Life is short. We’re going to die. Listen to good music. (CC-BY-SA) David Dennis.
Happy Hallowe’en, and the entry in the northern hemisphere into short days and long, dark nights – perfect for getting lost in music listening and music making. That means it’s time to start queueing sounds to pass the time, and as it happens the CDM inbox has a selection just arriving. These are mixes unafraid of shadows and adventurous sound, and — well, the best is to let you listen. Leave the cheesy horror Theremin to someone else, and let’s enjoy something that is truly and deliciously evil in music.
Lower Order Ethics, aka Szilvia Lednitzky, can send chills up your spine – in a good way – with unforgivingly shadowy, industrial selections. If you have no interest in fancy costumes or giving yourself diabetes, in other words, Szilvia is the way you want to spend Halloween, so you can press play now. And — oh, look, it seems that she has over 16 hours of music on MixCloud, which means she can easily fill the endless nights arriving here in northern Europe, or, in a few weeks, Transylvania. (Disclosure: Szilvia is a collaborator of mine on the forthcoming Alchemic Harm project, because I was a fan of her aesthetic.)
Gothic electronic keeps getting richer – not just some distortion and all-wet reverb added to tracks, there’s some spectacular selections here from the likes of Samuel Kerridge and Cut Hands that are best of breed. Szilvia mixes for Liber Null, the Berlin event and collective that specializes in such thick, dark brews.
Lower Order Ethics – Liber Null VII by Libernull on Mixcloud
For more descent into Lower Order Ethics:
http://www.mixcloud.com/lowerorderethics/
Meddling in arcane Mexican magic is that country’s Cesar Urbina, a talented DJ and artist who heads deep into the question of death in a Dia de los Muertos mix.
Playlist:
01 – Julian Carrillo – Cometa
02 – Seekers Who Are Lovers – Cereza
03 – Toncho Pilatos – Blind Man
04 – Chac Mool – Sombras de la Noche
05 – Murcof and Erik Truffaz – Al Mediodia
06 – Jorge Reyes – Invocation
07 – Antiguo Automata Mexicano – Chez Nobody (Latinsizer Remix)
08 – Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – Waitin’ for the Orange Sunshine
09 – Casino Shanghai – Sexy Bodies
10 – Sanchez Dub – Where Are All The People Now (Macario Remix)
11 – Vía Aerea – Le Corres de Mi
Worth also reading the article that accompanies this podcast, at Infine Music:
Echoes beyond Death podcast by Cesar Urbina
Detroit-based Annie Hall is a perennial favorite, an unparalleled grand diva of techno. Those of you who know were convinced once you saw her name; those of you who don’t – know. An October Mix from her is definitely a treat, to be emptied out and devoured. With your ears. I really shouldn’t write metaphors on Fridays. Just listen:
Annie Hall October Mix by Hive Management on Mixcloud
Terrence Fixmer – Dark Line
Thinkfreak – Forte
Deauwd – Hydrofluoric
D_FUNC. & MARIO BERGER – Shifting Frames (NX1 Remix)
Kill_Ref___Ashurbanipal_(Kike_Pravda_Remix_2)
Unam_Zetineb_-_Interpolate
Miki_Craven___18.00
Speedy J – Shoegaze (Edit Select Dub)
Sanys___Told_You_So
Fabrizio_Lapiana_-_Osmosis
Synthek_-_Coherence
Exium – Sick Of Promises
Leghau – Tension (Monomood Remix)
Korova___Deep_Water_(IY_Remix)
Annie Hall – Ruido3 (Truncate Remix)
AnD – Power Spectrum
Meanwhile, in London, 7th November appears to be the best party of the fall for heavy techno heads. Plex plus Corsica Studios adds Ancient Methods, Inigo Kennedy, Bintus, Skunkrock, Donor (with special guest), Black Amiga, Ansome, JoeFarr, J.tijn, Altar, Waterworks, Tengui, Hieroglyphic Being, Charles Manier and Ekoplex, plus residents James Tec, Luke Handsfree, Volte-Face, and Blacknecks live.
Name dropping is no fun – you need to hear what that achingly-frightening lineup sounds like, which you can do here. The Quietus approve, and they’re so excited, they resort to a whole string of English expletives to express themselves. (Something about the bee’s tits being being balls-up in a pint of … tea. Or something. Sorry, too American to hear what you’re saying and CAN’T ANYWAY OVER THE POUNDING SOUND OF THIS AWESOMELY INDUSTRIAL TECHNO COMING OUT OF THIS SPEAKER!)
LISTEN: Plex BleeD Them Playlist
We can’t go all mixes here, so I turn next to Robert Lippok, with whom I had the honor of playing and speaking at ADE. Robert is a terrific improviser, passionate about spontaneity and devilishly anarchic about sound. He’ll create something sparkling and delicate and then, like a sand castle, wreck it – with nicely destructive auditory results.
URSSS continues their stunningly good live series with a nice outing by Robert, just released.
http://www.ursss.com/2014/10/robert-lippok/
Robert Lippok’s labelmate Frank Bretschneider (another true Berliner, not one of us ex-pat hipster pretenders like myself) also had a terrific musical sculpture on 4DSOUND in Amsterdam, as well as a tightly-conceived audiovisual set, rendered live on Modul8 and Elektron Octatrack, which I caught last week. He is readying an audiovisual project for raster noton slated for January, and here shares a ‘wave of the week’ with us:
Speaking of ADE, let’s listen, too, to Paula Temple, my other favorite part of Amsterdam this year – more on that soon.
PAULA TEMPLE – part 1 from URSSS on Vimeo.
Also out this week is a mix of 50 years of electronic music by some of the women who have most inspired many of us, coming from Dweomer (Jef Drawbaugh) of the Zodiak Klub radio show on Portland, Oregon radio. Pioneers like Suzanne Ciani and Laurie Spiegel and Pauline Oliveros and contemporaries like Holly Herndon constantly challenge me personally to make better music, so, naturally, I love this mix.
Zodiak Klub – Women in Experimental and Electronic Music by Zodiak Klub on Mixcloud
Tracklisting:
3:00am Time to Tell by Cosey Fanni Tutti on Time to Tell (Conspiracy International, 1993)
3:16am The Third Wave – Love In The Waves by Suzanne Ciani on Seven Waves (Finnadar Records, 1982)
3:21am The Four Aspects by Daphne Oram on An Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music vol. 2 (Sub rosa, 2003)
3:28am Chimera by Pattern and Shape on n/a (n/a, ?)
3:29am Music of the Spheres by Johanna M. Beer on An Anthology of noise and Electronic Music vol. 2 (Sub Rosa, 2003)
3:35am A Light Change by Grouper on Inca Ore/Grouper Split (Acuarela Discos, 2008)
3:41am Tangled Emotions by Andrea K on n/a (n/a, 2013)
3:45am Movement by Holly Herndon on Movement (RVNG Intl., 2012)
3:50am Rocket USA by Nik Void on Shadazz/Radiation EP (Blast First Petite, 2008)
3:50am Rocket USA by Nik Void on Shadazz/Radiation EP (Blast First Petite, 2008)
3:54am Auf Engelsflugeln by Deutsche Wertarbeit on Deutsche Wertabeit (Medical, 1981)
3:59am Chromapassage by Sci Fi Sol on Dominant Dream (n/a, 2012)
4:03am No Moondoggies for 3 Weeks by Karen Gwyer on I’ve Been You Twice (Kaleidoscope, 2012)
4:08am Norton’s Apple Software by Doris Norton on Personal Computer (Durium, 1984)
4:14am Doctor Who Theme by Delia Derbyshire on n/a (BBC Radiophonic Workshop, 1963)
4:16am Patchwork by Laurie Spiegel on The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds Records, 1980)
4:26am Syv Cirkler by Else Marie Pace on An Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music vol. 6 (Sub Rosa, 2010)
4:33am The Fool’s Circle by Pauline Oliveros on Crone Music (Lovely Music, Ltd., 1990)
4:39am Coconut by Fever Ray on Fever Ray (Rabid Records, 2009)
4:46am om Nano Ocean Road by Vektroid on Color Ocean Road (PrismCorp, 2012)
4:57am La Vie En Rose by Clara Rockmore, Nadia Reiseberg on Clara Rockmore’s Lost Theramin Album (Bridge Records, 2006)
Last, but certainly not least, I’ve been listening today to more experimental frontiers with German-born, Paris-based Christine Webster, whose projects range from mixes to three-dimensional composition. Here, she takes us way into outer space in an eclectically-conceived set of mixes for the ongoing Terminal Radio project:
Five Minutes Alone,Circular, Christine Webster. Herd, Adrian Moore and Akkya.
Terminal Radio 20 – Herd Takeover show
Intro by Nmesh
Five Minutes Alone (timereleasedsound.com/shop/releases/)
@five-minutes-alone
Part 6, Dead Pόlis: The DreamFive Minutes Alone – Let Things Be (Unreleased)
Dickon Hinchliffe – The Fields (Pale Blue)
Atticus Ross, Claudia Sarne & Leopold Ross – 7 Years Later (BFD)
Harry Gregson-Williams – The Rifle (Kirtland Records)
Roque Baños – Trapped Into Elevator (Filmax Music)
Tool – (-) Ions (Zoo Entertainment)
Darkstar83, 3bc & Tetsuroh Konishi – Into Ruins (Aural Films)
Cliff Martinez – What’s Your Daughter On (Tvt)
Tool – Useful Idiot (Zoo Entertainment)
Atticus Ross, Claudia Sarne & Leopold Ross – Left Alone (BFD)
Henry Francis Lyte & Will Henry Monk – Jim’s Parents (Abide With Me) (XL Recordings)
Tool – Cesaro Summability (Zoo Entertainment)
Cliff Martinez – Weathermen (Milan Records)
MbLWb – Always (Unreleased)
Five Minutes Alone – Birds (Terminal)
MbLWb – Dane 2,1 (Unreleased)Circular (Loki Foundation, Deep Audio)
@circular-gerCircular – BENEATH THE LUMINOUS SKY – Deep Audio
Circular – THE PATHWAY DOWNWARDS – Loki Foundation
Circular – FROM A CONCEALED AWARENESS – Deep AudioChristine Webster (soundwebster.wordpress.com/)
@info-738Christine Webster – Kintsukuroi – Unreleased
Christine Webster- Remember me – Itunes
Christine Webster – Oberheim Mantras – Unreleased
Christine Webster – The Rawbot – ITunesHerd (FSOLdigital,Darkfloor)
@herdtangentsOberman Knocks – Fewton Tension Kords – Aperture
Locust – Xenophobe – Apollo
Burial – Roughsleeper – Hyperdub
Leon OST – The Fight part one The Swat Squad – Eric Serra
Larvae –Crazyeye – ad Noiseam
BT – Finobacci Sequence – Headspace
Peter Gabriel – Sandstorm – Geffen Records
Blackfilm – Sonar – Spectraliquid
Leon – A bird in New York – Eric Serra
Demdike Stare – Regressor- Modern Love
Larvae – Crazyeye- ad Noiseam
Mad Fish – Dif:use – Thin Conselation
Autechre – Treale – Warp
Grooverider – Secrets – Higher Ground
Padrone – Dif:use – Symbolic Interaction
Zorak – Arcon 2 – Reinforced Records
FSOL – Room 208 – Virgin
Peter Gabriel – Sandstorm – Geffen Records
FSOL – Heat Distortions – FSOLdigital.com
Goldie – Sea of Tears – FFRR
Legiac – Emriz – Sending Orbs
Protogroup – Anahata – Autoplate
Protogroup – Ope Um Ra – Autoplate
Deaf Center – Thunder Night – TYPE
Protogroup – Love Gives Strength to my Soul – Autoplate
FSOL – Newfoundland – FSOLdigital
Autechre – Secon Bad Vibel – Warp
David Morley – Ghosts – Ursa Major
Seefar – Before dawn – FSOLdigitalAdrian Moore (www.electrocd.com/en/bio/moore_ad/discog/)
@adrianmooreAdrian Moore – Nebula Sequence Remix – electrocd.com
Akkya (City Wall Records)
@akkyaAkkya – A Distant Constellation that is Dying in the Corner of the Sky – unreleased
The Thin Red Line – Nature
Akkya – From an Imprisoned Room I See – unreleased
Akkya – Orange Liquid Orbs (Section 2) -Itunes
Akkya – The Rains over the Land – unreleased
Akkya – A Distant Constellation that is Dying in the Corner of the Sky (Outro) – unreleased
Primal Scream – Higher Than The Sun – CreationArtwork by Herd – jason-thomson.tumblr.com/
It’s worth poking and peeking around her site – and thanks for pointing me to this epic mix, Christine:
http://soundwebster.wordpress.com/