Chinstroking.com

The End

2008-06-11T20:10:00.003+10:00

A sad post today; I'm closing the doors at chinstroking.com, effective immediately.

The original reason I started this page was for the sole purpose of engaging others with similar musical to myself in discussion. Seeing comments posted, whether good or bad, brightened my spirits, letting me know that strangers out there were reading and listening to what I had to say, which is something everyone likes. Despite visitor numbers fluactuating between 50 and 200 unique visitors a day, the simple lack of comments on the site has been a major disappointment for me considering all the hours I have put into the page.

Perhaps people simply find my material is uninteresting, or perhaps they just don't feel compelled enough to leave comment. That being the case, I still see no good reason to keep things rolling here.

I do wonder if perhaps things were too diverse for people to handle; most individuals are amazingly blinkered when it comes to musical tastes, and perhaps a singular focus on techno, house or trance would have encouraged more people to visit regularly, rather than the broad, fuzzy spectrum I pursued, which also made it harder for me to be knowledgeable about certain labels and trends within each scene.

Secondly, a lame cliche: music is my life. Pure and simple.

This blog has taken away my freedom to explore. I'm just as content to dig up releases from the 1990's as I am to write about brand-new spankers from 2008 and beyond, but it seems that people these days are only content to hear about unreleased or week old stuff. Keeping a handle on all this is incredibly draining, and has reduced my own enjoyment of music immensely. I generally like to listen to a good album for weeks and weeks before moving onto the next thing, and instead I'd been forcing myself to cycle through music as quickly as my memory would allow, just for the sake of passing the news on here, sometimes weeks behind anyway.

Regardless of these two factors, I have enjoyed chinstroking.com immensely at times. I'm extremely proud of some of the articles I've written here, and not so proud of some.

I've enjoyed worshipping or dismantling DJs, dissecting tunes and soliloquizing about pointless developments in technology and musical trends. There is possibility that I will continue to write for other websites on a small time basis - but at this stage it seems unlikely.

I hope some of you enjoyed my writing, because that's the only reason I ever wrote - for your entertainment.

I'll still be available on email (beatblog [at] gmail.com) for contact purposes.

Thanks.

Nick

p.s I'm not quite sure how long I have until my registration on this domain name expires, but I'd expect that when that happens, pages will revert to being hosted at the old address, www.infobeat.blogspot.com.

Rob Zile

2008-06-07T23:14:00.003+10:00

I'm sure we're all familiar with the Paul van Dyk remix context beatport is holding currently, so I'll cut right to the chase - flogging a production from a friend of mine, Rob Zile.

Rob is into all kinds of music, from melodic trance to techno to older style progressive, like Sasha & Digweed played in their early days. These influences clearly show in his music, with a focus on driving percussion and meandering melodies, rather than epic builds. His melodies are unique and ear grabbing.

His effort for the beatport contest is interesting; he has cut up the provided samples and created a brooding techno remix, rather than the expected trance. Results below. Feel free to vote for Rob if you like it!

Paul van Dyk & Giuseppe Ottaviani - Far Away (Rob Zile's Even Further Remix)

The track still needs mastering, which has been deemed unimportant in the competition rules. If you would like to see this track mastered and released, vote!

Vote here.

Click here to visit Rob's myspace page, where you can hear some of his other work.

Music Review: PTX - Color Your Ears

2008-06-03T18:11:00.009+10:00

PTX is back with his second album, released late last month on Noya Records, featuring remixes of Black & White and Etnica, as well as collaborations with Xerox & Illumination and Onyx.

This album follows the typical Israeli psy sound - full on and pumping. What it lacks it subtlety and depth, it makes up for with sheer brute force, pummeling listeners for a solid 60 minutes, letting up only for the final track, Alufa, a melodic piece quality of electro-house.

A good mix of "light" and "dark" melodies, Color Your Ears is a good release both for fans of a more euphoric sound, as well as those who prefer twisted melodies and scarier themes. In fact, a lot of the tracks start happy and melodic and descend into madness, or vice versa.

Like fellow Israelites Xerox & Illumination, PTX seems to lack direction at certain points, discarding melodies altogether and replacing them with an entirely new element, only to bring back the original sound two minutes later. As a result, the music can become incoherent, which can be irritating, but also keeps things entirely interesting.

PTX is not short of a melody either - whether it's typical trancey arpeggios, screeching guitar (actually used well, believe it or not), or dark, bubbling acid, each track has sound that really envelops and sticks with you. Blade (PTX Remix) is the best example of this, employing the extremely catchy melody originally conceived by New Order for their track Confusion, but translated here into a squelchy acid line instead. However, as mentioned earlier the hook drops in and out just a bit too often, and seems to lose the impact that it could otherwise have had.

Black & White - Blade (PTX Remix)

Less "catchy" tracks on the album are also highly entertaining as well, using more complex melodies and sounds, such as Off The Record, mixing light and dark sounds and employing a memorable bass line and interesting vocal sample to devastating effect. This is perhaps the most impressive track found on the release.

PTX - Off The Record (Original Mix)

At times, besides a lack of coherency in the tracks, the melodies can also tend to be a little convoluted, with 3-4 different sounds competing for attention, and detracting from the tune overall. Complexity is admirable, but not when it detracts from the music. In this case, less would be more. However, at times when less noise is present, this record's excellent mastering shines through. Engineered by the very talented and seemingly omnipresent Ido Ophir, PTX's fat bass lines and clean, driving percussion are displayed brilliantly, improving the listening experience markedly.

The percussion is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the album, with clear, raspy hats injecting plenty of rhythm into every track, and sharp clappers often providing energy at the start of a new phrase.

The bottom line: this is a brilliant release that misses the mark slightly at a few points but really deserves a lot of praise. Each track is well considered, well produced and makes clever usage of effects, some of which are rare or never thought of before. However, it's not a mould shattering piece of work. Pumping bass lines, trippy vocal samples and euphoric melodies - Israel has been doing this for many, many years. If you're looking for something different and ground breaking, look elsewhere. However, if you just want to sit down and rock your socks off, pick up a copy as soon as you can. Here is a good place to start.

Below is a preview of the closing track, perhaps a turn-off to big psy heads, but also offering a nice change to the rest of the album for those who enjoy this kind of music.

PTX & Ophir Leibovich - Alufa (Original Mix)

Crystal Castles

2008-06-02T20:10:00.005+10:00

This will assuredly be the first and last post I ever make about Crystal Castles, because I care not for them, oh no, I do not.

Not content with just releasing bad music, these devious, underhanded Canadians have turned their hand to an even more villainous pursuit: plagiarism. That's right. Dirty, rotten, stinking, plagiarism.

You'd think they might try and steal some good music. Instead, they took a more foolhardy route: sampling copyrighted chip music. How fiendishly dastardly! Mario, Luigi and all their cartoon buddies are going to be pretty pissed when they find out that evil Canadians have been stealing their precious theme music.

More details on Crystal Castles' devilish acts of rotten theft below!

Gameboy Genius.

8 Bit Peoples.

(Real update coming in a few days - apologies for the delay)

Music Review: 5 Golden Years In The Wilderness

2008-05-29T20:58:00.005+10:00

Released on the 23rd of June is a new 3 CD pack from Buzzin Fly, titled 5 Golden Years In The Wilderness, selected of course by label boss Ben Watt, and surprisingly (and pleasantly) unmixed! (Note: above image has nothing whatsoever to do with this release, I just think it's cool).

The name Ben Watt is synonymous with good music. One of the most ardent, cynical chin strokers I've ever used to go to pieces at the mention of the name, and not without reason.

This release is a fine example of Watt's sensibilities; it's an eclectic mix of upbeat house, scattered with beautiful melodies, delightful vocals and pure passion. Plenty of Watt's own work can be heard, such as A Stronger Man, Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass and Lone Cat.

Disc 1, titled Up, is a collection of the label's greatest accomplishments, deeply veined with pianos, sax, strings, trumpets and all the usual housey accouterments. In short, all the elements that have given Buzzin' Fly the excellent reputation that is has today. The highlight of this is Rodamaal feat. Nicinha - Musica Feliz (Alex S Classic Club Mix), which makes use of some understated percussion, tantalising Latino vocals, disco strings and gentle piano. It positively drips with honey. The rest of the disc follows in similar fashion, with a heavy focus on melody and vocals, backed by very danceable beats. A perfect pre-party disc.

Disc 2 is surprising in that it takes a step back where disc 1 forged ahead, consisting mainly of down tempo and chill out tunes, such as the serene One Week On Cuba by Kayot. The title, Down, is entirely descriptive of the content. Again, a heavy focus on melodies is evident, but this CD works far harder to establish mood and atmosphere than the first, which is all about the party. Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia's Mon Ange is absolutely moving, so utterly drenched in emotion and sadness that it instantly banishes the happy thoughts conveyed on the first disc, instead calling up memories of Shlomi Aber's contemplative 2007 album, State Of No One.

Disc 3, Forward, is clearly where Watt has unleashed his creativity to full extent, with bouncy, shamelessly electronic tunes paving the way for a classy end to the release. The tracks here use more artificial sounds that anywhere else on the release, full of techno bleeps and heavy pad sweeps, a reminder of the direction the label is headed in. Unfortunately, this CD is a let down in comparison to the first two, with a less conservative yet more bland selection of music and feeling very rushed, like it was tacked on at the back rather than carefully considered.

Two good discs out of three isn't a bad strike rate, really, and although disc 3 isn't as good as the rest, it's still an extremely good listen, making this release extremely tasty as a whole.

Disc 1 - Up

01 Darkmountaingroup - Lose Control
02 Ben Watt Feat Estelle - Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass (Radio Edit)
03 Rodamaal Feat Nicinha - Musica Feliz (Alex S Classic Club Mix)
04 Justin Martin - The Sad Piano (Charles Webster Remix)
05 Ben Watt - Lone Cat
06 Justin Martin - Nightowl
07 Rodamaal Feat Claudia Franco - Insomnia (Ame Remix)
08 Manoo and Francois A - Traffic
09 Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia - Dead Souls (Radio Slave Remix)
10 Ben Watt Feat Sananda Maitreya - A Stronger Man

Disc 2 - Down

01 Kayot - One Week On Cuba
02 Unity - I Love You
03 Two Armadillos - Nostalgia
04 Rocco - Thursday Night Friday Morning
05 Lephtee - So Far Back (The Nova Dream Sequence Remix)
06 Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia - Mon Ange
07 Jimpster - Square Up (John Tejada Remix)
08 Automagic - Do You Feel?
09 Barbq - Barbi In Love
10 Manoo and Francois A - A Day in December

Disc 3 - Forward

01 Stimming - Kleine Nachtmusik
02 Barbq - Music From The Great Plains
03 Rodamaal Feat Claudia Franco - Insomnia (Kemistry Remix)
04 Spencer Parker - Chiho
05 Gavin Herlihy - Give Me A Funf
06 Lovebirds - The Beat Goes Boom
07 Here Today - Good News

Little Loop, Big Loop

2008-05-27T18:50:00.002+10:00

It's entirely ironic that pop and rock fans sneer at dance music for being repetitive, because really, these two fields are no different. Intro, chorus, break, chorus, break, chorus, outro. Pop songs are based on the same hackneyed words being repeated over and over and over til the listener's head explodes from sheer irritation.

Where pop and rock use large sections repeated often, perhaps thirty seconds or minute long, dance music makes use of hundreds of small loops, generally five to ten seconds long. It's counterintuitive that dance music should have longer song durations, because the elements making up the song are being repeated far, far more often than in other genres.

However, this is the absolute key to good dance music - music you can lose yourself in. Dance is a kind of hypnosis through music, like watching a drinking bird bob up and down or a pendulum swing back and forth.

Listening to (good) house, techno, trance and all the associated genres is an altogether different experience, and in some ways even requires a completely different mindset to understand and enjoy. Like people will approach a nature documentary or a slapstick comedy with a different mindset, pop heads should realise that electronic music isn't about singing along. There's no lyrics that need to be learnt or hooks that need be memorised.

The music isn't there for cheap thrills (though this is good too) - it's pure hypnosis, designed to amaze and awe. A fifteen minute song can fly by without ever seeming to run out of ideas or become monotonous if done properly. Listen to Choice - Acid Eiffel to feel this effect.

Still, it seems strange that such small loops can be far more engaging, entrancing and entertaining (the three Es?!) than songs featuring far less repetition - that's what the magic is all about though.

Music Review: Nifra - Ready

2008-05-18T16:37:00.008+10:00

Today's review deals with trance newcomer Nifra, hailing from Slovakia, whose interesting tag line on myspace is "yeah, I produce myself". Released on Markus Schulz' label, Coldharbour Recordings, the pack features the original, and two remixes.

The original is bland; exactly the kind of trance I despise Shulz for playing and releasing. Nicely melodic, but with little energy and groove to back it up. The percussion is extremely weak, leaving the track feeling very "floaty", rather than driving. However, that's not to say that all tracks need to be hard-hitting, but a bit of percussion would be nice to keep things interesting.

The bass line is flat out boring, doesn't really "work" with the track, and thus becomes monotonous quickly, which leaves listeners with a kick drum, clapper and the melody to entertain them. The melody is nice and "trancey" in itself, but also dreadfully generic, leaving very little to continue with.

Using an old adage, "you can polish a turd..." and this has been polished immaculately. Well produced, it has employed great mastering and clean sounds, maybe by Nifra, maybe not, who cares. It's rubbish.

Next up are Randy Boyer and Eric Tadla, who I still admire for their remix of Imogen Heap's Hide & Seek. Thankfully, they've done away with the original bass line and replaced it with something a little more appropriate, adding a bit more energy and blending the line to make it less noticeable, which really grinds in the original. Adding some more interesting pads was also a good option, though the long, long breakdown at the start of the track is annoying. Overall, a passable track, but really very generic, not one that anyone will remember in a year.

Lastly comes Robert Nickson, creator of the brilliant track Spiral back in 2004. Nickson's sensibilities are quickly revealed, as he is the only person on the release to have bothered with any decent kind of percussion, injecting some nice hi-hats. Additionally, he's added a very subtle acid line, similar to that in Spiral, meaning the track is interesting for more than one minute, unlike the first two. An overly large kick-drum is a bit off-putting though, as it drowns out the other elements in the track.

Nickson's effort is quite obviously pick of the release, but still falls down in the end due to an overly drawn out breakdown, and a nice but extremely repetitive hook, which really grates towards the end. Additionally, the usage of effects is lazy. The main build, arguably the "focus" of each track in modern epic trance, features the same hook repeating over and over, a kick drum roll, bass drop, and then the same hook continuing; very uninspiring. This one could have been very promising with a bit more effort and ingenuity, but just fails to hit the mark.

Selections

2008-05-17T18:22:00.007+10:00

Today I have some really interesting stuff!

Lopazz - We Are (Rex The Dog Remix) [Get Physical]

Due to be released on June 4th, along with the original and a remix from Einzelkind, this is the first release from Rex in a long time, way too long! His album has been delayed for over a year now, so I assume this is just a little side project while he gets that together.

If you're a Rex fan, expect the same trappings from the past few years brilliant work, though toned down a little, with a more progressive feel than his other insanely boppy tunes. 80/90's synths feature heavily as usual, and a crazy acid melody leading the first half of the track, all underscored by a surprisingly heavy kicker for this style of music. This is a great track, but has doubtful appeal in trendy clubs; it's too happy!

Lopazz - We Are (Einzelkind Remix) [Get Physical]

The Einzelkind remix is sure to get smashed in the next few months though, it's much more "sensible", using more modern sounds. It's very "boompty". I'm not sure how to describe "boompty", but it's the kind of sound that makes you want to nod your head in time, and the kind of accessible sound that casual music listeners find very appealing.

The "we are" vocals are very sexy, featuring more heavily than in Rex's remix, which will also add to this one's club appeal.

Surprising are some tricky, vaguely psychedelic sounds! Listen out towards the end.

New Groove - Scintillator (Original Mix) [Presence Psy]

Now, onto some real psychedelia! (Well, this is full-on psy, so not really...)

What I love about this one is how damn happy it is. Not in an overblown, epic way, but it has a sunny, playful feel to it, like a lot of Vibrasphere's tracks. Some people might even go so far as to consider this one cheesy, though I wouldn't call it that.

Very well produced, with nice clean sounds, though nothing is too unique here, pretty standard "trancey" synths, fat bass line, and jumpy psychedelic, acid-y sounds. It's very light on percussion, yet still manages to maintain a good sense of drive. Great closing track to my ears.

John "00" Fleming & Christophere Lawrence - Beyond The Limit (Deep Mix) [Pharmacy]

I'm too lazy to post a sample for this late inclusion, but you can find some here.

This one is great. Extremely banging, with a pseudo-psy bass line, and a monster synth melody backed by some squealing acid blips.

I've found John's stuff to be fantastic in the past, but also confused as to why he doesn't make more usage of his compressor (short story: something used to make the elements in the song clearer), and as a result I feel that the tracks become a bit muddy at times.This doesn't seem to suffer from that at all. The gorgeous bass elements, percussion and melodies are all crystal clear. Massive.

Genres for Genres

2008-05-14T16:43:00.023+10:00

I got to thinking this morning about how ironic it is that people are so discerning about their taste in films, yet when it comes to music, some people are content to dance the night away to Fedde Le Grand.

I draw a lot of parallels between movie and music - not least because seeing a B-grade movie is just like listening to bad music - there's nothing wrong with enjoying it once in a while, as long as you realise that what you're listening to is absolute tripe.

This chain of reasoning led me onto wondering how each genre of music could be represented as a film. So, without further introduction:

House

Regardless of what kind of house music you listen to; deep, funky, jackin', soulful or gospel, it's all feel good. Excluding that of the acid variety, house music is almost always happy. Common lyrical hooks can include such inspiring, well written gems as:

"you gotta be strong!"

"keep on moving!"

"higher! higher!"

"feel the love!"

"I'm so overwhelmingly gay it hurts!"

As such, the logical movie partner for house music is the romantic comedy; effortlessly happy, relentlessly optimistic, and often very annoying. The two are such an uncanny match I hardly believed it myself. Romantic comedies always seem to follow the same pattern: guy meets girl, falls in love, messes it up big time, then triumphs in the end with a grandiose gesture that wins her back. House music is the same - vocalist falls from grace, finds God, then returns to "see the light!".

Colin Firth & Hugh Grant. Yuck.

The last nail in the coffin is a convincing one. What kind of people willingly watch a romantic comedy? Women and gay guys.

What kind of people enjoy house music? Women and gay guys!

Love Actually, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones Diary, You've Got Mail, What Women Want

Techno

This is a tough one, because, like house, techno can encompass a wide range of different feelings and styles, from Detroit to Schranz - though I'd say one feeling is more ubiquitous than any other, which is "my music is much cooler than yours".

Yes, tech-heads see themselves as a cut above the rest, better than those glowstick-loving ravers, anyway. The sheer amount of snobbery commanded by techno purists is enough to make even Lord Thistlethwaite the III drop his monocle in fright.

Of course, techno is often passed off as "intelligent music", but I don't think there's much intelligence about it at all - it's simply less fluffy than trance and house, and less twisted than the harder genres. The word "conservative" comes to mind.

So? What kind of film correlates? One that thinks it's smarter than it really is? Well, if we're talking about slower techno and tech-house, it's surely "the heist" or "thriller" film. You know, the one where the clever thief and the lead investigator play the sophisticated cat and mouse game, each trying to appear more at ease than the other?

"I know you stole that painting, Pierce"
"You think you know, so what are you going to do about it? "
...and so on and so forth.

If it's the harder type of tech we're talking about (Adam Beyer or Chris Liebing), then you've got yourself a murder mystery of course - same kind of thing, two characters jostling for position, each trying to outsmart the other - a sheer battle of wills, much like trying to explain to tech-heads that their music isn't the best thing ever, really.

The Thomas Crown Affair, Seven, Ocean's Eleven, Entrapment

Trance

Did I just say a dirty word?

Trance, you either love it or hate it. If you hate it, it's generally for one of two reasons:

1. You don't like flying over rainbows to magical happy land on the back of a unicorn.

2. You think trance is too fast, too hard, and pretty much the same as Gabba, in which case you've never really listened to it in the first place.

Trance is a music composed of WONDROUS melodies, overblown euphoria enough to make Willy Wonka cringe. Most of the people who listen to it are living in dreamland, riding on cloud 9, entranced by those shiny lasers and ascending arepggios. What fun!

Thus, trance can only be one thing: a fantasy movie.

Trance crackers are a lot like your average fantasy movie fan; they're lost in their own little world, oblivious to the aspersions being cast on them by others, and they like to dress up in stupid clothes too. Whether you're an Elf Mage dressed in a goblin-repelling green tunic, or a dirty raver wearing female-repelling phat pants, your head is in the same space - not on this planet.

Nice ears.

Tech and hard trance are a little more grounded, with a repertoire of harder beats and less of that namby-pamby, 20 minute breakdown, hands-in-the-air crap. As such, they embody darker tones and arguably cooler themes, which is why they are a Sci-Fi movie.

Bigger kick drums, harsher percussion, faster beats = robots, spaceships, aliens and lasers (of the destructive, killing kind of course, not the kind you reach for at 3am). Duh. Still, though Sci-Fi is generally pretty cool (think Arnie in Terminator), just like hard trance, it's also kind of gay - ala Star Trek.

Lord Of The Rings, Beowulf, The Matrix, Aliens, Merlin, Harry Potter

Hardstyle/Hardcore/Gabba/Hard NRG/Happy Hardcore/Hard House

Don't try and tell me there's significant differences between the genres, because there's not. They're all as stupid as one another - ear wrenching synth stabs, melodies that sound like they were composed by a monkey dancing on a synthesizer, and that blistering BPM. Music for infantile minds, really.

The movie choice is so easy I shouldn't even need to spell it out - schlock horror.

Like horror movies, the "hardcore" genres are meant to be scary, enjoyable purely for shock value. The people who consume both these types of media pride themselves on their "harder than thou" attitude, but don't realise that everyone is laughing at them.

Hockey mask: an effective cure for low self-esteem stemming from one's aesthetic deficiencies.

Paper thin plots, shonky acting, unconvincing scariness and questionable entertainment value, they all translate perfectly to hardcore. Paper thin melodies comprised of shonky sounds coupled with stupidity rather than scariness, and so on and so forth.

Resident Evil, Nightmare On Elm St, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer

Psy/Goa Trance

To the amateur ear, psy-trance sounds a hell of a lot like hardcore. Fast tempo, big, scary bass lines, twisted, random noises and plenty of stupid vocal samples about drugs. Right?

WRONG.

Yes, Psy-Trance is still like a horror movie, but it's one with good acting, genuine moments of fright, and a believable plot.

Saw: twisted shit.

Still - you have to wonder about the minds of these people. House heads might be gay, tech heads pretentious, trance crackers off in la-la land, and hardcore aficionados missing two or three chromosomes, but what kind of sick mind enjoys this deranged, scary music, or spending three days listening to it out in the wilderness without a shower for that matter?

Saw, Identity, Psycho, Silence Of the Lambs, A Clockwork Orange, The Ring

Indie/New Wave/Electro House

Where house is outright flamboyant, indie considers itself playful, with such awe-inspiring vocals as: "disco, disco, disco, disco, disco, disco, need to disco!", and quirky themes about girls who like to go ten pin bowling.

Really, the genre is pretty much as stupid as hardcore, though it's lacking the "scary" element, and doesn't take itself nearly so seriously either, thus making it the brainless comedy. See here for more detail.

Dumb & Dumber, Night At The Roxbury, Anchorman, Billy Madison

Jungle/Drum 'n' Bass

Drum 'n' Bass is a very closed scene (at least where round these parts), with people outside of it largely clueless as to the kind of people who attend and where the parties are held.

Like trance, it's listeners are very much wrapped up in their encapsulating world, but much more aware of what the hell's going on around them. Their dark, fast music scares others away, making entry to the scene relatively difficult for most.

Thus, DnB's dark tones, fast pace, and strange sounds are much like that cult sci-fi movie which you've never even heard of. The background is impossible to grasp unless you've read up on the internet, the story too intense and long-winded to bother with, and plenty of stuff about futuristic vampires, clones and espionage. Definitely entertaining if you know what's going on, but otherwise just a crock of shit.

No examples here: they're all too underground for me (maybe Blade).

Dubstep & Grime

A close relation to DnB, Dubstep is a gritty, underground genre which fuses many elements, often using them to good effect, but sometimes missing the mark. It's accessible to the masses, due to recognisable elements such as MCing, or it's deep bassy synths. When done well, it's not too bad. 99% of the the time, I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty fork instead.

Snatch, Lockstock & Two Smoking Barrels, Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction

Leftfield/Trip-Hop

Now, here's a genre which you won't hear me slagging off. Surprisingly, this is a style I admire massively for it's innovative approach, artist integrity and emotional feel, yet rarely listen to. Why?

It's boring as hell, that's why. Where's the energy lads?

The best thing about the genre is the fact that by it's very nature, it can't be bastardized. In EVERY genre, there is good and bad music, and a selection of tracks made by talentless producers simply for fame or money. Left-field strives to be different from anything else, and thus doesn't seem to suffer so much from "cookie cutter" generic elements that other fields do.

It's unique, clever, and emotional all at the same time. It's an art house movie!

Just like art house, it's brilliant when you're in the mood, but if you're not, it's tiresome and you'd rather watch anything else, even Resident Evil or Night At The Roxbury.

American Beauty, Babel, Shawshank Redemption

Kit Phillips

2008-05-12T19:29:00.007+10:00

Today I'm proud to present the work of a 18 year old Kit Phillips, a budding producer with bucket loads of talent. Residing in Sydney, Australia, Kit set foot on his current path at the age of 13, listening to commercial trance on the radio, while at the same time producing rock music, another passion of his which shines clearly in his production.

However, it wasn't until two years ago that Kit got his act together, purchased some soft synths, a copy of Ableton Live, and started teaching himself electronic production. Over the ensuing two years, his talent has sprung forth, giving rise to tracks that bely his relative inexperience within the scene.

Currently, his influences include trance acts such as Mirco De Govia, Kyau & Albert, Leama & Moor and First State. Far more telling in his own music is the influence of his favourite down-tempo artists such as Lamb, Apparat and Boards Of Canada, as well as rock acts Powderfinger, Foo Fighters, Whitest Boy Alive and Crowded House. Danish maestro Trentemøller also ranks highly.

All of these sounds are combined to form a truly unique sound; part trance, part soft rock, and wholly blissful. Kit plays all the guitars himself, and sings too in Breaking Down.

First up is my favourite, Tranceformer:

Second is a happy little number, Autumn Burn, with some beautiful pads in the second half:

Elastone is a short, seemingly experimental track:

Finally is Breaking Down, my least favourite track unfortunately, despite the beautiful guitar. However, this track is in the process of being fully re-worked - I look forward to the final results!

Beautiful, beautiful music, with a nicely polished sound for someone this young. A few years on and I envisage higher quality music with a more than just a bit of appeal to labels.

For more information, visit Kit's soundclick page:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=423205

No email address provided here unfortunately, but there is a contact form. Please contact Kit if you or someone you know is interested in signing his music!

Production is achieved using the following:

Native instruments Komplete 4
Ableton Live
Digidesign Mbox 1
AKG k240 Headphones

Ibanez SA160
Fender American Deluxe Strat
Line 6 Pod XT live
Roland JC 160

Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

2008-05-11T11:12:00.001+10:00

Ha!

Interview: Mark Farina

2008-05-07T21:45:00.004+10:00

On your new Fabric Mix; I was impressed with how you’ve doggedly stuck with your recognisable house sound, despite a global downturn in the popularity of this style of music. What places do you think this kind of music is still booming in at the moment?

The Midwest (USA), California, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Belgium, just to name a couple spots.

Has your loyalty to house music been a conscious decision, either for the benefit of your long-time fans, or perhaps because you don’t like to be dictated by current trends? Or is it just that you don’t identify so much with the more popular music right now (arguably tech-house)?

I just love House. There’s a certain Chicago – SF jacking deep sound that I enjoy and always try and find new goodies to support that. I think Chicago house has many sub-genres within though.

What do you prefer to listen to at home, funky house music along the lines of your Fabric Mix, or the sound you’ve been credited as coming up with, “Mushroom Jazz”? Any other left-field stuff?

Both. I usually listen to more house because I tend to find more new house tunes than downtempo. I collect weird records – searching for samples too.

Your Fabric Mix contains a few interesting science fiction samples. Where did these come from?

Obscure old spoken word albums I’ve collected over the years.

What about the Japanese samples in Das Shibuya? What’s the guy saying? (something about a computer I think, my Japanese skills are a bit rusty)

The guy is naming all of the Kraftwerk songs they performed at a concert in Tokyo in 1981.

Being a veteran of the house scene, does it disappoint you to see so many kids in America growing up thinking of anything with a 4/4 beat as “techno” in the negative sense, especially since techno and house were conceived in their own back yards?

It’s not their fault. It’s hard in the US to be into house or techno or any other sub genre of electronic club music because all the clubs are 21 and up (meaning you must be 21 to get in).

How’s the scene in America now? I’ve heard you mention in the past few years that rock music is making a big comeback, but I have also seen signs that dance music is gaining ground generally. A lot of American producers are starting to emerge on the global stage, though not necessarily in the house field. What do you make of this?

Still, it's pretty good here. Club style is either house, techno or electro. Then of course there’s the whole hip-hop R&B thing that’s more mainstream.

America is currently your home. Though hosting plenty of talented producers and DJs, it’s dwarfed by the amount of material from Europe. Have you ever had thoughts about relocation, or would it feel wrong considering that both house music and yourself got their respective starts in America?

Probably thought more about relocating to Europe or Canada because of lack of faith in our government than music.

You’ve stated in the past that Detroit, the techno mecca, is actually not that great to play because the clubs close so early. What IS your ideal club night? Are you in the open air on a beach, like the Full Moon parties you’ve played in Hawaii, or in a dank and dingy underground club in the centre of the city? What are people wearing? What’s the décor like?

Detroit is fun to play though, it just sucks when the party has to end too early wherever it may be. I usually prefer clubs in the 300-1000 range.

I wrote an article a while ago about the impact of drugs on the dance music. There are few people who have as much experience as you in the scene. What are your thoughts? Do you think drug use has increased or decreased? Is it detrimental? Would you prefer a crowd of drinkers or drug takers at your parties?

I think music, whichever genre, and drugs or alcohol have always had intertwined relationships. It’s just part of growing up. I think a mix of people is usually best, a few drunks, some druggies and some sober people too.

I’ve heard you like to play video games in your spare time. Are you a console or computer kind of guy? What are your past and current favourite games?

I prefer X-BOX 360 or PSP. Current faves: Grand Theft Auto (X-BOX 360), Call of Duty (X-BOX 360) and Tigerwoods 2008 (for PSP).

I’ve found that my favourite games often have great soundtracks. Is this something you notice too? If so, what games have good soundtracks for you?

The radio stations in GTA 4 are cool. One is a DJ Premier channel.

What’s coming up in your world in the next 6 months?

After the Fabric 40 release this weekend, going to do tours in USA, Canada, China, Japan, Brazil, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Don't leave just yet...

2008-05-04T13:08:00.002+10:00

7 days between updates; I feel ashamed!

This week I've been quite busy, but in my downtime I've been listening to Anthony Pappa's excellent new tech-infused mix CD, Moments, Headroom's debut psy-trance album, Artelligent (slightly above average, but no more than that), and catching up on a bit of techno/tech house with a good night out on Friday and a few releases from the Get Physical stable.

Sadly, I don't have anything interesting to share, but don't leave just yet, because I have two very interesting interviews coming up this week, possibly within a few days of each other. One with a veteran house DJ/producer and the other with a young progressive jock.

Hang around!

Music Review: Digicult - Out Of This World

2008-04-26T18:23:00.014+10:00

Digicult is a fledging full-on psy act consisting of Bert De Becker & Davy Piessens, based in Ghent, Belgium, which seems to be hosting a lot of talent right now.

Dacru Records is one of my favourite at the moment; label boss De Becker, also known under his pseudonym "DJ Nemesis", and his co-founder Eskimo, (not to be confused with the son of John "Phantasm" Ford!), have a great ear for music. In particular the Orientation series CDs compiled by De Becker are quite good. The music on this label is by no means deep, but it's not cheesy either. It's music made for dancing and enjoying, not analysing.

With that in mind, step into the world of Digicult and see what they have to offer with their second album...

The first thing that struck me about the release was the artwork; fantastic! The image above doesn't quite do it justice. Inside the cover is no different, with a clever sketch of an audio waveform clearly saying "Out Of This World".

The title is apt because each and every song is themed around space, aliens, interstellar travel and the like, right from the cosmic tones of the opening, Star Travel, to the last track, The Return, featuring Fatali. While I admit a deep love for "themed" albums, I feel that this one went a bit over the top. Every track contains a copious amount of "space" vocal samples, with a vast majority being taken from American documentaries, the speakers clearly being geeky astrophysicists or the like. This I didn't enjoy at all. It's good for samples to have a certain mystery or strangeness surrounding them, and these satisfy neither criterion.

Also grating is the sheer over-usage of samples - every song has one. Like huge emotional breakdowns in epic trance, these feel like they are more there because they "had" to be rather than for actual artistic merit.

On the upside, most of the snippets seem relatively unique, though the nice female "we are now charging..." sample heard in Domestic's Limited Addiction rears it's head again. I'd be interested to know where this originally came from if anyone knows.

However, samples aside, this is a generally pleasing album.

It's more trance than psychedelic, with "rolling" bass lines being the only real link to the psychedelic scene. I think this is a good transition album for someone wanting to make the jump between the two.

The opening track has a distinct "cosmic" Euro feel to it, not unlike PPK - Resurrection (cringe!). However, rather than use a cheesy hook and weak percussion as PPK did, Digicult takes it up a notch, adding a delicious bass line, minimal hi-hats and loads of gorgeous melody in various forms; string plucks, synth stabs and raucous arps. It would be incorrect to call the album "formulaic", but all the tracks are cut from much the same stuff as this. The lead sounds are engaging, mostly eventuating in medium-intensity builds and bass drops, though it's clear that the producers are wary of making things too epic, and the energy is maintained right from start to finish as a result.

Some different flavours can be heard in tracks six and seven, my favourite two on the album, with Awaken The Dream having a faintly Indian feel to it in the second half, a nice nod to the roots of the genre and a great dancy track to boot.

Following this is Magic, which dedicated psy heads will no doubt hate with a passion, but which I think is pretty cool. Infected Mushroom have copped a lot of flak for trying to combine guitars with psy, and I think in some cases it's warranted, but Digicult have done a good job here in my opinion, using 80's style guitars that sound like they've been lifted from a sitcom's opening theme. Sounds horrible, I know, but listen to the sample to hear otherwise.

All in all, a nicely rounded album with perhaps lacks depth, but makes up for it with consistency and doesn't take itself too seriously. Digicult won't win any accolades for inventiveness or originality, but that doesn't mean this album isn't worth listening to. On the contrary, it's highly enjoyable if you can get your head past the annoying samples.

Music Review: Booka Shade - Charlotte

2008-04-22T19:28:00.009+10:00

From the forthcoming new album is Charlotte, which continues in the same vein as past works. As usual, will be released on Get Physical of course.

The first track on the release is simply labelled "remix", leading me to believe the new album will contain the original mix. This tune sounds like a leftover from Movements, an album I have enjoyed many times over. It has the same smooth bass line, the same clapper sounds, and the same warbly synths as many of their previous tracks. Added is some soft female harmonising which is a nice touch.

However, while this is undeniably "pure Booka", Charlotte (Remix) is missing the infectious hooks and catchy strains that made Night Falls, Body Language and Mandarine Girl so popular, instead employing an unmemorable melody which will no doubt impact the song's airplay.

While hardcore fans will no doubt still fawn over this release, I'm disappointed to see such a sameness of sound two years on. Though generally this is a solid track, cruising along with typical Booka ease, somehow dancey and relaxing at the same time, it still feels a bit dusty, as we've heard this exact same sound too often. Nevertheless, a good listen.

The second track on the release is "Booka's No Pain, No Gain Mix", which really adds little to the aforementioned description, being more for DJ programming usage than anything else it would seem.

Third up is the Dubfire Remix. YAWN.

Why the hell does everyone go crazy for Dubfire productions? Ali's music makes me positively sleepy; it's a fine example of "plodding" techno; music that has no soul, no rhythm, and goes no where. In this generic track, that great Booka bass line has been removed and replaced with a monotonous string pluck and boring hats. Horrible, absolutely horrible. This would be fine if there was melody to keep things happening, but the melody has been largely stripped back too, leaving nothing but pure poo with which to indulge our ears; six minutes of dubby bass line and minimal percussion with minute variations.

Three tracks in and I'm less than impressed.

But! In flies newcomer Matchbox, with his "Right Or Wrong" remix, single-handedly saving the day!

Matchbox's version adds a happier bass line, switches the Booka percussion for something slightly different, and pours a whole lot of emotion on top, a stark contrast to Dubfire's cold remix. Providing most of the feeling in the track is a blissful breakdown which uses an array of interesting sounds, but ties them altogether nicely, with my favourite being the 80's style tom-toms. Altogether is has a more serene feel than the other three tunes, and clearly shows that Matchbox put of lot of work into this, as rising producers out to impress the world tend to do.

On the other hand, the other three songs feel positively heartless and rushed; the efforts uninspired producers completely comfortable within the scene, knowing that their names alone will be enough to make people go gaga over their work. On the whole, a disappointing release, but worth it for the last track alone. Sample below.

Android

2008-04-21T20:32:00.004+10:00

Today I discovered the site of Melbourne-based graphic artist Andy, aka "Android", after seeing his design on the front of the new Zen Mechanics album Holy Cities.

Andy is an extremely talented artist, and Holy Cities is a poor example of his work in my eyes. Some far more breathtaking stuff can be seen on www.android.net.au.

Here are some incredible animations he has made, like Winamp/WMP visualisations on steroids, of colours and shapes moving in time to music. They are governed by a loose set of rules, for example, some of the videos use dark colours for "organic sounds", while overtly artificial sounds are bright.

The results are amazing, regardless of whether or not you like the music itself. The clips go for about twenty seconds each...check it out!

Techno

2008-04-17T21:03:00.004+10:00

Silly Americans...

Drowning

2008-04-17T09:26:00.002+10:00

Digital download store Beatport first opened their servers to the public in January 2004. Since then the company has grown to be the undisputed leader among dance-oriented download sites.

However, like all successful enterprises, Beatport has attracted a fair share of criticism over a variety of different issues in the last 12 months, with one of the main gripes being quality control, seeing many disgruntled users claiming they’re “drowning in a wave of crap” (or words to that effect). More and more often, people are claiming that the site needs to be more selective with what they sell, because the promotion of “more generic rubbish” is harmful to dance music as a whole.

The truth is that Beatport contains thousands of great tracks for anyone with the inclination to dig a little, and that the whiners are generally people who look no deeper than the lacklustre charts on the front page. Admittedly, Beatport is light on in some areas, due to their heavy focus on techno and tech-house, but that’s beside the point.

The real issue that people face in “the digital age” is being inundated with good music. People often complain that the affordability of computers and production software in the past five years has driven up the amount of bad music on the market, but they often forget that conversely, it has also driven up the quantities of great music available to those who seek it.

Besides affluent countries like Holland, England, America or Japan, electronic music is now coming from more unexpected places, such as China, Iran and Northern Africa. Whereas once in the 1980s music production was confined to a few big cities in America and England, it is now a truly global market, pumping out thousands of productions a year. As a result, electronic fans have a huge range of contemporary songs available to them; far more than people did twenty years ago.

Theoretically, in a hundred or more years, with an expanding population and further proliferation of production tools, material could become so widespread that music imported from other countries could be rendered essentially useless, condensing markets to the point that travelling over a border ensures a totally different musical experience, and only a select few groups have the capacity to be known and adored globally, as hundreds, if not thousands of producers are today.

There was a time when seminal tracks like Strings Of Life or Acid Tracks blew people’s minds for months on end, firstly due to their unavailability for home listening, and secondly due to a lack of anything similar on the market. Contrast this to today’s situation, where successful song formulas are cloned within a few weeks (the Deadmau5 sound for example), and clubbers can instantly download songs they heard the night before. It’s getting harder and harder for producers to sound “fresh” when there are a hundred thousand others doing the same.

To this effect, electronic music is being devalued by the sheer quantity of material available, whether it’s “good” or “bad”. “Unique” is a word that can rarely be applied anymore.

Another factor to consider is the rapid spread of mp3 players, notebook computers and car stereos. Whether you’re at work, at home, commuting or out at a club, music has become background noise for other entertainment, rather than entertainment in itself. Listening to music outside of a club is no longer an “event” in itself. Where in the 80s house and techno heads generally had to wait until Saturday night to hear all their favourite songs, anyone can now listen to their favourite tunes all day, if they so desire.

So how is this situation solved? How do we escape this seeming omnipotence of electronic music and the devaluation of sound through over-exposure?

In truth, listening to music will always be “special”. There’s nothing quite like experiencing first hand that brand new track blowing the roof off the club, or that incredible set from the other side of the world zapping your mind as you sit alone on the train listening to your mp3 player. Whether alone, with friends, in a club, at home, in a department store, in a bar, at a movie theatre or in the car, music will always be something worth listening to.

While it might be so ubiquitous at times as to inspire apathy, it also provides the soundtrack for our modern lives – a beat not just to dance and socialise to as in times gone by, but now a beat to live and work by.

Selections

2008-04-10T21:36:00.006+10:00

Today I have four selections, three being trance and one being...electro house?
I'm not sure, make up your own mind. It's too funky for electro house, but too blippy for straight house. Meh.

Thanks muchly to a certain friend for contributing the trance selections today, great job.

Mike Koglin - 1:1.618 (Original Mix) [Noys Music]

A blast from 2005, this was in my ‘to ID’ list for quite some time. I'm not quite sure how this went seemingly under the radar (or perhaps I was just sheltered). Previously, upon hearing the name "Mike Koglin", I tied it to the thrashed, and very average, remix of Cassandra Fox – Touch Me with, Jono Grant. Thankfully, Koglin is somewhat of a multi-faceted producer and this is from the harder part of his repertoire, somewhat similar to his work with Alex M.O.R.P.H.

The melodic elements of the track are used to great effect particularly in the breakdown – something that is not prevalent in the Pulser remix. The high energy is maintained throughout with a hard hitting bass line that further emphasizes the track's builds.

Bissen presents The Crossover - Quicksand (Joint Operations Centre Remix) [ASOT/Armada]

The latest release from someone who is arguably the hottest property in the trance world today – John O’Callaghan, under the impressive "Joint Operations Centre" alias. This is my pick of the bunch from the Quicksand release as it removes the somewhat cheesy "hands in the air" element of the original. The high energy, punchy bass and epic melody really separate this from other releases under the John O’Callaghan name, and follows more of a Sander van Doorn or Simon Patterson sound instead.

DJ Eco - Mouth Without A Voice (Martin Roth edit) [Lunatique]

The latest release from American born DJ Eco, backing up from the highly successful Light At The End last year. Continuing in a comparable, yet notably different vein, Mouth Without A Voice uses a similar melodic sound, accentuated with elongated buildups and again complemented with the Martin Roth psy-edged bass line. Killer!

Home Boy - Yesterday An Organ Saved My Life [Home Made Electronica]

Due to be released soon, this one is typical of this label I love so much. Fun and amateurish, yet professional and polished at the same time. Using the same catchy hook from start to finish, it will be stuck in your head for days. The funky bass line is complemented excellently by a tootling synth, slightly reminiscent of Kraftwerk. Swishy hats and and organ round out a very unique piece of work. Besides the Kraftwerk sound, it also sounds surprisingly like 30's swing music in some spots...in a good way that is.

However, by far my favourite element is the amusing vocal sample, delivered in a voice that I could swear is Bill Cosby; "first of all, uh, we wanna talk about the downers and the uppers. Do you think it's fine to have to take a pill, or sniff something, or snort something, or shoot to something in your arm to make yourself feel as a lot of people think as better?"

Classroom of children responds: "NO!"

Rest In Peace

2008-04-08T23:20:00.005+10:00

Quick note: selections will be up tomorrow. I've been crap at updating recently, I know!

It's been a while since I've had to say goodbye to a favourite producer, whether through retirement, the dreaded "sell-out", or even...(eek) death.

Today I sadly welcome another to the ranks, and salute his past genius.

The person I'm talking about here is Ido Ophir, or Domestic, which are two names I've mentioned a lot as being marques for the full-on psy-trance genre.

For you see, on the whole, full-on psy-trance is complete and utter shit. Like electro-house, it's been used and abused, whether by Infected Mushroom's vocoded vocals, ala Cities Of The Future, or with cheesy melodies, as heard in Yahel's whole Around The World album. Thus, it's not hard to see why a lot of traditional psy and goa fans are disdainful of this facet of the genre.

In my eyes, Ophir changed this. His brilliantly produced 2006 album, Art Making Machine, was nothing but raw energy, minimal, yet catchy hooks and brilliant fade out/fade in intros, with an enormous sense of coherency to not just every song, but the whole album. Listening to it today, I literally wondered whether another album will ever be produced in my lifetime that even comes close to topping Art Making Machine - in any genre.. That's an absolutely ridiculous statement I know, but I mean it.

Ophir showed me what full-on psy-trance can sound like when done properly, and I can't say I've really found any other producer that even comes close to making something decent in this field. Black & White, Xerox & Illumination, Hujaboy, Pixel, Wrecked Machines, X-Noize, Electro Sun, Basic, Cosma (R.I.P - I mean it this time) - they've all shown sparklings of potential, but no consistency, and certainly nothing that could seriously change my belief that Ophir's work stands alone as a hallmark for the genre. (Zen Mechanics and other quality artists do good full-on of course, but what I'm talking about is the highly energetic kind, almost like hard trance in some ways).

Hence my disappointment today to discover Ophir has given up on this sound. I feel like an entire genre has just been felled in one foul stroke, cut off at the head.

After ferreting around discogs and beatport today, I found that the Domestic moniker is firmly on the backburner, and Ophir is instead producing progressive house and tech under his own name.

His latest production was a mere fortnight ago, with a remix of Beckers and Hatfield - Keep On, and prior to that, an original release in November 2007 called Symphony/Warehouse, with someone called "Velkro".

The productions aren't all that bad, but the problem is that they aren't all that good, either. They're well produced, but generic and uninspiring. In the current climate, where tech-house is dime-a-dozen, I feel Ido's talents would be far better spent in a genre that actually needs him; indeed he seems to have had a hand, in one way or another, in a vast proportion of Israeli psy releases over the past five years, whether mastering, writing or producing. (1,2,3,4)

I feel like a ship has just lost it's captain; now doomed to drift aimlessly around for years until someone else is able to step up.

R.I.P Domestic.