Listado de la etiqueta: Luke Slater

UPCOMING RELEASE: STERAC «DIFFERENT STROKES»

Artist: Sterac. Title: Different Strokes. Label: Mote-Evolver.
Release date: 18-05-2015. Genre: Techno.

Tracklisting:

A1 / 1 – Stroke 1
A2 / 2 – Stroke 2
B1 / 3 – Stroke 3
B2 / 4 – Stroke 4

About the release:

Having both been on the scene for over twenty years, Mote Evolver’s founder Luke Slater and Dutch producer Steve Rachmad are considered veterans of the techno scene – both outlasting the genre’s various dips and flourishes in popularity. This considered, Rachmad’s debut on Mote Evolver seems all the more highly anticipated. Operating under his STERAC guise, Rachmad’s inaugural contribution to the label comes in the form of four hypnotic, rolling drum-machine experiments.

Rachmad’s formula across the EP is a spartan, uncluttered one. Even the track titles (Stroke 1 – 4) suggest he has taken some pains not to complicate proceedings unnecessarily, instead letting the music stand for itself. In the wrong hands the use of Roland 808’s can feel like a tired cliché when it comes to techno, yet Rachmad’s manipulation of the tool is nothing short of masterful. There is a buoyancy to his thudding rhythms, filtered hats shuffling effortlessly above raw 4/4 pulses. This trait is defined right from the offset – ‘Stroke 1’ marching forward steady and resolute. As with the rest of the release, the track has an abstract quality to it – the elements are processed heavily; filters and stereo-delays a common feature. Across ‘Stroke 2’ even the synths used feel hazy and out of focus, jutting forward between Rachmad’s stuttered rhythms. This and ‘Stroke 3’ both have a celestial space-age feel, like a satellite being gracefully travelling across the orbit. The EPs closer on the other hand, ‘Stroke 4’, is incontestably rooted to the dancefloor. Devoid of melody, the track is a frantic percussive workout, jagged claps and ticks jutting out between Rachmad’s booming low-end.

As a whole, the EP maintains a perfect balance between holding a consistent theme, whilst still offering plenty of twists and turns along the trip. It is perhaps little wonder Rachmad’s STERAC project has been garnering much acclaim in recent years – this EP in particular revealing a focus and clarity that only comes with years of experience.

About the artist:

Since his earliest productions, Amsterdam’s electronic music pioneer Steve Rachmad has created a legion of monikers for his various compositions. We’ve seen tracks from Black Scorpion, Tons of Tones, Rachmad Project, Scorp, Parallel 9, Ignacio, Dreg, Sterac Electronics and many more come out of his studio…

One of the main characters living on Planet Rachmad has always been STERAC: a side of Steve’s musical personality that’s not easily described. Let’s say that where other aliases were used for excursions to more dub-, disco-, or house- oriented records, STERAC’s focus has always been on the no-nonsense, darker, and deeper side of techno.

The STERAC discography consists of classic tracks on labels such as M-Plant and Tresor, with the 2012 remixes of his legendary album Secret Life Of Machines (1995) demonstrating the lasting quality of the STERAC oeuvre. Reinterpretations by Ricardo Villalobos, Joris Voorn, and Marc Romboy to name a few, proved a bit hit with fans and fellow artists. This year, STERAC releases appear on Klockworks and Delsin, while his schedule takes him on a tour past the world’s finest clubs: from Berlin’s Berghain to Tokyo’s Womb, and from Output in New York to Club Rex in Paris. On top of that, a series of selected remixes is coming your way.

Follow Mote-Evolver on Soundcloud:

/por

UPCOMING RELEASE: KAMIKAZE SPACE PROGRAMME «STOKES CROFT»

Artist: Kamikaze Space Programme & Emika. Title: Stokes Croft. Label: Trust
Release date: 20.04.2015. Genre: Bass. Pre-order: https://clone.nl/item34401.html

Tracklisting:

A1. Choke (feat. Emika)
A2. Clapper
B1. Cel
B2. HSBC
Choke (Instrumental) [Digital Only]

About the release:

Veteran Bristol-based producer Chris Jarman a.k.a. Kamikaze Space Programme joins the TRUST family with a blistering EP of hard-edged bass music. Hot on the heels of his ‘Concrete Musique’ EP for Luke Slater’s Mote Evolver imprint, ‘Stokes Croft’ showcases the bassier side of Jarman’s distinct production style.

‘Stokes Croft’ opens with none other than prolific multihyphenate Emika on guest vocals, whose haunting voice turn ‘Choke’ into an ear-catching hybrid of industrial bass electro and gothic pop. ‘Clapper’ follows this up with a percussive banger, perfectly encapsulating Jarman’s artistic vision of crafting futuristic beats entirely from found and self-recorded sounds rather than worn and tired presets. It’s a philosophy that does not rule out sublime melodic moments either, as ‘Cel’s drifting string and melancholic bleeps aptly demonstrate, while ‘HSBC’ closes the EP with a nod to the old-school, complementing jacking electro rhythms with squelchy acid lines and ghostly pads.

Released at the same time as TRUST’s 15-year anniversary series, TRUST XV, which brings together renowned producers such as DJ Stingray, VC-118a, Dez Williams, Clatterbox, and Plant43 on a three-part journey of spacious sci-fi electro, Kamikaze Space Programme’s ‘Stokes Croft’ represents the rougher side of the TRUST sound – head-strong, futuristic, and aiming to obliterate stylistic stagnation with sonic innovation.

About the artist:

Kamikaze Space Programme is a true sonic renegade, a genuine musical experimenter. Somewhere between a classic Musique Concrète and modern electronic approach, KSP’s music is made up of myriad samples and found sounds from real world situations, it lends the stuff a very real texture and aesthetic that links it to the here and now, the everyday, in a very real way. The sound of an old truck, the hiss of a kettle or the clunking of a door are all fair game for KSP, who then takes his strange sound sources and weaves them into infectious sonic tapestries and intricate rhythms.

It all started for Chris Jarman in the mid-90s when he worked as an accomplished session musician. He first dipped his toe into the electronic world as a D&B producer at the turn of the century and was quickly signed to revered label Renegade Hardware and soon began playing around the world. Never one to sit still, Jarman wanted to foment an even more original sound and thus the Kamikaze Space Programme project was born.

It’s a project with its own sonic identity that has been snapped up by the press and public alike, with many festival appearances taking him across the globe and much music being released on labels like Mote Evolver, Bob Bhrama’s West Norwood Cassette Library, TRUST Mindcut and has been commissioned to remix artists such as Paul Mac, Aubrey, and Drums Of Death, always adding his own idiosyncratic take on things.

Listen:

/por

UPCOMING RELEASE: PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS «THE EYES THEMSELVES»

Artist: Planetary Assault Systems. Title: The Eyes Themselves. Label: Mote-Evolver.
Release date: 23-02-2015. Format: 12″ & digital download

Tracklisting:

  • A1 / 1. The Eyes Themselves
  • A2 / 2. Strange Attractor
  • B / 3. Arc

About the release:

Since the release of the Temporary Suspension LP on Ostgut Ton in 2009, foreman of Planetary Assault Systems, Luke Slater has validated his presence in the scene over the past 20 years by defining the genre’s past and will continuing to define its future. Subsequently The Messenger LP as well as the No Exit and Future Modular EPs proved he perpetually rests on the cusp of modern techno. While he has spread his allegiances across a number of the genre’s best labels, his own Mote Evolver label is, understandably, a source of the most compelling work from the man: the No Exit and Deep Heet Vol. 3 EPs being two of his more recent high-quality offerings. That trend seems set to continue with the release of Planetary Assault Systems’ The Eyes Themselves EP.

The title track is indeed a kind of treat for the mind’s eye – after a conventional rhythmic lead in, Slater gets down to business and unveils a few layers of crisp and captivating sound design. Irregular droplets of high-frequency sound fade in and then seem to fall around the listener like glowing rain on the surface of a distant planet, before receding and making way for more subtle phrases. All the while, fluctuations in the aggressiveness and persistence of the cymbal tracks fight to wrest the listener’s attention away from this mesmerizing rain, making for an intriguing push-pull effect.

Elsewhere, it is a sign of Slater’s strength that a track named for a well-known concept within  dynamical systems («Strange Attractor») doesn’t come across as a completely arbitrary guess at what such a concept might ‘sound’ like. A number of lightly accented, quickly decaying microsounds come together here to become more than the sum of their parts, certainly connoting dynamism and at the very least keeping up a serviceable spaced-out groove.

Now, for those who prefer the grit and tension of urban reality to dancing numbers or speculation on other worlds, have no fear – the closing «Arc» is powered along by dirty filtered phrases, a faintly menacing shaker sample and the occasional impolite release of steam from the grating beneath your feet. It gives one the uneasy feeling of stalking in the shoes of a professional assassin, and it wouldn’t be out of place in some documentary film on the same.

Few sonic artists can go from an atmosphere of oneiric wonder to one of cold intensity in just a few short steps, let alone doing this in a techno music genre that has little margin for error when it comes to conjuring atmospheres. As such, The Eyes Themselves once again demonstrates Slater’s lasting contribution to techno: maintaining its reputation as a tool for stimulating both intellectual and physical energy, for aiding restless peregrinations of thought and for giving the body its freedom.

/por

STROBOSCOPIC ARTEFACTS DESVELA EL SEGUNDO LANZAMIENTO POR SU 5º ANIVERSARIO

Zeitgeber y L.B. Dub Corp son los protagonistas de la segunda entrega de la serie Five Years Of Artefacts de Stroboscopic Artefacts.

Zeitgeber es el proyecto colaborativo entre Lucy (dueño del sello) y el lord del techno alemán Speedy J. Su alias conjunto dio a luz un interesantísimo disco el año pasado que han presentado en sets y actuaciones por festivales y clubs por todo el planeta. El track que incluyen en este disco es su primer lanzamiento oficial desde el anterior álbum.

L.B. Dub Corp es nada más y nada menos que otro alias de Luke Slater que le permite crear de una manera algo crudamente inspirada en la cultura house. Para la ocasión, revisita un club-track clásico propio.

Tracklisting:

  • A / 1 – Zeitgeber – ‘Totemism’
  • B / 2 – L.B Dub Corp – ‘Take It Down Again (In Dub)’

Listen:

/por

REVIEW: VARIOUS ARTISTS «APHELION» (TOKEN48CDLP)

Artistas: Ctrls, Inigo Kennedy, James Ruskin, Karenn, Lucy, Planetary Assault Systems, Rødhåd, Surgeon & ø[Phase]
Album: Aphelion
Label: Token Records
Release date: 03-11-2014

 Summit

Inigo Kennedy y Ashley Burchett (ø[Phase]) nacieron en Londres, pero fue en Bélgica donde fundaron su sello Token, de eso hace ahora siete años. Durante todo este tiempo han desarrollado una actividad frenética, lanzando proyectos de Grovskopa, Oscar Mulero o Go Hiyama. En 2012, Burchett publicó Binary Opposition, el trabajo que marcó un hito en la trayectoria de Token, convirtiéndolo en una referencia inexcusable del techno europeo. Sensible siempre a todo cuanto huela a nuevo, a arriesgado e innovador.

Aphelion es su último lanzamiento. Un álbum con nueve pistas que reúne a los artistas más significativos de la casa, además de otros colaboradores atraídos por el fascinante interés del proyecto. Al final de camino, funciona como una retrospectiva de talentos complementarios, que sitúa a Kennedy y Burchett en medio del eje estratégico que une Londres (Ruskin, Surgeon, Slater, Blawan y Pariah) y Berlín (Lucy y Rødhåd).

Sin embargo, está muy lejos de ser la enésima recopilación definitiva que llama a tu puerta. A pesar de juntar bajo el mismo techo a varios de los nombres más destacados del techno actual, es un disco tremendamente coherente y homogéneo, donde el conjunto destaca sobre cualquier presunción individual.

Obviando la pretensión de marcar tendencias, aquí encontrarás una corriente completa que, a buen seguro, será bailada en los clubs de medio mundo y será remezclada por ejércitos de seguidores. En esta escena, las ideas fluyen y se conectan en contactos multibanda, por encima de incompatibilidades firmadas en los respectivos contratos comerciales.

Aphelion es una de las muestras más brillantes del techno contemporáneo, con un empuje y una sacudida llenos de potencia y vigor. Dinámica, densa y profunda. Sienta cátedra a la hora de demostrar la vigencia del género, la vitalidad de sus protagonistas y su poder de agitación.

 

/por

PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS «THE MESSENGER»

Artista: Planetary Assault Systems
Album: The Messenger
Label: Ostgut Ton

Ultraperiferia

¿Os habéis parado a pensar sobre el trato injusto que se le ha dado durante muchos años a Luke Slater? ¿No habéis caído nunca en la cuenta de que otros DJs de su generación y escuela han tenido mejor consideración, promoción y respeto?

Desde el principio, el bueno y cabezón de Luke decidió ir a lo suyo. Mientras, sus muchos y conocidos compañeros de pupitre supieron muy bien cómo manejarse en el mundo del techno-mainstream, adaptarse a las necesidades y corrientes que iban surgiendo en cada momento y dejarse lamer por todos los medios. Cosa que, por otro lado, nos parece muy inteligente.

Pero él no. Decidió que quería desarrollar su carrera creando música al borde del polígono, pagando el precio de la incomprensión. Fue tachado de zapatilla, mascachapas y vetado en alguno de los grandes festivales y eventos electrónicos que, sin embargo, sí que programaban artistas deudores del señor Slater. Al otro lado de la barrera, las chonis y los chanclis nunca lo abanderaron como suyo porque tenía algo especial que no alcanzaban a entender. Caso curioso ¿no?.

Al final resulta que el señor zapatilla tiene una trayectoria más que consolidada, ha producido obras francamente brillantes dentro y fuera de sus muchos alias, moviéndose como nadie por los amplios parámetros del techno y la electrónica. Recordad por favor que además fue uno de los primeros productores de techno con la santa osadía de lanzar un disco en el que un cantante ponía voz a cada tema, desconcertando a absolutamente todo el mundo. Y mira tú por donde, después ha habido más ejemplos parecidos de sus amigos del cole.

Con The Messenger, se nos ha vuelto a presentar sin llamar a la puerta. Un disco crudo, áspero y con muy poco sentido del humor. Claro que también es cierto que este artista nunca se ha caracterizado por su amplia sonrisa. En cualquier caso, es un regreso honesto que sigue afianzando la solidez de sus creaciones. Al fin y al cabo, no se es la oveja negra de la familia sin consecuencias.

www.planetaryassaultsystems.tumblr.com

/por