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| Central Leicester, February 2016 |
As promised/threatened, here’s a themed playlist of some of the music that has filled my sound environment as I’ve worked on my artwork lately. Everything here can be labeled Dub Techno,
and, whilst it’s not all I’ve been playing, - it is a form I’ve immersed myself
in plenty of at the moment. The first
few images bear no direct relation to the music under discussion, but somehow
seem to chime with the general spirit of it.
I harvested them at the same location in Leicester, recently, and
already regard of them as a rather pleasing little self-contained suite.
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| Central Leicester, February 2016 |
For those uncultivated by the micro-management of electronic music genres, Dub Techno (unsurprisingly)
involves the combining of an often strictly-metred Techno aesthetic, with a Dubwise
exploration of bass heaviness and sonic space, as explored by certain Jamaican
studio pioneers in the 70s. As a
definable entity, it emerged some time around 1993 through the innovation of a
select group of Germans, but really amounts to a kind of three-way conversation
across time and space, between Kingston, Detroit and Berlin.
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| Central Leicester, February 2016 |
Dub Techno has proved surprisingly enduring as a style, even
if it lacks too much forward movement these days. It implies, by its very nature, the almost
endless plundering of a fairly limited palette of musical tropes, and has thus
proved readily adoptable, (in sometimes diluted form), by an increasingly
international army of producers.
However, I would argue that inherent conservatism might also be, in some ways, its greatest strength. By embracing the
idea of relentless reinterpretation of minimal sources early on, and by
generally prioritising the opening of internal mental spaces over an imperative
to always be seeking novelty, it also insulated itself, paradoxically,
against the notion of short attention spans.
You either buy into this kind of steady state model, or you don’t. On a more superficial level: who doesn’t
enjoy a good echo – rolling on into infinity?
Dub Techno is bursting with ‘em.
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| Central Leicester, February 2016 |
Perhaps part of my
own fascination with the form is because the overriding attitude to
open-endedness and a spirit of ‘the-same-but-different’, syncs well with some of my own current artistic interests.
Anway, genre analysis is a pretty fruitless pastime ultimately, so
it’s far more instructive to simply get on with absorbing the music itself.
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| Central Leicester, February 2016 |
Maurizio: ‘MCD’
In the beginning was
Basic Channel, - the Berlin-based production team and associated label, of Mark
Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald. And, at
the start of that - around 1993, was a series of much - lauded 12-inch vinyls,
released under the Maurizio banner.
There’s something a bit austere and aristocratically aloof about these
two, but that also reflects the spare elegance, thorough attention to detail,
and immaculate quality control characterising most things they’ve laid
hands on over the years.
Early on, the Basic
Channel sound was generally one of minimal rigour, placing the emphasis far more
on the Techno side of the equation, than the Dub.
Indeed, those with an aversion to persistent, strictly metered 4/4
rhythms, or who listen on small, tinny speakers without much middle-range, might soon find this stuff quite tiring. Personally, I find something mesmerising in
it, and enjoy how you can hear an evolving engagement with the softening,
broadening effects of echo, and certain melodic modifiers, as the series
unfolds. It’s a bit like witnessing a
thorough R&D production phase.
Those Germans, - eh?.
The ‘MCD’ compilation brings together a
significant selection of the ‘M-Series’,
some in edited form, and is probably the best way to get a handle on
the origins of Dub Techno as its stylistic conventions were being
codified. Physical artifact fans,
without the time or resources to track down individual tracks on vinyl, need to
source a decent used CD copy these days, - but it’s all easily downloadable or
YouTube-able.
Rhythm & Sound:
‘Rhythm & Sound’
If ‘M’ music was mostly a Techno thing,
Ernestus & von Moritz’s Rhythm & Sound project clearly looked towards Jamaica. Retaining
the spare elegance that is their trademark, they
constructed a highly engaging up-date of the 1980s Digi-Dub template. The productions on this miraculous
compilation strip away all extraneous clutter, to concentrate on recognisably
Reggae-derived bass lines, snare splashes, and a world of ringing echoes worthy
of Tubby or Scratch themselves. The
album is pretty much essential, in my view, - illustrating all the major aspects
of the genre, still prior to their being fully set in stone. It would be my one-to-save, should all the
others on this list be swept away -‘Desert
Island Discs’ -style.
An obvious
feature of the R&S material is a slowing of tempo, - sometimes to a steady skank, as on a track like ‘Mango
Drive’. Elsewhere, the pace slows even
further, to create a textural, smoked-out ambience, as in ‘Distance’; in which shadowy figures seem to move in slow
motion. ‘Roll-Off’ and ‘Imprint’
seem composed from little more than the shifting air movements in dense, herbal
smoke. Later R&S releases paid their
dues by showcasing the conscious vocal contributions of such luminaries as Joseph Cotton and Sugar Minott. Most of these tracks are instrumental, but Savage’s
voice reasons thoughtfully from the track, ‘Smile’.
Fluxion: ‘Vibrant
Forms’
Many regard ‘Vibrant Forms’ as a key release on Chain Reaction, - the imprint that Ernestus & von Oswald established in the wake of Basic Channel. Fluxion itself is the nom de plume of Greek producer Kostas Soublis, and this 1999, release is an excellent compilation of early Chain Reaction tracks under that name.
First
impressions and inattentive listening might give the impression
of a series of steady-state bangers that don’t necessarily go anywhere
much. Pay more heed however, (through
proper equipment), and a wealth of subtle nuance and gradual mutation emerge
within each piece. Most impressive of
all, is the sheer, cavernous depth of Soublis’ productions. Whereas some fill up their music with
multiple layers of textural, fug, here he was excavating vast, resonating
chambers of sound, whose components seem located at specific points in implied space. Bung this through headphones, and you can
wander around inside it for miles.
Porter Ricks: ‘Bionkinetics’
This one’s from
three years earlier, and may be held by some in even higher regard within the Chain Reaction canon. Porter Ricks
is the creative alliance of Sound Engineer Andy Mellwig and Sound-Art
Designer Thomas Köner, so it’s no surprise that the main focus is on purely sonic
characteristics rather than traditional genre-associations or ‘narrative’
arc. In some respects, the album sounds
like an even more abstract predecessor to ‘Vibrant
Forms’, and one that equally repays careful listening. Certain track titles suggest a nautical
theme, although it’s not really an association I’d have made unaided. However, ‘Biokinetics’
does represent a voyage of discovery across an ocean of sound, and certainly
fits the Dub Techno bill by lending Techno’s mechanical underpinnings an
altogether more enveloping aspect.
Pole: ‘1’, ‘2’,
‘3’
If Basic Channel pioneered the dubbing-up of Minimal Techno, a slightly tangential approach was taken by Stefan Betke, aka Pole, - and the other artists associated with his Berlin-based -scape imprint. Famously, Betke utilsed a damaged and malfunctioning Waldorf 4-Pole filter, (no, me neither), to tap into the Clicks & Cuts vibe, - capitalising on the fallibility of technology, and subverting the supposed seamlessness of the machine ethic.
Betke’s intuited
how that latent conceptualism might be applied within a Dub context; building
rhythm patterns from the crackles, hisses and pops of his faulty equipment, - then
combining them with deep, maternal bass and reductive synth stabs. One possible interpretation is of music operating
on an almost molecular level. It was a
winning formula, best sampled on his first three, numbered and colour-coded
albums, ‘1’ (blue), ‘2’ (red), and ‘3’ (yellow). I first encountered
these via Leicester’s wonderful Goldsmiths’s Music & Drama Library, around the turn the
century, - and have loved them ever since. The deleted single discs were compiled into a
grey-coloured CD box set in 2008, but frustratingly, on a fairly limited
release. Back to discogs.com it is,
then.
Deadbeat: ‘Wildlife Documentaries’
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| Deadbeat (Scott Monteith), In Full Effect |
Canadian producer
Scott Monteith, Aka Deadbeat, is a close associate of Betke, and this album –
released on –scape in 2003, shares some of that distinctive Pole
aesthetic. However, Monteith has always maintained
an essentially old-school sensibility, carving a career from exploring
various facets of the Reggae, Techno and House traditions within the
context of his contemporary production skills.
Everything he does retains an analogue warmth, - with each of his albums often
exhibiting a specific stylistic or thematic identity. Actual songs are not unknown within the
Deadbeat canon, on occasion. I’ve never met
a Deadbeat record I didn’t get on with, but this little beauty gets my vote for
its inclusion of the gorgeous, Hammond-driven, ‘Organ In The Attic Sings The Blues’.
It’s immaculate, approachable stuff, and even my old Mum likes this
one.
Deepchord Presents Echospace: ‘The
Coldest Season’
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| The Echospacemen: (L.): Rod Modell, (R.): Stephen Hitchell |
Okay, - this could
get a bit complicated. Deepchord is a
name adopted by Detroit-based producer Rod Modell, (who also works under his
own name), - originally in conjunction with Mike Schommer, but now as a largely
solo entity. Echospace is the name both
of a record label and a regular collaborative arrangement between Deepchord and
Chicagoan, Stephen Hitchell. Modell and Hitchell also work together as CV313,
whilst Hitchell himself releases work as Soultek, Variant, and
probably a host of other aliases I’m not even aware of. Other people may or may not be involved at
various points, and exactly what distinction ‘Deepchord Presents Echospace’
implies, - I’m not exactly sure. To add
to the complexity, everyone within their orbit seems to remix each other’s material,
- apparently into infinity. Dub was
always about the versions, of course.
Whatever the
internal dynamics, Modell and Hitchell form key figures in what amounts to a significant American
nexus of the genre, (just as Basic Channel and -scape did in Berlin). Significantly, Modell’s own roots go deep
into Detroit Techno, whilst Hitchell’s Chicago origins place him in an equally
significant geo-musical context. Taken
broadly, the Echospace sound might be said to take all the familiar Dub Techno components,
- be they rhythmic or atmospheric, and recombine them into something truly
immersive. It can be ethereal
or aquatic by turns, whilst a specific sense of place or unifying theme often prevails, -
not least through Modell’s occasional incorporation of field recordings into
the mix. Even, at its least specific,
the Echospace sound always resembles something deeply felt and connected
to a particular context.
‘The Coldest Season’, (from 2007), is generally labeled their masterpiece. It hangs together beautifully as an extended
play, - with tracks morphing out of each other in a thoroughly engaging,
continuous mix. It may be the associations
of the title, but there does seem to be a colder edge about this one, with clouds
of granular hiss filling the opener, ‘First
Point Of Airies’, rather like glistening ice crystals. Tiny percussive splashes resemble the drips
of melt-water at certain points, whilst, elsewhere, certain ambiences evoke howling
wind or frozen voids. Things become
gradually more urgent as the album progresses, but at no point does any rhythm
become either overpowering or inorganic. ‘Aequinoxium’ seems to resonate from the
interior of a hollow ice-formation, whilst ‘Elysian’
feels like hundreds of rubber balls bouncing down a glacier. My only (small) reservation is with one or
two slightly cheesy track titles. ‘Sunset’, guys? Really?
CV313: ‘Dimensional Space’
I’ll be honest, I find it almost impossible to get my head around the multiplicity of versions, remixes, and configurations that characterise Echospace music overall. The distinctions between different projects may be somewhat abstruse and technologically derived, but I can only assume they mean something to the producers themselves. CV313 appears to be a project largely driven by Stephen Hitchell, but one in which Modell, amongst others has clearly had plenty of involvement. Certainly, he played an important part in shaping this, - the first CV313 album. That process was itself a pretty tortuous one, with the original tapes, (dating back to 1998), being submerged by floodwater for some time. That seems a delicious irony, - given the submersive nature of the music. Anyway, what material could be salvaged was painstakingly reconstructed and finally released as ‘Dimensional Space’ in 2007.
The CD version is
a double disc affair, comprising 80 minutes of original material, and a further
selection of remixes of the track ‘Subtraktive’,
by the likes of King Midas Sound and Brock Van Wey, as well as Modell and
Hitchell themselves. Sonically, there
are no massive surprises, - just another extended feast of undulating
atmospherics and lovingly sculpted soundwaves.
However, whilst the CV313 sound may often place itself at the more ambient end
of the scale, it never loses a sense of rhythmic propulsion, or its
links with the Detroit Techno tradition. Interestingly, Hitchell has himself stated that this feels more relevant to him than any tangible Jamaican connection
Variant: ‘Vortextual (Element 1 & 2)’
These two discs
arrived on my doormat in spartan, but attractive packaging, - bearing next to no
information. What is clear is that
Stephen Hitchell’s Variant project is even more strongly engaged with the ambient extremes of Dub Techno. Echospace
music is sometimes dismissed glibly as flotation tank fodder, but that really
doesn’t do this justice. For all its
drifting washes of sound, undulating bass, gently pulsing rhythms, sonic vapour
and echoing ambience, this stuff rewards engaged listening far more than passive
consumption.
Each ‘Element’ is a single piece, and they
extend the basic template of the most ambient Rhythm & Sound material, over
hour-long durations, to achieve a form of elevation beyond mere stoned
hypnosis. Devoid of clearly defined
structure, both pieces still mutate through numerous shifting phases, filled
with captivating fine detail. Rather
than feeling deliberately conceived as Ambient music, each feels more like
something originally chunkier, or with sharper definition, - now polished to a
semi-transparent state. Suffice it to say, 'Elements Zero', '3' & '4' are currently on order.
Pendle Coven: ‘Self Assessment’
Miles Whittaker is
one half of the Demdike Stare production team.
However, like most others here, he’s no stranger to multiple collaborations or releases under several solo aliases, - and has an extensive back
catalogue to rival the best. Pendle
Coven sees him join forces with Gary Howell to explore various musical models beyond
the suggested occult darkness of the project’s name. Despite a slightly forbidding intro, the
tracks compiled here in 2009 constitute a crisp, contemporary take on these styles, from the Step workout of ‘Unit
6’, or the elastic, Technoid bounce of ‘MVD
Chamber’, - to the nearly-Ambient ‘Chord
Calculus’. Certain other pieces, like
‘Modern Mode’, seem to stir a Jazzier
ingredient into the cauldron. ‘Self Assessment’
might be something of a mixed bag, but I find it a satisfying listen, (and
great to drive to, for some reason).
Conclusion:
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| 'Vestige 1', Acrylics, Paper Collage, Ink, Spray Enamel, French Polish & Misc. Solvents On Panel. 60 cm X 60 cm, 2016 |
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