P031: Cabeza de Vaca – Mark Fell

I start the show this week mentioning there are some song birds in the studio, but its only partially true. The sound proofing is not the best and there were many birds outside at dusk on a partially rainy and partially sunny day. I wonder though what birds would make of the sound of their own voices cut and pasted, fractured and turned kaleidoscopic? Almost all the tracks today feature some sort of vocal like this on Cabeza de Vaca show and Scanner FM this week.

 

The focus is on Mark Fell, but that is not to take anything away from his close colleague Mat Steel who contributes to the archival SND track and to the new "Sensate Focus 2" 12” which continues the rich run under this name. There is almost something Autechral or Boards of Canada-like in the way the numbers have steadily climbed down and I wonder where they will end?

 

The source material for at least the first Sensate Focus 12”s were from the collaboration that Fell did with Terre Thaemlitz, released on the “Complete Spiral” EP. Here we play one track from this which also includes a long vocal sample from Arthur Scargill, head of Britain's Socialist Labour Party and the president of the National Union of Mineworkers during their historic strike in 1984-85. Not your usual house vocal and a warm reminder that politics and electronic music can go together. Sadly, sales of this EP did not propel it into the top 10 after the recent death of Margaret Thatcher. The first Sensate Focus release, and perhaps more, used material from this recording that was then reused again to make the tracks on the “Sentielle objectif actualité” release which closes the show. Fell adds more details on the Editions Mego website.

 

 

“Two hi hats are used: the Yamaha RX11 Closed Hat 1, and a sample from Bassmental's ‘2 Daye Revisit (Kerri Chandler remix)’, released on Nite Grooves, 1994. Recommended contextual materials include: ‘Can You Feel It (Dubby Dub Marc Kinchen remix)’ by Chez Damier, released on KMS, 1992; ‘Hard To Get’ by Choo Ables, released on E-SA records, 1993.”

 

 

No video for ‘Can You Feel It…” unfortunately.

 

There is more detail about Fells methods at this extensive and very informative interview at the Red Bull Music Academy website.

 

Fell has also featured quite a few times in The Wire recently. There was his recent Collateral Damage piece and also an on-line interview as well as a print-only piece on Sensate Focus.
 

Collateral Damage


In An anechoic chamber

 

Finally, there is also Fell’s intriguing use of nanoparticles filmed in a microscope to make truly random music based on the laws of Brownian motion. Not an easy listen, but an important conceptual piece.
 

Scale-structure-synthesis on the BBC

 

Scale-Structure-Synthesis By Jonathan Howse and Mark Fell from Electronic Supper Club on Vimeo.

Number	Artist	Track	Label	Year
1	Sensate Focus	X	Sensate Focus	2013
2	Marquis Hawkes	I want you	Dixon Avenue Basement Jams	2013
3	Vualitron	Dancetsch	Deep Data	2013
4	Boddika	Soul What (Boddika RMX)	Swamp	2013
5	Madteo	Dead Drop (When I Saw You That Nite)	Sähkö Recordings	2012
6	SND	Systems Medley	City Cente Offices	2000
7	DJ Sprinkles & Mark Fell	Say It Slowly (N.U.M. Mix)	Comatonse Recordings	2012
8	SOA-4	Mark Fell	Editions Mego	2012

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