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TBA
in the end you stretch out on your bed - and you are no longer an ape, a man, a bird, or even a fish. horizontality in nature is rather of a geological denomination and has to do with deposits. the same, on the whole, goes for all sorts of travel notes and memoirs: the mind there seems to get flat on its back and give up resistance, preparing for a rest rather than for settling scores with reality. over the mirrors meant to glass the opulent the sea-worm crawls - grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent. among full-stops of the sentences that have never been pronounced. banned by the bloody finger of silence and genius ignorance. as sad as a whale somewhere in the pacific, as an echo spread into the hedges of neglect and eternity of yet unfelt, undealt ocean.
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LE K
I dream a lot.
I mean, I like sleeping. It is a double life for me as I dream so much. Sometimes I mix dreams and reality in a third form, something creative. And that is exactly what happened with this track. I had a strange dream (as usual) about a jazz band playing in the kitchen of a restaurant…only they were playing with the crockery rather than instruments…and the audience was also playing in this same way. It is hard to say how it was exactly, but it was definitely fun and weird.
I don't know why, but I am fascinated by the backdoors of restaurants, which are often left open. In Paris, the restaurant and Brasserie kitchens are like Babylon: black guys, Indians, Eastern European guys, whatever. It's a full blend of nationalities and cultures. I have always wondered how is life in there. "Back Boutique" was born from this idea.
I wanted to have fun making a housey-dance-music track suggestive of this melting pot. Even if most of the time, the audience and dancefloor don't care about the suggestive part of a track (yes, you know, club music, it's for clubbing!), it's always good to work on that suggestive part within the creative process, because it regulates the originality and the identity of it.
I started to collect and record sounds of crockery and kitchen tools, which was fun to do. I also started to work with my Daw (Ableton) and my usual method, which I call, "The Spider". To explain: I open a new project on Ableton, create few blank columns, and start working on a core. Generally I set up this core in the middle of my project and not from the top-left corner. Then I add clips around. I don't follow the traditional Ableton process which consists of building the project set from the top to the bottom, and from left to right.
I reach a mess pretty quickly, in a sense that the project is full of different arrangements and reacts in its own logical way. For me it's comparable to the process of painting or sculpture. My method was similar while I was a student in art school. At this point I have a project which includes maybe 50 different types of arrangements, recordings (real instruments, loops of samples, samples played with a keyboard), variations, bridges, coda, a variety of sound design, transformations or whatever. I can choose the right direction/color of the track. It's a painful moment because I have to reject half or more of the ideas I have generated for the project. Most of the time I keep more than I really need!
Then it's time to reorganize the project (still in the session view) from top left corner to the bottom, with the assorted arrangements and sequenced right. Then I record what I'm playing from the session view to the arrangement view (for those who don't know Ableton live, the sequencer is divided in both view, session view, for jam and live act with the clips, and arrangement view, more timeline sequencer oriented), and create something like a 15 or sometimes 20 minutes track/impro. Then, I arrange that in a formatted club track time, between 5 to 8 minutes. Sometimes I work on both versions. Then I equalize and mix the track.
I made a bonus version of this track (digital only), which is less playful, more of a dj tool, and it's a good complement to the original version.
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MOSSA
Looking through my old files and scrapings from the bottom of my drawer, I sometimes find some forgotten projects, not initially worthy of sharing and left alone to rot. They are an armada, careless about being quarantined and tossed away. From time to time, my ears and brain get rebooted and it’s always nice to revisit them and hear what they have to say since their isolation. Giving a second chance to some seems like the right thing to do; I then pull them out of the drawer, into the sunlight and put them back in action.
Strangely, it happens that one of them finds its way back in the sequencer and becomes alive again, blooming with sounds, textures and old frequencies. Heather's Feathers is one of them. With a little refurbishing, it still remains the same but with a subtle face-lift that makes it worthy of sharing in the end. This retro-active process makes me think how ephemeral or even timeless music can be. It reminds me of the rediscovery of oldies or b-sides and how or why we put them back in the DJ bag for the next gig. The feeling is perhaps romantic but brings us back to the desire of embracing the essential.
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SEAN "COBRA" KRAMES
4 cities and many upon many records later I'm feeling I have the tunes I need to make something happen with this concept "In The Beginning" that I've built up in my head. I've been stalling on creating this mix until I felt the ammunition was appropriately gathered and conceived. Making a mix of House Music is not a feat to be treaded upon lightly. I thought of the time Junior Sanchez played for us in the basement of 205 for three hours of tune for tune bliss. I thought of DJ Dara in Public Assembly recently as i walk in to Jess telling me he had just finished an all vinyl House set, "New York oldies," what a time that must have been. I thought of seeing Frankie Knuckles in The Warehouse and what it must have felt like to see these processes occurring right before your very eyes. I thought of what I have seen, what I could have saw, and what I've missed.
I've collected a lot of House records recently in an attempt to re-inspire myself and my direction. There has always been something about seeking out the tunes you want to play and then satisfyingly setting the stylus down and hearing them in a new way. I've found many of the Original 12" labels on my mp3's to be a falsity, and there is excitement when I discover the track to have a little something more than I had heard before.
The 20 records I've presented in this mix were discovered in New York City, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Sifting through many a dusty bin and crate has given me a much greater appreciation for the content presented on "In The Beginning" and I believe the mix serves as an introduction into the world of House Music. Acid, Jack, Feel Good, Techno, Disco, Diva and Gospel are all touched on in one form or another within the mix. I believe this is important when creating a conceptual explanation for a genre of music.
I chose to re-edit and post produce the mix in order to present the tracks in a cohesive model. I recorded directly from vinyl w/ out altering the eq in order to present the best version of each tune as it fits into the greater purpose. I was careful not to replicate any artist or record label in an effort to demonstrate the vast array of House Music that has been released since its inception. I tried to create a balance in the mix of underground and popular tracks. I feel that it helps the average listener to enjoy the songs that they may not know far more when they have a reference point to associate with.
Here are some highlights from the track list that I feel deserve special attention:
Track 3: Laura - I find the rap on this record to be very interesting in its content, "I wish they'd all just go away!"
Track 7: Black Traxx - This was the only track on the record produced by Wayne Williams. All other tracks were produced by Four On The Floor Productions.
Track 8: Wayne & Jayne - The original track is a late 70's rockabilly tune named "Fuck Off!!" It's on the A side of the vinyl. Also included is "Berlin," which has a very dark no wave sound to it. Amazing record all in all.
Track 12: Blind Truth - This record was produced by Arthur Baker. I recently brought it with me on tour and left it at a friends house. Luckily I was able to get it back before making this mix. I find it to be great in its composition and proves true that Arthur Baker is an amazing producer.
Track 16: Thelma Houston - This is a great example of Disco House. The remix is great and uses so much of the original track. I highly recommend finding the track in its entirety. I had to edit this one down to the key points, but the remix is thick with the original tune.
Track 20: The Lil' DJ Anthony Acid - There is a deep low rolling bassline in this track I find to be incredible. Its seems to be so ahead of its time and I found myself stoned and just entranced by the track, I knew they called it Acid House for a reason.
01) Shawn Christopher - Night For Love (Club Mix) - Rama Records - ??
02) Beat System - To A Brighter Day (O' Happy Day) (Wag Ya Tail 12" Mix) - Full Frequency Range Recordings - 1993
03) Laura - Come Into My House (Various Kinds Of House Mix) (Rap - The Don) - Chicken Scratch Records - 1990
04) The Jam Machine - Funky (Let's Go) (Afro Beats) - Karisma - 1987
05) Steve "Silk" Hurley - House Train (Chicago Mix) - Jack Trax - 1987
06) Brother Makes 3 - Do You Wanna Dance? (2 In A Mix) - Cardiac Records - 1991
07) Black Traxx Vol. 6 - Do U Wanna Fuck (Prod by Wayne Williams & Stephen George) - Night Club Records - ??
08) Wayne & Jayne - (If You Don't Wanna Fuck Me, Baby) Fuck Off!! (The Presta Fuck Me Mix) - Royalty Records - 1993
09) LNR - Work It To The Bone (Bone-A-Pella) - Profile Records - 1989
10) DJ EFX - Is It Like My Dil-Doe? (Tribal As A MoFo) - Strictly Rhythm - 1993
11) Pirates Of The Caribbean Vol. II - Cha-Cha (Casa-Cabesa Mix) (Prod by Armand Van Helden) - AV8 Records - 1994
12) Blind Truth - BoomBaata (BoomBatta Remix) (Prod by Arthur Baker) - Big Big Trax - 1994
13) L.A. Style - James Brown Is Dead (Take Outs) - Watts Music - 1991
14) Juice - Do Its Right! (The Route 66 Remixes) (Funkin' For Italia) - Stress Records - 1992
15) Black Box - Not Anyone (Kamasutra Remix) - Groove Groove Melody - 1994
16) Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way (Junior Sound Factory Mix) - Dig It International - 1995
17) Ralphi Rosario Presents SK-TA - Running Away Club - Trax Records - 1990
18) Lidell Townsell - Nu Nu (Nu Apella) - Mercury Records - 1992
19) Milo - 90,000 B.C. (Cro-Magnon Cave Mix) - Raw Records - 1989
20) The Lil' DJ Anthony Acid - Rock And Boogie Down (Electric Warehouse Mix) - Breaking Bones Records - 1989
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TOUANE
Forgetting the frame.
Touane on "Bill", his track from the Omonymous ep released Nov. 23rd, 2008 on Persona Records.
By hanging out in clubs, enjoying beers in German kneipen (pubs), and in general by living in Berlin, an ongoing kick drum in 4/4 time is the sharerd universal soundtrack of time spent in most social situations. In the music I make in the morning sometimes this frame acts just as a footprint, a blurred impression that persisted overnight, while the other elements revolt and take up more space.
Sometimes, creating a frame is huge work, only to notice in the end that the best thing is the actual happening and recording of this sublimation. When making music, I often accumulate so many elements on top of this frame, that it becomes a fight with the steady 4/4 beat, and from time to time it takes over.
Technically, I usually proceed by creating a surrounding, a reverb of the more airy elements: these allow me to hide the percussive sub tones I normally build at first to create the skeleton of the groove. Also, psycho-acoustic elements pave the way: by actually side chaining all the ambiance to the kick or to a percussive bass, I am allowed to lower the volume of those elements that in an ordinary dance track take 90% of the available dynamics, and that's what I mean about just leaving a "print " of them. You hear the effects slightly disappear once the kick hits, but no one gets hurt, and still you feel something in your stomach.
Let's say I try not to pursue loudness but intensity.
The other part of making music with this approach is a search for organics, where the electronic music does not necessarily recall chemical synapses or futuristic time travel experiences, but actually speaks through the sound of the earth: I want my sound to be real, even though it may seem spaced out after a first listen. It has to recall something living and constantly evolving, like a life form.
Sampling is partly how I achieve this. By sampling, I do not necessarily mean getting sounds from other records. It can also mean using background noises or just the reverberations of well known recordings to develop a kind of subliminal tone that you do not hear or distinguish although you feel it, especially if it gets interrupted for a small fraction of time every now and then, coinciding with or anticipating climaxes.
When I listen to most techno music around now I see it is definitely built as a wall or a house, with bricks, bricks, bricks. It's a matter of what you search for and want to achieve with it. It's a matter of what time you make music and also definitely a matter of how you see things, too. On my side, most constantly, I happen to fade in and out elements rather than muting them: this allows them to appear as though one is coming out of the other...to suggest even more a developing movement, similar to life and growth, like a plant. In this way, the frame acts like small wood sticks meant to hold its growth, to sustain and help the small trenches to climb to the sky...
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ZNTN
My creative process is about inspiration and gathering. I'm not a musician, I don't know how to play an instrument or read music. I'm a geek, a librarian - I've always enjoyed music and collect and read about it frenetically. I'm so obsessed by it that I try to create it - usually by mimicking artists I like. I study their patterns, how the instruments interact, and I think of them as gears on a machine punching in time. Of course this imitation is distorted by my own experiences and failures to achieve the same results creating what I'd see as my signature.
For the same reason I enjoy the so called "dance music" (whatever it's genre), it has a function which is not subjective as you have results and it can be seen as a tool.
Usually this process starts by hearing a certain track or seeing a certain dj perform that inspires me and I try to lay some bass lines on a virtual drum machine and picture how something was done. I listen to as much "rock" music as "electronic" so I like to take emphasis on their connection. Usually when editing a rock song I treat it as electronica. I take some basses and loop them, make the breakdowns more intense, add a more pulsating beat and redo the structure to sound more like a track. At the same time when handling electronica, I like to treat it as a rock song, focusing melody and mood and many times adding classic pop structures like AABA, etc. By the same fact I'm inspired by music trends that unite these two sides, I quite enjoy the concept of DIY and people who try to jump from one side to the other - I'm talking about northern soul's black roots, to the groove present in post-punk and industrial or (vice versa) the DIY, punk aesthetic of early house and techno.
The following set was recorded "live" in my living room last night at 3 am so I apologize for any mistakes. The track list is very conceptual as it represents a list of musicians, producers, djs, friends or/and labels that influence me and some of my material.
As for the hardware I used one Technics 1200, one CDjj 800, one Vestax 175 mixer and a Kaos Pad3.
01. Chemical Brothers. - Battle scars (Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve remix) WHITE
02. Mantronix - Bassline (ZNTN edit) CDR
03. Medusa Edits - Mouth 2 mouth (edit from SPK's Mouth to mouth) WHITE
04. ZNTN - 92 CDR
05. Photonz - Trembler (Discodeine remix) Dark and Lovely
06. Clouded Vision - Outside (ZNTN rework) CDR
07. Slight Delay - Club bombs Rong
08. Severed Heads - Greater Reward (dub, Betty Botox edit) Endless Flight
09. Lil' Louis - Videoclash Souljazz
10. Plastique de Reve Ft. Ghoststape - Lost in the city Death From Abroad
11. Pete Shelley - Witness the change / I don't know what love is (dub,
Glimmers edit) Eskimo
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CLAUDIO FABRIANESI
I made this mix using vinyl records and it is divided in two parts. The first half is mental and relaxing, almost a kind of silent introduction to the second half, which is built around more deep and obscure techno sounds.
The mix begins and finishes with a few seconds of a recording in a rain forest, taken from a Joe Claussel production on Sacred Rhythm. I'm so proud to say that the track from Commodity Place is contained in the first EP of my label, Còclea Music Ltd.
I recorded this mix in Donato Dozzy's Studio in S.Felice Circeo, a place full of inspirations, that is not far from Rome, the city in which I live. I like to think about music as public property. I think that every serious dj has to love music without falling into definitions of genre. We live in a digital era but, as dj's, still have the right to say: that's good, that's bad.
A very Special Thanks to Donato and Rayna, without whom I couldn't have released this mix for your ears.
01. Future Sound of London - Far Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madma
02. Shed - The Lower Upside Down
03. Commodity Place - Not Ordinary Day
04. 7027 - The Pace
05. Jaydee - Plastic Dreams (Audion can't go Home Mix)
06. Kenny Larkin - Bassmode (Carl Craig Mix)
07. Masomenos - What is This?
08. Scan X - Prism
09. Savas Pascalidis - Vapors
10. Phase - At First Light
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