Choop’s rework of ‘Ostara’, which brings the pace built up over the preceding pieces to a nice head. Whether this is deliberate programming I don’t know, but it works. A great release in which every track stands out. Digital only on Bandcamp.
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Mr BC Chit Chat
Mr BC is someone I actually know, so this makes him unusual as far as subjects for interview go on these pages. We haven't bumped into each other in person for a long time though since he relocated from Cambridge. Anyway, imagine my surprise when he turned out to be an artist of some repute, and making music that's good too! Having stayed in touch with him through the miracle that is social media, I thought that the release of his debut album marked the ideal occasion to get him to spill the beans a bit on everything in general and nothing in particular. Cheers for doing it Bob!
Could you introduce yourself and explain the reasons behind the name “Mr BC”?
Hello! I’m Bob Salmond, currently a resident of Leeds having moved here five years ago from Edinburgh. In “real life” I’m an immunologist at the University of Leeds. The name Mr BC is a silly name I gave myself when setting up a soundcloud account about 8 or 9 years ago and, unfortunately, it’s now too late to change.
How did the partnership with tici taci begin?
I’ve been a long-time fan of the label and met Duncan (Gray) through friends about 5 years ago or so. He did a remix for one of my early EPs and over the last few years, I’d done a couple of remixes for the label and chatted to him quite a bit, mainly online, sharing ideas for bits of music and so on. I’d send him unfinished tracks and we worked on some ideas together. Round about the start of “lockdown 1” last year, he suggested I released something with Tici Taci.
You’ve just released your debut album. How would you describe it?
This is a strangely difficult question for me to answer! I suppose it’s instrumental acid house, with hints of disco, techno and indie thrown into the mix. Or something like that. Basically, it’s the 10 best tracks I could come up with last year, sequenced in a way that’s, hopefully, coherent.
The tracks cover a range of different bases. Which were the most enjoyable to work on and do some sounds come easier than others?
There was no deliberate plan to be “eclectic” or anything like that but it’s true the tracks do cover a few sounds/styles. I find it a bit boring to make the same track over and over so try a few different things to keep myself amused as much as anything. On the second point, I don’t persevere very long if I’m not enjoying the process or getting nowhere with a track. That said, I probably enjoyed making the tracks that were mostly based around live instruments more, particularly Invisible College and Sleeping Demon. As a not-very-good player, getting a guitar or bass part down that sounds OK is more of a challenge and so a bigger personal achievement to me than programming midi on a laptop plugin. Not that there’s anything inherently superior about one approach above another I hasten to add. Many of my tracks are mainly programmed-midi-on-a-laptop-plugin!
Do the ideas in your head have any similarity to what you produce?
Sometimes! I’ll generally start with a vague idea of what I want to do at that particularly moment. Maybe an acid track or a more disco thing or just because I heard something on the radio that gave me an idea; but that’s not always what ends up coming out. For example, the original idea for Yen Again came from me youtube-surfing and watching some videos of Brazilian samba drummers. So, the rhythm track is very vaguely samba-influenced but the music is pretty far removed from samba! Plus, I’ll often leave projects and forget about them for months or even years. The keys part in “Chutzpah” I found in an old file from 2015, with no recollection of it whatsoever. Other times the idea for a whole track comes together in minutes. It’s all a bit mysterious, really.
How did the pandemic determine the creative process?
For me, I’m not sure it did to be honest. I’ve been working from home since March last year and have had home-schooling with my kids and so on, but I don’t think that’s either impeded or enabled me to make music. I guess I might’ve put a bit more time into it, because, in lockdown, entertainment options have been a bit more limited than usual. I definitely made more music in 2020 than at some other points, but in the first few months of 2021, under the same conditions, I’ve done very little so far. So not much of a personal effect, but I totally understand that some people have really struggled whilst others have been freed up in terms of having more time to devote to music or other creative outlets.
Have you always made music that is close to the tici taci aesthetic?
Apart from mucking about with guitars with friends as a teenager, I only started trying to make music about 8 or 9 years ago. My initial attempts at electronic music were in a fairly derivative acid house type style - I probably wanted to sound like various Tici Taci releases but didn’t have the knowledge or skill to execute them. I suppose I’ve been making tracks for a number of years that were in that sort of chuggy/ALFOS tempo so not a million miles away. I was certainly chuffed when Duncan and Lloyd (The Long Champs) asked me to do a remix for Tici Taci back in 2017, and again a couple of years ago. Whilst I’ve used live bass and guitars in previous releases, I’ve definitely used more “live” instruments on the album. That’s something that Duncan actively encourages for Tici Taci and it’s been quite enjoyable getting back into playing bass regularly.
What is the target audience for the album, and your music generally?
I don’t tend to think about that too much, but I think it’s fair to say the people that go to an ALFOS night would be prime target audience, particularly the over 30s. That said, the immediate target audience is actually a very few like-minded friends – if they like it, or at least say kind things about it, I’m happy with that.
How valid is dance music at the moment, taking the pandemic and the mass closure of clubs, live music venues and festivals into account?
Well I’d say that dance music is best heard on a sweaty dance floor in a darkened club, which hasn’t happened much for the past year or so. And there’s a good case to be made that dance music has a shorter shelf-life than other types of music – there’s been so many fantastic releases in the past year that’ll probably never be heard in a club because by the time they open again there’ll be hundreds of more recent releases. Which is a shame. But a good record can be enjoyed anywhere. Plus in the past year, instead of going out, we’ve all been tuning in to Sean J’s ALFOS EBS nights and other similar live streams. Not quite the same as “being there”, but the music’s been pretty ace.
Who are your main influences?
Big influences are all the classic 80-90s Detroit techno records, particularly Underground Resistance and Red Planet. Also, 80s acid house with a bit of New Order. More recently, the type of records you might hear played at ALFOS, particularly producers like Duncan and the Tici Taci “roster”, Rich Lane, Jason Peters, Craig Bratley, Zakmina, Damon Jee (to name a very few). But all sorts of weird things can spark can idea – I’m currently working on a track for which I’ve “borrowed” a chord progression from an Iron Maiden song. It’s unlikely that the finished version will be mistaken for Bruce Dickinson and co.
What do you listen to in your free time? Could you list a top 5 of anything in general and nothing in particular?
I’m still a rock/indie fan at heart, same as I was as a teenager. This past couple of months, amongst other stuff, I’ve been enjoying new albums by the Hold Steady and Dinosaur Jr. Also an old blues album by Junior Kimbrough (All Night Long) which is great. In terms of electronic music, I don’t listen to a huge amount at home but enjoy Sean’s EBS broadcasts. My days of being a trainspotter are largely behind me!
Top 5 of anything and nothing:
Faded – The Afghan Whigs. My favourite song off my favourite album (Black Love) by my favourite band.Crush (Future Bones remix) – Duncan Gray. My favourite track from Tici Taci changes regularly but this is consistently in the top 5. Just keeps on building.
Monday, May 10, 2021
Fear On The Dark Planet - Umwelt (Midnight Shift)
Title: Fear On The Dark Planet
Artist: Umwelt
Label: Midnight Shift
Cat Number: MNSX023
Genre: Techno
A1: Fear On The Dark Planet
A2: Accelerating Universe
B1: Ravenous Horde
B2: Raiders Of The Final Frontier
B3: Gate Of Nothingness
If you like it claustrophobic and abrasive, not to mention symphonic and dissonant, then Umwelt has something just for you. ‘Fear Of The Dark Planet’ is just an article, a preposition and an adjective away from Public Enemy’s magnum opus, but couldn’t be further removed. The track titles give an indication as to the chaos that awaits, and as organised as that may be, it’s an uncompromising romp through a dense, acidic pounding (‘Ravenous Horde’); raw, sensory electro imaginings (‘Fear On The Dark Planet’ & ‘Accelerating Universe’); the simultaneous grind and soar of ‘Raiders Of The Final Frontier’; finishing with the comparatively tame, but menacing ‘Gate Of Nothingness’. Hard as nails, but eloquently expressed.
Sunday, May 09, 2021
Saturday, May 08, 2021
ALFOS EBS 23 - Sean Johnston (07-05-2021)
Friday, May 07, 2021
Thursday, May 06, 2021
Wednesday, May 05, 2021
Interlinked EP - Plant43 (Plant43)
Title: Interlinked EP
Artist: Plant43
Label: Plant43
Cat Number: PLANT43005
Genre: Electro
A: Interlinked
B1: Ancient Voice
B2: The Silent Flock
Plant43, aka Emile Facey is one of electro’s most prolific and most recognisable producers. His sound is many layered, dramatic and emotive, it is also occasionally conceptual, as in this release. ‘Interlinked’ is a work which is intended to evoke memories of The UK’s membership of the European Union, as well as expressing both sadness at its leaving, and hope for the future. And without trying too hard to shoehorn feelings into tenuous links, it can be argued that the tracks here convey a range of emotions and poignancy enough to capture the desired context. Both ‘Interlinked’ and ‘Ancient Voice’ do an excellent job of depicting a grandiose electro wistfulness, while ‘The Silent Flock’ is a downbeat chin stroker. All the compositions are made for contemplating things that might just be beyond the reach of mere mortals though, and are elegant soundtracks for a world currently out of control.
Tuesday, May 04, 2021
Metamorfosi Remixes Vol. 2 - Joseph Capriati (Redimension)
Title: Metamorfosi Remixes Vol. 2
Artist: Joseph Capriati
Label: Redimension
Cat Number: REDIMENSION014
Genre: House/Techno
1: Goa (Carl Cox Remix)
2: Spirit Brothers (ANNA Remix)
3: New Horizons (Francois K Electronic Dub)
4: Love Changed Me (Mathew Jonson Remix)
5: New Horizons (Sterac Electronics Italo Remix Vocal)
6: Goa (Carl Cox Deeper Remix)
7: New Horizons (Sterac Electronics Italo Remix Instrumental)
Volume 2 of 4. Projects such as these, be they good or bad, always elicit a certain rhetorical question. Why? Were favours called in big time? Or was it a case of overt generosity on behalf of the remixers? Maybe it’s just me. In any case Vol. 2 is less immediate and dynamic than Vol1 but it still has enough going for it to pique interest and seize the synapses. ANNA’s remix of ‘Spirit Brothers’ is Jeff Mills on the Copacabana. Francois K’s Electronic Dub of ‘Spirit Brothers is discofied Manu Dibango inspired Afro heaven, which is why the saxophones sound so good. Sterac’s pair hit the spot and show his undoubted versatility, I would have like the bpm count up a little, but hey, it’s all good. Carl Cox’s efforts are dire, formulaic edm. While Mathew Jonson really highlights the vocals in ‘Love Changed Me’ to come up with a dreamy piece of garage. On the whole, like all similar packages, no one DJ will play all of these, but its nice to have the choice.
