1. mathew jonson - (a1) marionnette (11:19)
2. Wighnomy Brothers - Freiekksemplar (7:02)
3. Wighnomy Brothers - Pele Bloss (7:49)
4. Inner City - Good Life (Eric Prydz Unreleased Mix) (8:01)
5. trentemoller - chameleon (7:56)
6. Chemical Brothers - Galvanize (Abe Duque Dub) (5:19)
7. a - trentemoller - polar shift.mp3
8. 50 cent - Build You Up (Feat. Jamie Foxx) (Produced By Scott Storch).mp3
9. fred everything and 20for7 ft vanessa baker - Friday (Trentemoller Mix) (6:53)
10. 108 jamie lewis feat chance - streetlife (sir pers mix)-ktmp3.mp3
11. ron trent-altered states[original 12” mix].mp3
12. James Holden - Nothing (Original Mix).mp3
13. James Holden - The Wheel.mp3
14. Breakwater - Release The Beast (4:53)
15. Tiefschwarz ft Chikinki - Wait And See [Dub] (7:46)
16. A Lifelike & Kris Menace - A Lifelike & Kris Menace - Discopolis (9:20)
17. Universal robot band - Dance & shake your tambourine (6:16)
18. freeform five - electromagnetic (evil nine broadway dub)-vinyl-2005 (7:04)
19. Missy Elliott - Lose Control (Jacques Lu Cont Dub) (7:28)
Archive for August, 2005
Like many aspects of the new electronic underground, the music is changing with young ideas. For years now, the drugged-out sounds of psychedelic trance and progressive house have been confined to the critical ghetto. Whether it was considered too garish or too damaged, you’d have a hard time calling it art unless you were in a K-hole somewhere.
James Holden is certainly changing all that. His sound, maximal and delicate, doesn’t hit you over the head the way olde Gatecrasher comps do, nor does it employ one-too-many outrageous effects. Rather, it acts like ambient or pastoral music: recalling vistas or landscapes. Holden, like Jonson below, came from outside club culture, and trained on violin and piano. A lot is made of his young age (he’s 25 now), his math degree and mostly his rapid ascend to most-wanted.
But it shouldn’t be. The worlds of people like Holden, Superpitcher, Allien, Isolee, Matthew Dear and so forth are colliding — and the reason could well be the listeners themselves. Looking with a tailored aesthetic, different types of people are settling on the same dance music: the type that sounds the best.
"The Wheel" first appeared on his Balance 005 mix a few years back, and finally was released last year on the Cocoon compilation.
Psychedelicate trance.
After shooting nearly 10 hours of footage in San Francisco we have come to realize even more the potential this documentary has to demystify faceless techno through the animated and honest characters in the underground. While in SF, we spent time with Philip Sherburne as he packed up his record collection before a move to Barcelona, interviewed Tomas from XLR8R and hung out (with our camera) in places like Robot Speak and Amoeba SF. We are taking a step back to give context to what can be a dizzying array of terms, genres, names and nuances. After all, we’re making a movie for more than 10 people.
The new face of undergound dance music are characters like Mathew Jonson, a kid from British Columbia and a music genius who seemed to be able to pick up anything and play it. Well, it seems he found some electronic gear quite early on. What he does and what he does it with are equally remarkable. sQuare productions heard this cut laced throughout his live sets at Mutek.
"Return of the Zombie Bikers" is his latest 10+ minute development. The endearing morse code sound (a la "rocker" and the rest) through the first three minutes of the track meets a bass doppelganger around 3:39. Then M.J. kicks it into the dub bin. Put it on in the club and note the exits.
You will get a peek at Jonson in action when our 1-minute web teaser for "Speaking in Code" shows up here… yeah, that’s hype. Believe it.
For now, Mathew Jonson’s latest slab:
(The volume knob goes clockwise, s.t.g.):
Dance music has, for generations, been misrepresented as repetitive, callous party music. These days, undergound dance music is developing at a pace so rapid, so effusive, that 10 years from now, we will consider it a kind of golden age.
There are a multitude of reasons, but in general it is the result of people growing up. Techno and house heads have been integrated into society, yet keep tuned to the progressive sound of electronic music and its advancement through technology.
Music and technology fit together like art and science, one mirroring the other. There were always better drums, better lutes, better trumpets. Electronics amplified this relationship and now there isn’t a track you hear that hasn’t been maintained on technological avenues. And as artists become more equipped and familiar with technology, the music gets better.
Isolee is the latest example. His release, which is enthusiastically rumoured to appear on a US label sometime soon, takes this whole process to a new level. We Are Monster is impeccable. Dance music that shifts like dunes. A propulsive sound that crests and spills like tides… The analogies are natural because the music itself is natural, no longer hemmed in by technology but in fact quite the opposite. It’s the combination of programming and creativity that lets the sound move like a cloud — always there, always different.
We’ll write more about this as sQuare productions continues to film our electronic music documentary (working title: Speaking In Code). Demo reels have been edited, we have a title sequence &c. It’s all rudimentary, but an idea and look is taking a sharp focus. .MOV posts to come.
In the meantime, enjoy a track from one of the greatest albums of the naughties, and a lock on many top 10 lists in the world: Isolee’s We Are Monster. Coming soon to a store/download shop/city/place of business near you. Worth every penny.
Gloriously psychedelic dance music.
