Wednesday, May 25, 2011

anatomy picks: movement 2011!

it's finally upon us... detroit's movement festival!
movement, or DEMF or PEMF, depending on how you ask, hosts five stages of music from noon to midnight, saturday/sunday/monday, and as usual there's plenty of options to choose from. there are the obvious picks - ricardo villalobos will return to the US for the first time in years; richie hawtin and sven vath will draw the usual mass jubilation; adam beyer's festival-closing set on monday could be fun - but smilecoldanatomy likes it even deeper, so here's my recommendations for must-see artists at the fest.

CIO D'OR charmingly abstract productions... warm, endlessly hypnotic studio mixes... cio d'or is, to me, a real artist. if you need a teaser, check this collaborative mix with donato dozzy that i've already praised. her set at the festival will be her first visit ever to detroit, and i have no doubt that it will be special. torino stage, saturday 6-730pm

MONOLAKE another anatomy favorite, robert henke aka monolake obviously has a fan in cio d'or, who uses his tracks frequently in her mixes. long story short: monolake created the ableton live audio program, and his austere, bass-heavy techno (try out this youtube) should roll over quite perfectly in the torino underground where he'll play a live surround set with visuals provided by his VJ. i'll check out visionquest upstairs beforehand, but i'll probably be missing hawtin in order to close the festival with monolake. torino stage, saturday 1030pm-close

MARGARET DYGAS a resident DJ at the infamous panoramabar in berlin, dygas is clearly doing something right. check out her deep, dubby mix for lwe... a smooth dj who has a slim output as a producer, last year saw the release of her debut full-length album, how do you do, which is definitely worth a listen or two (or for now, just check out this track from the album).... pretty spaced out 'house' music that keeps a dark, cerebral edge. also worth noting: one of my favorite sets last year came from fellow panoramabar resident cassy, who stormed the beatport stage before hawtin's sub-in for the cancelled villalobos appearance. this year, dygas gets two hours on the big stage to get things going before villalobos; i have high hopes for her set. vitamin water stage, sunday 5-7pm

TRAVERSABLE WORMHOLE otherwise known as adam x, who is also known as the boss of sonic groove, the long-established nyc techno label that seems to be really hitting its stride right now (killer 12s by northern structures, dino sabatini and realmz). as traversable wormhole, adam performs live, jamming dubstep and techno to create something dark and fierce... here's this youtube video of function remix a TW track. i'll probably miss the first bit of dygas' set in order to get my wormhole traversed. torino stage, sunday 5-6pm

BEN KLOCK and MARCEL DETTMANN it's probably worth pairing these two. they both call berghain (the berlin club connected to panoramabar) their home-base, and are prolific producers for berghain's ostgut ton imprint, both having released their debut albums via o-ton. both also run their labels (klockworks and MDR) and stick to a tough, raw techno aesthetic - i'll admit, i usually prefer dettmann's more clinical approaches. and both will be doing the business underground at torino sunday night with klock leading the way for dettmann's closing set. this is probably how i will end sunday at the festival. torino stage, sunday 9-1030pm (klock), 1030-close (dettmann)


... so, those are my festival picks. where's monday, you say? monday will be everywhere after a weekend of dance music around detroit. if i make it back to the festival (which i plan to do!), i intend to catch PEARSON SOUND/RAMADANMAN and SCUBA at the red bull stage- two dj's with a similar penchant for taking dubstep sounds, pitching them down a bit, and adding elements of house and techno. should be a pleasant final-lap change from strictly 4/4 beats.

that's all for now. and yes, those picks mean i plan on spending a lot of time underground at the torino stage. my friends and i begin our journey to detroit in 10 hours. i plan on checking out the smartbar party at tv lounge friday night, the RA CLR party at elysium saturday night (probably followed by the 'i love you but' party), and probably the monday old miami party, and who knows what else. look for the tall skinny guy with glasses and you've probably found me. cheers, and happy memorial day weekend!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

tonight at smartbar: BEN KLOCK

tonight is the night! i make my smartbar debut here in chicago alongside qbot, ryan elliott and ben klock. it's klock's first time in the windy city so let's make it special! i play 10 to 1130, qbot plays next until 1230, and then ryan and klock take over (2-hour sets for both, i believe). hopefully klock should need no introduction as a resident DJ at berlin's berghain club, a fixture on the club's ostgut ton imprint, and manager of his own klockworks label project. ryan elliott has less of production output but plenty of skills behind the decks, as evidenced in his recent LWE podcast.

for hints on what i'll play, here's my RA chart for the month of may... slow and deep will be my order for the night:

Monday, May 9, 2011

techno transmissions


hello! thanks to all who have tried out any of the jams from the SA anatomized mixes. now, onto new news for new techno and other new stuff...

NEW ZOOLOFT anatomy affiliates obtane and giorgio gigli are at it again, with zooloft 00G: the dark thoughts of fate's manufacturer. as usual, it's a combination of rhythmic and beat-less abstraction, with a blistering a-side to go along with two ultra-deep tracks on the flip: milton bradley's slow, pulsing reverberations, and the howling ambience of a zooloft edit. samples and more words at the zooloft blog. further kudos for a nice review of the incredible tale on LWE. go zooloft!

PERC PREPS WICKER & STEEL another anatomy mixer on the move: perc prepares to release his debut full-length album, wicker & steel on his perc trax imprint next month, june 10th. the first single, my head is slowly exploding, is a real mind-bender, with a properly twisted edit from ancient methods. read more about wicker & steel in the RA news, and london heads take note: the album's launch party goes down saturday june 11th with help from another anatomy-approved duo, forward strategy group.

RA.257 - O/V/R james ruskin and regis go live for RA's podcast in what will probably be one of my favorite picks from the series in 2011. just under an hour long, and turning out to be bit of a tease (as part of a longer live set), the duo do it deep, dark and intensely angular, balancing mechanical precision with a bit of cinematic warmth. blade runner techno!

AMBIENT TECHNO FOR JAPAN in the wake of the tragedy that struck japan two months ago, one positive thing to take away from the situation (apart from the heroism exemplified in the workers who are venturing into stricken, irradiated reactor plants in order to stop a brewing nuclear disaster) is the artistic reaction, as creative minds around the world lend a supportive hand. the minds behind japan's celebrated labyrinth festival are banding together to create composure, a compilation of sounds from some of the more notable names in the ambient/techno spectrum including convextion, donato dozzy, sandwell district... more information can be found here. slated for digital release at some point this month, and cd release in june. and if you haven't yet, donate a few units of your local currency and show some love!

CIO D'OR AND DONATO DOZZY PRESENT 'J' speaking of dozzy and japan, the deep-diving wizard joins forces with cio d'or for 40 minutes of ambient, tribal jams on the mnml ssgs blog to celebrate the island nation. note the delightful placement of monolake's 'void' as the set approaches the halfway mark... don't need too many words for this other than it's definitely 'worth a listen'.

YUGOSLAVIA - 25 MONUMENTS FROM THE FUTURE well maybe not the future; these structures were built in the 1960s and 1970s, but they sure look like relics from somewhere forward in time. those will be the days!

SMOKE MACHINE PODCAST 012 - ALAN BACKDROP last but not least, one more anatomy friend in the mix! almost 90 minutes of seriously lush deepness from alan backdrop... stream and download at the smoke machine soundcloud.

that's all for now! stay tuned for my top 10 may chart, and my preferred picks for this year's movement festival in detroit.