monday moods: hear patrick walker in action at tresor

happy april fools' day, everyone. perhaps you noticed a few poor attempts at humor today on a few so-called "leading" music websites - for example, FACT's reporting on a (fake) new album from boards of canada - but i won't mislead you here, i promise.

back in march, forward strategy group - aka smear and patrick walker - hit berlin to play vaunted club tresor for the second time, and it looks like patrick got a chance to go solo for a while, as evidenced by this two-hour recording that's available for download over at the FSG soundcloud. tracks from rrose, milton bradley, mick finesse and northern structures all get tossed in to the mix, as well as stuff from the FSG guys themselves. buckle up!



and don't forget: heads in dublin can catch FSG at an RA party next weekend, along with andy stott and cut hands.

anatomy 23 - smear

i'm really happy to have smear return to the anatomy mix series for another round of techno mischief!

back in november of 2010, smear - otherwise known as al matthews - became the fourth artist to create an anatomy mix. that one was a digital set, and it was, and still is, a perfect fit for this blog: deep, layered, slow-moving and weird.

now, smear returns to smilecoldanatomy after a year in which forward strategy group, the collaboration between smear and patrick walker (another anatomy mixer), released their excellent debut album labour division on perc trax. (FSG will be heading to berlin this weekend to make their debut at berghain - congrats, guys!) this time around, for anatomy 23, smear hit the decks and cooked up a nearly 90 minute-long vinyl mix. i also made sure to bother him with a few questions... read on.

Last year seemed to be a pretty busy one for FSG thanks to the album, but what else have you been up to recently?
We did a few remixes [in 2012] mainly, and we're just putting the finishing touches on a few new releases, including our next one for Perc Trax which is sounding pretty good.

Together with Patrick Walker as FSG, Labour Division was your first full-length effort. How has it changed your approach to music production?
We've become a lot more productive since we finished the album. Previously it'd take a long time to do the last 5% of a track, but we've both become much more decisive and determined to get things done. So where previously there's been maybe one EP per year from us, this coming year there'll be a lot more.

What were some of your favorites albums and tracks of 2012? Are there any artists or labels you're particularly excited right now?
"Damn Dark Wind" by Duplex has been my favourite track I think, maybe even the best techno track I've heard in a few years. Go Hiyama's remix of D.Carbone's "Abuse" was great too, I've played that in every set I've had since its release.

Probably Voices From The Lake was my favourite techno album, really beautifully put together. Crossed Paths [from Shifted] was also really good. Micachu & The Shapes had a brilliant album out too, really skewed experimental pop.

Labels, I dunno... L.I.E.S definitely, I know everyone's going on about them, but with good reason. Also: Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, Lux, Until My Heart Stops, Deepblak... There's been lots of great house that's on the cusp of techno, and techno's getting a lot more unusual, much less emphasis on good engineering which has made for some pretty exciting stuff. Hopefully that'll carry on in a meaningful way without becoming a fad.

What can we expect from Smear and FSG in 2013? (Are there any more plans for releases on the FSG and Retail & Leisure imprints?)
No plans for FSG/RNL releases, but we're playing Berghain soon which is pretty cool, that's our first one of 2013. In general we'll be doing a lot more gigs this year, more releases than before... 2013 will be the year of getting things done. Less faffing about, less indecision, more action. I want at least one of us to die of exhaustion this year. Preferably just one of us. And not me, obviously.

Finally, please tell us a bit about this mix.
I said to myself, "My box is full of suitable stuff for smilecoldanatomy at the moment, so I'll just record in one take without preparing at all." After about 10 minutes I realised I only had three suitable records in my box, and I'd played them all (It was ALL synthpop and industrial, and three techno records). So I panicked and started frantically throwing records off the shelves onto the floor, scrambling around... it literally could not have been less prepared. It was brilliant fun, despite it being quite moody and abstract.

First half of the mix is quite moody and glacial, becoming increasingly animated and diverse as it goes on. It's more of an 11pm-1am kind of set for a very small room. It's 100% vinyl, I recorded 2.5 hours and trimmed off the first and last 30 minutes. I quite like the idea of not revealing how the mood is established or resolved. Not that I'm prone to thinking about some kind of narrative in a set, but as a listener it's good to sometimes have part of the picture obscured.


... interesting ideas, and smear pulls them off quite well in this recording, i think, and it's a very nice complement to anatomy 04. the pacing is a nice and loose, the mixing is tight, and the track selection is pleasantly unpredictable. have a listen:


dropbox download link

thanks to smear for taking the time, again, to share a mix here on smilecoldanatomy. head over to his RA page for some more info, and it could be a good idea to keep track of the FSG facebook page as well. and another reminder for the heads in berlin: be sure to catch FSG in action this saturday at berghain. now, go forth and enjoy the mix!

smilecoldanatomy's top 10 of '12

and finally, here it is: my favorite albums of 2012. like my 2011 list, what ended up as my #1 pick initially came as a surprise... but more on that in a bit. stay in your seats (no skipping ahead!), and check the discogs links for more details on each album, if necessary. let's start the countdown:

10. deepchord - sommer
soma quality recordings (discogs)

rod modell strikes again with another great LP under the deepchord moniker. this time he hit the beach to gather field recordings, and that sunny mood is evident throughout. sommer defies easy classification (no, it's not just 'dub techno'), but tracks like "cruising towards dawn," with its sepia-tinted vistas, or "amber," with its lush, idyllic charm, made this the sort of album that could be left to loop over and over again.


9. vatican shadow - ghosts of chechnya
hospital productions (discogs)

the brainchild of veteran noise-maker dominick fernow, vatican shadow has been one of 2012's most distinctive and most essential music projects. tough, industrialized sounds, moody ambiance and (crucially) headline-grabbing track titles... it's become obvious that vatican shadow has found a lot of fertile ground in the no-man's-land of wartime musical commentary. ghosts of chechnya probably ranks among the project's more accessible releases. at times the 'song-writing' seems a bit raw, but overall it's a pretty diverse listen. my favorite tracks are "peace rage," "voices came crackling across a motorola hand-held radio," and the wonderfully understated last track "snipers as a breed tend to be suspicious."


8. forward strategy group - labour division
perc trax (discogs) 

labour division is proof that forward strategy group - aka al matthews and patrick walker - know how to put together a proper techno LP. it includes some of the duo's most intriguing creations, like the triumphant opening track "ident," and "fading centres," with its cold cavernous depths. then, of course, there's "metal image," "TTH," and "cultivar," the stunning trio of tracks that close out the album. stern, tense, gloomy, strange - a fine full-length debut from FSG, methinks.


7. andy stott - luxury problems
modern love (discogs)

unsurprisingly, it was another good year for modern love. along with the typically weird pursuits of demdike stare, the manchester imprint also recruited vatican shadow for an LP. but the label's best release in 2012 was surely luxury problems, from andy stott, which layered a nifty variety of samples on top of tons of grinding low-end percussion. my picks of the eight tracks would have to be "lost and found" and "luxury problems," which both feature lovely female intonations. in short, luxury problems was (and still is) sexy as hell.


6. terrence dixon - from the far future pt. 2
tresor (discogs)

terrence dixon comes through with a masterpiece. indeed, from the far future pt. 2 is full of ultra-futuristic moments, making it an excellent counterpoint to a techno landscape that's become filled with too much darkness and way too much drone. "light of day," "horizon," "fountain of hope"... there's too many highlights to list, but my absolute favorite is "the study," with its curious, bleeping loops and soft kick drum. keep in mind, there's two different release formats for this, CD and vinyl, with fairly different tracklists. try to check out both if you can.


5. porter ricks - biokinetics
chain reaction / type (discogs)

let us not forget porter ricks' classic LP, biokinetics! originally issued on chain reaction in 1996, biokinetics got a fresh re-release on type in 2012. "port gentil," "port of call" and "nautical zone" are my picks from an album that still feels oh-so-refreshingly elemental.


4. edanticonf - forest echo
silent season (discogs)

moody, atmospheric techno par excellence - as to be expected from the vancouver label silent season. forest echo is the debut album from edanticonf, and it marks him as an artist to watch. you might notice that neel mastered this one, but edanticonf's unique talents shine through clearly on tracks like "planet" and "drome." forest echo is an hour-long journey that's sure to appeal to deep techno travelers.


3. mohn - mohn
kompakt (discogs)

mohn is the latest collaboration between veteran german artists wolfgang voigt and jorg burger, and mohn might be the least accessible album on this list. it's an unpredictable but altogether remarkable blend of krautrock and slow, ambient-tinged techno, and it's a perfect addition to the kompakt catalog. don't be turned away by the floydian gloom of opening track "einrauschen." (who gets turned away by floydian gloom, anyway?) just be patient, because the best is yet to come, as the album moves through lounge-y atmospherics toward the softly spiraling climax of "ebertplatz 2020." i'm a huge fan of voigt's music, and for me, mohn is a welcome expansion of his sound.


2. voices from the lake - voices from the lake
prologue (discogs)

this one has been praised from nearly all angles, and i don't have much more to add. it's been a busy year for prologue (with two other solid albums from claudio PRC and dino sabatini) but voices from the lake, donato dozzy and neel's collaborative album, is clearly the highlight of 2012 for both the artists and the label - an excellent full-length realization of their hypnotic, organic sound. it's hard to find a standout track, though i'm quite fond of the run-through-the-jungle vibes of "meikyu," because this one is best experienced from front to back. i'm very interested to see where dozzy and neel go from here.


1. earth house hold - when love lived
love's label (discogs)

my most listened-to album in 2012, by far. and yes, it was at first a surprising listen, just like nuel's album back in 2011. earth house hold is brock van wey - that prolific purveyor of deep, evocative electronic music perhaps best known as bvdub - and when love lived, released on the chicago-based love's label, is his first LP produced under that alias. the surprise is in the style: it's more house-y, and a bit more 'accessible', than much of van wey's work. each track is generously sprinkled with classic-sounding house motifs, but as usual the artist's distinctively airy touch (and inimitable use of vocal samples) is present throughout, and every single moment is filled to the brim with emotion. of course, with stuff this good, picking favorites is a chore: "need you (in a trance)" is a superbly righteous bliss-out, and the title track nearly overwhelms with its array of sensual female vox. but they're all winners. to my ears, when love lived is not just one of 2012's biggest surprises, it's easily the best album of the year. happily, whereas much of van wey's music is put out only on cd and digital formats, this one was pressed to wax as well. kudos to him, and to love's label, for sharing this gem.


... and, unless anyone would like to comment on what i've chosen (or not chosen), i think we're done for now. so let's put 2012 behind us and look forward to a new year.

monday moods

 

mondays always hold a unique combination of suspense and intrigue (new music, reports from the weekend's festivities, etc) and this monday is no exception. so, read on, and LISTEN, to what i have to point out on this particular afternoon:

first up, before you do anything else, go to the CLR podcast and download today's new mix from the inestimable mike parker - whom, if i haven't yet made it obvious, is one of my absolute favorite american producers. it's his second CLR mix, and his second mix released recently, after a set for the fabric blog a few weeks ago. both sessions should leave no mind unblown. this one uses a few of my favorites, like the frustratingly hard-to-find aquaplano 000 from donato dozzy and nuel, and cio d'or remixed by shifted on prologue, along with jeff mills' first something in the sky record.

okay, with that pumping out of your speakers, now here's this:

BLOC 2012 SHENANIGANS if you've kept your eyes on any techno news media this weekend, you might have noticed that london's hugely anticipated BLOC 2012 festival - which was to feature an absurd lineup of talent including but not limited to surgeon, monolake, perc, xhin, shackleton and luke vibert - met a calamitous and premature end. RA announced this initial bit of news exclaiming that overcrowding seems to have played a huge role in its early shutting on friday, and cancellation on saturday.

so, the rest of the weekend was filled with rampant speculation and, as expected, claims of (allegedly!) sinister motivations on the part of BLOC's organizers - a pessimistic sentiment that perhaps could have  partially been undone by a more quickly-transmitted apology (at the time of this writing, there's been at least one apology made on their homepage). along the way we got a compelling read from sleeve claiming that in relation to continental europe's thriving scene, the british festival circuit is in distress at the moment. but some heads kept cool, and it seems like saturday in london turned out pretty damn well given the circumstances, with many local promoters and artists originally billed for the festival teaming up for a spontaneous array of parties, mostly free to festival ticketholders, around the city. from my perch here in chicago it looks like a bunch of people pulled together and did really, really good things that hopefully compensated for the BLOC disappointment. anyway, helping to keep things level-headed throughout the weekend were the guys at the quietus; check out a nice essay from that site's rory gibbs that discusses the festival (which had expanded greatly from previous editions), the make-up parties (or nonBLOC parties, or unBLOC, or what have you), and what it all says about our community at large.

NEW MIKA VAINIO ALBUM now, time for more pleasant news, this time from an anatomy favorite, mika vainio (i discussed one of his prior, excellent albums here earlier in the year). magnetite is the name of the finnish sound master's newest album, which is due out in early september according to the wire. vainio recently got involved in a positively out-there collaboration on PAN, a snippet for which can be heard here.

FORWARD STRATEGY GROUP TALKS WITH TEA have a gander at the very random selections al and patrick from FSG cite in this TEA talk. chain reaction and melt-banana are among their oddball picks.

MNML SSGS MX SERIES CLOSES WITH PETER VAN HOESEN some sad news, this. the mnml ssgs blog's excellent mix series has come to an end, with a volley of closing "mx fnl" sets from donato dozzy and svreca among others, finished by a 3+hr recording from peter van hoesen. kudos to mnml ssgs for all the work over the years: the well-informed writing may have been too pretentious to be effective at times, but the mix series was always serious in the best of ways, and a huge inspiration for me here.

moving on to some US and chicago news:

GREAT AMERICAN TECHNO FESTIVAL TO REVEAL LINEUP the second annual edition of the denver festival will be announcing its lineup soon, so look out! the lineup i've seen is short but sweet, and i should be in attendance...

PATRICE SCOTT AND MORGAN GEIST HEAD TO CHICAGO this week, at our beloved smart bar: detroit selector and sistrum recordings boss patrice scott will guest at rhythmatic this wednesday (this mix of his has been my recent jam), and morgan geist of metro area hits the decks on friday with olin.

and rounding out the day's goodies, there's two more queue-worthy mixes to be had: szare's set for little white earbuds (notably, they're the first to submit a second mix to the LWE podcast)... and, if it's your thing, james zabiela's RA.319.

oh, and i also posted the tracklist for my weirdo/ambient set test1108b (you can also just scroll down)... so check that too. and that's it - take it or leave it!

friday funk: forward strategy group - 'labour division'

if you haven't yet heard, forward strategy's debut album labour division was released this week, and it's already gotten pretty good reviews from the quietus and RA. now, if you haven't jumped to buy yourself a physical or digital copy, you can try out a free, full-album stream at perc trax's soundcloud. check it out:



and yes, i did make it back from detroit alive. maybe i'll have something to say about movement weekend later. and yes, again, anatomy 19 is right around the corner...