The submerged Fisher Price screaming buried in the wall of noise of Fuck Buttons' Colours Move has the power to divide audiences, or at least the sort of people who leave comments on Youtube:
I love it, of course, but then, as those who know me can testify, I am not averse to the odd bout of shrieking myself: as well as the elephant noises that came with Andre Kraml's original parts, the breakdown of James Holden's remix of Safari (out on Crosstown Rebels back in 2004, so it might take some tracking down) also features additional monkey noises provided by my good self, animal impersonator extraordinaire. In the end I didn't get my credit on the vinyl (I will have to take that up with my agent, I suppose), but Mr Luke Abbott has hinted that he may have cause to call on my services in the near future, so it looks like my career in animal impersonation isn't over just yet...
Dropping a Fuck Buttons track in a club DJ set can be a similarly divisive act, so no surprises that our man Holden has made something of a habit of doing just that ('The Lisbon Maru', Surf Solar, 'Rough Steez', or Bright Tomorrow, perhaps, but thus far no 'Colours Move' - now that really would melt some heads!). But does there really have to be this great chasm between "dance" and "not dance"? And if such a fault line even exists, then collectively I think we ought to do all that we can to narrow it.
Edging towards us from the other side of the canyon is Fuck Button's own Andrew Hung, whose acquaintance we finally made at Four Tet's funnest-ever club-concert mash-up at the Tufnell Park Village Hall (I mean the Dome). And just how snugly the tectonic plates are rubbing up against one other will be revealed at our next Border Community night on 5th March, when the Buttons' electronic troubador will steer the Corsica Studios main room through his own danceable territory, which I have a feeling we may find looks rather similar to the landscape of Holden country (a bit like Scotland and New Zealand, if you will).
Captain James Holden, Avus, Petter, Kate Wax, Ed Chamberlain and Falling From Cloud 9 will also be joining us for the trip, so book your tickets here, and don't forget your advance check in here. Your holiday reading list will follow forthwith.
i think the term is 'melt faces'. "O+S - Permanent Scar" is a good example too of genre ligase needed to fix the okasaki gaps in the code between the dance and not dance dna.
The countdown to our next Corsica Studios shindig on 5th March has begun (line up: James Holden, Fuck Buttons (DJ set), Avus, Falling From Cloud 9 (live), Ed Chamberlain, Kate Wax and Petter - phew!), which means that it is also time for us to coax another guest mix from one of our crew. Kindly soul Avus has obliged: his dependable warm-up sets were a permanent fixture of the End mainroom during our old residency, so it is about time we invited him and his future Moog anthems from his upcoming Border Community EP to grace the hallowed Corsica decks. And what better way to celebrate than by uploading a new mix to Mixcloud, in which Avus wheels out his mainroom big guns in preparation:
Avus - We Fear Silence Mix February 2010 1) Avus – Little Adventures 2) Jared Wilson – Last Two 3) NathanFake – Fentiger 4) Paul Bennett – Backbreaker 5) Falling From Cloud Nine – 80 6) Luke Abbott – Whitebox Stereo 7) Agoria – Magnolia 8) Craig Loftis – Yes it’s right 9) Avus – Poppy 10) Entro Seenestre – Glazed 11) Ratsnake – When It’s Late 12) Regis – Ital 13) Surgeon – Screw The Roses 14) Four Tet - Love Cry
As well as a sneak peak at some of the gems contained within Avus' precious forthcoming 'Poppy EP', you may also have spotted a taster of what to expect from the early doors live set from the mysterious Falling From Cloud 9, aka Northampton's Luke Print, friend and musical cohort of our own Northampton man Avus. We can vouch that Luke's one-man live show is of a decidedly kraut-tinged, danceable bent having previously caught him in his hometown, and naturally we'd advise you to get down to Corsica early to see for yourself, not least because a special Border Community-related surprise that ought not to be missed is apparently also in the works...
And as well as the Northampton massive, and our own James Holden, we have yet more guests to offer the humble Corsica visitor on 5th March: topping the bill comes Andrew Hung of the mighty Fuck Buttons with a rare club DJ set showcasing his exemplary musical taste. Whilst one Button (Mr Benjamin John Power) grew up on a diet of Mogwai, the other (our on-call DJ Andrew) apparently travelled a more electronic path through Aphex-ville (this scenario sounds familiar...). Last week we managed to catch him in his more typical between-bands setting at Eat Your Own Ears' Esben & The Witch show, and I can confirm that his taste is indeed extremely "on message", right down to Holdy-Holden's 'Idiot' played at the right (slow) speed!
Meanwhile, over in the other room, we have nailed down our elusive techno wanderer Petter for a family reunion, dragging him off the Swedish party train to play room host for the evening: and it is about time that we all caught up on whatever it is he has been up to lately! We're also extremely excited to welcome Switzerland's Kate Wax into the fold (for the evening, and beyond!) with another rare DJ set outing, as she swaps the studio for the club, taking some time out from the preparations for her vocally-exhilirating new album. And last but by no means least, my beloved British electronica underground is also represented by Avus-fave Ed Chamberlain, he of the twinkle-encrusted electro-breaks as heard at the yearly BLOC workouts.
And no Corsica shakedown would be complete without a visit from the inimitable An'Unexpectacle, who I believe is currently plotting around a glove customisation theme, whilst my not-at-all-confusing Community Cast-Off Tombola will also be returning for a refined second run featuring yet more thrilling prizes on a Border Community (and guests!) tip for those early birds. Those advance tickets are available now from Ticketweb for just £10, or more on the door: so get thee there!
Homecoming king Nathan Fake went back to his roots this weekend, with his first proper hometown gig in Norwich's distinctive Arts Centre last Friday. James and I had a prior engagement in Paris so couldn't be there to witness this momentous occasion, but fortunately my glamorous assistant Rosana did make it along, with camera in tow, to bring us a taste of what we all missed (below).
Extremely able support on the night came from fellow Norfucker and Border Community brother Luke Abbott, whilst adopted son Dan Tombs pitched in on visual duties. Luke even spotted someone in the crowd who had plumped for a pair of wellies for their gig-going attire: only in Norfolk, one might think, but I'm guessing it probably had something to do with the recent return of the snows...
Norwich Arts Centre: from the outside it may look like a church, but if you chose to venture inside last Friday night you would have been greeted with this:
Luke making lot of amazing noise while Dan plays with his colours. I wonder if all Friday nights are like this in Norwich?
This is something I have been meaning to do for a while: a list of some of our favourite podcasts to fill a rainy day downloading, as I do my bit to spread the word by way of thanks for all the fantastic music they have deposited on our server. I just hope your bandwidth can take it!
Marvin Suicide Marvin Suicide's half hour weekly show for London's wonderful Resonance FM is also available as a collectible take-home podcast; but what is most amazing about each top-notch tune-packed dispatch is that all of the music featured has been found for free and legal download on the internet (from netlabels and the like), without ever having to compromise on quality. Marvin has a funny farmer-voice too, although I suspect that he might be putting that on for the radio...
One of my favorites is Tycho's http://blog.iso50.com/ Not so much a pod casting blog but the Scott & crew posts some really great music along with its daily design posts.
Best understood as a companion piece to the original video for Whitebox Stereo, Mikey is up to his old quirky tricks with his Off-Whitebox contribution, coming up with a unique audio-visual reinterpretation where a largely new cinematic creation is synced with what began life as a remix of Luke's Whitebox Stereo club banger. Those mischevious animal head people that rushed the stage during Luke's set at our last Corsica Studios night make another starring appearance, stealing the show once more with their headonistic antics, and leaving us more than a little confused in the process!
Clearly it is no longer enough to simply have a remix, or a music video; an audio-visual reinterpretation that succinctly ticks both of the boxes in one go is the truly post-modern response! And this isn't the first time that the multi-talented Mr Michael Page has pulled off this impressive media-splicing feat: you may also remember his neat little micro-edit cut-up that complemented his original video for Luke Abbott's 'Melody120' so perfectly. Consider that creative gauntlet thrown defiantly down...
Nathan Fake may have missed Christmas this year in favour of a quick tour of Japan, but his parents will be pleased to know that he will be visiting home soon for a catch-up, thanks to a timely gig in Norwich on January 29th. Norfolk's electronic prince makes a welcome return to the Shire to kick off the Norwich Art Centre's new regular electronica night Spectro in a fittingly homegrown fashion: support comes from Border Community's other Norfolk rare breed Luke Abbott, whilst adopted son Dan Tombs pops up on visual duties in a showcase that the locals can be truly proud of. Tickets are available now for £8 via the Norwich Arts Centre website.
Spectro's contribution to Norfolk's buzzy arts scene continues apace on March 26th, when DC Recordings' own ambassador for the burgeoning British electronic underground Kelpe is in town, and bi-monthly thereafter with artists yet to be revealed. All sounds right up our street so far!
High up on my list of first-day-back-in-the-office duties has to be extending a big thankyou to the Die Registratur crew for organising last Thursday's Happy New Border Community shindig in Munich: we really couldn't have hoped for a better location in which to see in the New Year. An optimistic gem from the fifties recently restored in an equally forward-looking, sensitive fashion, the Alte Kongresshalle is truly an awesome building, and the prospect of doing more parties in such an amazing location does I suppose just about make up for the unfortunate loss of the near-perfect former Die Registratur cosy club nest.
Come the midnight hour, we took ourselves outside to the open area infront of the building for the obligatory fireworks free-for-all, where much to our surprise it emerged that us Brits are considerably more uptight around these miniature charges of gunpowder than our German cousins. A far cry from our eminently sensible roped-off public Bonfire night displays, the whole thing seemed rather haphazard to our eyes, as rockets were shoved into an upturned beer crate at a jaunty angle and set off just metres from the free-roaming crowd (as the photo below is intended to show). The British contingent slowly realised that we were collectively edging backwards away from the explosions, a lifetime worth of government public service fireworks advice echoing in our ears. As VJ Dan put it, "Where is the metal box to hold the unlit fireworks?!".
But our hosts certainly weren't alone in their laidback approach to fireworks, as this was a scene we could see and hear being repeated all over Munich, not least on the Oktoberfest site across the road - and indeed all over Germany. By the morning the streets are quite literally littered with the incriminating debris. And here was me thinking that if anything the Germans might be even more Health and Safety conscious than our good selves!!
James' impending DJ set provided a welcome excuse to retreat back to the safety of indoors, where he delivered up his first selection of the evening. And then, with a quick blast of My Girls, all too soon it was over, as James handed over the baton to the jovial Phil Kieran and his quirky TV screen glasses, and we had to say our goodbyes and head out onto the cold dark road to Berlin. Avus and Luke Abbott were yet to deliver their musical resolutions, and it really was a shame to have to leave; a couple of photos borrowed from Kat provide my only clue as to what they all got up to once we had left:
(The giant 'K' emblazoned on the wall might initially appear to be tantamount to writing the letter 'E' everywhere during the early 90s, so I do feel at this juncture it is important to point out that it is not intended as a drugs reference: K stands for Kongresshalle, replacing the R of the old Registratur logo in a subtle rebrand to go with the relocation. Honest!)
The cold snap that has engulfed Europe this year might have been well-timed for White Christmas fans, but it hasn't worked at all in our favour, as we faced fog, blizzards, snow, slush and ice, and added an hour to our already tight journey time. Thank goodness for sturdy German auto-engineering and Oliver's confident handling, piloting James to his second appointment as swiftly as was humanly possible whilst the precious DJ cargo slept like a baby in the back seat. He woke up just in time to spot the Avus Motel on the outskirts of Berlin, before readying himself to relieve Akufen from trawling the depths of his record bag as he gamely tried to hold onto the thinning Weekend crowd.
That beloved tower-block-top location might be great for gazing out over the ever-changing Berlin cityscape, but it must be said that it is slightly less so in the cold light of the after-hours break of day, and only the most far-gone of rave zombies could ignore the winter sun's massive glaring hint to head home. But as long as people are still dancing, James is more than happy to play his favourite records at them, and so he obliged with an indulgent alternative gentle selection that he just doesn't get to play out often enough, until the curfew was finally enforced just in time for the first luncheon of 2010.
What's with the records James doesn't play out regularly? Has this something to do with the crowd? In my opinion he throws himself in front of the lions as the Dutch saying goes.. ;) James got to do what he got to do, play tunes whenever/wherever/whatever he wants and feels! Greetings from Holland! Really looking forward to the 2 days off in Rotterdam & Amsterdam in february!
greetings from holland indeed. bring that shit on back to the bog of the eternal blunt stench that'll have you living in a Gilliam film soon after you hit it one to many times in the basement of the grasshopper. berlin is one thing, but amsterdam has the ghost of Descartes whispering in your ear while you stroll through the fear and loathing. still berlin makes me want to sing Down in the park where the chant is "Death, death, death" Until the sun cries morning. Down in the park with friends of mine
Christmas might be for kids, but the holiday break has at least allowed us to turn nicely nocturnal in preparation for tomorrow's New Years Eve German marathon: first stop is Munich, to usher in a new decade by proclaiming Happy New Border Community to the assembled crowd at the Alte Kongresshalle:
James Holden will be starting the New Year as we mean to go on, namely with some of that excellent music of his from the relatively early hour of 12.30am (straight after the firework extravaganza, and what better way could there be to kick off your 2010?). And then we will have to love and leave the crowd in the extremely capable hands of special guest and Border Booking buddy Phil Kieran, as well as comrades Luke Abbott and Avus proudly flying the BC flag with a taster of things to come and the rest of the old crew from the sorely-missed Die Registratur club, to party on together well into the first day of the new decade without us.
For James must then set off on a mad dash along the wintery autobahn to arrive in Berlin just in time for his 8am appearance at the Weekend club, where the party will of course still be in full swing from the night before:
And as you can see from the flyer above, the line-up for Weekend's whole !!! 4 Days Off !!! blowout does look pretty tasty, beginning this very evening with Digitalism, with Paul Kalkbrenner, Carl Craig, Akufen, Richie Hawtin, Steve Bug and John Aquaviva all popping by to lend a hand over the following days. So if a spot of Berlin club-hopping is on your agenda to kick off your 2010, do be sure to look in and say hello!
by the way, helvetica doesn't mean you know what you are doing as a professional poster maker. it just means you don't care to think about what you are doing.
well you can't really expect an industry that uses helvetica to know anything about anything. i think holden was at the top but moved too fast for the industry to pin him there. he flew right over the top like red bull gives you wings and is currently flying over some shit the industry will take till 2020 to figure out.
We all need to put our heads together and get looking for some fresh new London party options for next year, as the sad truth that you may have already heard is that Kieran Hebden's pitch-perfect Plastic People shakedown is coming to an end this Friday 11th December. What is even sadder is the fact that I can't make this end of an era, although since I'm heading off to Rome's Goa Club with James Holden and Luke Abbott I probably shouldn't complain too much! But you, on the other hand, simply must go in my place, and be sure to pick up your own copy of the exclusive free mix CD that Kieran is giving out to all last night at the Plastic-proms attendees while you're there:
A Kieran Hebden one-night exclusive that is not available in the shops, the mix is made up of his own brand of idiosyncratic Plastic People hits from the parties of the past year, and is about as "essential" as the music-for-dancing-to scene gets. And if I'm really nice to Kieran, hopefully he will save us one under the counter...
Otherwise I'll have to wait until January 22nd to catch up with Kieran's sounds in person, when he'll be heading up the Eat Your Own Ears takeover of Fabric's Room 2; and there isn't much chance of me missing this session, as our own James Holden is playing too! Gold Panda and Floating Points complete the line-up, whilst a foray into the other rooms may not prove altogether disappointing with the likes of Erol Alkan, Riton, Mystery Jets and Filthy Dukes stepping out for the evening. This will be James' first appearance at Fabric since before The End days, a fact which has caused a few inquiring eyebrows to be raised across the web: but let me assure any concerned parties that amongst this Hebden-hand-selected busting-out-of-the-box Friday night eclection James feels quite at home.
I didn't know about the cds, thanks for the info. Next wednesday we have Allez-Allez and Luke Solomon playing at Plastic People, it might fill the gap left by missing out on hebden's last night. Just an idea... :)
As I crawl out of my state of internet hibernation, from beneath the mountain of paperwork that currently engulfs our house, it seems that quite a considerable chunk of time has now passed since our inaugural Border Community party at Britain's best small club Corsica Studios (it is official, and for once I agree with a DJ Mag poll!). And I still haven't delivered my official photo-illustrated lowdown on the merriment! So truly without further ado, let us get on with it, shall we?
The dedicated earliest of birds to get themselves down to the venue on the night were rewarded with a free ticket to enter The Community Cast-Off Tombola, and therewith the chance to win a truly remarkable and exotic array of prizes donated by some of the artists playing on the night, including music from Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden and Rocketnumbernine (and their synth-operator Ben's side project Elite Barbarian), and the obligatory Border Community merchandise. And what a bemusing little frivolity that turned out to be!
You probably can't make it out from the photo, so to explain, this lucky fellow is now the proud owner of a vibrating hamster that used to live in James Holden's studio:
And further to the rodent theme, this excitable young chap took home Kieran Four Tet's own customised mouse, and a strange USB light up fan device:
The fellow on the right won an exclusive t-shirt emblazoned with the artwork from Four Tet's wonderful Ringer EP that you can't even buy in the shops yet: if you would like one of your own, then you will have to keep an eye on the racks of Uniqlo over the coming months.
And this much-envied winner paired off with the trusty Evolution midi-controller that has notched up considerable airmiles on its travels around the world in the care of Nathan Fake: a couple of the channels are a bit worse for wear, but Nathan assures us that it still works, "enough".
But the prize that seemingly everyone wanted to win was a collage crafted by Wesley Matsell's own fair hands, bearing the title "The Universe Is Over":
A few chancers felt downright entitled to it, but the undignified haggling that ensued as they urged me that I should just give it to them even though they weren't the lucky ticket holder wasn't quite what I had in mind when I dreamt up my caring sharing tombola concept. But making these collages is a bit of a hobby for Wesley, so those that were unsuccessful this time can at least console themselves with the hope that he might donate another Matsell original to be raffled off at a future Border Community event (and I only wish I was allowed to enter!). For although the tombola did threaten to turn into a bit of an albatross when we found ourselves left with a table full of prizes and no more tickets to give out (some early-comers didn't seem to quite get the tombola concept, whilst others just got muddled up with their cloakroom tickets!), I can promise that it will be back for another whirl (with a few subtle refinements) at our next Corsica do. And with prizes like this, it really is worth making sure you get yourself down there early!
Whilst all that was going on at the back of the bar, I did think that the early doors Rocketnumbernine synth-and-drum experiment that was taking place on the stage went down exceedingly well, coersing quite a round of excited whoops and a not inconsiderable shuffling of the feet out of the audience - but unfortunately I haven't managed to hunt down any photos of the happening (unless you want to hook me up with some in the comments?). Mr generosity Kieran Hebden then took over, most considerately coordinating his outfit with our flower decor to surreptitiously drop a Shakira moment on the crowd when they least expected it, the scamp:
Meanwhile over on the other side in Room 2, collage-king Wesley Matsell warmed things up a treat, opting to stand this time, which I suppose is a step up (literally!) from the bizarre kneeling position he has favoured on previous outings:
Then, like a shoal of salmon swimming upstream, most of the Border Community friends and family seemed to intuitively migrate en masse to Room 2: quite a huddle of them were to be found jigging around in there to the sounds of the eagerly anticipated Lone (whose equally eagerly anticipated new album Ecstasy & Friends is now finally available from the mighty Bleep):
Strapping young lad Nathan Fake then launched into to his debut DJ set for us like the proverbial duck to water. The internet went pretty nuts for the special Nathan Fake mix he did in advance of his appearance, and the switch from Ableton to Traktor for the evening was far from a night off for Mr Fake, working up quite a sweat, and the crowd into just as much of a frenzy as we have come to expect from his awesome live sets:
From the cosy security of the celebration of danceable electronica that Matsell and Fake were so ably hosting in room two, the crowd could have little inkling of what was going on over in the main room as our latest greatest Norfucker Luke Abbott took to the stage. Where Luke led the dance, a collection of strange hybrid headonistic creatures followed, and it went down something like this:
You may still be wondering where did that all come from, or (as sleep-deprived animal head sculptor Michael Page pondered on his slow bus straight back to Bristol) was it perhaps all a dream? The answer lies over on Youtube, in the form of Mikey's new video for Luke Abbott's mathematically hypnotic new single Whitebox Stereo (which was also conveniently released this week on vinyl and mp3!), where our new woodland friends get down to the pagan techno at their own forest rave:
At first Corsica's bouncer didn't seem keen on letting our animal friends join Luke on the stage, but fittingly he finally relented just as the strains of 'Whitebox Stereo' came marching in, and a truly beautiful moment came to pass as the too-good-not-to-reuse papier-mache creations were happily allowed to flourish and grow in a new environment.
The inimitable An'Unexpectacle of course also graced us with his presence as the living embodiment of his "The more you move, the more you feel it" mantra, only this time he had a human puppet in tow (but again, sadly I have no pictures!). Early teething troubles meant that the puppetry was short-lived after their equipment befell an untimely misfortune, but the pair soon made up for the setback by gamely donning animal heads, and making like a badger (and bear...). Our old friend An'Unexpectacle was quite simply born to be a badger, as I am sure anyone who witnessed his mesmerising antics will agree (note also his hand-customised Border Community t-shirt: now that is dedication to the cause!):
All this madness, and you will note that our omnipresent master of ceremonies James Holden has yet to fire up his CD players! So as current Holden golden boy Luke Abbott's addictive elasticated beats sprung to a close, James eagerly stepped to the plate, putting the cold-that-would-not-die temporarily on the back burner to serve up a bumper three hour set of what only he does best, like the cute little cherry on top of our knickerbocker glory of a night that he is.
So there we have it. Better late than never, as they say - and hopefully the same sentiment applies to the special musical goodies recorded on the evening that are coming to this space very soon. And in case you thought I had forgotten my manners, it would be very wrong of me indeed to leave things without thanking everyone (and I mean everyone) who came along, performed, helped out, donated prizes for the tombola, wore an animal head, danced, and let me pilfer their photos from Facebook: for where would we be without you?
And finally, it seems that it isn't truly over until everyone has had a slice of the animal action:
it was a really great night. rocketnumbernine was incredible, four tet did one of the best dj-sets i've heard and the last hour of holden was exceptional too. we came all the way from holland, and it was really, really worth. would be cool to here the sets, when will they come online?
As the dawn of our new residency at Corsica Studios edges closer by the minute, you would think that I might have better things to do than update my blog. But I, for once, am feeling strangely organised, which gives me a minute to lay out the final pieces in tonights puzzle while James frantically listens through this week's promos...
Eager beavers are also rewarded with free entry to my "Community Cast-Off Tombola": the first 200 guests to arrive will each receive a raffle ticket to present at the tombola stall, where exciting prizes await the holders of the luckiest of numbers. James Holden's Vibrating Hamster, Nathan Fake's hand-broken Midi Controller and a "small collage resembling a face" by Wesley Matsell nestle amongst Border Community goodies and mystery prizes yet to be revealed donated by the likes of Kieran Hebden. I'm half expecting Luke to bring a drawing of a spider as his offering, it being his favourite internet meme du jour (he even made some poor bemused Berliner bring a drawing of a spider with him to Watergate in return for Luke putting him on the guestlist last time he played there!). The inimitable An'Unexpectacle meanwhile has promised me a "a genuine, fully-flattened frog that I found on the street in Oxford a few weeks ago" as a tombola gift; I told him that such unique and fascinating artefact was too good to give away, and really he ought to keep it for himself, but I still dread to think what he will produce later this evening...
On the subject of everyone's favourite merkin tailor, you are no doubt wondering what japes An'Unexpectacle has in store for us tonight. The November chill was deemed to be too inhospitable an environment for an outdoor merkin booth, so tonight will see the An'Unexpectacle crew relocate their activities indoors to present "The more you move, the more you feel it: A travelling repository of devices and techniques to encourage and enhance the experience of motion with music". He'll be setting up his own stall near to our tombola, giving the whole event a decidedly village fete vibe: the curious need simply locate said stall and call upon our trusty guide An'Unexpectacle and cohorts for further enlightenment...
Wow, the story about the spider as payment really made my day. Crazy move, and i really wonder what would happen if tried this in Holland...haha thanks.
Really happy about the new residency taking place at the Corsica Studios, the Fake album launch party proved that it was the ideal venue for BC to make it's new home. Will you guys be on a bi-monthly rotation like you were at The End?
Is anyone else very very confused that according to James' website and myspace he will be playing in fabric of all places on 22nd Jan, which, ontop of the fact it is fabric, is a Friday??!! buh??
aaaaahhhh. the fabric thing makes infinite more sense now. hopefully james and kieran can blast all the christian dior sunglasses out of fabric for once.
Brilliant, in all my years of listening to Holden and the crew ive never seen them play at Fabric. But then that isn't surprising seeing as it's such a uber rare occurrence... Has James even played there before?? I can totally understand their reasoning against the place and their overpowering influence on the UK scene. That aside this should be a musical experience not to be missed and hopefully seeing as it's been held on a Friday and the line up isn't a collection of supposedly 'in and trendy wannabees' we probably put bets on the crowd been a lot less touristy and full of pretentious twats. Yay! :)
Another day brings us closer to our return to Corsica Studios, but if (like me) you feel like you can't quite wait a whole week longer, an obliging Nathan Fake has provided a tasty amuse-bouche to keep us going till then, with this shot-glass sized DJ mix preview of what we might expect from his Room 2 DJ set next Friday (6th November) just uploaded to the pure and simple Mixcloud hub.
As the tracklist below might suggest, we are in for a bit of an electronica fest, something which is extremely welcome round these parts: our own Avus, Luke Abbott (in his Output cloak of yore) and a couple of Mr Fake's own exclusive remixes rub shoulders with a few of Nathan's mates (Operator, 7oi), plenty of the greats (Orbital, Boards of Canada), all topped off with a healthy serving of that shit-hot young British electronic talent that we're so fond of (Gold Panda, Rustie). Mr C. Clark in epic mode rounds things off a treat (and wasn't he on great form in his supporting role at Fuck Buttons' London gig earlier this week?).
Nathan Fake - We Fear Silence Mix October 2009 1) Ceephax Acid Crew - Credick 2) Avus - Darkness Visible 3) Boards of Canada - Korona 4) Bochum Welt - CH Riot On Proxima Centauri 5) 7oi - Byrjunartónninn 6) Piroth - Dance Closer (N.Fake Remix) 7) Operator - 7 Years Over A Mirror 8) Starting Teeth - Venom (N.Fake Remix) 9) Drexciya - Drexciyen Star Chamber 10) Orbital - Planet Of The Shapes 11) Gold Panda - Back Home 12) Gescom - A1 13) Kode9 - Black Sun 14) Rustie - Zigzag 15) Luke Abbott - B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B 16) Clark - Farewell Mining Town
Fake's room 2 DJ buddy for the evening Wesley Matsell promises more of the same (may I refer you to Wesley's own Mixcloud installment for evidence of just how complementary this pair's DJ tastes are?), and with Lone's luscious twinkles sandwiched in the middle, we'll be dancing to the left-of-centre all the way. And with James Holden, Kieran Hebden, Luke Abbott and Rocketnumbernine taming the main room, do be sure to join us (advance tickets just £10 from Ticketweb or Resident Advisor, or more on the door).
The date of our next Corsica Studios shindig is fast approaching (6th November to be precise), and I just realised that I have yet to give you your list of recommended listening in preparation for the nights festivities. Time is clearly of the essence here, so get your notebooks out, fire up Bleep in another tab, and the lesson shall begin...
It only seemed right to launch our new residency with the aid of our old partner-in-crime from the old one at The End, so Mr Kieran Hebden will be graduating to our main room to work it as only he knows how. Kieran can currently be heard playing most months at the deep and dark Plastic People, but such a fan am I of his DJing shapes that even that is not enough for me: watch him give Corsica's boho crowd a thorough shakedown using his own decidedly atypical selection of "dance" music, and you will see why. And in a stroke of perfect timing that I can only wish was intentional, the Four Tet man also has a mysterious new vinyl release ready to ship next Monday (2nd November), and available to pre-order now from Bleep: all anyone seems to know about Love Cry is that it has a pretty brightly coloured label, comes backed with a B-side called 'Our Bells', and is likely to fly out of the shops at a similar rate to that Burial collaboration of earlier this year, so don't dawdle...
I am teasing you again here, as this one won't be out until November 30th, but you can pre-order the vinyl now from Rough Trade so you are prepared. Maths and hedonism make surprisingly comfortable bedfellows on Norfucker Luke Abbott's latest EP, which will be given a thorough roadtest in his Corsica live show; the entrancing pagan techno of lead track 'Whitebox Stereo' meanwhile will be unveiled here in video form in a matter of days, so watch this space. But you don't have to wait any longer to purchase Luke's twisted rework of The MFA's synth-pop-tastic Throw it Back (We Will Destroy You): cartoonish collectible vinyl awaits you over at Juno, or get the mp3s right away from our own online store...
Rocketnumbernine are a pair of brothers who (when they aren't playing in post-rock stalwarts Rothko) have their own improvisational synth-and-drum operation that travels a similar road to Messrs. Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid: debut album You Reflect Me is available now from Norman Records. We have had the pleasure of seeing them live a few times now, and have always found their explorations to be eminently danceable; but sadly that sort of thing just doesn't happen in most band venues, which is why we decided that it was high time that someone booked them for a club do. Get yourself down early to catch them, and do be obliging on the feet-moving front, for I am hoping that the combination of the visual spectacle and Rocketnumbernine's loose, easy groove will be the perfect way to overcome that early doors awkwardness of a not-yet-full club venue.
Nottingham's Lone comes booked at Luke Abbott's special request, but to hear Lone's music is to love it, and we are all aboard the fan train. Luke described Lemurian to James as "the ultimate music to listen to when falling asleep on aeroplanes", which I am assured is a good thing, whilst I reckon it could be the perfect stop-gap treat to keep Boards of Canada's legions of fans going until tea time. New album 'Ecstasy and Friends' will be out "soon" on Werk Discs, and I'm afraid I can't be anymore accurate than that; but I can tell you that you can already hear samples from it on his Myspace, so it can't be that far off. More will hopefully be unveiled during the course of his live set in Corsica's room two, where our own Nathan Fake and Wesley Matsell form the DJ bread of one tasty danceworthy electronica doorstep sandwich.
And with that, your shopping list is almost complete: all that is remains is your ticket to the party on November 6th, which you can sort out now from Ticketweb or Resident Advisor. Any further info you might need you will either find on the flyer below, or on the accompanying Facebook event page, and I won't keep you from your homework any longer.
for fans of lone i would recommend lukids "foma", also on werk discs. in my opinion it's even better than lemurian 'cause i get tired of overused sidechainy compression after a while
Mr Cooper's Emo stylings are a case in point, and those familiar with Max's output will hopefully understand why we might take particular issue with the claim:
"It's hard to say where ideas come from but I would say it’s all about bringing together influences and experiences which are individual to you, in order to generate output original to you."
But if you are not sure what I am on about, I think this video of the erudite Stewart Lee that the insightful Luke Abbott pulled out of Youtube sums things up pretty perfectly, and definitely better than I have time to right now:
The "you can't own a joke" defence is certainly a close relative of the "all dance music is plagiarism" line that we are repeatedly fed. But what it really comes down to is the question of whether an individual deserves any credit at all for their derivative offerings, never mind the reward of a record deal: perhaps such redundant contributions would be best left languishing on a hard drive, instead of further depleting the worlds resources by pressing yet another unnecessary slice of vinyl? And I certainly wouldn't go giving them money for their labours!
The tide may yet turn against the plagiarisers: Jake "Fairmont" Fairley tells me that he was recently asked to comment by a journalist from Resident Advisor, who are apparently putting together their own take on the topic. And in the meantime, it is clear what James and the rest of the crew (and any other would-be Border Communists) have to do: as we speak, they are shut away in their respective studios, continuing their progress towards that goal of writing their own musical version of the joke that Joe Pasquale can't copy...
Im finding it hard to see why this blog post is so unnecessarily scathing towards max cooper. Having had no acquaintance with his music before reading the article (never even heard of him) i decided to check out some of the attached live set and was surprised to hear some nice little musical moments. After that priming you delivered i was expecting an hour long mix of sky was pink rip-offs. He's got a little bit of an Extrawelt vibe, but no more than 'hollywood' off 'zuckerzeit' sounds like something James could have written or Tobar's 'el sunset' sounds like Nathans chord progressions and synth work, or the pet shop boys influence in 'We will destroy you' or how the much loved Caribou sounds like an up to date 'Can' record. etc etc. Coopers opening track 'The end of reason (ambient rework)' is quite beautiful and original to my ears along with a few other little bits and pieces i heard.
Ironically, I hear a lot of influence in BC's music, both external (shoegaze,kraut,pop,punk,warp,boc,etc) and from within the label (cross polination) so always get a little smile when i see you on your soap boxes on the originality issue. Is it ok to be derivative/influenced as long as the art and ideas come from a scene outside the one you currently perform in? how is it any different?
I am not trying to condone straight up copying and i think conciously trying to imitate is a complete waste of time, but from what i have heard that is not the case here. If there are some more blatent examples that i have not heard then that is another story, but in any case, they don't make up his full body of work.
As annoying as this copying must be when you work so hard to carve out new ideas in an already idea saturated genre do realize that it has probably come about because they were so overcome with love and admiration for the original that it spilt through in to their work. A humbling little bit of good to take with the bad.
Keep making beautiful and unique music and stay passionate about that rather than worrying about what less creative types are concerning themselves with. The pioneers are always the ones who are remembered and used as the basis for comparison whenever a derivitive work is produced.
excited to hear all the bc boys are in their studios :) great news!
let me see if i can manage to respond before my ambien kicks in,
bc was founded on proto shoe gazing warm up sets of the late 90's when no one was listening and james played as we all looked around a semi empty room. no one knowing nothing and kaern bleeding into a first slot that night in amsterdamn at a time when no one listened to the hypovolemic hymns. yet we knew and james new what needed to be purely said with the music. What purely must be shared, and recognizing the purity in others. then, by mistake, anthems heard in those early days would have had a pixie melody to rally around. and the silverplanet crew went unnoticed. days of sheer genius followed the breakaway from silverplanet with a janerio remix made from a hiku and some new effects no one had ever heard before, but which immediately found a way to help sasha. unlike most djs, james doesn't hustle his art into the release stage.
Kind hamster, shall we take a walk into fear and loathing in the city and day dream of what is just about the countryside? this is what makes the music, maneuvering through a sea of endless assholes, but with a group all tuned into what Plato called Truth, Beauty and the Good. That is why the biters can never sound as good. They have not had the anguish. They have never had to turn out the light. What troopers are now confused by the gagglefuck of posers and biters, let them find their bunkers and hq's and remember the day you were a part of a truth, a beauty and a good. Bring forth your arete's from the rooms you lost faith in god from, and let the world hear that we are all losing and the idiots winning.
I don't think my blog is unnecessarily scathing about Max's music - if anything, his posturing was my main target. But I do think that his 'Harmonisch Serie' was a completely unecessary release.
Perhaps I should have been more explicit - I thought most people would already be familiar with his transgressions. Thankfully that seemingly isn't the case.
Fair call on that 'Harmonisch Serie' track, id be pissed too and agree with you on it's pointlessness. Yep, be more explicit next time, there is nothing wrong with pointing out blatant copying.
here is an outhouse ripoff i came across recently http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF0597jWajk
i don't understand how people can live with themselves doing this sort of shit.
my gripe was that i thought you were referring to a vaguely inspired sound rather than a direct copy.
you would have to prove that holden observed 4'33. but you can't. so it's moot. besides, you could view it as a universal gesture towards music that any musician should use to draw attention to the meaning of music as a quality and void filler. what better way to express what we are without and what we've become with music. this reverence is a tool every musician could use in their repertoire, without it being plagiarism, based on the epistemological benefit it would have for the audience. and anyone that knows anything knows that what is good for the greater good ought to be practice by all. it's purely reasonable.
Why should you not be disrespectful Gemma? Do we always have to be ... especially when respect is really not present?
Point well made on the Cooper case I'd say and BC has every right to be upset by producers ripping off the ideas your artist work so hard to forge themselves, putting tears and blood into the creation of new sonic experiences. And then mr Cooper and mr Davis and mr Applescal mr Moonbeam appear on the horizon with their derivative outputs basically making a career on your back reselling your ideas to the audiences you have not only won but actually created from scratch by simply being original.
This whole business reminds me so much of the asian black market industry producing fake nike trainers and rolex watches for the poor. Black market vendors make a profit on the back of a company that spends millions on R&D to create an unique and great product, then goes on to spend even more on advertising it and suddenly mr Chan Weng mocks up what it seems (at least from the outside) an identical version of it putting about million times less effort and money in the process. Its just not fair is it?
However one that truly cares about his watch and trainers would spot the fake attempts right away and never contemplate buying one because essentially they are not identical! I am yet to hear a Holden or Fake wannabe that actually managed to create something greater out of their ideas.
Regardless of the fact how much I love your sound I would never put my money into derivative works just to satisfy my thirst for BC frequencies. It's just like buying that fake pair of nikes that falls apart in 2 weeks of use just in the same way Harmoniche Series falls apart on a first listen. Why bother wasting time with the copy? I'd rather go hear the original as long as I have it anyway.
And while we are on the topic of originality may I take the opportunity to upset BC by asking: What the heck is that new MFA single? Jesus christ! Please stay true to your values and reconsider your plunge into synth pop especially when the attempt is so mediocre. I fucking hate it. Not even remotely excited about it. This of course is only my opinion but I feel you might appreciate how your core audience receives your latest offering. We are a community after all right so I feel is necessary to say that.
I guess everyone has their line that they draw between being 'inspired by' and plagiarizing.
Just as an additional thought, I think a piece of music can still be beautiful/soulful/worthy despite having borrowed superficial stylistic elements from another artist. For example, Wesley Matsell's wonderful 'Diffusion27' is no less beautiful (and it is really beautiful) for having borrowed from Phillip Glass's compositional style, which can be recognized clear as a bell (i wasn't at all surprised to later read Glass was an influence of his). Does that make him a cheap pair of Phillip Glass nikes? I don't think so at all. I can resonate with the emotion and work put in to the piece, enjoying the 'story' of it and move past the fact there are many stylistic similarities.
The same goes with these 'knock off' artists you mentioned above. If there is depth to the particular piece and it is original (no stolen melodies, chord progressions, basslines etc) then i have no problem if i can hear some of their influences as long as it's not too overt. imo none of these artists really sound like any of the border community artists.
If we recoiled in horror every time we heard stylistic similarities in music we would never listen to anything. If we threw our hands up in the air and said "OMG that ricardo tobar track sounds like MBV or M83 with a beat", "that holden track reminds me of something from a 70's kraut band", im not going to listen to it!, then we miss the whole point of the substance of the music within.
You can be innovative working within the constraints of a style or you can be one of those rare individuals to start a new style, but originality/novelty in itself is not enough to make a beautiful or worthy work.
For the record i believe James is one of those rare individuals and am really excited to see what he pulls out next. If only everyone could be so creatively gifted.
Jason, i don't want to prove anything, and i never want to say that James is a plagiarist. I just mentioned, that the idea of track was already created by another person before him. And this is a fact. What would you say if someone creates "new" Malevich's "Black Square"?
And i want to say that BC - is my favourite label, and i admire music, that BC crew makes, even my mom likes james's tracks... but, i don't like fanaticism, and if someone made a "mistake", i dont see a reason to find any explanations of it.
Sorry, if i couldn't explain what i mean more clearly - english isn't my native language, so i risk to be misunderstood. Anyway, BC is great, and i want to thank James&co for making Music.
the line that is drawn is logical axiom because you can't compare inspiration or influence to absurd biting of styles. there is an obvious difference that needs no further description. if you are hearing influence, then there are no ethics to worry about, but if you are hearing a bunch of biters at work, then biting is the focus.
"is'nt james's "intentionally left blank" a copy of John Cage's "4'33"?"
in the english or american language that is a claim with a question mark at the end of it. the syntax is different, but if you ask me, the semantics are the same.
if you ask me there is a mutinous subtext going on here for the purpose of appearing in control of certain 'however' assertions. the argument was max cooper is biting toy ass bitch. and trying to compare inspiration to biting, and sadly thus inadvertently doing a little sub textual smearing of bc work just to appear in control of one's assertions, is unfortunately visible here.
cross pollination is common and when the knife listen's to phil collins 'in the air tonight' and bases their entire sound on that shit, it's influence. all common shit.
the point is, if you don't apply an absolutist stance to biting, then that shit will fuck everything up. the argument is not that what constitutes biting and what constitutes influence. the argument is biting, when detected by trained ears, needs to get stamped out.
there are motherfuckers that have come up to james and said that his stuff was the hardest for them to emulate. who the fuck spends their skills on trying to crack other people's codes? could you imagine some one coming up to you and saying "most dance music has been easy for me to find out how it was done, but your stuff is always the hardest for me to figure out".
everyone that reads james' blogs or sees his interviews know where his influences come from. same with the rest of the bc. no one is recoiling from knowing about a kraut rock influence here, james' influences are old news. and when they were news, it was highly original. i didn't even know what the fuck krautrock was until james started talking about it. but i do know when i heard 'mainline' for the first time, it didn't sound like anything out there. did the safari remix sound like anything you've heard before? i think people are underestimating how the hamster listen's to shit. its krautrock today but something entirety different tomorrow. the Madonna remix doesn't sound like anything. Scape one, the list goes on and on. James just does shit differently every time. Other artists are blessed to be an influence on such a genius.
Jason, I actually find myself agreeing with much of what you wrote, though there is definitely no smearing intended. I fail to see how pointing out influences equates to denigrating the work, especially considering neither of us consider being influenced a bad thing.
"the point is, if you don't apply an absolutist stance to biting, then that shit will fuck everything up. the argument is not that what constitutes biting and what constitutes influence. the argument is biting, when detected by trained ears, needs to get stamped out."
Fair enough, i can agree with that. But i would like to know more about these trained ears and how one distinguishes biting from influence because the dividing line isn't so obvious to me. When we are dealing with something other than a direct plagiarism of a specific piece (ie, that harmonich series track) and are more in the realms of vague semblance's and feelings it gets more difficult to justify your absolutist stance.
For example, this Matthys chap holden recommended recently on his blog has some great BC style tracks for sale on his bandcamp. eg.
Biting or influence? how do you decide? I could just as easily imagine him putting up a post complaining about him. I would hate for such lovely techno to be 'stamped out' (not that i think that would actually be possible) by someone who felt some elements were a little too close to home.
the trained ears are gemma. i guess you would have to know her to know how she would listen to something. i can contest to having almost fell into this trap, the trap of biting vs influence with this track called 'papillon'. i forget the name of the artist. at the time i was all about hearing the bc sound accidentally turning up in other tracks, but it was no accident. also, this is because i like big gun anthem tracks, but then it started to get away from me. i was making excuses for these german producers who were becoming so heavily influenced by james' sound that it turned into biting. thats all they were doing after a while. and thats when it became something deliberate. if anything, there is a fine line between influence and biting. the funny thing is, james doesn't listen to that which is in the club to get his influences, so why in the fuck should people be listening to that which james fashions for the club? that doesn't do the dance floor any good. you are not challenging anything that way. i swear if you dropped this one track by Spoon called The Ghost of You Lingers it would destroy the crowd, and its by some band from Texas. That's about as removed from the European dance floor as possible, and that is, if you place close attention, the plot twists that the bc really promotes. Gemma probably has the best ear and taste of anyone at the bc, I know this, and thus I can feel confident in her judgment of aesthetics. She is after all the editor of the monobrow. We are talking about years and years of high level experience in listening to really good music. This is by far not a personal thing, but an argument made simply by a well trained ear.
I was enjoying the discussion though, different opinions != argument. Jason, thanks for clarifying your point, don't agree with it totally but i see where you are coming from. ps. papion was a bodzin track, and i still think of it as one of his few good ones.
have a nice day and keep making lovely tunes.
ps. the word verification for this post was 'queerbo' which is a bit of a coincidence dont you think? o_O
yeah thanks for reminding me about bodzin. yes this was the trap i fell into. gemma however knows a thing or two about producers and if they are what you would call session artists or just plain badass individuals like aphex twin. but again, you would have to have access and know the day job of some of these fucking producers. once you can see the difference of how each different kind of producer fertilizes the scene, or the case of producers who are mainly influenced by other dance tracks, you can then make a clear distinction of where the influences come from, and if the influenced quack more like a biting ass duck. i don't know how to make it clearer than that you have a bunch of producers just listening to dance music, and making shit from that, so as to become that. its sounds, but not really music or art anymore. i guarantee you there is not a single artist at the bc that listens to music the way a session artist does. i can't stand local session artist bands btw. i can't stand people who like amy whinehouse and i can't stand scenesters.
Recently I have been working on amassing a few more visual goodies for our YouTube channel, unashamedly pandering to the perverse tendency of some to use the bandwidth-zapping video streams of YouTube as an on-demand radio station. (Have these people never heard of Last.fm?)
The latest uploads to go live are a couple of excerpts from the masterful VJ set that Dan Tombs delivered up to accompany Nathan Fake's live show at his Hard Islands launch party at Corsica Studios back in May. Unfortunately the video projector hired in for the evening wasn't quite up to the task and Dan's creations were almost lost in the feint mists of club time, but thankfully he also made a recording of his contributions that is too good to waste: so what you couldn't quite make out in the club, you can now watch on the internet. In keeping with the island theme of Nathan's new album, Dan's starting point was some footage from his own trip to Iceland (also one of Nathan's long-running obsessions, as I have mentioned here before); but particularly when refracted through his RGB-distorting prism, the feeling is that this magical landscape that we are navigating and observing is something much more alien than earthly, an effect not altogether dissimilar from that achieved in Werner Herzog's Fata Morgana.
As well as 'Hard Islands' album track Basic Mountain, Dan also kindly chopped out and uploaded the live version of You Are Here for us, partly because we particularly liked how the visuals turned out on that one, and partly as a handy illustration of the recent evolution of Nathan's sound. The success of Nathan's translation of the soothing, uplifting melodies of the original version of You Are Here into this meatier, beatier pounding dancefloor version is testament to the devastating power of his live show: to add some of that charge to your own DJ sets, turn to the flipside of the You Are Here single release for souped-up live versions of Drowning In A Sea Of Love tracks 'You Are Here' and 'Stops' tailormade for your turntables. And watch this space for more live footage of the Fake-quake to really ram my point home...
If you like what you see as much as we do, then you might be interested in booking Dan for a VJ set at your club (if so, you can contact him through his website); you may have already spotted his complementary visuals for old friend from art school Luke Abbott's live show, who first introduced us to fellow Norfolk resident (if not true Norfucker like Luke and Nathan) Dan. And you have most definitely also already come across Dan's photographic work, on the cover of Mr Fake's Hard Islands album (as well as the accompanying series of new press shots):
Taken at Happisburgh (pronounced Hays-borough, in authentic quirky Norfolk fashion) beach on the Norfolk coast, around 40 miles from where Nathan grew up, the breezeblock-and-lino cover image is the consequence not of urban neglect as one might assume, but of the voracious North Sea lapping at the coastal frontier of the British Isles, eroding cliffside communities as it goes. The dramatic destruction of the back cover shot places the front image in context (yet another reason why it is always worth tracking down the CD or vinyl!), capturing for posterity the level of erosion on one morning in December of last year. In the intervening six months since the sea has almost certainly already made even further inroads into removing those former clifftop residences - and that microwave will be long gone:
Just received "Hard Islands" on Vinyl. I love the front and back cover shots. I also like how "25BC" is sort of scratched on the inner of the record. Do all BC records come scratched this way?
I'm new to vinyl. Unbelievable that Holden mixes them live.
Glad to hear that new people are still catching the vinyl bug!
The catalogue number and cutting engineer comes scratched into most records, not just ours.
For the record (ha!), James actually mixes with CDs nowadays. But he still buys plenty of vinyl and records it into the computer because "it sounds better that way"...
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