Saturday, February 26, 2011

news!

hope everyone has been enjoying the fresh mixes by suspect and patrick walker. now here's some things i deem news-worthy...

DETROIT'S MOVEMENT FESTIVAL: INITIAL LINEUP ANNOUNCED the excitement for another memorial day weekend in detroit grows with paxahau's initial lineup announcement, here at their official facebook page. smilecoldanatomy's quick picks are cio d'or, echospace, and marcel dettmann... can't wait to see what other goodies are in store for that weekend!

LISTEN TO LUCY'S NEW ALBUM FOR FREE the stroboscopic artefacts head has offered a free stream of his debut album, wordplay for working bees, via fact magazine. check it out here! a very nice EP featuring remixes for the album has also been put out in anticipation of the LP release next week, march 4.

NAX_ACID AND GIORGIO GIGLI PLAY LONDON the two anatomy mixers will join forces with prologue records boss tom bonaty (making his london debut) and aconito artist bioni samp for a night billed as a showcase for prologue and aconito... friday, march 25! a group of audio-visual artists should make this party especially interesting. if you're in london late next month, you gotta go! check out the RA event page for more info.

AMON TOBIN'S NEW ALBUM TO BE RELEASED IN MAY finally! it's been four years since foley room's release, and now it's just an agonizing three months until ISAM drops, may 23. the art involved in the album project will be on display in london following its release. go to RA and amon tobin's website for further details.


that's all for now... more news and new music soon!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

anatomy 07 - patrick walker

a new mix, so soon? you're damn right: the seventh anatomy comes from the UK techno purveyor, patrick walker!

anatomy 07 patrick walker

patrick is part of forward strategy group, together with smear (who previously contributed a mix for this site); he also summons more experimental sounds through his (i)sodyne project. compared to smear's set of slow-moving chaos, patrick has made something a bit... faster. but more on that later. first, an interview, where patrick was kind enough to provide some words to introduce himself and his music. read on:

So, Patrick. How did you get 'into' electronic music? What musicians have made the biggest impact on you, as a listener and as a producer?
An interest in Science Fiction and the Esoteric is probably why I got into electronic music. I think I'm equally as influenced by the writing of Frank Herbert, the artwork of HR Giger or Max Ernst and the philosophy of people like Gurdjieff as I am by musicians like James Bernard, Jeff Mills, Fluxion, Steve Bicknell and Autechre.

Tell me about the Forward Strategy Group 'corporate family'... How did you first meet Smear, and what made you two decide to create a label and put out your own vinyl?
I met Smear through listening to his music online, I got in touch with him and we've been making music together in one form or another ever since. I'm not 100% sure we had even met in person before we put our first record out, we are both quite anti-social and elusive creatures.

As to why we started a label, sometimes I say as a joke "we took techno - because you didn't want it" people can make of that what they will...

Another individual project of yours is (i)sodyne. Can you tell me about that?

(i)sodyne or isodyne is closer to the stuff I used to make when I originally began making electronic music and in general, it represents my more experimental and reflective side.

I always like to ask, especially for artists involved in multiple projects: do you have a philosophy of music?

My most basic principal with music is that no art is higher than creation. If I'm lucky, I might be able to use my music to convey certain aspects or feelings evoked by the wonderful gift of a seemingly endless universe, the possibility to traverse it and the mind to try and comprehend it, but my efforts will always pale into insignificance when compared to the natural wonders we enjoy every day.

If you had to choose your favourite records or pieces of music, what would they be, and why? Do you have any favourite and/or new producers that you're watching now?
Some of my favourite pieces of music would be :

Bitcrush : 'Epilogue in Waves'
Epic shoegaze / droning guitar stuff of the type Ride, Swervedriver or Chapterhouse would be proud of.

Brian Eno : 'Prophesy Theme' (from the Dune Soundtrack)
Visceral, cinematic and timeless.

Murcof : 'Camino'.
Not many electronic artists can truly get under the skin emotionally, but Murcof does it consistently.

Rhythm & Sound : 'Mango Drive'.
Deeper than the Pacific, this is simply amazing.

James Bernard : 'Mars Rain'.
This is from an album on Rising High called 'atmospherics' which is one of my all time favourite ambient albums.

Burial : 'Fostercare'.
Haunting, melancholic, a bit depressing really, but an example of how it is possible to convey a full range of complex emotions through electronic music.

Steve Bicknell : 'Inchoate Form'
There's not much I can say about this, you either like it or you don't, it's obtuse, stripped down to the bare bones and to me; it is hard techno in it's purest form.

As far as producers or artists I have my eye on at the moment, I could fill a page and don't want to bore your readers, I update my charts on Resident Advisor each month and we try to do the same as FSG, if people want to know what we're into right now as regards techno and electronic, that or one of our DJ mixes is the place to look.

What are you and Forward Strategy Group up to next?
We have 2 new EPs on the way as Smear / Walker and FSG on Dynamic Reflection and Perc Trax respectively. These will be followed by a remix for Donor on Prosthetic Pressings alongside Silent Servant and also a remix of Dave Miller & Paul Boex on Labrynth alongside Pacou. I'm also currently working on a 'Monad' release for Stroboscopic Artefacts with Inigo Kennedy and a solo EP as isodyne on TVO's new label; broken 20.

Finally we're going to start working on an album in the next couple of months for Perc Trax, this will hopefully be followed up by some more releases on our own label which has been put aside due to demands for remixes, releases, live shows and podcasts.

Would you like to share some thoughts on this mix?
Hopefully people will like it! I guess it's perhaps interesting to note that it's 100% live mix with no tweaks or edits, and it was created using Ableton live with 2 control interfaces, one to control the individual channels and one to control effects and overall EQ. The tracks are all in wav format, either sent by the labels / artists in question or digitised from vinyl to 48k 24bit resolution.

... and now, we move to the audio portion of our presentation! like smear, patrick shows how it's gotta be done when you do it digital: dense and layered, driving and rhythmic, and as he told me, "it goes a bit heavy by the end". in a larger context, i think it's a nice chapter in this mix series, picking up the pace after suspect's mix and leading into darker places...





plastikman & thomas brinkmann // concept 1_07 // m_nus
tvo // bc7 memory // broken 20
skirt // ikaros // horizontal ground
ness // diagnostic sequence // prologue
wireman // distance // ism
horizontal ground 07 // mas // horizontal ground
jolka // five // silent servant mix // sect
marcel dettmann // plain // beatstreet
sandwell district // feed forward test session // a // sandwell district
sandwell district // immolare (main) // sandwell district
mike dehnert // md // fachwerk
truss // obasten // perc trax
paraphonic // vitalic // wireman mix // load and clear
martyn // vancouver // 3024
ness // diagnostic function // prologue
mike parker // subterenean liquid // prologue
claudio prc & svart 1 // black moon part 2 // mono
rob alcock // traces // mike parker mix // geophone
milton bradley // derealization // do not resist the beat
marcel dettmann // corebox // mdr
donato dozzy & giorgio gigli // real love // wagon repair
reality or nothing // silent servant mix // rsb
pacou // modular // cache
acrid abeyance // dynamic twin // remix // important
the subjective // tremmor // rotation
counterpart // decoded // warm up recordings
jeff mills // it went westward
hu // untitled // surface
sebastian kramer // arts // steve bicknell remix // content


for more information, head to patrick walker's RA page, and his isodyne soundcloud ... then check out forward strategy group's RA page and facebook page. thanks again to patrick for joining in the fun here. like all the previous artists, it's been a pleasure to talk with him, and it's easy to sense his enthusiasm for the music. enjoy!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

suspect - traveling through without [anatomy 06]

let's bring in the new year (albeit a bit late) in style, with a lush, atmospheric live set from berlin-based man of mystery, suspect!

(click on photo to enhance)

suspect has been around for a while. i first discovered his music through a release on dasha rush's fullpanda label, and later learned about his earlier dark network project. anyway, suspect was kind enough to write an essay about himself and his music, so get informed before checking out the mix at the bottom of the page:

Brian asked me to do a little rant about what got me into music and my interests. I don't like overdone bio's or cold anonymity so I hope this small rant is interesting to some of you :)

When I was 15 I was a computer hacker and started to make music using Octamed and Impulse Tracker. I made my own cheap Digital Analogue Convertor with serial port as I couldn’t afford to have a proper soundcard. There was no internet (as we know it now) and at the time music, data and codes were swapped via Bulletin Board dialup sites or private government run networks. These were also seminal days for Techno. With other collaborators we ran free open air parties in eerie pine forests - forests not meant to be there. This was Australia.

I moved onto analogue studio setups and shortly after relocated to US later in the 90s where I was influenced more by the swing hat sounds and lighter chord/melody arrangements of Chicago/Detroit than the (predominantly) Dutch and German Techno I had been listening to before.

I have been living in Berlin for a number of years now. Times have changed so much. Techno is on the radio, is a massive industry and along with it comes politics. I don’t have much time for politics or exclusive relationships with venues, labels, promoters or boys clubs. What keeps music fresh for me is openness. I am blessed to have a wonderful music community around me in Berlin and connections in many of the cities I go to and this supports and inspires me as I continue to express and connect.

Last year I released a triple vinyl album on Thug Records which has had a John Tejada remix out, and Tevo Howard remixes out sometime this month. In a month or two will be a Creepy Autograph (Jimmy Edgar) and Suspect split 12”. We had other ‘bigger’ artists on the remix shortlist but decided to go with people we respect as individuals and were good people to deal with instead of people who were not on the same wavelength. All these releases are vinyl only. The record label, Thug Records, has been super supportive of the creative aspects of these projects.

This mix is comprised of tracks that are new and up to 10 years old. I played this mix live in Berlin - last set - I knew I was going to use it for smilecoldanatomy so I took the opportunity to make it a deep, atmospheric techno mix for lounge room travel. I have mastered it a little bit because the sound system was a bit messy. Probably I was too.

Thanks to Brian for the spot. Enjoy.

Timothy Sage
Suspect

Blog / info - http://suspect808.tumblr.com - current info on events and releases
Legacy site 1995 -2005 - http://www.suspectsystems.com - in French, Spanish, German, English, Russian
Soundcloud - http://www.soundcloud.com/suspect - excerpts from releases and unreleased goodies
Twitter - http://twitter.com/suspect





TRAVELING THROUGH WITHOUT (love your head)
Track list::
00:00:: partsofus - (cc) [melbourne- 2001]
04:32:: forwhat? - on the way EP, fullpanda records [russia/berlin - 2009]
08:06:: gran - (cc) [melbourne2000]
14:20:: 38000 feet high - passport EP, platinum page [made in an aeroplane -2007]
19:00:: racetobass - (cc) [berlin 2009]
21:01:: coast - traveller EP [paris 2006]
25:21:: sky_lounge - passport EP, platinum page [bahrain, 2006]
31:29:: anila [london2005] 34:36 :: stretched - unfinished business (album), thug records [berlin 2008]
40:02:: shditch - (cc) [london2007]
44:02:: australwerks - passport EP, platinum page [sydney, 2008]
49:10:: bricklay - (cc) [berlin 2006]
52:16:: obedient - soundtrack for 'obedient' war documentary by joseph ramirez [london2007]
62:14:: fin--->
creative commons trax marked with (cc)

thanks again to suspect for his contribution. it took us a while to put everything together to share this, but i think it was worth the wait. i have planned some fairly abstract mixes on the way for smilecoldanatomy in 2011, but i think this is a classy way to start things off: deep and dynamic, but never too intense... "lounge room travel", indeed. enjoy!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

february chart!

here's some music i've been enjoying lately. mostly new stuff as usual, including a very special upcoming collaboration on aconito...

i promise to have a new anatomy mix up very, very soon; the mixer is not on this chart, for the sake of mystery, but i've got a handful of mixes to share soon, and anatomy 06 should be a classy start to things here in 2011. anyway, until then, check it:

1. claudio prc|svart1 - black moon part 1 & 2 | mono records
2. giorgio gigli - skulking in the shadow ep | zooloft
3. tin man - nonneo | absurd recordings
4. skirt - in the meadow under the stars | horizontal ground
5. jeff mills - what was it | something in the sky
6. dasha rush - 64 dreams | hunger to create
7. mike parker - subterranean liquid | prologue
8. justin berkovi - backshredding (forward strategy group remix) | perc trax
9. lucy - tof (tommy four seven remix) | stroboscopic artefacts
10. achromorphe ep | aconito