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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P056: Cabeza de Vaca – ASC

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

As well as a new EP “Programme 02” on Auxiliary.

Try to keep up if you can…

Number	Artist	Track	Label	Year
1	Ed:It	Ideology	Commercial Suicide	2013
2	Geiom	2-4-6 featuring Terrible Shock (Desto Remix)	Well Rounded Records	2013
3	Tessela	Hackney Parrot	Poly Kicks	2013
4	Randomer	Need U	Not on label	2013
5	ASC	The noncolour entity	Veil	2013
6	ASC	Karma	Halo Cyan Records	2013
7	ASC	Oracle	Samurai Red Seal	2013
8	ASC	Dragnet	Samurai Horo	2013
9	Djrum	Blue on blue	2nd Drop	2013

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P048: Cabeza de Vaca – Drum n bass

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.

Another sign was the recent Exit Records compilation “dBridge presents Mosaic Vol. 2”

 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.

Speaking of dBridge, he has also been branching out into techno as well under the name Velvit, though with mixed critical acclaim (the most recent scored a paltry 2.5 over at Resident Advisor)

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.

Number	Artist	Track	Label	Year
1	Unknown	hh.q.ii.qq.bb.qqq.h.r.iii.rr.g.rrr.ddd.s.ii.ss.aaa	Hidden Hawaii Solaris Series 3	2011
2	CMX feat. dBridge	Tesserae	Exit Records	2013
3	Emperor feat. Georgia Yates	Begin	Critical Recordings	2013
4	Nu:Logic	Brown shoes	Hospital Records	2013
5	Lenzman	Empty promise	Metalheadz	2013
6	Machine Code	Dischord	Subsistenz	2013
7	Genotype	Jam that feel	Samurai Red Seal	2013
8	Felix K	Flowers of destruction #6	Hidden Hawaii Ltd	2013
9	Instra:mental & dBridge	White snares	Nonplus Records	2013

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