Modes of Music, pt 1

~ NB Please click on the image above for a close-up of the Difference Engine ~

Last week, in the wake of my contentious post on 'dance music', I've been continuing to think about how we understand electronic musics of different kinds.

One of the things that fell by the wayside in the comments section of that post was that, at heart, what I was trying to do was to de-naturalise a given, to suggest that the dominant mode by which electronic music is currently understood (as dance music) is a historical phenomenon – not timeless, natural, proper, or inevitable.

With this in mind, I contacted some people I know (RS, AF, AC, TH - anonymity retained on the request of some, imposed on all for uniformity): these are people who are all avid music lovers, music makers, peddlers of opinions and interpretations, and passionate listeners to electronic music.... but they're also people who, I think, have never been primarily interested in electronic music's dance music modes (with exceptions).

So, to clarify some of my arguments, to bring in some of theirs, and to think a little more (and a little differently) about what so many of you appeared to be soooo keen to talk about, I sent them questionnaires.

The responses were fascinating... and long. So for digestability's sake, I've split 'em up into four parts. This, the part one, asks basic/fundamental questions about electronic music (dance music is pt II). Okay, here goes:

~ NB: I would appreciate it if you would read slowly and carefully, and try to get the sympathetic 'gist' of what people are saying... I don't want to be drawn in to a flame war with someone who has read a sentence, become angry, and gone straight for the comments section... simpatico, simpatico ~

1) What do you think about when I say 'electronic music'? What is electronic music about? What does it explore... using what tools and methods? What would you say are its histories, its innovations, its developments?

RS:
I see electronic music simply as "music produced electronically" - ie - using instruments other than acoustic or analogue (including electrified acoustic) instruments - computers, drum machines, samplers, sequencers, midi etc.

I think because of the inherent restrictions in early electronic music technology electronic music grew initially with a high level of repetition (of both rhythms and sounds) which I think led to a new way of looking at music - suddenly it was extremely *easy* to produce an identical loop (something very difficult with acoustic instruments) and this influenced general music composition.

AF:
Jeez, you sneak in a lot of questions under 1)! Electronic music, at its best, is concerned with creating sound. That is, it is a means to manipulating the compression of air (through speakers or headphones) to affect a particular reaction with the listener, as opposed to reproducing a live musical event. Recordings of classical music, the most extreme opposite, steadfastly refuse to 'pollute' a live recording with input from the studio. The studio is transparent. If only some inspired bastard would do a studio version of Rimsky-Korsakov!

Of course, ever since music was recorded and played back, there has been a tension between purely reproducing, with the greatest fidelity possible, a live musical event, and producing an aesthetically pleasing sound. Electronic music is concerned with the latter. (Which is why I think 'live' electronic sets are disingenuous - the live event is a reproduction of the recording, which inverses the chicken-and-egg order of performance and recording).

AC:
Electronic music is music made by electronic (transistor powered) as opposed to electric (tube stuff like guitars, basses and early keyboards that needed tube amps) music generators.

Electronic music is about many things for many people. Having fun, annoying neighbours/family, being seriously into technology, programming, exploring space, taking drugs, being cool, innovation, mimicking the contemporary urban sound environment and probably heaps of other stuff too.

Electronic music is interesting in its history in that it seems to have roots in more places (geographical), styles and genres than a lot of other genres. Its comparatively easy to say where rock, funk, classical, pop or lots of other genres come from. Electronic music seems to have become a tag attached to a sound in the 80s but there were heaps of people from different geographical places and musical backgrounds (Cage, Kraftwerk, 'Scratch' Perry, dare I say Joy Division?) who perhaps didn't identify as electronic music who were considered the forefathers of the genre by self described electronic musicians of later generations.

TH:
Literally, and without being disingenuous, music that's electronic. Tools and methods: I suppose synths and computers spring to mind, particularly these days where pretty much anyone can set themselves up with a little home studio. What's it about? I think you can say in general those making electronic music are more interested in sound than somebody picking up a guitar; for all that the two strands have converged, I'd say rock music is still more lyrically-based than electronic music; it's more about getting the words across, whereas electronic music is less concerned with this and more concerned with the possibilities of sound.

Its innovations are manifold; synth pop in the '80s and the rise of commercial dance music in the late '80s/early '90s expanded pop music beyond the guitar/bass/drums format - and over the last 10 years, a lot of those innovations have now been reabsorbed into guitar music. And there's also the proto-electronica of the '60s and '70s, which was astonishingly innovative and ahead of its time.

2) What are the contexts and sites proper to the production and reception of electronic music? Where does electronic music happen? Where do people listen to it?


RS:
Anywhere else other music happens - ie - everywhere that there are people. And electricity. I don't think it's appropriate to speak of "proper" sites when it comes to any musical form, but that's just me.

AF:
The means of production, for me, are unimportant. It's a means to an end, which is the entire point. In some senses, I would consider Radiohead's (awesome, awesome) In Rainbows, as electronic music because, as you said in reference to Sly and the Family Stone, the studio is the instrument.

I listen to electronic music with headphones on my own, and find any other way kinda weird. While genres of music are inherently social (eg folk, hip hop, telling stories, messages with the music there to engage) electronic music needs the quiet to appreciate the intellectual appeal of its inherent abstraction. A night club is possibly the worst venue because the music is relegated to be on par with the wallpaper. If its loud enough, you can't socialise anyway, so why pretend? If want to socialise, then to a pub w/ a jukebox. Harsh, I know, but I think electronic music blindly follows the tradition of live music (which is exactly what it is not) uncritically. The 12k thing in Japan you told me about sounds intriguing. If any public broadcast of electronic music is appropriate, it would be some kind of installation, rather than a club.

Okay, the one or two times I've done the drugs and clubbing thing it was fun, but you could put the Chemical Brothers on and I would have enjoyed it. Nup, electronic music is for downtime, maybe the washing up, headphones, and you listen to it.

AC:
The word 'proper' should not be used in conjuction with any kind of music let alone something as young electronic music. Proper suggests a right and wrong dichotomy. Personal Computers are probably simultaneously the most common sites for both the production and reception of electronic music. Electronic music happens in bedrooms, studios, clubs and raves.

TH:
I think the picture here is more diverse than it used to be. Whereas once the majority of electronic music listeners would have listened to it in a club, that's not necessarily the case any more. Club culture is clearly still an important part of electronic music, but it's not the only part - Portishead's Dummy and Air's Moon Safari
soundtracked every mid-'90s yuppie dinner party.

3) What are your favourite works of electronic music? What is it about them that you love?

RS:
Bjork - "hyperballad" (actually my first strong memory of a piece of electronic that had any effect on me at all)
- The Ricardo Villalobos stuff you've given me recently
- Likewise the Donnacha Costello pieces, especially "Together is the New Alone"
- M83 - "dead seas..." album
- I'd actually like to put Kate Bush "running up that hill" in this list as another example. And while I'm at it, the original "Doctor Who" theme music.

The common element seems to be a focus on slow melodic development, repetition, and an almost incidental use of "electronics" - all the pieces I like would be inherently valuable pieces of composition if they were played on regular "analogue" instruments.

AF:
Vlad Delay/Uusitalo, Mouse on Mars, Villalobos, Frank Bretschneider, Andreas Tilliander, Gas, Rhythm & Sound - nothing within the last five years, I fear. All because of the complexity of their compositions, the quality and uniqueness of their production and the enigmatic imagination of their vision.

I should add that imagination and abstraction is, for me, the major appeal of electronic music. Where you're not limited to the restrictions of an instrument and anything that can be expressed in a soundwave is possible, it's a true blank canvass.

AC:
Model 500, Night Drive
Kraftwerk, anything
Carl Craig, More songs about...
Frankie Knuckles, Traxx Classics
KLF, Chill Out
POLE

Great electronic music utilises sounds that are 'new' or unfamiliar to the listener. The chief excitement in listening to electronic music is marvelling at all the indescribable sounds that you hear coming from the record. All of the above introduced me to sounds that I was previously unfamiliar with. Model 500 and Frankie Knuckles were also very funky.

TH:
Massive Attack's Blue Lines (the track in particular, as well as the album): Minimalism. Subtlety. The sense of space in the music.
Casiotone For The PAinfully Alone's Twinkle Echo: The DIY idea of using shitty cheap keyboards, the lyrics, the fact that this is electronic music and almost kinda folk music at the same time
The Doctor Who theme: for creating this crazy other-worldly sound with
tape loops and simple analogue synths
Chromatics' In The City: more minimalism and space, and a glacial synth sound

charting

now that life is a bit more normal, i've been listening to more EPs and LPs again. so one thing i'm going to try to start doing is putting together charts and posting them now and again. this is what i've been digging:

jacek sienkiewicz - 'modern dance' [cocoon]: i've been waiting quite a while for this one to drop, and it was definitely worth it. a very carefully composed album and i am particularly like that the whole thing is all mixed in together. one of my picks of the year so far.

tobias. - 'clapper' [diamonds & pearls]: the efdemin contribution to this split EP is surprisingly weak, but the tobias. track? boom. big room killer. absolutely love the old school riff in this.

donnacha costello - 'the only way to win is not to play the game' [look long]: while i think this is one seriously bullshit title for the EP, i have no problem with the tracks. the more i listen to them, the more they've grown on me. simple, emotive, beautiful. essential.

byetone - 'plastic star remixes' [raster-noton]: ok, this is not new but i only just discovered it. while the sleeparchive remix is great, it is the alvo noto one that really does it for me. it would be seriously destructive dropped at just the right moment...

planetary assault systems - 'temporary suspension' [ostgut]: a very logical pairing, as the influence of the early planetary assault systems gear is crystal clear in the ostgut/berghain brand of techno. slater delivers the goods with the title track - so much pressure. combined with the right bass kick and i can see this really doing damage on dancefloors.

peter van hoesen - 'face of smoke / continued care' [komisch records]: you can just feel the momentum the hose is gathering, can't you? this is the first release from a new label that has the support and backing of some people whose opinions i greatly respect, so i think this might be one worth paying attention to. and it starts in fine form - i think this is one of the best things peter has done. he is continuing to build a powerful, distinctive take on techno. looking forward to seeing what the rest of '09 has in store for him.

silent servant - 'la noche' [historia y violencia]: this is silent servant's new bomb on his label with santiago salazar. while santiago's track is very nice, i can't escape 'la noche'. this one reminds me of the harder edged basic channel stuff but is most definitely not trapped by that legacy. just like his other sandwell labelmates, basically everything he is doing right now is gold. i am not sure when this ep is coming out, but when it does, get it.

sandwell district - variance edits [sandwell district]: you have one mix from function, one from marcel dettmann and one from regis. need a say more? all are top notch techno and each one reflects exactly what you'd expect from the different producers. sandwell continues its excellent run...

bvdub - 'a prayer to false gods' [shoreless] and 'to live' [smallfishrecords]: a pair of releases i just picked up from bvdub. both continue his fine form of late. 'a prayer to false gods' is - i think - a bit more ambient than many of his previous releases (i may be wrong on this). anyway, i really like it. and 'to live' is simply stunning. a 20 minute musical reflection on life from brock. i am not sure whether there is anyone more musically honest than this guy. there is so much feeling in what he does, i sometimes really struggle listening to it actually.

ok, that's it (i think). i'd be very keen to find out what everyone has been listening to, so please feel free to add charts, tracks to check etc. in the comments.

mnml ssgs mx26: ancient methods

i think perhaps the best introduction to ancient methods, comes care of hardwax:

third method - mindblowing extreme funky industrial techno with drone atmosphere - TIP!
second method: ultra heavy & industrial / noisy atmospheric techno killer cuts - TIP!

you get the idea? if i hear hardwax say 'TIP!', i pay attention, so when i saw these records on the weekly mailout i began investigating and soon discovered their description is very accurate...

ancient methods consists of 2 guys based in berlin. there has been a bit of mystery surrounding them, but from what i can see basically for them it is all about the music and this is their priority, rather than creating an anti-brand through anonymity. so far they have put out 3 eps on their on label, each generating a lot of buzz, and rightly so. beyond the fact they are some of the most beautiful slices of vinyl i've ever seen (check this pic of AM02), these records are some seriously heavy gear fusing industrial and techno sounds. think some of the old downwards stuff and you'll start getting an idea. powerful, distinctive, uncompromising techno at its very best. so it should be pretty clear by why i approached ancient methods for a mix...

boomkat's description of ancient methods' music perfectly sums up what you can expect from their mnml ssgs mix: 'pitch black techno war funk'. just a warning. this mix is pretty fucking destructive. be prepared... for me this is techno at its very best - raw and powerful, without sacrificing quality or care.

mnml ssgs mx26: ancient methods presents 'fashion is not a part of it'

much respect to the ancient methods boys both for this mix and what they are doing. you can find more info about them at their myspace. later in the year we can expect the 4th method, as well as a split ep on RSB. and if you happen to be in the UK on 27 june, i would strongly suggest heading to leeds where they are playing at detatched.

ok, now go find yourself a dark room and a strobe light, it is time for some fucking techno.

bleep bleep!

new dozzy set. get excited! in the leadup to the donato dozzy's debut in london on 12 june, the always excellent bleep43 has a downbeat mix from the professor:

bleep43 podcast 134 - donato dozzy

to be honest, i've been sitting on this mix for a while and i am very, very happy it is seeing the light of day. i can confidently say that this is one of the most heavily played mixes of 2009 for me. it has kept me company during many late nights in the office. he really pitches the BPMs down on this - really heady, trippy stuff...

i'm going to be heading over to london for the weekend for this party. looking forward to seeing dozzy again. and well, omar s, i guess that is just a very nice sweetner! i am presuming quite a few ssgs will be attendance so i'll see you all there.

taste test

mike dehnert has been putting out some quality techno over the last few years on his own fachwerk label. and well you know us, we like our techno... so i asked mike to do a ssg mx, and he agreed to try to put something together in the coming months for all of us. in the meantime, he kindly provided this little to treat to get us in the mood:

mike dehnert - short live act cut, berlin (april 2009)

just a warning so you don't get too excited, it is short. but. but it also happens to be really good. consider it a nice taste test for his ssg mx, which should hopefully come at some stage over the european summer...

dream stream

rarely has procrastination been as productive as it was yesterday. i hit on a couple of amazing sets which i haven't seen elsewhere. one slight problem. they. all. are. streaming. grrrrrrr. i hate streaming! and i completely lack the ability to work out what the original audio source is, or how to rip it in a way so it still sounds decent. anyway, here they are. if anyone can work out how to rip any/all of them, can they please do so and upload them onto a filesharing site and post it in the comments or email it to us? EDIT - links added. thanks ssgs.

donnacha costello livepa @ private party, berlin 1-2009

a brand new livepa from donnacha composed completely of new and recent material. 'holy crap' i hear you say. yes. holy crap. the oldest track on this is 'black bag job' and the transition he does to this from 'trust' is very nice... most of the set is made up of material from the first two releases on his new label, look long. quite a few tracks of the 2nd ep - which sound a bit weak on their own - work much better in the mix. simply put, this is totally awesome. please, please can someone get a mp3 version of this for me/us?

direct or rapidshare

tobias. livepa @ clapper, tokyo 11-2008

i came across this while trying to find a place where i could purchase a mp3 copy of tobias' new track, 'clapper', which i am big fan of. while unsuccessful in that regard, i did chance upon this recording. it doesn't include 'clapper' unfortunately, but plenty of other gems. there is also a liveset here from 2007 (which has already done the rounds) and a podcast mix (which i don't think has).

clapper (rapidshare) and island (direct)

ben klock: knister knaster radio mix

not sure what to say about this despite the obvious: it is a new set from klock. and of course, it rocks. klock is a very tight, reliable DJ. always know what you are getting with him. and that is seriously quality techno.

direct

samurai.fm: ostgut radio

continuing on with the berghainers, over at samurai.fm there are new/recent mixes from the gang: dettmann, fengler, steffi, tama sumo and tobias. need i say more?

there you go: heaps of awesome music you can't put on your ipod/phone/mp3player/etc. can someone please, please get a mp3 version of donnacha? it is soooooooooooooo good.

bits to pieces

ok, back from j-land and currently dealing with a nasty dose of reality... first of all, thanks to everyone who has contributed to pete's last post. i have found the whole discussion very interesting and worthwhile.

who can find me (i can now)

if you have a look to the right, you'll now notice there is a search function for the blog. our dear friend, yuri, who has more net skills than the 3 of us combined, added the function, so much thanks to her. now you can happily search for all the old ssgs you want.

tokyo adventures pt 2

after don williams really dropped the ball, i was relying on soundstream to set things right. an essential part of any visit to tokyo is a good night out at a club and this was my 2nd, and last, chance before departing. the night started off well as we arrived to a local dj, dasha, warming things up very nicely. hadn't heard of him before, and what i saw i liked. he finished with the new tobias. track, 'clapper', which i am a big fan of. sounded fantastic on a big sound system. so we were starting to get pumped up and in the mood. then the next local dj, salmon, came on. that is a picture of him on the left. and yes, he was wearing that mask when dj'ing. not exactly redshape... unsurprisingly, he was a complete vibe killer and managed to not play one decent track during his whole set. not exactly the perfect lead in to soundstream. but once salmon and his stupid ass mask left the stage, the good-ness began flowing again. soundstream knocked out a very nice 90 minute livepa of, as expected, cut up disco treats. the high level of repetition in his sound gets a bit tiring on the ears after a while, but on the whole it was a really enjoyable set. and finishing up with 'for disco play only' made me very happy. to close out the night was gonno, who i was quite interested in seeing (a) because of his name and (b) donnacha costello did a really nice remix of a track of late last year. and as it turned out, he played a great final set. very appropriate to close out things. so all in all, a fun night out. not happy that i am missing fumiya by a couple of days, though...

ssg mxs

for all the tracklist hungry readers, here are the records that XDB played in mnml ssg mx25:

part 1
1. Jitterbug "Raw Winter ep" Uzuri 006
2. MXM "Disloc8ted Science ep" AmpArt 001
3. Kenny Larkin "Keys Strings & Tambourines" Planet E
4. Re-Composed "Movement8 C2 rmx" Deutsche Grammophon
5. Levon Vincent "Invisible Bitchslap" Deconstruct 001
6. I-Robots "Laws ep Part2" Opilec Music 002
7. Risksoundsystem "Tsiy Kerry Chandler Inst." Kerry 001
8. Sasha Dive "Basic Collective pt.2" Deep Vibes 003
9. Wbeeza "New Skank ep" Third Ear 100
10. Chez Damier "Untitled" KMS 49
11. Pullen/Damier "Forever Monna" Balance 06
11. The Answer "John" Rockin House 08
12. Jitterbug "Raw Winter ep" Uzuri 006
13. Arto Mwambe "Mudhutma" Brontosaurus 004

part 2
14. Soul Capsule "Las Ramblas" Trelik 13
15. Unknown Artist "Music Institute 20th Anniversary 1/3" NDATL
16. Aril Brikha "Art Of Vengance ep" Fragile 13
17. Aril Brikha "Art Of Vengeance ep" Fragile 13
18. Jesper Dahlbäck "The Persuader" Svek 11
19. Sons Of The Dragon "SOTD" SOTD 01/02
20. Robert Hood "Omega" Peacefrog 043
21. Johannes Volk "Internal Structure ep" Lifeworld 02
22. Unknown Artist "Primitive Urges 01" Primitive 01
23. Techno Grooves "Mach 4" Stealth 1191
24. R.A.Presents "Entangled" Deviate 007
25. JS 01 "JS 01" JS 01
26. Convextion "Venus In Spurs" Tektite 10
27. Aftrax "Extended Play" Nova Mute 31
28 .Levon Vincent "Six Figures ep" Novel Sound 02
29. DPLAY "Huub Sand" Running Back 018
30. Plein Soleil "Casus Belli" PlayRJC 02

the mixes have been coming pretty fast lately, so now is a good time to go back and enjoy them all again. i've got the natural/electronic.system one on as i write up this post... the next mix in the series will probably be from ancient methods. this is one we are very excited about. if you haven't heard anything from them yet, i strongly suggest checking their myspace and start joining us in a state of excitement. i have a feeling they will come up with something special. all their releases so far are seriously heavy gear... besides that, we've got some other excellent people lined up, so more good sounds on the way.

'cast crazy

i must admit one trend i have been somewhat sceptical of is the explosion of podcasts this year. there seems to be a new 'cast starting every week. i have been hesitant to say anything about it, because it'll seem like i am just being pissy and defensive. but i get the feeling having a podcast is just increasingly something you should do. what is the point, though, of having a dedicated podcast if what are being contributed are just standard mixes? there are, however, some really good 'casts out there with a specific theme/purpose. i think LWE's talking shopcast is an excellent example in this regard. anyway, this is all a very long way of highlighting 2 new podcast series which have impressed me. first up is the new timecast series from peter van hoesen's time to express. the opening mix is from eavesdropper and it really is a beauty. a very carefully composed hour of quality electronic music. definitely get on it. the other new podcast is care of mutek, and is just ridiculously strong. digging into their archive of live recordings, they've already posted 14 episodes from people like vladislav delay, closer musik and lawrence. while the write-ups are somewhat over the top (the one for lawrence is pretty ridiculous), there is no doubting the quality of the music. i think we are all very lucky the mutek crew are kind enough to share these treats with us.

ok, that's all for now. now that life will be a touch more normal, hoping to be posting more regularly. will make sure to post some new sets sometime soon too...

GFC A-Ok? We need a new house notion...? [Unplugging 'dance music' with a big douche called Bankrupt]

You might have noticed that SSGs has changed in the past few months, with a heavier emphasis on live sets and less editorializing, ranting and wanking on about various micro obsessions. ‘Good!’ I hear you say. Ahem… well, we’ve all been ridiculously busy, it’s true, but for me personally, another key factor has been my own disengagement from that understanding of electronic music known as ‘dance music’. I’ll explain.

My initial transition into electronic music came by way of electronica, especially Sonig, Warp and Sub Rosa. But by 1999 or so, when I was a first year undergraduate, it was all about the parties and the drugs: I had discovered drum’n’bass, acid techno and minimal techno, and I would head out into the night with a head full of kick drums at least once a week. It was a fix, one I enjoyed, one that connected me to the music in a viscerally embodied way. In those days, I didn’t trainspot, I just danced my anonymous dance to the anonymous beat, often being laid down by an anonymous DJ (I really mean it. I’m not sure even she knew who she was at times). Coming out of rock (noise/indie/post) it was the largest of liberations finally I was freed from the musically masturbatory cult of personality that I saw on stage accompanying almost every singer/songwriter/guitar-based musical group. A side-effect of rave culture had been the invention of a completely new and different way of relating to music, and I was young, full of the devil, and loved it.

Five years on and not only going out to listen to music, but also studying and choosing the event with the utmost care (the lineup, the venues, the soundsystem) had become integral: provoked by Tokyo, my standards had gone through the roof, and I came to demand and expect what the Eastern Capital could provide – world-class talent playing to dedicated crowds in great clubs with outstanding sound systems. I got spoilt.

Europe was a partial disappointment: Fabric was (is) an overcrowded shithole full of coked up muthafuckers; Rex is a sleazy hangover from the seventies where talent and a great system are wasted on a daggy dancefloor full of out-of-towners and Erasmus students on the pull; Berghain was fine, but everything in Berlin seemed intimately tied to getting very, very, very, very wasted for a long time…. even though it was often almost impossible to score pills. Very frustrating.

In all these places, something was ‘missing’. Or, to put it another way, the precise problem was that ‘the proper way of listening to dance music’ in the Euro understanding was intimately tied to binge culture, to hedonism, to getting wasted. Escape was inescapable, even (especially) in Berlin, where I thought a significant minority would be there for the music. And sure, a minority were… but they were wasted too. But the majority? They were only there for the drugs. Hell, I was there for the drugs too, and I still enjoyed the ‘party’ aspect of it… but the music bit had seemed to fade into the background, replaced by a scene that was driven by visual/fashion cultures – haircut techno. Was it me? Was I just getting old and crotchety? Was I sentimentally romanticizing the past, or just painfully shedding it, only to discover that the present was too cool to touch without shivering. Whatever the reasons, it was impossible for me to capture either the dance connoisseur/auteur/otaku culture I’d enjoyed in Tokyo, or the anonymous rave oblivion of the 90s. I could try if I wanted to, but once the drugs wore off, I’d remember where I was, and it wasn’t ‘then’ anymore. Worse, it was like the ‘Eels’ song from the third season of the Mighty Boosh:

‘Elements of the past, and elements of the future, combining to make something – not quite as good as either.’

Returning to Melbourne accelerated the Eels experience by a factor of five… I could certainly enjoy going out to get wasted (which I still did, but not as much, and not as often), but it was getting nigh on impossible to get back… and slowly (with the preternatural onset of middle age) my urge to go out was beginning to be met with an urge not to go out. That my Melbourne friends were overwhelmingly uninterested in staying out past three and doing drugs with a bunch of mostly cliquey, dull, unfriendly clubbers in second rate clubs might have had something to do with it… I found the whole malarkey actively alienating, and I’m convinced that ‘it’s not just me’. Even factoring in the fact that I’m spoilt, picky, snobby and over-the-hill, something has changed, and not for the better. ‘Electronic dance music’ (that particular way of relating to and understanding electronic music) had dug itself with a groove into a rut of no return. It was stuck on loop in the late 90s, with the same signifiers, the same venues, the same stale ideas about ‘the proper way of listening to dance music’: added to that was all the ‘neo’ stuff, a horrible hodge-podge of new rave and surf wear, the perfect outfit for another weekend’s worth of corporate raving and outer suburban glowstick waving, jagerbombs, methed-up bouncers, and Trentemoller. It's true there are still some good parties, some good DJs, some good events... but fewer and farther between, and overwhelmed by what has become a particularly nasty culture of hedonistic consumerism based on being glossy and getting fucked and bombed on drugs designed to reinforce ego.

And now there's just such a massive disjuncture, because production community has moved on: these days Martyn and Flying Lotus have no problem meeting and collaborating; Seth Troxler begins to snap at the heels of Ricardo Villalobos… and listeners are listening, too: even died-in-the-wool Pitchfork listeners at least try to ‘get’ Skull Disco; Mount Kimbie listens to DJ Koze, Koze plays Mount Kimbie and Animal Collective… but where the fuck is your local clubland? At 10:15 on a Saturday night, it’s waiting for its baggy to arrive is what (purchased on cash advance). And you have to have pretty strong powers of repression and denial not to see the chains of equivalence between this moribund and morbid culture of sniffing, snorting, and strutting about and its enormous toll on the earth itself, whether it’s the ridiculous number of air miles the DJ jetset culture uselessly ‘racks up’, or the current drug wars (and associated instabilities) taking place in Colombia, Mexico, in Jamaica, in West Africa. Meanwhile, back here in la la land, behind the walls, the sad old beast still has a few sniffs left in her.

To wit: 'dance music' always involved drugs, and fashion and fuckwits, no question. But at some point, a music culture that took a lot of interest in drugs became a corporatised drug-taking culture that took some interest in the brands of certain 'names' in 'dance music'. In retrospect, I think it will be associated with the worst excesses of the pre-bust era. With this in mind, I suggest keeping some happy snaps lying around to show to your grandchildren. You can say, 'beware children, for it can all go so terribly, horribly wrong.' Or, more directly: 'the planet was destroyed for this.' We can leave it up to them to decide whether it was worth it.


I have a very strong (and slightly tingling) feeling that the current economic contractions will squeeze a lot of this tired old detritus out, and as far as 90% of them is concerned, this is something I heartily welcome. Hopefully a whole parochial industry lousy with VIP laminates, redundant ideas and third-rate cocaine will get washed out into the Bay… but what’s gonna take its place? Who gives a fuck, actually. But no, as a matter of fact, I have a feeling that something good, something young, something rooted in its locality but with an ear to the world of now will grow up in its place. No doubt it will be quickly modulated, managed, and subordinated to a profitable and marketable imitation of former/same, but in the meantime, something good might happen. Something interested in what, I trust and know, all you ssgs are interested in: music.

...or please tell me that 'business as usual' is okay, and I'm just a jaded wanker... what say you?

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mnml ssgs mx25: XDB

it is just under a year since we started off this series with bvdub, and now we've just cracked 25. crazy. and what better way to hit the quarter of a century mark than with XDB. 

XDB has quietly been making a name from himself with a string of impressive releases, primarily on his own label, metrolux music. along with producers like patrice scott and arne weinberg, he is pushing a sound that is clearly influenced by detroit but not trapped by that legacy. with eps scheduled on his own label and wavetec (run by francois k), remixes of aaron carl's 'crucified' on millions of moments, as well as tracks on forthcoming sistrum and workshop releases, XDB is definitely someone to be keeping an eye on over the next year. 

cam and i connected up with XDB at the labyrinth festival last year in japan. it was the opening night that he played (from memory), and he put together a deep set that really impressed us. over the weekend we had a chance to chat quite a bit and what i really noticed - beyond him being a nice guy - is his musical knowledge. i like to think that i know a fair bit when it comes to techno and house, but i felt like i complete amateur next to kosta (XDB). this guy really knows his shit. which definitely bodes well when it comes to DJ'ing...

by the time labyrinth had finished i knew he'd be perfect for the ssg series and i'm really glad he has been able to contribute. it is a live recording from a set he played recently and i think it is a good representation of his sound - a carefully blended mix of the old and the new, detroit and beyond. 

mnml ssgs mx25: XDB @ fundbureau, hamburg 13.3.09

part 1 (direct dl)

part 2 (direct dl)

big thanks to XDB for this. you can find more info at his myspace. and if you happen to be in or near manchester on 25 april, there is a metrolux music label night with XDB and arne weinberg that'd definitely be worth checking. it is put on by erosion, who look like one of the crews in manchester that are putting on some seriously quality parties.

ok, not sure when the next ssg mix is, so enjoy this one for now...

back in the J

sorry for the radio silence. been a ridiculous week or so. finished my phd thesis which i've spent the last 4 years of my life on, so this means a bit more time for other things, including the ssgs, so expect some more posts from me soon. this blog has been a really good outlet for stress and support a lot of the time, so thanks to everyone that has contributed along the way.

anyway, ssg headquarters is now firmly in tokyo. here on a short holiday to see my fellow ssg cam and the other delights of j-land. unfortunately, though, i managed to pick the 2 weekends when there arent many good parties on. last friday we went to catch don williams at module. after his recent roof.fm set, which was excellent, i had high hopes, but in the end, we were all pretty disappointed. he started off really strong, but after about 30 minutes of cool jacking house, he got formulaic and lost us. i felt like part of it was the fact he was laptop DJ'ing. all the mixes were just a bit too nicely beatmatched. i am not sure exactly what it was, but i had a very similar reaction when i saw konrad black play a while back too. anyway, the don started with 'rise' by phuture, which i dont think i'd ever heard about before, so i'll cut him some slack. this friday will give soundstream a go, so fingers crossed he is a bit better...

in other news, glad everyone has been digging the kevin gorman mix. i've had it on repeat since first getting it. seriously special stuff. i'll be posting the next mix, which is from XDB, later day when i work out how to tag files on macs. hmm. as you may have noticed, we know much more about techno than we do about computers...

mnml ssgs mx24: kevin gorman - elements

it is days like today that i feel very fortunate and happy with how mnml ssgs has developed. after a string of killer contributions to the series, kevin gorman then drops this bomb in my inbox. kevin is someone that has been on the ssg radar for a while, both because of his productions and DJ'ing. after listening to this mix, though, i am not sure if there is much point separating the two, as what kevin is effectively doing is disolving the border between producer and DJ. what he has provided is a stunning showcase of his new 'elements' project. 'elements' consists of 4 monthly releases on his mikrowave label - part 1 is out, part 2 hits beatport on 9 april - where all the parts of the music are released alongside the original tracks, along with bonus beats and tools. as kevin explains, 'it is music released as i would want to buy it, loads of things to tweak and layer in ableton live.'

as we all know, there has been an ongoing and rather tiresome debate about vinyl vs digitial DJ'ing. what kevin demonstrates here is a point that pete continually emphasises - it is not software or hardware that really matters, but how it is used. before the advent of ableton we had more than our fair share of shitty vinyl DJs. we still do, only now they are joined by shitty laptop DJs too. but if used carefully, and one does not get seduced by technological fetischism, DJ'ing digitally opens up great space for tremendous creativity and innovation. i think this is what kevin demonstrates with great clarity and virtuosity here.

as for the mix itself: what has attracted me to kevin's DJ'ing is it always has a really sense of dynanism and power. his sounds always have real life, energy and vigor. in the mix kevin has put together for the ssgs you can find these same feelings, but in a very restrained, precise manner. i think the best words i can use to describe this mix come from surgeon's label: dynamic tension. it reminds me a bit of marcel fengler's contribution in the way he expertly keeps control over the tempo and structure: continually building and releasing pressure (the last 10 minutes is particularly mindbending - i can imagine a lot of people suffering from meltdowns hearing this).

the mix is composed almost exclusively of tracks from kevin gorman's 'elements' series, so not too much point hiding the tracklist for this one (if you can't see the picture clearly enough, click here)


mnml ssgs mx24: kevin gorman - elements mix (direct dl)

respect to kevin both for this mix and for seeking to push techno's boundaries. if you want to find out more about the 'elements' project, check his myspace and the site for his label, mikrowave. also, at beatportal there is an interesting writeup about 'elements', and it is also considered here at a cool new blog, 'the oblique angle'.

ok. enjoy. next week is a special live DJ set from XDB (metrolux music).

Dysconnect, March 2009: Decoding Recoding [reviewing reviewing]

A couple of months ago, music reviewing reached crisis point. I wouldn’t blame you for having missed it – it barely made a sound. Or nobody was listening. Or everyone had their headphones on. And there was so much background noise.

What happened? While the desks of music editors the world over were (are!) overflowing with promo CDs nobody can be bothered listening to, people at home are deleting music… only slightly slower than they’re downloading it. Meanwhile, online websites continue to publish so-called reviews: sometimes carefully written, mostly barely skimmed, and, almost invariably now, with only the most tenuous relation between the rating and the reality.

A now infamous example of this is the 9.6 that Pitchfork doled out for Animal Collective’s new album. During a backyard ping-pong match the other week, I asked members of three of Melbourne’s indie bands – the kind of bands who, shall we say, might feasibly get an eight-point-something-or-other on said site – what they thought about the rating. Standing incredulous atop a damp underpile of envy was Mr Disbelief: how, indeed, is it possible for anyone to get a 9.6? Somehow, they agreed, 9.6 was much more than even the ‘five stars’ a top-rated film might receive. The new AC album was good, but… 9.6 had something impossible about it, something parodic. ‘Cept no-one was taking the piss. Pitchfork really meant it… they even thought it was defensible. No, more than that: they thought it was a 9.6.

The reasons for the seemingly inexorable climb toward the banality of near-perfect scores is doubtless more complex than the following, which nonetheless needs re-stating: a) music writers glamouring/clamouring to be the first to call ‘Album of the Year’ (by mid-February, if possible); b) music writers attempting to accumulate social capital by upping the impact factor/hit count for themselves and the site/blog they’re writing for by churning out an attention-grabbing review; c) the kind of aesthetic circle-jerking that transpires when the music in question is only reviewed by people whose cool is intimately bound to loving or hating the recording under review; d) the fact that reviewing is usually the ‘job’ (if, indeed, anyone is getting paid to do it) given to entry-level wannabes who, after struggling and failing to write a measured review that retains some nuance and ambivalence, opt for odes and boost the fuck out of whatever it is; e) the fact that writing a compelling review that nails the recording is actually really, really, really difficult. Especially if the conclusions reached in the course of writing mean that the rating ends up having to be three stars.

Accelerating, undermining or otherwise affecting all the above factors is the datasea: reviewers, drowning in mostly worthless promos, are expected to make watertight judgement calls about recordings they’ve only had time to listen to a few times (because Tuesday is already a week ago, and now there are already nine other new albums vying for your attention). The effect on the receiving end of the datasea (with its daily tsunamis microwaving their way toward a desktop near you) is that most people don’t take the time to read reviews carefully, negating the rewards of investing careful consideration into nuance. So what’s a reviewer to do? Tip, boost, high-five, move on, repeat.

I’m one of those old-fashioned people who believe that a culture of carefully considered, trustworthy reviews is something worth retaining, and I don’t think this has anything to do with the kind of vulgar ‘gatekeepers of high culture’ arguments I’ve heard advanced against the current situation. This is not least of all because there is no High Culture anymore: tastes and audiences have fragmented and multiplied to the nth degree, while there is less than ever before (in terms of cost and distribution) keeping you from accessing and enjoying your preferred peculiarity.

What to do then? If you accept that there is something desperately wrong with the state of music reviews, and you believe that there is a place for key sites and writers to filter and evaluate new releases, then consider the following…

1) Descriptive Previews: these short pieces work on the basis of impression, are primarily illustrative, and presume that the audience hasn’t heard the recording. They are only intended to provide a clear idea about what the recording actually sounds like (and not just to a first-year lit. major), and make no attempt to rate or otherwise evaluate the music in question. Descriptive previewing is a matter of decoding the recording.

2) Critical Reviews: these longer pieces make evaluative judgments about subjective importance or merit. They should place the recording in the broader context in which it was released, and address the general critical reception of the recording by its audience. One of the key functions of the critical review would be corrective, by up- or downgrading the impressions made in earlier previews, correcting ambient hype levels (now that the tipster apparatus has peddled its fixed-gear bicycle to the next cool thing) and rescuing poorly received, unheard or generally ignored releases from obscurity. Critical reviewing is a matter of recoding the recording.

In a way, the above suggestion has got the same whiff of futility as the ‘legislating against capitalism’ rhetoric you see Western politicians engaging in at the moment in order to appear clear, strong, and decisive in the midst of successive spasms of economic crisis that no-one has control over… but like politicians, we tend to stridently overestimate our ability to control things while timidly underestimating our ability to influence things. Being grand, saying a sovereign no, making definitive statements and issuing ultimatums… all completely useless. But they’re all actually much easier than slowing down, tuning in, and trying to give a fuck about what is being said about what has been heard. If only we took the time to write carefully, to read carefully and to foster this culture of warm engagement (as opposed to the dominant culture of cool disengagement), we’d all be making an infinitesimal difference, and that adds up. But not to a 9.6. Maybe a 4? Or a B-? Let me spend some time with it, and I’ll get back to you with something more precise.


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bits to pieces

ok, a brief post but some sets that need sharing. thanks to all the great response from the natural/electronic.system. mix. just a warning - at this stage there is no tracklist from them so don't get your hopes up. and better late than never, but here are the ones for the previous two mixes:

mnml ssgs mx22: eric cloutier

00. potuznik - the traveler turned around [cheap records]
01. audion - i am the car [unknown]
02. dub taylor - human shades #18 [opossum recordings]
03. gonno - i don't need competition [beyond]
04. pepe bradock - deep burnt [kif recordings]
05. seth troxler - aphrika [wolf+lamb records]
06. derek marin - bright lights, dark room (osborn remix) [subtrak]
07. omar-s - psychotic photosynthesis [fxhe records]
08. pied plat - double trouble [rush hour]
09. mathias mayer + patlac - skipper [liebe*detail]
10. pan-pot - ape shall never kill ape (cassy remix) [mobilee]
11. steve bug + richie hawtin - low blow [m_nus]
12. the vision - detroit: one circle [metroplex]
13. scott grooves - atmospheric emotions [natural midi]
14. levon vincent - these games [novel sounds]
15. jeremy - #10 b1 [driftwood]

mnml ssgs mx21: cio d'or

Unknown - ? [ ??? ]
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland [Polydor]
Alka Rex - Shapes to Phases [Supralinear]
Plastikman - Contain (Original Mix) [M_nus]
Donato Dozzy & Cio D´Or - Menta (Nuel Remix) [ ??? ] (Unreleased)
Cio D´Or - Pailletten [Unreleased]
Fernandez Manetta - Ape EP [Ape 001] (Promo)
Giorgio Gigli - Magnetic Field EP [Prologue]
Donato Dozzy & Cio D´Or - Limone [Time To Express] (Release date: 2009-05-25)
Function - Anticipation [Sandwell District]
Sleeparchive - Hospital Tracks [ZZZ]
Damon Wild - Colortheory [MMLP017]
Sleeparchive - Recycle [ZZZ]
Soulrack - Modul Age (Sleeparchive Rmx) [Lab Works Records]
Decimal - Small Moving Pieces - [Enemy LTD]
Claudio PRC - Chiaro Scuro [TQ 3]
Plastikman - Consumed (Original Mix) [M_nus]
Plastikman - Psyk (Original Mix) [M_nus]
Scuba - From Within (Marcel Dettmann Rmx) [A Mutual Antipathy]
Paul Brtschitsch & Cio D´Or - Aroma [Broque]
Ben Klock - Pulse [Klockworks]
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland [Polydor]

also for people who enjoyed cio's mix, make sure to check her new website. as well as looking pretty fancy, she has also kindly uploaded a collection of old sets. some beauties worth checking. speaking of which, here is some of what i've been enjoying lately:

sandwell district @ planet rose 14.2.09 pt 1 / pt 2 : 4 hours of regis and function doing their thing. how's that for you? yep. i was very excited when this arrived in the inbox. i think this is the first live recording i've heard of these guys playing together, and it's just as good as you'd hope/expect. function and regis work really well together and it is interesting in hearing how different this sounds compared to stuff where regis is playing by himself or was with BMB. this is definitely a bit more restrained, and the better for it i think. that coat of arms pictured above is supposedly sandwell's. there you go... big thanks to louw for sending this through.

hubble @ beat boutique 5.3.09 and hubble @ forget me not 8.1.09: hubble is a new name to me. after cio mentioned him in a conversation i thought i should check him and yep, he's good. don't know too much, but i'm impressed but both of these sets. keen to hear more.

jacek sienkiewicz livepa @ shanti 12.3.09: jacek is a longtime favourite of the ssgs and sets from him a very rare, so enjoy this treat. haven't heard his new CD on cocoon, but very keen to.

samuli kemppi @ texno pistoleros 7.3.09: sorry, i know i post a lot of sets from samuli, but well, that is his fault... this is a collection of his own material. obviously he has been going strong for a while but after listening to this my feeling is that he is really taking his production up a notch. keep it coming.

andrew weatherall - bloodsugar mixes: sound+ come up with the goods again. seriously, the site is just one big treasure chest of amazing music. i have so much respect for what they're doing. this is a collection of mixes from weatherall from 1998-2000 and really gives an excellent representation of that moment in time. if anyone remembers the old force tracks mix weatherall did, some parts of these mixes are reminscent of that, but go far beyond. definitely worth checking.

scorn livepa @ bleep43 12.08: another great edition from the very excellent bleep43 'cast. i'm not quite sure how to describe this. scorn sounds like scorn. definitely one that warps you brain. looking forward to checking out the next bleep party in london on 12 june with omar s and ssg favourite donato dozzy.

ok, that's it. enjoy.

mnml ssgs mx23: natural/electronic.system.

ok, for those expecting kevin gorman, he should be next week. nevermind, kevin is going to have a very hard time matching what these boys came up with...

natural/electronic.system. are an italian duo i came across some time last year. it was a mix they did a few months ago (which i posted here) that really grabbed my attention. it had all the features that tend to appeal to me: careful track selection and a strong emphasis on flow, combined with the right BPMs. as soon as i contacted them asking to contribute, i knew i'd made the right call. still, when this mix arrived the other day i was completely blown away. this is on a completely different level to anything i've heard from them previously. what has particularly impressed me is the maturing over their sound. you can notice influences here (e.g. dozzy), but they are developing a very unique voice of their own.

combined with eric's contribution last week, this mix marks for us an important development in the series. a long standing aim of ours has not been necessarily to get the biggest names, but the right ones. as part of that, a specific goal we've had is building up the series so that we can use it as a forum for promoting up and coming artists who we believe are doing something special and have bright futures ahead. thanks to eric and natural/electronic.system. for delivering the goods and to our readers for trusting our judgement. anyway, enough from me, i'll let the boys introduce their mix:

natural/electronic.system. are antonio giova and valerio gomez de ayala, a dj/producers duo from a city that lies at the foot of the volcano vesuvius on the bay of napoli, italy.

the most important thing for us is not to be put in a category. we don't like to be labeled with a mark that describes our style. we're not just techno djs, or deep, or minimal house djs and so on.

the thing we like most is expressing our deeper feelings through the electronic music that influenced us in years and years of listening and research. it could sound like a commonplace, but it's just like this. nothing more.

our musical background was influenced at the beggining from the "old neapolitan school techno" and from a lot of different generes of techno, IDM, experimental, and electronic music from all the world. but over the years our attention was suddenly caught by the old and the modern sound coming from another italian city: rome. here we found special music and really special people. we want to just say "thank you" to them all. maybe we never do it before. :)

a big thanks also to all the mnml ssgs crew who have flattered us with some great feedback.

the mix "from napoli to rotterdam" is the reflection of our life situation right now. it's divided in two parts and is the result of our deeper and intimate feelings. a journey lasting over two hours of pure passion for electronic music.

mnml ssgs mx23: natural/electronic.system. present 'from napoli to rotterdam'
part one
part two

much respect to antonio and valerio for digging deep and producing this for us. we really are very proud to be hosting this mix. you can find more info about natural/electronic.system. at their myspace. enjoy...

Why I Can Never Return to (the) Womb

Last weekend we had a veritable slice of Berghain here in Tokyo. On Thursday night (Friday was a public holiday) Marcel Dettmann played at Module, an intimate club with an almost pitch-black dancefloor that was the perfect setting for the three-hour set of steel-edged uncompromising techno the Berghain resident served up. I’ve heard quite a few of the Dettmann sets that are floating around online and I’ve enjoyed them all immensely – but being able to totally lose myself in the darkness as the sounds carried me along at a breakneck pace turned the experience into something special. It reminded me of how utterly crucial context is.

The following night featured the killer double-bill of Ben Klock (DJ set) and Shed (live set) a mere 300 meters away at Womb, a club that is often touted as being one of the best in the world.

And I didn’t go.

I know. Klock. Shed. Part of me is still thinking, “Why the hell didn’t you go?” But then I remember why - Womb. I just can’t bring myself to go back to Womb.

Opening its doors in 2000, the four-floor superclub regularly presents many of the biggest names in house and techno. Extreme care is taken on visual presentation, with the club apparently employing its own art director, as well as boasting one of the biggest mirrorballs in the country and as many lasers as the Death Star. It came in ninth place for “Atmosphere/Vibe” in RA’s 2008 Club Awards, fifth place in DJmag’s 2008 Top 100 Club Poll, and usually receives rave reviews from first-time visitors. In other words, it seems everyone loves Womb. Except for me, that is. So why do I have such a problem with the place?

Womb has very carefully styled itself as a paragon of “cool” in Tokyo’s clubbing scene. From its visual aesthetic to its DJs (a selection of both big names and cutting-edge up and comers), everything is meticulously arranged to ensure a night out at Womb is a uniquely “cool” experience. In other words, Womb has branded itself – it is a “total club concept” that club-goers buy into. And not just club-goers – the club offers itself as a conduit that can put corporate sponsors in direct contact with the fickle and fashion-conscious urban youth demographic. (Although some elements are dated, such as the growth in Tokyo’s club scene, this article provides a fascinating glimpse into the mindset behind Womb.)

The staff, as is natural anywhere “cool”, are generally rude and stuck-up. The bouncers are arseholes who enjoy throwing their weight around. (I should stress that this is extremely unusual in Japan.) And the crowd largely consists of cool kids and scene queens who have come to the club in sunglasses and casual-yet-expensive urban wear because they’re guaranteed a cool night out. They certainly haven’t come for the music – the music is merely the soundtrack for your evening of cool, pre-packaged hedonism. (One time in line outside Womb somebody behind me asked his friend, “So, who’s playing tonight?” His friend replied, “I dunno, but with such a big line he must be good!”)

That said, don’t imagine everyone coolly standing by the bar – the dancefloor most definitely fills up. Then again, it has to – Womb has a habit of being dangerously overcrowded. The dancefloor is murderous, a churning sea of bodies, elbows constantly in ribs, as the crowd whoops excitedly at every build, peak, and kick. This may seem exciting, and at first it is, until you realize that the crowd doesn’t really care who is playing, or what they’re playing, just as long as it’s loud and it thumps like a motherfucker. Usually this leads to DJs who would normally play more nuanced or subtle sets just “banging it out”. I’ve seen far too many great DJs at Womb reduced to “banging it out” because that was what the crowd responded to.



I know. I’m starting to sound pretty elitist here. I mean, hey, what’s wrong with just going out to a club because you know you’re gonna have a good time there, regardless of who’s playing? Well, nothing I suppose. But in the end clubs get the audience they deserve. Compare the audience at Womb to the audiences at such great Tokyo clubs as Yellow (sadly defunct), the Liquid Room in Shinjuku (sadly defunct), and Unit (sadly de – oh, wait, it’s still there). Certainly there were exceptions, but most of the people at those clubs were there for the music – not because it was cool. They were clubs that (in my personal experience) honestly were “all about the music”. The atmosphere was exciting and vibrant … and honest. It certainly didn’t feel manufactured or “cool”.

I know that Womb has plenty of defenders out there. And that’s okay. I’m not saying you’re a bad person if you like going to Womb. I’m not trying to change your mind – really, I’m just trying to explain mine. But, speaking for myself, I find that there’s something very calculated about Womb. I would usually leave in the early light of dawn feeling that I’d somehow been used. In the end, I just couldn’t take the dangerously crowded dancefloor, the cool kids, the scene queens, the rude staff, the aggressive bouncers, the shitty soundsystem (even though everybody tells me it’s great – this one really mystifies me), the music-as-fashion, the corporate sponsorship, and the DJs reduced to just “banging it out” anymore. Womb’s not “cool” – it’s just cold.

mnml ssgs mx21: cio d'or

as many readers know, cio 'dor is a big favourite with the ssgs. her carefully crafted mixes have been on constant repeat, and the 'aroma' ep she released with paul brtschitsch was one of the best records of 2008. we are very happy she has been able to contribute a mix, as her approach to DJ'ing reflects exactly what we are trying to do with this mix series: unique, special artists digging deep and producing mixes that strongly reflect their sound and their personalities. the aim is not simply another mp3 to be deleted next week, but something that will last. and this is what cio has done: a distinctive and powerful mix of deep techno sounds. as per the standard format, we'll post the tracklisting along with an interview next week. just to give you a taste, though, the mix does have some unreleased cuts, including from a new ep by cio and donato dozzy. it is coming out in may on time to express, peter van hoesen's label which is going from strength to strength.

enough talking, on to the mix. the sound cio is playing - what we call headfuck/mindfuck techno - is what really excites me these days. stripped back, elemental techno at its very best...

mnml ssgs mx21: cio d'or presents planetary nebular 22 (fairtilizer direct dl)
rapidshare mirror

big thanks to cio for taking time out of producing (she's been putting together an album) to make this mix. you can find info at her homepage or myspace. interview + tracklisting to follow. and next week mx22 will be from eric cloutier. enjoy.

Rob Acid Flashback: An interview with Mr Robert Babicz

In December 2008 I (PC) had the opportunity to interview Robert Babicz for Inpress on the eve of his tour of Australia. Parts of this interview have also appeared separately over at RA for the feature on mastering I did, but here for the first time is a re-print of the interview in full. Babicz... he's really on his own trip, what can you say? Here's looking forward to the new ambient album....

Permit me, if you will, a Rob Acid flashback. It as ’98, and I was sitting in a friend’s skanky sharehouse living room, listening while a friend of a friend gave me a lesson in acid techno. First of all, he played me some tracks from the Shizuo vs. Shizor album on Digital Hardcore Records, which was variously acid, breakcore, jungle, and commonly as hard as fuck. I wasn’t bowled over. Then, he played me a Rob Acid record, and I felt a subtle but certain ‘click’ inside me. I didn’t know what a 303 was, I’d never heard of DJ Pierre, but what I was hearing knocked my block off. I would have screamed but (being headless) I couldn’t, so I gave chase, pursuing acid techno into the night, frantically dancing my way through anywhere I thought my lost noggin might be hiding. Hint: it’s not inside the bassbin.

Flash forward to 2005. I was previewing some tracks online, and, because Kompakt was still in my ‘listen on sight’ category, I was cuing up a track called ‘Mister Head’ by one Robert Babicz. It sounded vaguely familiar, so I did a quick check on discogs, and sure enough – Robert Babicz was Rob Acid, the dude who stole my head, doing funny things to it all over again with a track that, this time at least, clearly warned me what I was in for. But this was a far cry from the music that had filled my Rob Acid flashback loungeroom. ‘Mr Head’ was different, a definite new style. The kick drum (all the percussion, in fact) was really amazingly precisely tuned. Each sound had a presence that announced itself with undeniable immediacy and personal colour. Precise, rich, and also very emotive, it managed the emotional build of a trance record without recourse to the kind of rhythmic clichés, melodic sentimentality and vocal puke-worthiness that blight that genre’s stereotypes.

‘Mr Head’ was so good I ordered it and three other Babicz EPs on the spot, without even a second thought. When I received them a few days later, again, the thing I noticed straight away was that they all had this same ‘sound’: they managed to be entertaining and ‘upfront’, but listen to them intently on a pair of headphones and it was also clear that you were hearing the works of a person with highly developed and particular ideas about sound, creating an approach to production that was as personal as it was effective. It’s no accident, it turns out. “I have very strong and personal ideas about how gear should sound, how it should react,” Babicz explains. “I’ve been searching and doing research all through the history of recorded music, looking for techniques, processes and equipment. It’s reached the point where I don’t know if I’m more like a collector, a scientist, a producer or an artist.”

If you’ve got a connected device by you, stop reading now, google ‘Robert Babicz interview’, and click on the top link, which should take you to a video on Vimeo where Robert talks in detail about his studio, equipment and mastering work. This isn’t just one for the geeks: in order to understand Babicz’ music, you have to understand the extent to which the man is the studio and the studio is the instrument. This is not just some guy dropping loops and tweaking plugin presets on Ableton: Babicz carefully shepherds his signal through an intricate process that he’s been developing and refining since the early 90s. “It’s always developing. I never stop buying and searching out stuff.”

Almost nothing in Babicz’ studio is standard fare; almost every box has been opened up and tweaked, soldered and replugged to within an inch of its chip and transistor life. Clearly, the guy loves his gear, but it’s not as if Babicz is just another gear freak, because he doesn’t do it for the equipment – he does it for sounds themselves. “I really love sounds. And, more than anything, how sound conducts your emotions,” he emphasises. “I really like the details of sounds, how they live in the track… For me, every track is like a story, every sound is a character in it with their role. So every moment in the track for me is like a ‘scene’ with a particular kind of drama involving certain sound-characters, their life, decay, and dying away.”

In some sense, this is a passion that Babicz shares with a lot of studio heads (and indeed anyone who’s involved with caring for your signal), but nonetheless, he has his own way of creating his very own ‘secret life of sounds’, and a lot of it is through his totally unique approach compression. “Compression is a way of painting on the sound. You have the sound you choose when you’re composing, but compression lets you add and develop some really detailed colours.”

In 2008, compression is a political issue for people involved in any stage of the signal chain: just ask anyone who had to bin their new Metallica record, as Babicz did. “I threw the CD out after five minutes, it was just unlistenable.” Why did Metallica’s newie sound so unbearable? Because it was being strangled to death. If you want an appropriate image, imagine the classic scene from the early Simpsons seasons, where Homer growls ‘Why you little…’ and begins to wring Bart’s neck. Bart’s neck? That’s your Metallica record. Overcompression like this (called brickwalling) is so nasty it makes you want to say ‘no’ to all compression, but Babicz contends that an compressing in a way that’s intuitive and hands-on can really enhance a record. The key is to be firm, but gentle. Or, as my teenage friend once advised me (in a very different context): don’t choke it, stroke it. That’s just what Babicz does, using an array of compressors together, caressing each part of a composition element by element and tuning it by ear.

Babicz’s signature approach has become so successful that he’s now spending about a third of his time as a mastering engineer. One of the things he’s noticed about the recordings he gets sent is that, (similar to Metallica’s producers), people are really convinced that loud = good. “I get sent some really, really, really loud stuff on file, with the request: can you make it shiny and loud? They think that loud is good, and they often still think so, even after I’ve tried to convince them otherwise. I sometimes think it’s a confidence issue: maybe they’re a little unsure about their musical ideas, so they think that, if I make it loud, then the people will ‘hear me’ and like me.”

For those of you working on developing your own production skills, Babicz has this to offer by way of advice: “less is more. I think it took me ten or more years to really, really understand this. And this rule, it’s not something you can understand with your head, you know? You have to really feel it. But it’s true: if you do less, or your expression is more concentrated, you have more artwork.” As for listeners who suspect that something is wrong with what’s coming out of their earbuds, Babicz is adamant. “At the very least, get some better headphones for your iPod. And more than that, so much of the music being produced today, it has no dynamics. So seek out good music, music that has some nuance, music that isn’t just 0 and 100.”

Live, the impact of Babicz’ approach speaks itself (as anyone who witnessed his last Melbourne set will testify). Rob’s sets are always evolving, and contain new tracks, hits, as well as some untried experiments. “And in the last few months,” he adds, with some mischief, “I can feel acid creeping back in to my sets.” I sense Mr Head is in danger once again.

NB Robert has just informed me that he has a number of his works in progress available for listening online, here:

www.soundcloud.com/robbabicz


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127.2

my turn. you can find my contribution to the modyfier series, entitled 'time is luck', here.

keeping things ticking

sorry guys, it has been a busy week or two for the ssgs. more soon. but just to keep everyone happy, a few sets i've been listening to:

STL promomix 2007: dug this up today for the first time in a while. given all the love for STL of late, i thought people might be keen for this as it flew under the radar a bit. great mix. get on it.

marcel fengler @ planet rose 31.1.09: it's fengler, enough said. i know i don't like doing IDs, but if anyone can tell me what the record is that comes in around the 17 minute mark, i'd be a happy ssg.

ben klock FACT mix: guessing most of you all have this by now, but just in case...

john osborn 'ceylon royale' mix: i'm really lacking the brain power to say anything of use right now, but if i am posting it, it means i like it. that should be sufficient.

silent servant @ re_invent: oursoundtracks is a nice little site that just got brought to my attention. got a good collection of mixes, many of which i havent seen elsewhere, such as this beauty from our man silent servant.

to finish off, there was a really fantastic response to the jost & lawrence set i posted last week, so i'll try to make a habit of posting classic sets. these are two sets from around the same time as the jost & lawrence one. the early '00s were a really special time music-wise, well for me at least... it was also when kompakt were really coming into their own (from memory), led by michael mayer, the man with the midas touch. well that really should be in past tense... one of the great disappointments of recent years is mayer's fall for grace. he still has moments, but he certainly isn't the dj he once was. there was a time when every record he dropped was pure gold - so much inspiration, feeling, beauty. i just don't feel it from him anymore. the difference is seen with particular clarity between the two immer cds, with the 2nd being a horrible parody of the first. anyway, here are two mixes from mayer that i'd put on equal footing with the first immer mix. again, these are mixes i go back to very regularly. mayer at his very best...

michael mayer @ hamburg city sessions, betalounge 23-03-2002

michael mayer @ love family park 2002

enjoy.

127.1

just a quickie. rayna from modyfier kindly asked us to contribute to her special series, which we were very happy to do. each of us put together a mix. first up is pete's, which you can find here. mine will be up next, then cam's. we'll update you with the links as they go live.

bugging out

wow. in the de:bug readers' poll for 2008 it appears we were voted 5th for blogs (i presume this is a good thing, according to google translate it is). things like this, combined with all the kind words and notes we've received from readers, really gives us the motivation to keep mnml ssgs going strong. apologies if this post is a bit self-indulgent, but i really did just want to thank everyone out there for all the tremendous support. this is a big honour!

expect plenty more in the months to come. at the moment we are lining up some ssg casts from people we are really excited about and have quite a few other ideas we are playing around with.

thanks again for all the support.