Montreal's dedicated festival of electronics Mutek have just added our own travelling technologist Nathan Fake (amongst a host of illustrious others) to the line-up for this year's event (their 11th so far), which takes place in a series of venues across the city between 2nd and 6th of June. Nathan will round off a showcase featuring recipients of the Krautrock baton Mouse On Mars, Domino's composer for the 21st century Jon Hopkins and local boys Jedi Electro at the Metropolis venue on Thursday 3rd June, where we can count on him to deliver on the festival brief of compelling live electronic performance.
Early bird passports giving access to the whole five day festival are on sale now for the special price of $195 (in Canadian money), which will also give you access to performances from Matmos, Matias Aguayo (featuring the excellently-named Original Hamster), Nurse With Wound, Ikonika, Actress, Jacek Sienkiewicz, Pepe Braddock, Moritz Von Oswald Trio and Theo Parrish. Saturday 5th is the biggie, when our favourite DJ Koze joins Paul Kalkbrenner and Sweden's Minilogue for their North American live debut at one of the festivals two highly-recommended outdoor MUTEK//Piknics in the day time, before moving on to the brutal audio experiments of Carl Michael Von Hausswolff, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost and Vadislav Delay in the evening, or alternatively the deeper musings of Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts, Henrik Schwarz and Dixon over in the Metropolis.
And of course there are more names still to come, so I would keep checking the Mutek website for details, particularly around April 13th when the complete line-up for the full five days will be unveiled.
The music-for-dancing-to movement is fast gathering pace, as it prepares to advance another album for admission to the cannon on April 20th when the new installment from Caribou (Swim) hits the shops.
Like his good friend (and major proponent of the movement to get gig crowds dancing again) Kieran Hebden, the artist formerly known as Manitoba (aka Danitoba or Danibou, as he is more commonly known round these parts) has recently explored a growing interest in that unique multicellular organism of the dancefloor via guest DJ spots for the likes of Four Tet and our good selves. And it seems that this notion of a new loose, organic form of music-for-dancing-to is key to the sound of this latest Caribou album (which comes highly recommended from what our own Nathan Fake and James Holden have heard so far), as Dan explains:
"I got excited by the idea of making dance music that's liquid in the way it flows back and forth, the sounds slosh around in pitch, timbre, pan... Dance music that sounds like it's made out of water, rather than made out of metallic stuff like most dance music does."
I hate to say I told you so! Actually, I love it.
With this new album comes the obligatory tour marathon, which will see the already impressive four man Caribou live set up evolve into a cutting edge technological interplay between visuals, electronics and the human players, as Kraftwerk's fabled man-machine moves a step closer to its extremely belated realisation. You really have to be there, but if you weren't quite quick enough to bag tickets for the truly hot sold out line-up of Caribou, Gold Panda, Hounds of Hate and Kieran Hebden at Corsica Studios on April 20th, there is still a chance to take part in the happening when Caribou returns to London on June 16th for another Heaven live extravaganza: the full supporting cast has yet to be announced, but I'd get those advance tickets now anyway to be sure.
Or there is always Field Day on July 31st (tickets here), when Dan joins our own James Holden and many more for an outdoor session; and since setting seems particularly well-matched to sound here, this might well be the ultimate way to take in the Caribou experience.
The more organised amongst you will have locked down your tickets for tonights Four Tet show at The Dome in Tufnell Park well in advance, and like me and James will now be getting increasingly excited as the remaining hours of this Friday afternoon tick by.
But if you were a little slower on the uptake and are now kicking yourself, you could try consoling yourself by downloading the Essential Mix that Kieran recorded a couple of weeks ago and has now shoved up on his burgeoning Soundcloud profile, confirming his status (along with new album There Is Love In You) as a bona fide dancefloor man. And if you are lucky enough to be going tonight, what better way to put you in the mood!
Other Four Tet favourite Nathan Fake meanwhile is currently readying himself to leave for the US, where the Four Tet / Nathan Fake roadtrip tour begins in style at New York's sold out Le Poisson Rouge next Wednesday 17th February (further dates on the Four Tet website). Now fully equipped with a North-American-winter-proof new coat, if we're lucky Nathan might even bring us back some photos documenting his two-week-long crash course in US touring, which I will be sure to share with you here...
The Four Tet tour then continues back on home turf in March, where availability is also looking increasingly tight. Tickets for the second London show at Village Underground on 10th April are now also out of the question, so it looks like you might have to nip down to Brighton's Concorde on March 17th instead, where they are also throwing in Mr Fake and the hypnotic Rocketnumbernine as extremely able supporting extras (get your tickets here or forever hold your peace). And Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Birmingham and Bristol might also still be worth a try...
BREAKING NEWS: Just seconds after I hit publish, James wandered into my office with the news that poor old Joy Orbison has been struck down with food poisoning, so won't be playing tonight after all. A couple of phone calls from Kieran later, and the ready, willing and able Nathan Fake has been drafted in as a hasty last minute substitution, and as we speak is now building himself up to deliver the next collection in his new line in DJing later on this evening. Stop the press! Hold the front page! etc...
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?
Everyone loves a bit of free music, especially when it is a free remix by Mr Nathan Fake. New Ninja Tune signing Grasscut's new single Muppet is officially out on March 1st, but the good news is that Nathan's accompanying rework is already available for free download from the Ninja Tunes site. Grasscut's take on computer rock lends itself well to a Fake remake, as faint echoes of Drowning In A Sea Of Love's swoony guitars shimmer through the latest post-Hard Islands incarnation of Nathan's unstoppable updated loud and warm dancefloor beatdown.
Brighton's Grasscut have a full album coming on Ninja Tunes later in the year, but in the meantime you can watch the video for their more fiddly, skittery, dressed-up original version of 'Muppet' here:
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.
Bleep's weekly mailout informs me that we only have seven more days to take advantage of their handy 100-tracks-for-£30 Best of 2009 promotion, an offer which anyone passionate about new music would be foolish to pass up. That works out at just 30p a track, maths fans, which just about matches Amazon's 29p mp3 bargain bin, and even if you already have a few of the tracks (Mr Fake's 'Basic Mountain', for example) it still works out at pretty good value.
Thankfully thin on the minimal front, may I therefore present this hand-selected Bleep guide to the year gone by as supporting evidence to my thesis that (contrary to popular belief) music is just getting exciting again. And as witnesses, I would like to call upon the following upstanding members of the musical community: Agoria, Animal Collective, Bernard Fevre, Bibio, Born Ruffians, Broadcast, Bullion, Clark, Debruit, Dirty Projectors, Falty DL, Floating Points, Flying Lotus, Fuck Buttons, Gang Gang Dance, Glass Candy, Grizzly Bear, Gui Boratto, Harmonic 313, Hudson Mowhawke, John Tejada, Jon Hopkins, Klaxons, Lone, Luke Vibert, Lusine, Matias Aguayo, Moderat, Mordant Music, Mum, Nathan Fake, Nosaj Thing, Plaid, Robert Hood, Rustie, The Black Dog, Tim Hecker, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Krazy Baldhead, Four Tet, TV on the Radio and Autechre. Any objections?
Nothing like a bit of self-congratulation to kick off the week: Nathan Fake's We Fear Silence podcast that he delivered up in celebration of our last Corsica Studios do has romped home at number 3 on the lovely Mixcloud's Top 50 of 2009 (compiled using Mixcloud stats and the results of their Best of 2009 poll). Not bad for a boy who once proclaimed he "is not a DJ, and probably never will be!".
Our Border Community channel also featured in the Top 50 Cloudcasters chart, but since we have only uploaded two mixes so far it wouldn't be particularly becoming get too excited about that accolade. But I am currently working on getting some new contributions from a couple of our crew, so hopefully that will change soon (subscribe to our Border Community profile for the heads-up).
To keep you going until that fateful day, you might be interested to know that obliging mystic Wesley Matsell has created his own Mixcloud account, where over the Christmas break he uploaded a brace of DJ mixes dressed up in a suitably psychedelic fashion as "a small, but sincere token of appreciation for everyone who is vaguely interested in my music". And if you would include yourself in that description, please find the Fiber-optic Pteranodon and Ancient and Flailing flavoured goodness repeated below:
The still-in-beta Mixcloud hub itself only launched last year, so it is still relatively early days for the site, but to my eye it is shaping up rather nicely as a convenient repository for any and all future DJ mixes that come my way. The take-up on a certain other music hosting site seems to have been more pronounced, but with its nifty compulsory tracklist function and sleek, clean design Mixcloud is definitely my mix hoster of choice. Fellow converts whose podcasting activities might convince you to commit to the Mixcloud meritocracy include our homies Allez-Allez, BPitch Control, Skull Juice (and solo-juicer Alex Egan), One-Handed Music (don't let that Bullion mix pass you by!), Tigersushi, Phil Kieran, Dazed and Confused, Diesel U Music Radio, Chris Coco, Micromattic, Justin Robertson, Caged Baby and Erol Alkan, who it seems is possibly even more enthusiastic about Mixcloud than me!
A further incentive to sign up this week would be to add your own half hour DJ set entry to the BLOC / Man Make Music competition to win an hour long set (and of course, your ticket!) at the legendary BLOC festival on the weekend of March 12th - 14th: upload your contribution by 22nd January to enter, although since community comments and votes also count towards the voting I know that doesn't give you much time to mobilise your campaign of self-promotion! And if you can get together a band of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 electronically-minded buddies, get your Butlins Minehad apartment for the weekend locked down now well in advance via the website, and as well as our own Nathan Fake you will be rewarded with performances from the likes of Ellen Allien, Lindstrom, Autechre, Alden Tyrell, Joker, Joy Orbison, Kelpe, DMX Krew, Lukid, Luke Slater, Luke Vibert, Surgeon, Kode9 & Martyn, Skream & Benga, Flying Lotus, Billy Nasty, Radioactive Man, Derrick May, Rob Hall, Adam Beyer and Appleblim & Peverelist. So who is in?
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!
He is a busy little bunny at the moment, our Nathan Fake. As I write this he is hopefully catching some much-needed sleep after a jetlagged introduction to his Australian tour, and with a bit of luck he will have fully adjusted to Oz-time by the time this weekend's gigs in Perth, Sydney and Brisbane come around. After that, it is off to Japan, where he will spend an unusual Christmas Day giving Tokyo's Womb club a rather un-festive thrashing, before repeating the process on Boxing Day in Osaka's Triangle.
And the jetsetting continues into the New Year, when Nathan will be heading off on his first ever proper US tour in February under the wing of Mr Four Tet Kieran Hebden, who has signed Nathan up as the US support act on the tour to promote his forthcoming There Is Love In You album (out January 25th on Domino). Nathan couldn't be in better company for his two week Stateside jaunt: a full list of dates follows, whilst Domino's US website ought to be able to point you in the right direction for your all-essential ticket purchases.
Four Tet / Nathan Fake North American tour dates 17th February : LPR, New York, USA 18th February : Sala Rossa, Montreal, Canada 19th February : Empty Bottle, Chicago, USA 20th February : Mohawk, Austin, USA 23rd February : Chop Suey, Seattle, USA 24th February : Biltmore, Vancouver, Canada 25th February : Doug Fir, Portland, USA 26th February : Independent, San Francisco, USA 27th February : Echoplex, LA, USA
The observant among you may notice that those are by and large band venues rather than the clubs where Nathan is normally booked to play, so it will be extremely interesting to see what a gig-crowd makes of this. A little hamster informs me that Kieran's new Four Tet album is also of a decidedly danceable bent, so I do hope that the audience is obliging in that respect!
UK readers based in Brighton, Sheffield, Birmingham and Bristol will be pleased to learn that Nathan Fake is also the added extra when the Four Tet tour swings round their way in March, and since tickets are already on sale, here is a full list of those dates:
Four Tet UK tour dates (with support from Nathan Fake) 17th March : Concorde 2, Brighton 18th March : Plug, Sheffield 19th March : Custard Factory, Birmingham 20th March : Fiddlers, Bristol
The Four Tet UK tour also takes in London, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh, and although Nathan won't be with him, you might be treated to support shows from Rocketnumbernine, Joy Orbison or Pantha Du Prince instead, depending on how well you can decode the slightly confusing graphic below. So I'm guessing you will probably want to buy a ticket anyway:
apparat on jan 1st (he played his remix of charlie's house!), fairmont in mid january in california, fake/four tet in february! great start to the new year in san francisco :-)
Kazuo, i convinced the Saturday promoter for 1015 Folsom to bring Ricardo Tobar (live) on Halloween of last year and recently in January, Fairmont (live)! Both were live and excellent! <3
And while not from BC, Meerkat (live), on March 19th at Space Gallery. Contact me for details :-)
hey kazuo, sorry on the late reply. you can contact me through email, rizo83@gmail.com I use the same email for facebook too.
Meerkat is tonight but venue was moved to a better location, G3 on Geary at 3rd Ave. Still in San Francisco of course! I added you to the guestlist, not that it was much, $5 :-P
Come by tonight if you can and get a hold of me. Def have some exciting news ;-)
Without wanting to ruin any carefully-planned surprises, it has been all action in our merchandise shop this week, suggesting that Santa is stuffing his sack with a fair few Border Community goodies in preparation for the big day. And no true Border Community obsessive's wardrobe is complete without at least one t-shirt proclaiming your special allegiance: choose from the classic logo design (in traditional blue or daring green), painting-by-numbers (in Holden-approved white or blue-with-a-twist-of-pink), or join the Holden army with the ultimate symbol of idiot pride (in flattering black or his beloved white).
But if you are planning a Border Community-related Christmas surprise for that special someone in your life, be sure to get your orders in soon: if you live overseas (Europe or beyond), you have until next Thursday 10th to place your order, to be as sure as we can be that you will have your package in time for Christmas. And if you live in the UK, you probably have about a week longer, until Thursday 17th (Royal Mail permitting!). So get shopping now!
But for the Border Community fan who truly does have everything (and I know there are a few of you out there!), might I suggest turning to the more wide-ranging Bleep Christmas gift guide for present inspiration? James has already ogled the Gristelism machine on his beloved Matrix Synth (like the Buddha Machine, only with more balls); the Hudson Mohawke t-shirt is also quite Holden-ish (and by that, I mean Judas Priest-esque); and you can't go wrong with the ubiquitous Warp-logo t-shirt (star style spotters should go for the purple version, as worn by our own Nathan Fake and Alex from Skull Juice). And if you are also buying presents for yourself while you're at it (isn't that half the fun of Christmas shopping?), then Bleep's CD sale is also worth a look: as good a time as any to pick up essential releases from Zomby, Bibio, Clark, Hudson Mohawke, Nite Jewel, Black Devil Disco Club, Moderat and Fuck Buttons, all for under a tenner...
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
Loath as I am to rely on Wikipedia for my information, it does appear that the jury is still out on whether we're going to get that eagerly-anticipated second series of Nathan Barley. Although a runner friend apparently held a tape of read-throughs for a second series in his very own hands a couple of years ago, more recent interviews with Barley-actor Nicholas Burns had cast doubt on that second series possibility; but the continued evasiveness of creators Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker (who, incidentally, is a fully paid up fan of our own Nathan (Fake)) and recent Channel 4 plugs to catch up with the first series on 4oD has given me new hope. (I am sure most of you have seen it already, but those from abroad, and anyone else who didn't catch it first time around, might appreciate the link to see where the title of Holden's The Idiots Are Winning album really came from...).
Meanwhile, in the absence of a sequel, the world (well, East London, but I am led to believe that they are pretty much the same thing) has only become more Barley-esque. As previously noted here, the fictional mp3 DJ decks of the Wasp T12 Speechtool were such a good idea that someone just had to invent the real thing (known as the Pacemaker), even going so far as to hire their own Barley figure to promote it. And life continues to imitate art, as eagle-eyed Barley-watcher Ali from The MFA observed when he happened upon this BBC News article about a recent ASA ruling on a typically provocative advertising campaign from American Apparel:
"The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the shots for American Apparel "could be seen to sexualise a model who appeared to be a child".
In a series of six pictures, the model revealed more and more skin until her nipple was partially exposed.
American Apparel argued the model was 23 and the images showed how to use its clothing to create different looks."
Which, as Ali wrote to me, does rather remind one of the “All models ages are models ages plus 5 years yeah?” episode (Episode 5), where Sugar Ape magazine stages a photo shoot to look like underage models are being molested in their offices for a special "Vice" issue; coincimentally, Vice is also the name of the infamous real-life magazine which ran the offending adverts in question...
And whilst we are on the subject of long-awaited comebacks, if you were wondering what on earth is going on with those afore-mentioned MFA fellows of ours, I am relieved to announce that a new single, the squelchy acidic synth-pop of 'Throw It Back (We Will Destroy You)', is finally set to hit shops on 19th October: watch this space for more information.
Hiya, this is the sweetest news ever. The MFA are back! Cannot wait. Actually I can probably wait a little more since the last time I saw them was at Sonar in 06 (if i recall well). Any live appearance schedule in paris? à bientôt j'espère.
fair is fair, if the underage models are showing some nipple, shouldn't the MFA bear in the above picture have a bit of bollock fuzz poking out from behind the kick drum? just a wonderful thought.
YouTube's amazing Content Verification Programme has recently given us the power to remove in a single click those more irksome uploads of our music that have come to grate over the years. As tempting as it was to remove the legendary dog on a skateboard video just for shits and giggles, our powers are strictly limited to our own Border Community back catalogue, and I personally feel relieved to finally regain control of how our music is presented to the world.
Certain offending items just had to go, but there is no way we could remove everything: this may leave some culprits wondering why their video has been singled out whilst others remain, but clearly we don't have the time to trawl YouTube hunting down every single video that uses one of the hundred plus tracks in our back catalogue, for no apparent gain. And whilst I am aware that this may seem arbitrary, and may make me unpopular with certain elements of the YouTube community, I must reserve the right to remove all videos that come to our attention that we feel undermine or misrepresent what it is that we are trying to do. We have worked hard to create something special, striving to present the music as we feel it deserves to be, and it is just plain depressing to see that distorted and manipulated for someone else's personal internet gratification.
If that leaves you feeling confused about what is and isn't allowed, by way of explanation of the types of uses that we might consider unacceptable, videos that abuse our music in the following ways are highly likely to be removed: - Videos where the track or artist are mislabelled and miscredited - at least get it right! - Videos that drop a completely unrelated bigshot superstar DJ name into the title just to get more views - that is just cheap! - Videos that lump our music together with lame old dance music cliches, like girls-in-bikinis (or makeshift bikinis fashioned from headphones - I kid you not!). Some music purveyors may choose to draw on such cheap tired imagery to promote their music, but there is a very good reason why we don't, and we certainly don't need any well-meaning YouTube users to do it on our behalf!
Of those videos that remain, some fall into the category of harmless (if not particularly imaginative) promotion, whilst others are genuinely creative endeavours, assembled for school or college projects, or just for fun. And some of these are seriously impressive: I plan on using this space to big up some of the most deserving, so do feel free to draw my attention to any worthy nominees you may have stumbled across. And speaking for ourselves (but also I think for everyone else too, as it is really just good manners), if you want to use other people's music in any future videos, do make sure that you label it properly, giving everyone involved the due credit that they deserve, and make it clear that it isn't an official offering to avoid any confusion. And if you are really desperate to recycle dance music's most tired cliches once more, I suggest that you devote your efforts to another label who may be more appreciative...
And before you say anything, we are well aware that these decisions on what matches our criteria are highly subjective, and when it comes to aesthetics a consensus is extremely unlikely. For example, the video that has stuck in James' mind as the most memorable amateur Youtube offering is this contribution to Nathan Fake's Superpositions, starring a frisbee-playing old man in speedos (read into that what you will!). Whilst we are inclined to see it as an amusing post-modern comment on dance music's bikini obsession, Nathan is worried that the irony will be lost on a lot of people, and may even just reinforce this tiresome swimwear connection. And sadly he may well be right, but in the hope that at least my dear blog readers will get the joke, I am willing to take that chance:
Meanwhile, it is worth remembering that for the definitive unambiguous visual word on our music, our own Youtube channel is of course the place to go!
funny shit. hopefully this will work as a catalyst now to actually make images of substance to go along with the music, a continuation of the art inspiring color by numbers phase the bc lp covers have went through in recent years if you will. bring on the mf 24fps shit.
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