Today's listening 26 july 2010

Unknown Artist - Numbercult 3 (Numbercult - NC003)

In the constant stream of half-arsed, half-produced and/or watered down digital releases it is easy to lose faith in whatever has "digital" in the release details.

But then comes Numbercult out of nowhere and shatters my pessimistic illusion.
Not only is it digital, but it is also FREE(!?).
The Glasgow label does however release on vinyl as well, in limited editions of 300ish copies. Kudos!

First track, 'Hinterland' starts like any other house/minimal techno track but quickly transforms when the very attentive melody kicks in. The track unfolds to something that is somehow reminiscent of the classic DJ Hell track 'Music For Films'. Truly inspiring!
Following up is the kickless and sublime 'Hidden Symmetry' which is an excursion in harmonies and synthesizers and in its minimalism proves that drums are never necessary even in "electronic dance music".
Lastly we have 'Splinters' which with its very cold and thin springs makes me feel that winter is here even though the sun is unusually persistent outside!


Samples:



The free download here
The vinyl here

Today's listening is:

Digitonal - Be Still My Bleeping Heart: A Digitonal Retrospective (Just Music - TAO035)





Was recommended this CD by Nuutti (aka Dcom) @ The Nursery.
It's the most beautiful piece of music I've heard in a long time. I had never heard of Digitonal before and apparently this CD is "a remastered collection of older, rare Digitonal material", which obviously leads me onto a googling frenzy. Nothing beats the feeling of discovering a yet unheard artist with a big reservoir of releases.

Anyways, the music itself is a mixture of electronica and classical. This might not be something groundbreaking, but as far as I know the usual is for artists to work with samples whereas Digitonal actually play the instruments themselves. This results in a warmer and more vivid element of classical music than what I have heard before.
I started writing about every song on the CD, but I won't even though most deserve it.. But really, if you like Plaid, (early) Autechre, Arovane, Bola etc. you really must check out this compilation. A good starting point would be "Cantus V" which is one of the darker and more "dissonant" (a al Plaid) songs. "Snowflake Vectors" is also a gateway with its more classic 90s Warp sound, or "Maris Stella" featuring Kirsty Hawkshaw of Opus 3.

I am off to hunt down the rest of their back catalogue now, you go listen below:



Order the CD here
Or do like me, buy the MP3s for instant gratification

Additional info:
Digitonal webpage
Digitonal discogs

Why the blog has been dead

Dear readers, apologies for not posting anything in the blog for almost 6 months.

In april I was in a rather severe motorcycle accident and have spent over 3 months in hospital and 1 month (so far, more to go) in rehab. I really am happy to have survived, it was a close call.. I am truly grateful to all the people who give blood, I will start doing so myself as soon as my health is OK again.

Anyways, I am back home now and have started to walk little by little again. Needless to say my music life has been suffering a lot during this period so there's not much news on that front.
But bare with me! There's more techno that needs to come out of this injured Swede.

'Made Tomorrow EP (SECT5R)' is due in september as well as a remix of Voidloss coming on Dynamic Reflection.

Today's listening is: Roof Light - Kirkwood Gaps (Highpoint Lowlife - HPLL052)
Found this during a random music googling night.
Digi-only album stretching from Boards Of Canada vibes to Flying Lotus madness to more conventional/contemporary dubstep. Nice summer home-listening.

Update + Soundcloud

Haven't posted in a while, been kind of caught up in the studio (and some Mass Effect 2......).
Finished remix for Voidloss inspired by times when techno was trance and trance was techno.
Also, new Sect EP 50% finished. I know I said it was going to be a 10" release but I just had to cram in some more remixes!
Very excited about it.. Now waiting for Delta Funktionen and JR Seaton to finish.

My current goal is to keep working on my project with Pyro. Really flowering collaboration so far. Expect VINYL releases from us this year. Can't spill the beans regarding labels yet. No worries, it's going to be TECHNO and no half arsed whatevertheycallit?

By the way, finally made a SoundCloud account.


Today's listening is: Aiton - Lover's Dub (Abucs - ABUCS006)

Bought this by mistake during an ordering frenzy. At first I was very upset with myself for buying "cheesy dubstep" but after giving it a shot while enjoying the Swedish winter landscape I started to really appreciate it. Sparse and beautiful stuff. Very far from "brostep".

Computers....

Finally recovered from the total system meltdown last week.
Thank god for bootable Linux CDs and geek friends who love to help!

Anyways, all work from last week was lost.. I should back up more often than once a month I guess!


Had to restart on my remix of Voidloss' 'Actaeon'.. Since I had to do a reinstall of whole system I only used the Cubase 5 built in instruments so it ain't gonna be sounding like a tapdancing mecha spider on ice anymore! I am taking it in a 90s minimal direction now. Was inspired by that Robert Hood video interview - "it's all about the rhythm". I am buying a straw hat to wear for my studio sessions, I am sure that will help my grooveless white ass!

In other news I am going to Copenhagen this coming weekend to make some music with my friend and excellent Danish DnB producer Pyro! The fact that Ben Klock and Shed are playing there the very same weekend doesn't make it any worse at all! Holla.


Today's listening is: Harmonic 313 - When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence

Very fitting album title for my current situation...!
Almost a year old now but I recently discovered it thanks to my beloved The Nursery. Since I have an untrained ear for this kind of music I won't go into pigeonholing, but supposedly it is new school hiphop with Detroit techno/house influences.
Anyways, some very enjoyable beats on here. Rap is the most overrated thing in hiphop!

My TOP10 of 2009

Alphabetically......



+Aleksi Perala - Boom Blaster (Rephlex - CAT199EP)
Maybe we heard it before.. But rarely have I heard it in such a refined and warm way. An EP with something for every occasion. 'Voyager' was this year's most emotional techno song for me.





+Ancient Methods - Third Method (Ancient Methods - AM03)
Just when I thought noone would have the guts to release industrial techno again, these German "svärmorsdrömmar" (look it up) slaps us in the face! 'Else (Radio Edit)' is one of the best industrial techno songs ever made.





Casual Violence - Why So Few (Aftertaste - AFTERLTD001)
Finally the well deserved EP landed for Casual Violence. 'Dilute To Taste' is what I have been missing in techno since Force+Form. PS: his dog's name is Regis.





+Deuce - Deuce (Ostgut Tonträger - O-TON25)
The roughness of Dettmann meets the production skills and musical depth of Shed. 'Guttering' is such an outstanding track in all its sparse glory. And it is not with ease that I must admit to Ostgut being techno label of the year..





+Grovskopa / Agony Forces - Seventh Seal (WarmUp - WU022)
So lame to chart myself but I can't deny the POWER OF THE MULERO REMIX!! I can hear the Spanish crowds chanting "MULEEEE-RO, MULEEE-RO"





+Hudson Mohawke - Butter (Warp - WARPLP188)
Dear god, make sure Timbaland never hears this!
Such a fun and innovative album. If Flying Lotus was HipHop 2.0 I guess this is 2.5





+Planetary Assault Systems - Temporary Suspension LP (Ostgut Tonträger - OSTGUTLP04)
Remember how upset we used to be with Slater for making those MTV style trash pop records? Well he's forgiven, over and over and over and over.





+Robert Hood - Superman/Range (M-Plant - MPM3)
The king is back. Now we can stop using "minimal" as a cuss word!





+Shed - Remixes (Ostgut Tonträger - O-TON020)
Well there's got to be some Surgeon in the chart nay? Subtle and beautiful. The Martyn remix is quite a novelty as well!





+Tim Exile - Listening Tree (Warp - WARPLP173)
Cheeky and catchy pop in a rather disturbed way. The title song is really really "something else".

Writer's block...but Boomblasting!

Like the title said I am still (since august!) suffering from writer's block..
So nothing to write about music making..


Today's listening is: Aleksi Perälä - Boomblaster MP3ALBUM

One of this year's biggest EPs for me was Boomblaster EP on Rephlex. Such a diverse little EP with something for every occasion, even for playing in a techno set. Absolutely stunning and very overlooked EP. Just listen to the song called 'Voyager'..

Anyways, was longing for a digital release of the EP so I could get files for listening in car etc. Went trolling the interwebs and realized that Rephlex sells this MP3album containing all the songs from the EP and then some! What it lacks in artwork design (;P) it totally makes up for in aural emotion. It sounds a bit like old Brothomstates or Autechre and has that warm analogue sound we all crave. But it has something Autechre will never have, the Finnish bipolarity! The whole album is so worth the 9€ and can be previewed in full at the Rephlex store. Go buy now! Or atleast give it a proper listen.