P058: Cabeza de Vaca – Dub techno

No voice over this week as tpart pf the studio had been removed to do some live recordings and due to the busy schedule elsewhere, there was no time to re-record. But there is an unmixed dub techno special this week on Cabeza de Vaca and Scanner FM  instead of the promised Laurel Halo show which will be next week if all goes well.

Not too much needs to be added except that there was enough material for two dub techno shows so the extra material I will highlight here, plus one or two details from this week’s show.

First up is Santiago Naura aka Bleak, another promising Spanish artist with releases on Delsin, Deeply Rooted House and recently on Secret Sundaze as well. His opening track comes from a various artists 12” on French label Concrete Music. His other tracks are less dubby perhaps, but his take on dub techno gives a bit of tempo at the expense of a bit f patience maybe, especially the opening. But the arc of the tracks evolution is excellent.

Also from Spain is the recent Reeko vs Architectural album, a concise, direct and brilliantly crafted modern techno album. It switches styles without seeming lost and it focuses on the dance floor without losing a home listening cohesiveness and flow. One of the year’s highlights for sure and more tracks from this coming up in future shows I hope.

Staying on the Peninsula s something new from Downliners Sekt. Their debut album will be out early in 2014 on InFiné and judging by their recent 12” it should be an interesting release. Both tracks on “Balt Shakt” are much more mature than their previous 12” on InFiné which was well made, but perhaps a bit derivate. “Balt Shakt” works with the same elements but feels more mature.

The Spanish label Non-Series (NON) have also delivered some good tracks lately. On the show we play something from German producer Savas Pastilidis who is also running the Lasergun and Sweatshop labels.

The hypothetical second show was going to feature something more recently from Spanish artist Maan aka Manuel Anós in the form of several remixes of his earlier single for the label. There is also a new Eduardo de la Calle out just now too.

And at last we get something from Cologne’s Telrae imprint, a sublabel of the Traum family, on the show after many attempts! This time from newcomer Andrea Cichecki. Another artist from their roster is Reimut van Bonn who has something very new out now on the label

In our hypothetical second show, he was also going to open with a track from hi “Gradient” EP, in this case the long CPH remix, shown here in extract form.

Prolific Lithuanian producer Grad_U aka Aleksandr Martinkevič has just had a pair of 12”s out on his own Redscale label, a project which started last year around the time of his last CDr on the related Greyscale label. Martinkevič has also released on some of the classic dub techno labels like ZeECc            and Entropy Records.

Lars Fenin also returned this year with another fine album of electronic dub-pop on Shitkatapult. As on several previous outings he once again works with vocalists on several tracks to excellent effect. “Heartware” also proves again that he has enough ideas to keep his sound moving and keep it interesting, although there is perhaps less dub than on previous outings and more of his own voice. I still feel he is a producer who deserves a bit more commercial and critical recognition than he is afforded ad we are always happy to have something new from him.

It is worth mention the Deepchord track “Barcelona” from their most recent album “20 Electrostatic Soundfields”.

Here Rod Modell mixes hazy late night ambience with field recordings, presumably recorded in Barcelona as there are Spanish voices, which is pretty much the method for the rest of the album as well. Not so much dub techno as soundscapes then. Modell’s work has been edging that way anyway, with his film soundtrack to “Silent World” for example, which curiously also features a track  called “BCN Dub” that also appeared on the “Liumin” album from 2010 which may be a version of the same track although far more “rockier”.

Nicole Moudaber’s album is hardly dub techno, and more a solid brand of heavy minimal, unbending and direct and full of guts and style. Yet there is a very nice dub-leaning track “Movin’ on” that would have been in the second show.

Finally, we close off from another track from Genotype who we also featured on the Drum n Bass show. This is the last track from the album which is a beautiful closer. Plenty of detail and deep vibes throughout. The rest of the album is a joy as well.

Number	Artist	Track	Label	Year
1	Bleak	What are we made of	Concrete Music	2013
2	Andrea Cichecki	Subjective	Telrae	2013
3	Grad_U	EV 3	Redscale	2013
4	Reeko w/ Architectural	Dualities	Pole Recordings	2013
5	Savas Pascalidis	Mechanic	Non Series	2012
6	Fenin	Same pictures	Shitkatapult	2013
7	Downliners Sekt	Balt Shakt Part 2	Infiné	2013
8	Genotype	Trick or Beatz	Samurai Red Seal	2013
9	Deepchord	Barcelona	Soma	2013

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