Floatinghead's ramblings about music and music-related themes interspersed with various interludes and home of Cabeza de Vaca radio show on Scanner FM, Barcelona.
Sometimes it is hard to judge the success
of an artist, especially prolific ones like James Clements or ASC, the focus of this week’s show on Cabeza de Vaca and Scanner FM
. Sometimes ASC tracks seem to everywhere and
nowhere at the same time. ASC is the go-to artist on some of the biggest
left-field labels around such as the first Exit records compilation "Mosaic 1",
the two epic Samural Music and Samurai Horo compilations from this year, as
well as his own releases often on his own label’s like Auxiliary music and his
new imprint Veil. ASC has been prolific and critically lauded. Yet why doesn’t his
name come more quickly to mind when thinking of electronic music? Where is his
presence on the festival scene? Maybe there is an element of politics somewhere
there or the absence of a bonafide hit that somehow keeps Clements glued to the
fringes? Perhaps it is an artistic choice? Certainly his cross-scene movements
make it more difficult for media and electronic music’s micro movements hard to
pin him down.
As usual, our show finds ASC at a
crossroads. We use one of his tracks to sign post the mighty and unmissable
Samurai Horo compilation of abstract and ambient drum n bass which feels closer
to glitch and a missed offshoot of ~scape than something likely to come out of
Metalheadz or the like.
Last years “Way of the samurai 2”
compilationfrom the same label family, and of course featuring ASC, was a little more traditional, although built
from the same sparse tool kit with plenty of dub elements.
ASCs own Auxiliary label released a
compilation themselves earlier this tear and collecting some of the highlights
from the labels roster including AnD, Fis (who also has his own links with the
Samurai Music roster), Sam KDC (ditto and a long-term collaborator with ASC)
and the man himself:
Not content with that Clements has also
recently debuted a new sublabel Veil to complement Auxiliary Transmissions and
Diode. As well as Sam KDC and Christine Vaccine who will appear in a future
show, the first of the Veil label collection 12”s features another collaboration
between ASC and Synth Sense, the drum n bass duo from Ashford in Kent in the UK
who have contributed to the other sublabels.
ASCs only album release to date in 2013 has
been a recent double CD set for Canada’s Silent Season imprint from the middle
of the year, but arriving in my hands just too late to feature on the show.
If some of these tracks sound a little similar
to Bvdub it may also be because the two collaborated several years ago on a
split single for Auxiliary.
And ASC does not stop it appears. Even
since putting the show up he has released the second Veil split single
Our inspiration
for the program has always been to cross uneven terrain and uncharted lands and
part of a shamanistic approach is also to read the signs in the surroundings and
that is pretty much all the inspiration needed to have our first ever drum n bass show this week on Cabeza de Vaca and Scanner FM.
So what were the signs?
Firstly I listened to Felix K’s “Flowers of
Destruction” album on Hidden Hawaii, one of those chance discs you pick up in a
store or from following recommendation links on the net. Was an instant hit for
its creepy Monolake-esque beat style and production which lead me on to Hidden Hawaii
which is a treasure trove, but one that’s hard to dig up since if you don’t have
the vinyl in your hand you have no chance. The original plan was to do a
special on them, but one thing lead to another…
Drum n bass is not the only genre Felix K
is into, clearly, though his formative years in drum n bass clearly give him a
special sound. A focus on Dystopian (sic) elements also helps to keep things in
tune with current trends. This is not a criticism of Hospital Records at all,
but you certainly feel and hear a big difference between the two sounds. There
is plenty of discussion over at Tea and Techno for
what Felix is into at the moment and how his album has come about as well as a
mix.
There is also another one here from the ubiquitous
Boiler Room:
Speaking of Hospital Records, they
mysteriously signed me up to their mailing list recently which is weird since
there was no post even here on DnB for some time. They have been doing a lot of their
big Hospitality shows of course. After listening to a lot of their newer stuff
it was pretty easy to settle on the duo Nu:logic from whom I short listed quite
a few tracks, but sadly couldn’t play them all.
which was even better than the first one. It is a shame that there was only
time for on track, even though dBridge turns up twice, once again with
Instra:mental and not CMX to close the show.
Other signs
out there include the recent Demdike Stare track “Primitive equations” from “Testpressing
#002” which I nearly used to start the show, but in the end I considered it wasn’t
“proper” enough. Andy Stott has had a few sneaky runs at drum n bass as well,
among other artists.
And last
Friday after I had committed, but before I had recorded (also a recurring theme
these days), Resident Advisor decided to interview LTJ Bukem for the RA Exchange series. A masterful speaker and
excellent musician. Have many good memories of seeing him play with MC Conrad
live many years ago.
We predicted here in the end of
year round up that 2012 would see the return of drum n bass to the consciousness
of dance music. While it hasn’t quite been the second coming yet, there has
been plenty of murmurings and rumblings from the genre in several media
outlets. Now all we need is that one killer album to open the floodgates. While
we wait, a quick roundup of some of the recent activity.
One of the coups of the year may
have been FACT magazine promoting and streamingPhotek’s “Modus operandi” set from the recent Hidden Depths of Hospital Records
night held at XOYO in London at the end of July.
While the streaming of Photek’s
set does not appear to be archived yet, a promotional mix for the event can be
found here:
The FACT website subsequently ran an extensive feature on Photek
and the recording of the 1997 Classic album with an excerpt from a classic
interview from back in the day.
As well as some promotion for the
new single “Levitation” which was one of the new and exclusive tracks from
Photek’s otherwise disappointing "DJ Kicks" mix on !K7 from earlier this year. The
above interviews promise a new album, but from all the recent singles it is
unlikely to be drum n bass, although Photek’s productions still transmit enough
character and quality to suggest it may still be a classic.
Over at RA there have been
several features and reviews to also stoke the fires a little bit.
Those following the RA Exchange
podcast series will have heard RA editor Todd L. Burns talk up the qualities of
New Zealand “drum n bass” producer FIS(Olly
Peryman) in the mid-year round-up. However, here, DnB is used rather loosely,
with Todd himself confessing that the genre association is more by default since
he encountered FIS through DnB channels, but the music often bears little
resemblance. FIS received a fascinating Breaking Through feature
earlier in the year. Sound wise, the names Burial, Actress and Shackleton are
thrown around, whereas I would also tend to add in Emptyset and Frak as well: a fierce,
heavy metallic sound dominates rather than the lither sculptural creations of
Actress, for example, but still, it’s not DnB as we know it.
Keeping the New Zealand
connection via the Samurai Red Seal label was the recent album “Out of sync” by
prolific and diverse producer James Clements aka ASC who we recently bigged up
for his ambient album “Decayed society” with Sam KDC. The album is another master
class of sound design, but as well as pure ambient noise, Clements throws into
the mix a menagerie of beat styles, from IDM, to techno and of course some skittery
21st Century drum n bass.
Also getting a feature article was
producer Thomas Green aka Rockwell who has just signed a deal with Shogun Audio
to release his debut album. Rockwell has already demonstrated some serious
production ability on his earlier singles including his much celebrated “Aria
EP” which combines classic drum n bass tropes with more leftfield IDM. What
takes it to the next level is a rich sense of progression within the same track
away from the ordinary: spidery production becomes heavy kicks, while sinister
moods become dormant aggression.
As Rockwell says himself in the
interview: “I obsess over micro-genres in music outside of drum & bass and
that's where I get my influences from.” This has been something of a critical
dogma for the reshaping of DnB in general, as it has been the rules and
regulations governing the sound and its presentation that have limited it for
several years. Andrew Ryce even lays this idea down straight in the opening gambit
of the article
“It's understandable if you don't view drum & bass as the
most forward-thinking or experimental dance music genre anymore. It's become an
insular scene largely dominated by the same big names who held sway 10 or even
15 years ago, governed by formula and convention.”
However, whether Rockwell’s
upcoming album due for 2013 release will be the crossover DnB is waiting for remains
to be seen. He himself confesses “The album's not really sounding very drum
& bass right now. I've probably got about three downbeat housey things.
I've got a lot of stuff which is about 85 BPM, Eskmo sort of vibes but with bass
line. I'm going to be working with a lot of vocalists and there's going to be a
lot of song structures in there as well.” Much like FIS, perhaps it is the
distortion of the periphery that will allow space for changes to occur at the
core.
Young producer Stray aka Jonathon
Fogel also had a Playing Favourites
feature dedicated to him. Music wise, Stray has had two 12” s this year, the
first on the acclaimed Critical Recordings and the most recent on Heath Looney’s
Warm Communications.
Review wise, there has been
little else. Fracture’s “Get Busy” with Dawn Day Night and its kooky zombie
video received a great score and a lot of attention.
It seems to make more sense the more it goes on, with the cry “Get busy”
inculcating as it is applicable to the frenetic programming.
One album that didn’t get a
review at RA at least was "Fabriclive 63" mixed by Digital Soundboy System, a
rough and ready mix of drum n bass, dubstep and reggae-influenced styles.
Arguably the man who delivered
one of the best Fabric mixes and a drum n bass one at that was Marcus Kaye aka
Marcus Intalex who has been getting a lot of attention everywhere lately for
his house project Trevino,
but sadly not as much for his drum n bass which is perhaps indicative of the
obstacles still facing. Nonetheless, Intalex’s Trevino Eps have enjoyed some excellent critical reviews
and appear in the type of critics charts that you would trust, as opposed to
the generic DJ charts you can find around.
Incidentally, this is not Intalex’s
first foray into house of course. This leads us back to the beginning and
Hospital Recordings and Intalex’s fantastic cut “Taking over me” with S.T.
Files from 2000.
Addendum
One thing I forgot to add in when
posting yesterday was also to flag the excellent Resident Advisor Exchange
with drum n bass legend Doc Scott (Scott McIlroy). Scott comes across as refreshingly honest
and positive and his tales of the early days and what it was really like cutting
dubs make it an essential listen for anyone who wants to get a bit closer to
the history.
One of Doc Scott’s first releases
was this tasty nugget of hardcore on the Absolute 2 Records label.
A year later he was still toying
with hardcore sounds while gradually bringing the breaks to the fore on his
first release for Reinforced.
After a short production hiatus,
but intensive DJing, McIlroy returned in 1994 on Metalheadz firmly entrenched
in the drum n bass scene where he would go on to become one of the greats.
"The nautical view evokes a clear
vision, something freeing. The club as a diving platform, and techno as a
nautical sound experience, a project that lies between clubs and art."
The Type label has just re-released the
seminal Porter Ricks album “Biokinetics” for the first time in 16 years. The
album by the duo of Andy Mellwig and Thomas Köner was originally issued as a
series of 12”s and then as one of the famous self-destructing metal boxes on
the Chain Reaction label. One curiosity of the re-release that has not been picked
up on is the cover art, more so since a characteristic of the original Chain Reaction
label was the absence of art, only a logo and track names all emblazoned in the
labels trademark steely, cold colours. With so many watery track titles like “Nautical
dub”, “Port Gentil” and “Nautical zone” as well as the group’s name deriving
from a character in the dolphin TV show Flipper, you would think that Type
might have gone for a more aquatic cover image.
The image chosen was a sepia tinted photo
negative of the sky above peeling grey clouds, watched over by a black sun.
Although the clouds can easily be induced to resemble the ocean, there is
something a little stuck-on or last minute about the image, perhaps more so
since after 16 years it is finally receiving a visual christening. But the choice
is difficult since as well as the sea, there are also clear urban atmospheres
within the album, particularly the train noises of the brilliant opener “Port
Gentil”, still one of the all-time great techno tracks. Now all we need is a
more focused Chain reaction release for the releases that have not yet received
it.
Dolphins into the Future - Canto
Arquipelago
Lieven Martens has just released his latest
album as Dolphins into the Future entitled “Canto Arquipelago”. The album was apparently
recorded by Martens in the fishing village of São João on the small island Ilha
Do Pico in the Azores archipelago. “Canto” is a much less electronic outing
than previous records and even resembles a kind of watery jazz at times.
Nonetheless, fans will still find Martens particular musical tropes all over
the album, from wind and wave noises, to imitations of dolphins and the
evocation of the presence of people. There are two lovely videos to accompany
the release, one an animation with text by Zahid Jiwa from the Dolphins official website.
And also a film by Martens under the name
Lieven Moana that serves a trailer for the album.
Scuba – Personality
Scuba’s new album has been ruffling
feathers as far as the eye can see.One
of the biggest problems seems to be either the lack of commitment by critics to
defending it or panning it outright, resulting in reviews with mixed messages.
On the other hand, the public response is also confused with many upset by the
perceived change in direction, something that actually occurred sometime ago as reported here,
something that in the end should be taken as a good sign.
An average score seems to have been about
3-5/5 taken from the various sites, with Pitchfork giving it a more positive
8.1 via the words of RA contributor Andrew Ryce. Check out Any Decent Music
for an interesting overview of reviews. But rather than letting the
critics talk, it is perhaps more informative to look at the comments for where
the album went right and wrong, albeit the language of comments is often a bit
crude.
On Resident Advisor, rezerekted23 maybe gets the politics right, but says very little about
the album itself:
“It's funny, I could tell that their score
for the album wasn't going to be that good because they took so long to get it
out. It seems like the longer they take to put out a review of a super-hyped
album, the lower a score that it will have.
Also, knowing what we do about Scuba, when
has he ever been content to stick to the same sound? Pure dubstep is so far
gone that it isn't just him that's abandoning the sound. As for the
forward-thinking-bass sound of Triangulation, while he could put another album
of that out today... even that sound is starting to fade.
House and techno is what's in right now.
Look at Pinch, Martyn, Instra:mental, Ben UFO, Pearson Sound etc. Everyone is
making throw-back/ retro house, techno and breaks. Maybe he feels like he needs
to keep up with this trend? Also, he's lived in Berlin now for four-and-half
years, I'm surprised that he is only now just making 4/4 stuff on a regular basis.”
Still at RA, Adam420 addresses the musical
pros and cons in a succinct way:
"Also it feels a bit juvenile and naive, but
the production quality is still almost as good as you'll get.”
This hits the
nail on the head: the music is outstanding as ever and in some cases its
colours and rushing floods of sound are quite exhilarating, but invariably
there is a clumsy moment that undermines all the good work, particular the much
derided vocals on “The Hope” and the spoken word opening of “Ignition Key”
which is otherwise a fantastic track.
Funklestiltskin says on RA “What a nice,
shiny piece of shit this album was.” Which is a tad harsh as well as crude. But
taking the analogy further with the phrase “You can’t polish a turd” you can
invert it to become “You can’t polish a great track with a crappy vocal”.
“What's unfair is critics bending over backwards trying to
praise this album with half-assed platitudes like "fun!" and
"honest" and "ballsy".” “I do suppose nothing quite says
"fuck you" like making a tepid electro/prog-trance album and having
no one (that matters anyway) call it out.”
It is hard to call out an album that is let
down by only a few key moments, just as it is difficult to really stand behind
it, but again the problem of JD seems to be that he/she/it is looking for
another moody “Triangulation” and won’t let go. Anyone like JD still doubting
the new direction should see the well selected, but strangely mixed DJ Kicks
set from Photek which also showcases a certain big beat sound to see that Scuba
is still up with the times.
The question is still why all this naivety?
Why such a fun and dare I say it “teenage” album from Scuba? (There is a CD
version and a poster of the cover art included in the vinyl by the way, if I
needed to justify the teenage angle more – and is the cover really a hand in
the air and a sun as I thought it was a burning match?). Is all this “fun” due
to a reduced work ethic and a “that will do” attitude? The production quality
and excellent sequencing doesn’t sound like it to me. Was it part of the big
change that crystallised around “Adrenalin” and/or a new way to enjoy
producing? Maybe. Dubstep has certainly been dour and paranoid at times, like
drum n bass used to be (and maybe still is?). Scuba’s output has also been
prolific for a guy who is also playing out a lot and running a label, so maybe
something a bit lighter is necessary for state of mind if nothing else. But
this also answers the question to some degree: a look at where Scuba has been
playing will show his rise from dark and dank dubstep clubs to the big stage
and now beyond. Last year he headlined Sonar in Barcelona and this year he will
play indie rock festival Primavera Sound. Scuba’s audience has changed, his
environment has changed, even if some of his fans didn’t move on. Finally,
after so many years of hard work and making cutting edge music, I would not
begrudge him commercial success at all. At least he has done it with a decent
album.
Scuba himself can have the last word,
posting on RA:
“Posted by Orbital316It: "honestly doesn't
feel like a big radical departure from his other work to me, as some people are
making it out to be".
Yup, people saying the opposite obviously
haven't listened to either the old or new stuff in much detail. Adrenalin
definitely was a departure, that was the point. There's as much continuity as
there is difference between this album as the last one.”
Not bad, even for an Arsenal supporter!
Finally two curiosities. The squeaky
chipmunk intro at the start of “Ne1butu” intones
“I’ve never heard you break it down like
this”
There is a striking similarity between this
and the end to the Mouse on Mars track “Polaroyced” from their new album “Parastrophics”
when a similarly high pitched voice whines
“Jesus, what happened to Mouse On Mars?
They’ve departed so far from their beginning!”
The actual vocal line is edited out from
the end of this simple, but great video sadly, but the main riff of this track
also sounds like it might be a homage to Manuel Göttsching’s "E2E4". But this
micro-trend for self-reference is quite curious.
Scuba’s album has many trance
elements to it, without quite stooping to stereotype, a genre I recently wondered whether it would ever
surface into respectability again. Similarly, one of the last questions asked
in my 2011 round up was whether or not Drum n Bass might make a comeback this year. There are a
few moments on “Personality” that hint at a more drum n bass direction, none
more so than “Cognitive dissonance”.
As well as this Scuba track, there is the
DnB sound of Monolake (see below), the widely reported newsof the demise of Commix and reviews of their “Dusted” collection as
well as recent positive reviews of Kasra’s “Fabriclive
62” mix amongst others. Not quite enough to suggest a comeback, but maybe a few
archival releases and a few more cross-over singles and we might be there.
Monolake – Ghosts
Speaking of DnB, and also of genre
confusions, Robert Hencke’s brilliant “Ghosts” album for his own Imbalance
Computer Music imprint has ruffled few feathers while simultaneously causing
critics to drool. While it represents another impeccable release, one can’t
help but feel more sympathy for Scuba given that “Ghosts” doesn’t really go
much beyond “Silence”, or even the jittery sound of earlier Monolake releases,
and yet is still lauded, whereas Scuba cops it for trying something different.
Similarly, Henke seems to get away with appropriating maligned genres like DnB
without negative consequences, whereas the audience is indifferent to Scuba.
Perhaps the difference between the two is
the same issues as before, just a few crappy vocals makes the difference
between brilliant and good. It is of note that the title track is the opening
track and bears the unmistakable robotic lyric:
“You/do not/exist – Get out of my head”
Somehow this opening seems like a portal:
the rest of the album resembles as much literal landscape as soundscape, with
the ghostly protagonist left to wander through the smoky, skeletal world,
wondering if he/she is truly dead. It is tempting to try and interpret the text
of the inner sleeve and the track titles, “Lilith” the first woman, “the
existence of time”, “Aligning the daemon”, but the mystery only unfurls
further, just like the music itself which slips further and further into textural
detail with every closer listen. The cover images of the two releases are also
outstanding. “Silence” converted what should have been the blue and white of
sky and snow into pink and yellow, not so much sickly as vivid and more alive. “Ghosts”
cover should be a spectral black and white, but shimmers with faded green and
sepia tones as if blooming in reverse.
Drexciya – Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller
Clone Classic Cutshave just announced the second instalment of
the lovely Drexciya re-release project. While we wait for this, it is worth returning
to two things brought up in The Wire issue 321 (2010) which features a Drexciya
primer, but also a story about Turner Prize-nominated artists The Otolith Group who created a
film work “Hydra decapita” based around the mythology of Drexciya. No excerpts from the film
are available, but there is plenty of other material and interviews available
for the curious.
The Otolith Group are not the only artists to
take inspiration from the myths of Drexciya. For the last few years, Ellen
Gallagher has been exhibiting a series of paintings called “Coral Cities”
also based on the underwater world of abandoned slaves created by Drexciya.
A few finds from a recent trip to La Ruta Natural record store:
Newworldaquarium – Liberty Hot (Rush Hour)
One track that got away from the last post that features orgasmic samples is Newworldaquarium’s contribution to Rush Hour's "Amsterdam Allstars" compilation “Liberty Hot”. Hazy and disorientating as all good Jochem Peteri tracks are, and with an erotic twist. One of the additional rewards from listening to this is making the realisation of how much Newworldaquarium really predicted the new weird house/bass forms that have dominated the second half of the year. Up there with Actress and Kassem Mosse, and some of the highlights amongst the 50 Weapons and Hot Flush labels, this stuff is still the future and one of the few tracks on the compilation to openly capture the more naked side [sic] of Amsterdam.
Brian Kage – Bear Trax Vol 2 (Beretta Red)
Newworldaquarium is most noted for 2007’s “The Dead Bears” released on his own label. An ep from earlier this year featuring live bears or at least nature sounds from where live bears live was Brian Kage’s “Bear Trax Vol 2” ep on his own Beretta Red imprint from Detroit. But rather than a handful of techno bangers, the three pieces on the ep are all suave deep house tracks, with just a touch of techno production to give them a little more force. That said, on some levels the production here is almost too taut, too perfect and too clean, even for deep house, but the distraction of this unblemished sound is easily counterbalanced by the effectiveness of the music. The highlight is the sidelong “Migration Pattern” which also showcases a strength in arrangement with a patiently built and rippling melody line that resembles a deep house take on Mike Ink’s seminal remix of his own Love Inc track “R.E.S.P.E.C.T”.
Laak – The Fourth Space (Austere Recordings)
Very little is known about this US based producer, now on his third ep on his own Austere label. Here Laak serves up a generous four tracks all of which vary significantly, changing texture like skin, shifting pace or adding and subtracting vocal samples. The mood is decidedly jazzy and late night across all four tracks. My favourite is the last one “Hurt me so” which mixes melancholia with elegance.
A beautiful all round package this one from Iceland: unusual mustard coloured vinyl that captures perfectly the colour of melted snow and warm ice mingled with earth. The music also lives up to appearances, with two exceptional side-long tracks of forceful and yet richly ambient dub techno. The musical surprise here is the deviation from stereotype: on one level everything seems so obvious, sounding like dub techno with the hazy pads and riddling echoes, but there is also a heavier, slow burning Berghain aesthetic to the underbelly that wakes each track from slumber. Couple that to some sublime production that weaves and floats the mix in and out of focus and you have a genuine classic.
This one is actually two quite samey remixes of SBTRKT’s single “Wildfire” from his recent eponymous album. Here it is worth flagging up the original as well which features the gushing vocals of Yukimi from the wonderful Little Dragon.
The single is great, but it also highlights what many considered to be the albums weakness, which is its over dose of pop philosophy, a world away from SBTRKT’s experimental and more rougher sounding urban origins. Berlin based dubstep producer OBJKT restores some of the balance and then some. The two takes here are harsh and angular, stranding the remixes deep in IDM territory without leaving any trace of Yukimi’s lithe vocals. The release is also housed in simple packaging with the intentionally confusing mess of names, a little reminiscent of OBJKT’s own near-anonymous releases.
Photek – Closer (Tectonic)
Rupert Parkes has come into a lot of flak from some quarters this year for some reason. A lot of it has been based around the fact that he somehow doesn’t sound like Photek anymore, which is of course garbage. “Solaris” didn’t sound like “Modus Operandi” either. To be fair, the “Aviator” ep was a little flimsy, but “Avalanche” had some strong tracks on it. Maybe the criticism is really that he isn’t as ground breaking as he used to be, but one cannot deny a quality of production that separates good from great, even on lesser tracks. Regardless, his latest for Tectonic is certainly far from average. Its velvety and brooding production is like watching the city lights at dawn rush past through a taxi window. Pinch’s remix is more traditional and percussive, thinning out the midrange to let the drums wrestle control.
On a slight tangent, was curious to read a line about Photek in an old interview with David Bowie from the NME in February 1997 recently. The comment relate to a question about Bowie jumping on the jungle band wagon.
DB: “It’s difficult. I mean, Photek, I wonder how that kiddie got into it. Maybe he was a black kid born in the Caribbean…”
NME: Erm, isn’t he a white fella from West London?
DB: ”Yeah, but you know what I mean. He’s from Ipswich actually. But I’m not sure what my ‘beat’ is – if jungle is not my beat then what is? I don’t think you can be that territorial over a beat. In five years, six years it’ll be forgotten exactly what or who the roots of jungle were.”
A couple of things here, one is the slightly (or not) sarcastic attitude of the NME which became endemic in music press somewhere in the early 90s. It was as if the only way to entertain through media was to ridicule and turn everything into a self-deprecating joke. The other side is how much Bowie really was on the bandwagon or not. It is nearly impossible to imagine him in a club like Metalheads where the music really lived, but name dropping the likes of Photek suggests he might have been at least half-informed as to what was happening even if he didn’t sound like Photek. “Earthling” featured well-known collaborations with Trent Reznor, but there was also some more “legitimate” drum n bass remixes of the “Telling lies” single by A Guy Called Gerald and Adam F.
“Earthling” is hardly a Bowie classic, but as with all the later Bowie albums, there is a certain jump of faith that is need to kick start the listening experience and reveal the rewards that many by then were not inclined to do. Sadly, he didn’t really continue working with “his” beat, suggesting a bandwagon-esque attitude, but you cannot fault him for listening to the right stuff and giving it a good try. By contrast, yesterday I had to listen to a best of compilation from Michael Jackson while watching a football match and you do not get anywhere near the risk taking or experimentation in his canon, despite being apparently as eccentric or more so.
But Bowie would not have been the first rock musician to toy with drum n bass. My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields was apparently hypnotized by the possibilities of jungle after making “Loveless”, but never quite made the cross over. Bark Psychosis’s Graham Sutton is another profile figure who did go further, making the still respected “Boymerang” album in 1997, the same year as “Earthling”. Perhaps it was the certain muscularity of jungle that seduced rock stars more than techno for example, but it is a big unanswered question of the 90s as to who, why how and where was the jungle crossover most active and where its legacy has lived longest. One wonders if and when drum n bass might make a return? Resident Advisor has been quietly sneaking in a few more reviews of DnB releases of late and one can imagine bass music’s hypermutation diffusing it too far and leaving a vacuum for exploitation or if not reversing it back to junglist roots. Several dubstep producers have even snuck the odd junglist track on their recent albums, such as Skream most notably. Indeed, DnBs often gruff sound might dovetail well with the resurgence of industrial techno and it’s more curious and nascent offspring found on the likes of labels like Blackest Ever Black and even Triangle et al. Stranger things have happened.
