Monday, January 11, 2010

mnml ssgs mx47: oni ayhun




last week levon vincent kicked off a special start to 2010 for the ssgs. this week we continue with another artist who really defined 2009 for us: oni ayhun.

i first heard of oni ayhun back in late may when OAR003 was released. hardwax described it just as 'atmospheric tripping techno', which was sufficient to get me curious. after hearing samples, it quickly became clear hardwax had been overly understated in their description. i checked oni's site and read the full description for the release, which commenced with these evocative words: 'discover steep, rugged canyons, painted rock minarets, desert vistas framed by blooming wildflowers, soaring raptors and singing canyon wrens on the wildest remaining rivers.' it was quickly becoming apparent to me that this oni ayhun was doing something very interesting. listening to the samples for OAR001 and OAR002 confirmed this. i emailed pete about all of this and went to bed. i woke up the next day with about three emails from pete, the first one agreeing with all of my thoughts, the second one suggesting we should ask oni for a mix, the third one i was cc'd on and was sent to oni asking for a mix... pete and i were agreed: oni ayhun had to be part of our mix series.

oni is exactly the kind of artist we believe in and wish to see more of: someone pursuing a distinctive, individual sound, doing it very well, and working with a concept, rather than just churning out releases. so far oni has had only 3 releases and a remix, each defined (for me at least) by the power of the sounds and the high quality production values. oni is constructing his own little universe, and that is good for all of us.

one thing we've tried really hard to do with this mix series is to get people that don't have (m)any recordings already on the net. plenty of people who would fit very well in the series we haven't considered simply because they have lots of mixes available elsewhere. oni's mix is keeping with this tradition. not only is it the first recording available online, it is also taken from the first ever live performance of oni ayhun, at the donau festival in austria on 30th april 2009. and it is exactly what you'd expect: distinctive, powerful, and seriously mindbending stuff.


mnml ssgs mx47: oni ayhun @ donau festival, 30.4.09
sendspace miror

huge thanks to oni for sharing this special recording with us. pete and myself are very proud and happy to have this in the mix series. if you want to experience more, oni ayhun is playing live at the excellent club transmediale festival in berlin on 4 february, and on 13 march at the panorama bar. and, it also looks like OAR004 is on the way soon... check oni ayhun's website for more info on what he is up to.

now enjoy the sounds of oni ayhun live. more heat next week...

21 comments:

  1. Unexpected surprises are the best surprises.

    On the DL!

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  2. amazing.

    can you categorically confirm/deny oni ayhun's connection to the knife?

    or would that be ruining all the fun

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  3. @ jack: PC was the first to guess it was half of knife. whether his guess was right or not, i honestly dont know. and i dont care that much either. he is just oni to me.

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  4. wow

    what a way to start the week..

    10xs

    as always you did it once again =))

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  5. If I will ever make a movie, he is also a contender to make the soundtrack. Seriously now, impressive and interestingly rough (+).

    And as usual: big thanks for mix!
    Cheers!

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  6. This is really wicked. Great analog sounds, rough metallic production. Definitely perfect to kickstart the week. Cheers.

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  7. not my cup of tea.

    mnmlssg was starting with mixes by norman nodge and similiar music.
    now we listen to ambient, krautrock and distorted soundeffects..

    do we loose chris/pc in the outer space?

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. This was completely out of the blue, very nice turn guys.

    I have just finished it first time through. It is really experimental and innocent, definitely confirming him as quite a unique talent.

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  10. Big miss for me, but then they can't all be winners. Experimental is one thing but I at least like them to be musical.

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  11. this is fantastic. always been a big fan of the knife and it definitely sounds like the work of Dreijer, but agree with Chris that it doesnt matter too much. Thanks to mnml ssgs for not conforming with a set mould and pushing things deeper and deeper. And thank you oni ayhun (just wish it was a bit longer!)

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  12. Oni Ayhun is Olof Dreijer. One half of The Knife. Listen to OAR003-B and you will instantiously recognize the steelpan sound around 5m30s, that The Knife have used before.

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  13. really liked this. then i got to work and someone is playing the necks - silerwater and they seem to work together. great start to the day.

    i agree it definitely has some sounds like the knife have used but whatever. would be interesting to see it done live...any idea what machines/stuff is used?

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  14. i'm curious about that necks album. from what i hear, it's one of their best.

    thanks for the mix ssgs, gets me excited about his 4th release.

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  15. nice to hear some really out there music. and then the last cut is a bomb!! keep pushing gentlemen...

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  16. Great little set.
    If it is Olof Dreijer, he also did a nice remix of a Nine Inch Nails track back in 2007.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBpygi7DrVo&feature=youtube_gdata

    Has he done much else under his own name?

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  17. @ katrin: if you actually have a look, the first mix in the series was an ambient one by bvdub. while the core of the mix series has been more techno and house, we've always planned it being broader than that. these last couple of mixes all fit.

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  18. i actually thought this was really good... but then again, i have a thing for noisy slow techno.

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  19. also: lol @ the person who forgot bvdub's mix when considering the 'roots' of this mix series... and what's wrong with outer space?!

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  20. Personally, I don't think these sounds are 'post' anything. They're a throwback to the experimentalism that literally LINED every bin in my favorite techno shops throughout the 90's. Glad to hear these sounds inspire, but its nothing ''''NEW'''' (Holy Grail of hyper-consumerist DJ culture.) But hey, just an opinion from the Society of Spectacle.

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Say something constructive, bitte. Or if you're gonna take a swipe, at least sharpen your nails.

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