Special Download

He’s performed as both a DJ and live act in some of the worlds best venues, from London’s fabric to the legendary techno mecca that is Berlin’s Berghain. His own label, Baum Records, has just been relaunched with a release from the Finish dub techno artist, Leftover which features a remix from Resoe himself, so to help celebrate the long awaited relaunch, we invited Resoe to provide the next instalment of our podcast series.

Resoe serves up a blissful selection of dub techno that’s not just perfect for inside the club but also makes for great home listening too.

In Ukkonen’s own words: “there is no real tracklist for this recording, as I was jamming most of it… The other mixes I’ve done have been concept ones, so for this I just kept it totally abstract, it’s just about the sounds and rhythms and no messing about with anything else! It was done on my live setup which is mainly an obscene number of samples loaded onto a Roland SP-404SX and some kids’ toy keyboards (which is where most of my pad sounds come from) – although for this special occasion I added one or two secret weapons…”

If you love Ukkonen’s music, you should really catch up with the EPs, which I’ve talked about previously on the radio these past few months, and which are available from Rednetic and Uncharted Audio. The big upcoming news is the album, The Isolated Rhythms of Ukkonen, now due out in May. It’s wonderful. Keep an eye on http://unchartedaudio.com/ for the final release date and details on buying the vinyl.

Special Download

The 30th Juno Plus podcast comes from one of 2012’s shining lights, XOSAR.

When your first two solo releases come out on Rush Hour and Long Island Electrical Systems, you must be doing something right. Ghosthaus and Tropical Cruize arrived within a month of each other, and more or less cemented XOSAR as a name to watch with a hawkish eye. The title track from the Ghosthaus 12? on Rush Hour was particularly haunting and ethereal, described by Juno Plus scribe Frank Mitchell as ” both horrendously unnerving and strangely uplifting.”

Soon after these 12?s arrived we learned XOSAR was working in collaboration with Dutch producer Danny Wolfers, aka Legowelt, on the Xamiga project, and some light Google research revealed she was also a designer of considerable repute. Her Juno Plus podcast deftly mixes her own productions with some classic house (when has “Deep Burnt” ever gone down badly, after all?), and XOSAR was also kind enough to respond to some email questions we fired at her. The answers revealed the person to be just as compelling as the music.

The first mention of XOSAR (for us anyway) came when we saw a track of yours in Legowelt’s mix for Juno Plus last year. How long have you been making music for and how did you get into it? You seem to have arrived with a fully formed sound.

I incurred the itch to sculpt sonic soundscapes at 16.  Craving a creative outlet in my quest to conjure emotional arousal, I downloaded fruity loops and started trying to wrap my head around software production techniques.  I abandoned it for a while and a few years later after graduating from UC Berkeley in neuropsychology, enrolled in an audio engineering program at SAE that specialized in electronic music production.  I had been trained in piano and violin for a few years as a child, but was basically starting from scratch as a producer.  Simultaneously, my friend Adeptus taught me the art of taming wild electribes and other synthetic beasts.

We spied a press pic of yours and you have a dual theme of tigers and analogue equipment going on in your studio. Tell us a bit about your studio environment and how it helps you to create.

I like to immerse myself in environments that will emit desirable vibrations to be absorbed into my creative output and myself.  This includes having plants, crystals, and symbolic representations of the elements and animals, while avoiding clutter so as not to fog my mind.  There are immense rewards of limiting sensory input to give the imagination time to process the impressions it has received.  I keep specially charged crystals around to help balance and amplify desired energy levels.  When the stage is set, my favorite production tool is my electribe(s), but I love using various synthesizers and software.  Another essential habit that helps me create is regularly immersing myself in nature, as it is proven to quiet the mind and have a restorative effect on the depleted attention spans of the modern day city human.

Your design for the Sexual Harassment EP on Citinite was one of the best record sleeves we saw last year – how long have you been doing design for?

I’ve been doing graphic design for more than five years, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve had a fascination towards powerful harmonious blends of colors, symbols, words, and pictures to convey messages, establish mental connections, invoke emotional responses, and heighten consciousness levels.  My design is usually driven by the physiological responses illicited by the visuals, i.e. if a particular color configuration has the power to summon the sound of my heartbeat to the senses, then I will usually keep it around.

You also designed the sleeve for your new Rush Hour release – was it important for you to tie in the visual element along with the title and music itself into one vision for this release? Can you see yourself doing more of this in the future?

Yes, I will design more of my sleeves in the future.  For the Ghosthaus release, I designed the forest skull image, the photo was taken by the gifted photographer Danny Wolfers (in a glorious forest notorious for high paranormal activity) and the layout was designed by the talented Marco from Rush Hour.  We thought it would be a more striking synthesis to fuse the visual idea with the music. It’s important for a musician to feel that their album artwork meshes properly with their sounds, even if it’s very abstract.

We are intrigued by the ‘research’ section on your website; what is it all about?

The research section showcases various configurations of electronic tonalities, derived from collaborations between two or more compatible creatures of analog descent, and myself.  Meandering? Maybe.  But these echoing experimental etchings never cease to acknowledge an explicit sense of the present through purely improvisational production practices.

You’ve been touring pretty hard recently. What have been some of the highlights of gigging in the U.S. and Europe?

One of the highlights of the US tour was the PPU/Mutual Dreaming party in NY.  No particularly interesting anecdote to insert here (except maybe that there was a girl walking around with a suitcase full of shrooms), but there was just really great vibes (hmm wonder why). Another highlight was the pilgrimage to Detroit for a New Year’s Eve warehouse party.  Despite frequent power outages and excessive coldness, the party was great.  Everyone seems to take music pretty seriously there.  As desolate and bizarre of a city Detroit is, there are still overwhelming amounts of genuine warmth, friendliness and creative forces in the air.  I tried to channel some of it and made a song called “Elixir Of Dreams”, then me and Danny filmed the video the next day (on his smartphone) in the GM Renaissance Center and in the Detroit People Mover, riding it at least four times.  A Europe highlight was in Berlin during Fete de la Musique outdoor at “The Angry Chicken So So Angry” aka Soju Bar.  It was our friend Mo Probs’ birthday party, we thought there was going to be a few hundred people but there ended up being a few thousand sprawled out over the streets.  An absurd amount of fun was had that night.

What has the general reaction been like to your performances?

The attention required by my possessive electribes for meticulous programming and pattern maneuvering coupled with the transcendence of time and space during performances does not permit me to conduct a thorough audience assessment, but I postulate a prevalent reaction being an approving bpm-synced head nod coupled with a brooding facial expression.

Your Juno Plus podcast contains an ample helping of Xamiga heat! How long have you and Danny been working on this project and where do you see it heading in 2012?

It has been in divine conception for all of eternity, but we’ve only recently begun to channel energies necessary to convey the cosmic forces and unlock the enigma that is Xamiga.  We went to Palm Springs a few weeks ago to absorb some of these mystical desert powers, and right as we were about to embark on an epic exploration of the extravagant exterior environment, our excitement was extinguished by the onset of a vicious windstorm, ravaging the city streets. Forced to stay indoors, we didn’t have enough people to play rainy day recess activities such as heads up seven up, so we opted for music production instead.  When the storm was over, we went outside and it was as if the apocalypse had just happened and we were emerging from our underground bunker to see the aftermath.  There was debris everywhere, chairs from neighboring complexes had blown over, windows were broken, trees fell over and smashed cars.  The positive is that we were provided a platform to produce some pretty cool songs, one of which is present in the proceeding mix entitled “blizzard 12.21.2012?.  Aside from these tracks made to distract from the attacks of nature, we have a lot more that will be coming out sometime before 12.21.2012.

Tell us about the overall vibe of the podcast – where and how did you put it together?

I made it on my birthday.  In the beginning of cycles I like to plant symbolic seeds of intention for various energies I want to attract throughout the impending cycle.  So, I made this mix.  (Then I went to do karaoke with my frenemy Adeptus and his bodyguard Tarythyas in Oakland).

This episode features ASC, Sam KDC, Seth, Daojia, Oswey, Stumbleine, Shura, Overcast Sound, Tazz, Basic Audio, Samaan, Genoc1de, Isotroph, Telematik Guru and Lux

This episode features Darkhouse Family, B Bravo, Paul Lorraine, Thefft, Rick Sanders, DJ Fiore, Franky B AKA Cryptic Monkey, YosoYYo, LOTEK and iO, Wachs Lyrical, GDX and Nickel B.

This new podcast for AUTOBRENNT is a fine example of that skill: it starts deep and stays… deep. Sultry, wavy lines, lazy kicks and soft, rounded percussion are what get fluidly interlinked for just shy of 90 minutes.  It’s a study in subtleness but one that keeps you locked from start to finish for the ways it mood and tempo undulate so carefully… tune in and cop out to this one!

You’re primarily known as one of the foremost exponents of dub techno, though you’ve also released highly acclaimed ambient albums and further back than that I understand you were involved in more industrial sounds. Can you give us an idea of how you got involved in music in the first place and some of the artists who influenced you?

Rod Modell: Ever since I was a child, I was always unhappy with mainstream sounds. As long as I can remember, I hated everything on the radio. In fact, sometimes I wonder if I’m a music lover or a music hater. I’m still really not sure, because I can’t stand music that is too musical [or] structured. I think I like listening to sounds better than songs. One well-designed sound can be more emotive than 100 songs. When we hear musical structure, the brain understands it is music and processes it as such, but a good sound bypasses this analytical module of the brain and plugs directly into the psyche. We hear it, but don’t have to listen. So I like to design sounds rather than music. I don’t really view what I do as songs. So because of that, I’m not really too influenced by musicians much. I think I’m more influenced by nature, air, water, and the night sky more than any music. I can go out into the woods at 3:00 AM, and be inspired to record new sounds. I haven’t heard music that inspired me like that in years.

I view what I make as a textural smear of sonic events that all bleed together and cause aliasing where they overlap. The actual “art form” for me is creating interesting forms of aliasing by choosing the correct textures to overlap. I was probably more influenced by the Environments series (a collection of field recordings issued by Syntonic Research, Inc. between 1970 and 1979) more than any artist. When I was a child, I would sleep to an AM radio tuned between stations. There was so much to hear in the static. Solar activity, earth noises, storms, cosmic occurrences. The static has a grain, like different wood surfaces have unique grain. This AM static was far more influential than any musical artist.

I understand you have been a big fan of field recordings. What sort of environments are your favorite to record and how do you typically apply them to a piece of music (i.e. are they left unadulterated or do you play around with them a lot)?

Big time. Actually, I haven’t really played much music in my house over the past few years. My recent in-home playlist is practically all field recordings. Music is too one-dimensional. I like field recordings made in places that I like to be. I don’t really like “middle-of-the-day beach recordings.” I like something dark, but not evil. A “soothing dark” rather than one that makes you depressed or on edge. Like hearing a night rainstorm recorded at 2:00 AM outside the apartment window in Amsterdam. Or sitting in a courtyard in Barcelona at midnight recording wind in the trees and distant voices. These recordings are erotic. The degree of processing applied depends on the situation. Sometimes they’re drenched with processing, and sometimes raw. Lately I’ve been favoring unprocessed. More pure.

You’ve recorded some amazing material with Michael Mantra. How did you first meet, and how long was it before you were making music together?

I was/am big fan of Mike’s musique concrète. He creates alien sonic landscapes with field recordings that he captured. In the mid 1990s, I was really inspired by old musique concrète, and thought Mike was producing a modern variant. I was talking to Kim Cascone on the phone around this time, and expressed my enthusiasm for Mike’s work, not realizing that Kim and Mike occasionally run into each other. On one of these run-ins, Kim informed Mike about how much I like his work, and gave Mike my phone number and address, so Mike started writing and calling, and we forged a nice friendship. Maybe after a year or so of talking, we decided to try recording something, and it worked out great (Sonic Continuum on Hypnos).

What can you tell us about your Plays Michael Mantra album?

That was a funny one. Mike released a CD called A/B on Silentes, and I was contacted about remixing this one for an A/B Remixed release. I’m not sure if Mike contacted me or Stefano [Gentile] at Silentes. I started working on this remake ofA/B, and a month later, I had music that was so drastically different from the original that it couldn’t really be viewed as a remix [or] remake. It was a totally new life form. Stefano at the label suggested we call it something other than A/B Remix since there was almost zero semblance of the original, but since Mike’s A/B influenced what I made, it seemed appropriate to credit Mike also. So Stefano suggested thePlays Michael Mantra title, and I liked it. There were other influences on that one too — trains and weather come to mind.

When did you start becoming interested in more dance floor-oriented rhythms?

I think it was when I noticed a problem with dance music that I was hearing in the mid 90s. I remember Mike Schommer and I were in a club in Detroit, and we noticed that every song started out really nice. Just a simple rhythm and bass line with some noises floating in and out. Perfect! Then some other element would fade in, then another, then another, then… the music was totally ruined at this point. We couldn’t figure out why these artists didn’t just leave well enough alone. They had a nice thing going and totally convoluted it every time. They destroyed it with too much complexity. Mike and I were interested in “trying to make a whole record sound like that beginning 45 seconds” of these other records. We wanted simple tracks that weren’t convoluted. I think this was the core premise for our experiments. Also, around this time, there were a couple records from a band called Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia (PWOG) that I thought were fascinating. I was in a record store, and picked up one of their CD’s and noticed a warning on the back saying, “This CD doesn’t contain finished songs, but rather structures for DJs,” or something similar to this effect. This was profound for me. Making sound without actually making songs? I thought this was great. So I thought, “Yes, maybe it is possible to do what I want.” Also, around this time (early 1990s), I was fascinated with the way Bandulu (from UK) were introducing dub influences into techno. I thought that when you combined dub with techno, you got something stronger than dub or techno on their own. They temper each other well.

What do you feel that making tracks in this nature offered you that your ambient material did not?

I always thought beats opened up my ambient music to a bigger, different audience. I really always considered my music to be ambient, even if it had dance beats. It was just ambient music with a pulse rather than free-form without a pulse. Not much difference to me. In fact, if you drop the kicks and hats from a DeepChord record, you still have a pretty good track. Sometimes better than with them. The beats are purely incidental. As a matter of fact, many times I made alternate versions of DC records without the beats for listening to at home. I remember a show that Steve and I did in Ghent, Belgium. It was at a club called Limonada, and was during the Resonance Festival in March 2009. We were doing a sound check before the show, and the music that we were playing was relatively “pounding,” dance-oriented material. Someone from the club came over and asked us, “Is this what you’re playing tonight? Because we asked your booking agent for a more atmospheric set.” I was totally overjoyed! I told them “no problem,” and turned down channels one through six on our mixing console (the channels containing all the rhythmic elements), and we did one of the most amazing sets ever. We used the channels containing atmospheric elements with effects and filters, and produced a soundscape of huge, weightless, billowing clouds of sound. It was religious. I mean seriously amazing without the distraction of the beats. Something happened during that set that I still can’t explain today. I think the sounds induced some sort of (positive) psychological reaction in the audience. No joke. Numerous people commented after the show, and via email later also.

How did you first meet Stephen Hitchell?

Steve was sending demos to me when I was running DC (the label) with Mike Schommer. I thought Steve’s demos were the best I got, and thought if we were to release someone other than our stuff, this would be the guy. Unfortunately, we never branched out and released music of other artists. There were plans to start a sub-label, but it never materialized. But Steve and I became friends, and talked often. At one point, the suggestion of trying to work on something together arose, and the outcome was The Coldest Season. Mike was extremely preoccupied at the time with refinishing an older home and starting a family. I tried to get him re-inspired to make music for about a year, but he had too much going on to consider it. It was around this time that Steve and I were discussing a collaboration, so the timing was perfect. One thing led to another.

Is there any difference in theory between your Echospace and cv313 monikers?

Actually, we’ve never released any information regarding the members behind cv313. It was always intended to be undisclosed. All accounts to that end are extraneous, but one night while walking around Barcelona (El Raval), Steve and I met two strung-out “characters,” and they gave us an extraordinary demo CD-R, and those guys might somehow be involved.

To some people a genre-like dub techno can end up sounding very “samey.” How do you keep things moving and interesting for both you and your listeners?

Good question. Not really sure. I think it’s intuitive rather than something clearly contrived. We try to do things a little different from album to album, but I found that any time you go into a studio with a preconceived notion of how you want things to sound, it never happens that way. I think you have to just get in there and start working, and what happens happens. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But I think it’s important to take chances with the sound. Playing it safe, and merely repeating a tested formula over and over gets you nowhere. I’d rather take a chance and bomb rather [than] do the same thing over and over.

Many times, a reviewer will say a new release sucks because they had preconceived notions, and you were different enough to disturb what they anticipated. Half the negative reviews out there are the result of bad reviewers, not bad albums. I never read reviews anyway. I can’t be concerned why some guy doesn’t have the mental scope to comprehend someone’s art (or not). I’d rather hear a description of the work from the artist. The whole premise of music reviews is insulting anyway. It’s art, and in art, there are works that speak to you and ones that don’t. The ones that don’t are equally valid to someone else, maybe just not for the person reviewing it. I take reviews more seriously, where a reviewer describes what they’re hearing without bias, and doesn’t assign the artwork a point value.

When you’re in your studio do you ever explore music outside of the genres you’re known for?

Recently, yes. Hip-hop music a little. I think I have a unique take on hip-hop. I think a huge hip-hop artist should let me produce their next album. I’d give them something no one has ever heard before.

Are there any artists you’ve recently discovered who have really excited you?

I really haven’t been overly excited about any new releases for years. I wish I could say differently. I desperately want to be, but am having a difficult time. I guess the most interesting thing I’ve heard recently was the Mordant Music releases. I really think they are great, and have loved all of their output. Also, some Hyperdub releases. Even the Hyperdub releases that don’t move me immediately are still obviously brilliant and unique. Some of their releases are unlike anything I’ve ever heard, and that seems an impossible accomplishment in 2012.

There’s an obvious debt to the likes of Maurizio in your Echospace and Deepchord productions, but are there some less obvious influences in these records too?

I think influence seeps out in mysterious ways. No artist with integrity consciously copies another artist, but we all tend to regurgitate things that have influenced us over the years. It’s a natural process. I don’t think there is a single artist who hasn’t. It’s never ending. People always say, “It sounds like this,” or, “It sounds like that.” Most of the time, they are showing their ignorance when they do that. I remember when Nitzer Ebb released That Total Age in the 80s. I bought a copy and thought it was good, but I had a few friends that said it sucked because it was a blatant DAF ripoff. It never ends. People have to liken new music to something that already exists or else they can’t wrap their head around it. To me all rock and roll sounds the same. But to someone who’s really intelligent about rock, there are vast differences from release to release. I can’t comprehend the differences because I don’t understand rock. Likewise, people who say one electronic artist sounds like another electronic artist maybe doesn’t comprehend the subtleties in the music.

I really don’t see myself as a musician, so I’m not really influenced by music or musicians. When I’m sitting with a bunch of musicians, even electronic musicians in Berlin or whatever, I think, “What the fuck am I doing with these people? We have nothing in common, and really don’t have anything to discuss with these guys.” Probably my least favorite subject to talk about in the universe is synthesizers and studio gear. But if I’m sitting with a sculptor, painter or glass blower, I can talk for hours and feel like I’m in the correct company. I just use audio material to create my art rather than paint or clay. But it’s strange how I feel more a part of this group rather than a group of musicians. Maybe because I went to art school after high school. But I find that my soundscapes are much more interesting when an “arrangement” is influenced by a photograph or statue rather than other recorded media. These sort of non-musical influences are more inspirational to me than any recorded sounds.

What can you tell us about your most recent DeepChord album, Hash-Bar Loops? What relevance does the loops in the title have?

“Loops” refers to audio loops. For the most part, all electronic music is composed of loops that are created by the artist using drum machines, and sequencers (or audio loopers like Oberheim Digital Echoplex and Electrix Repeaters, in my case). I called the loops on this project “Hash-Bar Loops” mainly because I was staying in Amsterdam for several weeks, and recorded this album in that environment. I had a couple friends that enjoyed hash, and spent a lot of time with them. When I was trying to name the project, I kept thinking back to Amsterdam, my friends, the craziness going on etc, and “Hash-Bar Loops” just seemed appropriate. I liked the sound of it. These were the loops that were continuously repeating in my apartment during those several weeks in Amsterdam. I was making atmospheric backdrops to relax to rather than consciously recording an album. Then at some point, I collected all the fragments [and] loops, and thought they all flowed nicely, and decided to make them a unified whole. Maybe that album sounds differently because of this.

For me, it’s a sonic photo album. It’s the place that I feel the most comfortable of anywhere I’ve been. I feel like I’m home when in Amsterdam. Ten times more than Michigan. I had an apartment there in the center, on the Singel Canal. I would often put a small WAV recorder on the windowsill of my apartment, and record out the window, almost exclusively during the middle of the night. Voices, bikes passing, boats going down the canal. These “windowsill recordings” are in the background of Hash-Bar Loops almost start to finish. Sometimes quite low, but almost always there.

What can you tell us about the mix you’ve put together for us?

I think I pay more attention to the atmosphere in a mix rather than the beats. I just like a laid-back groove rather than danceability, I think. Maybe more “head music” rather than “feet music.” I just start picking out tracks that seem important to me at the time I start a mix, and it can vary greatly from day to day. This one, though, is spacious and relaxed, I think.

What can we expect from the many sides of Rod Modell over the next year?

Actually, lots going on, but too soon to really discuss some of it. Some new DeepChord material is nearly done, and Steve and I have been working on some new Echospace material also. Also, I’ve been preoccupied with video lately. I’ve filled up several hard drives with high-def video in the last couple years. I will be presenting a massive video installation piece, projected on ten video screens in Naut Humon’s (touring) CineChamber sometime in 2012 also.

Here is the second podcast in the new artist series. It´s no other than my partner in “Pattern Repeat” Kenneth Christiansen with a solid mix!

Resoe

We’ve been itching to release this podcast since it was sent over; a real peach of a mix by Genius Of Time. Hailing from Göteborg Sweden, the duo have been putting tip top quality house music out since 2010, on their own imprint Aniara and the excellent Royal Oak Records. Their productions are raw and expressive, sounding like music made in the heart of Chicago rather than Scandanavia, and you can hear these U.S. influences poking through in their podcast. We’re happy to announce that you can catch the boys playing with Louche and Brawther in Room 3 at Fabric this March, and after hearing this mix we can’t wait!

The moment Alan became hooked on techno music was when he discovered Luca Morris, an Italian artist who mixed Detroit and German techno in the nineties. “More than often I listened to his mixes made between 1998 and 2001. Mixes that cannot be found on the web, they are like a sort of relic in the hands of the guys who experienced the magic at that time”.

Another great influence was Monolake’s ‘Polygon Cities’, an album Alan bought at Hardwax when he visited Berlin for the first time, back in 2005. The impact of Monolake’s music made him speechless: “I listened the cd time after time and kept asking myself where that sound came from”. His concept of music was taking shape and the following year he bought turntables and started collecting vinyl.

2006 also gave birth to ‘Thursdaydeep’, a laboratory equipped with studio monitors where Alan and his friends Enrico a.k.a. Status End and Stefano a.k.a. Oldste could experiment.
“Initially I sought my personal sound in deep minimal-techno”. But all the changes and nuances in genre influenced him and developed into an aesthetic, that kept floating in his mind. “There was a specific kind of sound, a sound that binds the surreal atmospheres of Monolake’s album, that bewitched me to the nineties techno played by Luca Morris, full of TR-808 and -909 sounds I love. The almost total identification of this sound occurred in 2008 with the first releases of Donato Dozzy on Aquaplano with Nuel.”

For this mix Alan grouped vinyls with smooth sounds in sleeves and dollies coloured in blue, teal, yellow, orange and white. Colours and artworks are important to him. “I started to mix imagining being light and surrounded by floating objects. I hope listening to this mix conveys this lightness”. A feeling also reflected in ‘Green House’, this podcast’s accompanying artwork by South-Korean artist Kyung Woo Han.

Soundcloud download & player: soundcloud.com/fiberfestival/fiber-podcast-11

Sebastian Mullaert has a solid reputation in solo too. His personal projects are mainly distributed via the Mule Electronic label, whether in the form of compilation (such as the incredible « Wa Wu We » released in 2010) or EP like « Älva ». For our podcast, Sebastian kindly gave us an excerpt from his long mix made in Kumamoto, Japan, just to see how he does it in the club…And he does it good.

New Values Beginning the 31st of December 2011, regular audio communications form Sandwell District will cease. All vinyl artifacts have been decommissioned. There is a possiblity of future, albeit irregular, print communications with audio accompaniment. However, details — and indeed content — is uncertain at this moment in time. The Sandwell experiment will exist through live actions — which will continue to expand into new sonic territory — in addition to audio / print installations as previously witnessed in New York, Los Angeles, Gdansk, Bialystok, Berlin and London. Stasis is death. See you on the other side.

On the same day they published this mix, entitled ‘(Sounds) Quarterly #1’ – a hint at more to be expected this year coming perhaps? Again it is yet to be seen; plus, the announcement thankfully does not mean that there will be no more Sandwell Distrcit, they’ll continue to function in their live entity. In fact we have them returning to our own disco on the Saturday 14th of this month – where they’ll be joined by Ostgut Ton’s Barker & Baumecker and Terry Francis.

So in the midst of the year end craze, take a minute to load up Brandub’s latest mix into your iPod. This hour of genuine dubby euphoria lift us many strata away from any superfluous concerns. Brandub applied his craft in his home studio, in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. His debut EP on Airdrop last year displayed Brandub’s inclinations clearly – a warm, comforting sound oscillating between deep house and dub techno.

We also take on this opportunity to announce that Brandub’s next release on Airdrop is now mastered and ready. The ‘Bank Side EP’ features three originals and a Beat Pharmacy take realized by Mr. Brendon Moeller. This project is set for release towards the end of January, bringing an extra layer of warmth in the middle of the cold winter. Kick back and relax!

A wonderfully composed selection from the breakthrough duo.

Italian-raised, Berlin-based duo Tale of Us are part of a movement, the signifiers of which can at times be nebulous. Hot Natured are a good point of reference. As is Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels imprint and parties like Circoloco at DC-10 in Ibiza. In fact, viewed through a wider lens it’s evident that the house sound with which the duo have become famed is a widespread trend. The sound arguably has its base in London but it’s unlikely that there’s a corner of clubland that it hasn’t touched in the last 12 months. It may have dropped at the end of last year, but the Tale of Us remix of Thugfucker’s “Disco Gnome” serves as a perfect encapsulation. Carmine Conte and Matteo Milleri have also completed re-rubs for Maceo Plex, WhoMadeWho, DJ T. and Gus Gus (among others) during 2011; coupled with the fact they’ve released only a pair of original EPs to date—through Visionquest and Barraca Music—they’ve rightly been marked out as remix specialists. In any case, it’s a tag that has facilitated them becoming one of the busiest breakthrough acts of the year.

With all this scene setting, you’d be forgiven for thinking that RA. 283 was comprised solely of druggy basslines, judicious sampling and DC-10 anthems, ticking along steadily at 120 BPM. Sure, there is some of that. But in the main the mix is delicate and displays what Tale of Us are about beyond their growing dance floor reputation.

What have you been up to recently?

MM: We have been gratefully touring and when not doing so working on new material, something we do constantly.

CC: And I have been searching the fridge for fresh food and eating cereal with my bare hands.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at home in Berlin using straightforward Traktor with vinyl and then some final touch ups on Ableton live.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

Quite simply the concept behind the mix was to put together some of our influences of the music we are feeling and some really cool new stuff that was around us. We didn’t plan it for too long and it all came together quite nicely actually. The mix spaces though different genres and areas of music, from deep house to disco and also into bass/dubstep (whatever this is now?). This is an overall idea of how we envisage music to sound nowadays and what we will be aiming for in the future.

You seem to have been favouring remixes over original productions to date. Is there a particular reason behind this?

Basically we are our own biggest judges and are super critical of our productions. We really only have released one full EP up until now but still we are constantly inspired by the music people send. We always have an opinion on it and that is why we took on so many remixes in the first place, we enjoy giving our atmosphere and dimension to other people’s ideas and art. Taking somebody else’s art and then giving our own interpretation of it is super challenging for us. This being said, we have a lot of unreleased original material, which will stay so and we will pick only the best for our future EPs and album.

What do you feel has been the biggest component in your rapid ascent this year?

CC: I think it has been a combination of popular productions, fresh ideas and lively DJ sets accompanied by the whole breeze (not winds) of change that has overcome electronic dance music recently (more song based productions and pop melodies). We were inspired by it from the very beginning and we decided this was our time to start. Another component has been our management team and co-label owner (Life And Death) Manfredi Romano, who has helped us bring our concept to the next level. Two of his mash-up edits are actually in the podcast under his artist alias, Tennis.

MM: I think a lot of the rapid ascent has to do with our haircuts also.

What are you up to next?

MM: We have the next release forthcoming on Life And Death alongside Fink and Tennis and featuring a super remix from Ryan Elliott. Hold tight for that one!

CC: I’m going Halloween shopping.

This episode features Barrington Levy, Om Unit, Coralcola, Andre Obin, Sigmafly, Superliminal, Eric Van Aro, Marco Finotello, Meesha, Weight and Treble, Shinigami San, Burial, Essay and Village.

Techno through a bass music filter.

It’s actually kind of sad that Cosmin TRG’s exploration of genres has been a talking point—can’t an artist, you know, do more than one thing?—but such is life. The Romanian producer was a dubstep/garage dude when he started out back in 2007, hopped over to house for a bit and is now residing in techno country. One by-product of this restlessness is the name Cosmin TRG (or TRG as he was initially known) has adorned many a leading label these past four years—Hessle Audio, [NakedLunch], Tempa, Immerse Records, Hotflush, Hemlock and Rush Hour being merely a selection of them. The latest to put a welcoming arm around him was Modeselektor’s Fifty Weapons. Separat / Izolat, released at the beginning of 2011, signalled Cosmin’s intention to get truly stuck into the tough stuff, while it seemed the dream had been fully realised when it was announced in June that a full-length offering was in the works for Fifty Weapons.

Try as it might Simulat wasn’t quite able to shake off Cosmin’s roaming past—which is exactly what made it so great; RA.277 suffers the same affliction with exactly the same outcome. This is techno but not quite as you know.

What have you been up to recently?

Well, since finishing my album I’ve been playing some nice places, reading some pretentious books, putting together Ikea nightstands. Would love to say I’m working on my German but the truth is that every day I hope I wake up magically speaking it without the actual academic / linguistic effort. That would be grand.

How and where was the mix recorded?

In my living room, on a computer.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

I’ve been trying to put this mix together for the past six months, went through all stages of human emotion, made about a million playlists, tried to think of a very clever concept… It only worked when I woke up one day, played a few tracks together and it sort of clicked. Then it sucked, so I recorded it again. And again. In the end the idea was to put together some tracks that I really like, which convey my favourite sonics, from the past as well as the present. I think this one is as accurate as it gets at the moment.

Now that you’ve had some time to sit with it, how do you feel about what you recorded for the album?

Curiously I’m still very comfortable with it. Out of everything I wrote in the past years, it comes closest to what I want to sound like. The time I spent on it was the best time I ever spent in a studio, and I actually can’t wait to record another one.

You’re famously restless when it comes to genres. Do you see yourself sticking with techno for a while?

I’m restless when it comes to sound in general. I think genres are still too political. In my early days as a producer I’d find myself involuntarily trying to prove something, and I’m well over that now. I think my current format fits my ideas and I’ll stick to it as long as it suits what I’m trying to say. A lot of people are acting patriarchal over genres and it’s not something I’m into. At the same time there’s a thin line between experimenting and inconsistency, one which I skirt with equal amounts of pleasure and caution.

What are you up to next?

Going to turn in a Skudge remix about eight months past its deadline. I’m also happy to have contributed a track on the forthcoming Ann Aimee Inertia compilation. Other than that, a few more things before the end of the year and then taking on 2012 and whatever this will bring.

Download format : FLAC

(Thanks RV for finding)

In 2006, his talent has been discovered by a German independent record label Meerestief. With a remix that he has done for Dublin’s Five Green Circle’s track entitled Ronan’s BBQ has created a storm over Europe. Praised, supported and charted by heavy weights from the world of electronic music.

Then in 2009, Xhin has found a new home. He joined Berlin’s then new techno label,Stroboscopic Artefacts to release his dark, intense and experimental side of things. From the results of his new releases for the label, he has done it again. Heavy rotation from the big boys like Speedy J, Luke Slater, Ben Klock and many more to mention. This will be yet again the beginning of an old new direction for him to explore and experiment sounds even deeper for his future releases.
So what’s new and exciting coming out of his bag? A long awaited 3rd album since his 2nd one entitled Greyscale for Meerestief is set to be released on Stroboscopic Artefacts some time in late 2011.

Dadub is a meeting of two minds, Daniele Antezza and Giovanni Conti, a duo whose output is underpinned by a mutual curiosity. The result? Startling electronic music productions, one of the best live acts in the scene and the innovative Artefacts Mastering studio.
Twinned by a fascination of process, and a love of Lee Scratch Perry’s mix board experiments, they take dub and push it into the deepest corners of techno and out to the ambient fringes. Frustrated by identikit sounds in electronic music they set about pouring their technical knowledge together in search of innovation.
They describe their approach in the studio as ‘like making scent’. Dadub take sound and process it to extract depth and expose human warmth. With this studio outlook it was natural for Dadub to move into mastering. They delved in and Artefacts Mastering emerged: mastering that involves no presets and a policy of adjusting every track entirely from scratch. It’s exactly this type of discipline, their use of open strategies instead of formulas that also makes Dadubso dynamic live. Live they layer dubbing and synthesis, they take Dadub material and deconstruct or reconstruct it spontaneously. Their sets are seriously deep and have been showcased internationally at Barcelona’s Sonar festival, Germany’s Melt! festival and in clubs from Berlin to Moscow.

Special download

This episode features Joe Europe, Franky B AKA Cryptic Monkey, Darling Farah, Randomer, Artifact, J-One, Mouch, Krts, Landslide, Andre 3000/Outkast, Tony Blitz and Chesus