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Inspired by this recent thread on 4four, here's my favourite 303 tracks of all time (as usual, this is subject to change depending on mood, etc...
Fast Eddie: Acid Thunder
Phuture: Acid Tracks
Hardfloor: Acperience
Laurent X: Machines
Choice: Acid Eiffel
Electric Ecstasy Club: Still Loves The Acieeed
Stakker: Humanoid
Bobby Konders: Nervous Acid
DJ Skull: Acid Wiss L
Tyree: Acid Over
What are yours?
In between working for insane 14-hour stretches every day, I have been mainly listening to:
English Electric: DRM (Mighty Robot)
Osborne: Fresh (Spectral)
Miss Fitz: Drifting On (Contexterrior)
Audision: Red Sky (Mule)
Stewart Walker: Powdered I Ching (Persona)
Rick Wade: The Good, The Bad & The Deep LP (Yore)
A few quick words about Claro Intelecto's second album, 'Metanarrative'. Initially, I had listened to it once or twice when I first got it and it didn't really make much of an impression on me. I'm a big fan of Mark Stewart's 'Warehouse Sessions' series of records because they combine primal, jacking rhythms with ethereal electronic textures and dub techno nuances and yet they manage to make this seemingly disparate combination work on the dance floor. On 'Metanarrative', by contrast, Stewart's sound seemed fey and too understated, a somewhat wishy-washy accompaniment to the 'Warehouse' set. I have since changed my opinion, mainly because 'Metanarrative', like 'Warehouse', requires the listener to listen to it at high volumes (or in this instance as loud as a car stereo will allow). If anything, the album at first sounded underwhelming because Stewart's arrangements are almost too intricate, with the result that his intelligent design aesthetic went over a lot of people's heads, mine included. Left to play on repeat - and I'd recommend 10 to 20 times before making a decision - the album moves from deep house and languid dubby influences into more esoteric ambience, with the recent 'Dependant' single near the end sounding like a contemporary reference to Global Communications, and a nod to a time when techno producers actually made high-quality albums. It is short, at just eight tracks, but it represents a flip side to his dance floor material and Stewart's production values are as high as ever. It's also a brave move; after all, it would have been far easier to drop more 'Warehouse' releases, but Stewart, with the help of Modern Love, has opted to develop a coherent artist album. So, it's a mixture of the new, the old and the esoteric, delivered in a format that has been notably lacking in recent years - I might be late to recognise it, but I'm glad 'Metanarrative' didn't slip under the radar and into obscurity.
Due to all the pre-Bloc madness, I forgot to mention to post this shameless piece of self-promotion: a piece that I had been working on for a long time was the cover story on last week’s Ticket, the entertainment supplement of the Irish Times (the newspaper I work for). There’s a link to the piece here, which focuses on the implications that climate change and peak oil will have on the live music industry. Radiohead have been at the forefront of efforts to reduce bands’ carbon footprints, commissioning a report into how they and their fans can become more carbon neutral (disclaimer: I have already heard the ‘well, just tell them to stay at home’ argument). What struck me most when I was researching the piece was how ill-prepared those who work in the industry seem to be for what’s going to become a reality very soon. Promoters, bands and their ‘people’ all seem to have a laissez-faire, ‘sure that’ll never happen’ attitude.
The other main point of interest that arose from the piece was that fans’ travel was responsible for a far greater proportion of the carbon footprint associated with concerts and festivals, dwarfing the toll that jet-setting bands and their entourages (plus their equipment) exert. Again, Radiohead have been quick to demand better public transport infrastructure for festivals and big concerts. Seeing as I usually focus on techno/electronic music, I wonder if any of this has implications for that style of music. I feel that it does for the following reasons: while international DJs only take up a few (business class) seats on a commercial flight, their schedules are much more hectic than most rock bands. Most big-name DJs are ‘touring’ every weekend, whereas bands only do say a twenty-date tour. It is also more common for DJs to flit around the world, from continent to continent, whereas bands usually stick to one continent at a time for logistical reasons. When you’ve a few tonnes of equipment with you, it makes it more difficult to ‘do a Sven Vath’ and be in Spain one weekend and Colombia the next week. So while there are some differences, there are also similarities. There have been tokenistic nods to address climate change from the techno scene: the Minus publicity department swung into action last year to declare that Hawtin would be offsetting the carbon footprint caused by his constant touring. Quite whom he would be offsetting it to remains unclear, but many of these initiatives have been discredited, mainly because there is little information as to how the offsetting companies, erm, offset. Then there is the issue of the fans’ footprint. In the same way that those attending stadium gigs and rock festivals account for most of the event’s carbon emissions, people going to say I Love Techno or Sonar would have the same effect. So how prepared - if at all – is the techno world for the stormy days ahead? Will rising travel costs kill off the international DJ circuit, in turn leading to small, locals-only scenes? What implications, if any, would this have for the music? How would it interface with the global connectivity that the internet affords? And what about vinyl, the physical art at the heart of this music: will the floundering petroleum industry deal it a death blow by failing to produce the oil byproducts necessary to manufacture it? I sense interesting if challenging times ahead…
To everyone who came to hear me play at Bloc at the weekend. I had a great time and was really happy with my set. It was really great to play to such an up for it crowd - many in fancy dress too! Also a big thanks to the Bloc organisers for having me over to do the gig - the festival was great fun, hopefully it'll happen again next year. I had been asked to play an acid/Chicago set, so that explains why there were quite a few well-known tunes dropped. The only downside is that the set didn't get recorded - but maybe it was just better to have been there.
'Acid Trax', 'We Are Phuture', 'Rise From Your Grave' are but just three of the many classics that Phuture, now trading as Phuture 303, have created. The group, which formed in 1985, was one of the first to mess with the 303 and create sparse, squelchy futuristic dance rhythms that was partly responsible for a cultural revolution, the acid house explosion of the late 80s. While Phuturre has enjoyed a fluid membership over the past 23 years, including Pierre, Professor Trax, Roy Davis Jnr and Spanky in its ranks, it now consists of Spanky and Trax. With their first UK gig in years due to take place at Bloc this weekend, I nabbed Spanky for a quick chat about Ron Hardy, religion and the great Chicago swindle...
Hey Spanky, how are you – what are you up to these days?
“Hi, I’m fine thanks. I’m doing a day job, but I don’t want to disclose what it is. Apart from that, I’m working on an album and I have got a few other producers involved too - there’s Jake Wuntaq, Roy Davis jnr and Professor Trax working on it. Hopefully, it’ll be complete in a few months, if everyone’s schedule permits it. We’re going back to the old school way of music, using acid sounds, but there will be more modern drums on some of the tracks, not the typical 909 drum sound, as well as some vocals that I’ll do.”
Do you think that the acid sound has endured?
“I don’t know a lot of the artists nowadays, but I hear a lot of music online and I don’t hear the same old 909 drum anymore, but I still hear the acid sound. That’s why I’m sticking with acid: it doesn’t die, it’s very energetic. When we did it in the 1980s, I suppose we were ahead of our time.”
Was there ever a plan to make music and then release it?
“No. Originally, I made tracks with the intention of getting Ron Hardy to play them at the Music Box - that was my goal. I never thought that this music would get so big. When I started out, when I was making my first tracks, I wasn’t thinking about records or contracts, but just about getting Ron to play them.”
What was the Music Box like?
“I used to go there practically every weekend. It was a real loud club, it was free-spirited, but first and foremost, it was about the music. No one was thinking about who would get with who or if the people beside you were gay or straight. That’s why I wanted to get a track played there - no one knew what Ron was going to play next.”
Do you think that Ron Hardy played a big role in kick starting Chicago house?
“Put it this way: Phuture launched a lot of people’s careers, people like DJ Pierre, myself, Professor Trax, Felix da Housecat and Roy Davis jnr all got sprung from Phuture. We created music, but Ron was our teacher, he gave us our style - none of this would have existed without him, he was the first to play this music, he should get more credit. Ron was such a great DJ, his style was very energetic, like being on a rollercoaster ride. He used to take you up, then down, then up again. Nowadays I don’t hear DJs do that, he was a true master.”
The last time I spoke to you - back in 2001 for the release of the ‘Survival’s Our Mission’ album - you said that Phuture had been ripped off by some labels: what happened?
“There would be times when I’d be in a rush to get the record out and not focus on the business side. The way that the labels did business in the 1980s and 1990s was to say that they wouldn’t release the record unless you signed a contract that was put together exactly the way that they wanted it. We were so keen just to put out a record and you might get a few gigs from it, that we’d sign it.”
Larry Sherman from Trax had a terrible reputation for ripping off his acts…
“Larry pretty much preyed on young black men, guys who were too young to hire a lawyer. At the time, we just didn’t know that we were making music that would change the world. Larry made as much money as possible, that was his goal and that’s what he achieved. Larry’s artists made loads of money for him, but the problem was that he wanted to keep all of the money, he didn’t want to share any of that wealth. Because he had started that kind of way of doing business, a lot of other labels followed.”
Did you get stung by anyone else?
“There was a UK label called Jack Trax that Knuckles, Ten City, Phuture and a few other Chicago artists signed tracks to. We gave the guy from the label the tracks, he gave us a small advance, say between 500 and 1,000 dollars, and he takes the music and disappears. He went off and pressed the records and we never heard from him again. I think that was back in 1989, but because Larry had started this kind of behaviour it caused a chain reaction - we never got even any of the publishing, the labels made all of the money.”
I get the feeling that unlike other scenes, that money wasn’t the key motivator in Chicago house…
“That’s correct. The Chicago artists weren’t into it for the money, to them it was about the music, it was a revolution and it was spiritual to us. New York was wide to the music as well, but they knew how to get their money. My feeling is that music is like a drug: even if you get ripped off, you’re still going to keep doing it - are you going to be seen as a pioneer, but you didn’t reap the benefits? Yeah, sure you are.”
So how did people survive?
“What happened is that most of the guys got money from DJ gigs and live PAs, but all it took was for someone to be honest: the label would have made some money and so would the artist. I know that if labels had been honest with me, had paid me, that I’d be doing this full time and that right now, if it had worked out that way, I’d be on a whole different level of music making.”
Your last album was on Music Man - would you work with them again?
“I will work with Music Man, but it’s gotta be a win-win situation. If Music Man is willing to do things right, then for sure I will - it’s an excellent label. The only downfall with the last album was that they didn’t release out version of ‘Blackout’, but it’s only a small thing.”
What do you think is Phuture and Chicago’s legacy?
“When we talk about what I assume is called techno nowadays, you do still hear Phuture’s influence: when I meet other artists when I’m playing gigs, they do say that they were influenced by our releases on Trax. Sometimes I even hear the acid sound being used on a TV ad - but the day that there is a Grammy for best techno producer is the day that you know it’s gone mainstream - we want an award for best acid act!”
Why do you think that house never made it big in the same way as hip-hop?
“House music just wasn’t respected enough by the people who ran the labels and when the mainstream saw that, it didn’t want to have anything to do with house music. Sure people get ripped off in the mainstream too, but that’s a whole different level of a rip-off: I’d rather be ripped off and have a few million dollars in the bank than get ripped off and have nothing!”
Did the US radio stations also play a role by refusing to play it?
“Yeah: the radio stations in Chicago had a very closed mind about house: all they play is hip-hop and r&b, which is crazy, because this music also came from Chicgao. I don’t agree that because house is instrumental that it didn’t get played - look at jazz, loads of those guys sold millions of records. When I go abroad, I’m amazed at how open-minded the stations are: it’s great to hear different styles like jazz, soul and gospel.”
I noticed on your answering machine that you praise God – are you a religious person, like a lot of the Chicago producers?
“Yes, I am religious, I am saved. As you get older, you get wiser: sometimes people have a terrible thing happen to them that makes them religious, but thank God nothing that bad happened to me. My life was just too inconsistent and I needed help. For a while, I was thinking about becoming a Muslim or giving my life to Christ. One day, I met a really old friend of mine, he was the singer on ‘Phantasy Girl’. Anyway, his father is a pastor and my friend invited me along to the church. I was on the look out for musicians and singers, but something else got a hold of me that day! This is beyond the scope of human possibility: we think we are in control, but we are not. Since I devoted my life to Christ, it has become hundreds of times happier - I can’t really quantify it.”
Are creative people more likely to be religious?
“That could be it: people who are involved in making music are spiritual people anyway, they are creating something. Music comes to you sometimes, stuff that you have no control over and you think ‘I just did that without knowing how to’.”
Who is in the Phuture line up at the moment – and what kind of set are you going to play at Bloc?
“The Phuture line up is me, my wife and Professor Trax. We always try to play some of the classics, but we will also drop some new material. A set consisting of straight classics is pretty boring, but promoters always want us to do it. A lot of the new stuff is interesting, it’s harder than usual, but maybe we were always considered hard: I know that when ‘Slam’ and ‘Acid Tracks’ were released that people thought they were very hard.”
I have been mainly listening to:
The Fall: Live At The Witch Trials LP (Beggars Banquet)
DJ Donna Summer: Panther Tracks LP (Cock Rock Disco)
Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia: Pain Disappears LP (Buzzin' Fly)
Sterac: RondBot 12" (Delsin)
Miss Fitz: Drifting On 12" (Contexterrior)
Corrugated Tunnel: Distant Sounds 12" (Nightvision)
Pied Plat: 'Unknown' 12" (Rush Hour)
The Parallel: Hypnosis MP3 (Exhibit B)
TR-One: Urban Promise MP3 (Nice & Nasty)
Note to the last two labels mentioned: Please release these tracks on vinyl. Thanks!
When I was growing up, my dad used to listen to a show called Desert Island Discs on the radio. Its premise was simple: invite a well-known person into the studio and ask them to share with listeners the records that they would like to have with them if they were to find themselves stranded on a desert island. I was thinking about the show the other day because one of the replies to my weekly listening list said that 'Techno City' was the best 12" of all time. It's a reasonable enough assertion to make, but it made me consider what five records I would like to have with me if I was going to spend an indefinite amount of time on a small island. For the purposes of this blog, I have limited myself to purely electronic music - there are a few bands whose work I'd love to have with me - so pretty much of the top of my head, here's my choice (subject to change, of course):
Suburban Knight: 'The Groove' (Transmat); More than any Detroit artist, James Pennington captured an intangible, mysterious vibe without feeling the need to wear a ski mask, and this is his finest moment. You could tell from the chugging breaks that this record had a huge influence on jungle - it was a Grooverider favourite - but the dark, inescapable bass is the most accurate musical representation of a dystopia that I've ever heard.
Various Artists: 'Biorhythms 2' (Network); For whatever reason, I never really got into the first 'Biorhythms', but when I heard this album back in 1991, it was like someone had lifted a mask from my eyes - and pushed me into a new world. Carl Craig's 'From Beyond' as Psyche is probably my favourite track he's ever done - here in all its otherwordly glory - and the album also includes the brilliant bleep electro of Energize's 'Report To The Dancefloor' (recorded by Joey Negro!); Altern 8's more freaked out Nexus 21 alter ego with the slow hardcore of 'The Calling' and the glorious deep house of C&M Connection's 'Flutes'. Some people loved 'Virtual Sex', for me this album was and still is a benchmark - and had a huge, life-changing impact on me.
Underground Resistance: 'Galaxy 2 Galaxy' (Underground Resistance); This was a hard one: 'World 2 World' features 'Amazon', one of my favourite UR tracks, but 'Galaxy' just about trumps it with 'Hi Tech Jazz' and 'Journey of the Dragon'. If anyone ever tells you that techno music has no soul, point them in the direction of the soaring sax on 'Jazz' or the tear-inducing introspection of 'Journey'...
Basic Channel: 'Phylyps Trak' (Basic Channel); It could have been any Basic Channel track, but 'Phylyps' and the Basic Channel compilation provided me with another road to Damascus moment. When I first heard their music, the first thing that came into my mind was 'they are dong so much with so little'. In particular, the scuffled, cavernous groove of 'Trak 2' and that repetitive chord riff, looped to infinity, proves conclusively that more is possible with less. It's all down to the ingredients and how you use them. All of the BC catalogue is available on Beatport now, which is a good thing - I really hope more people discover this music.
Laurent X: 'Machines' (House Nation Records) I think if someone were to put a big gun to my head, I would have to admit that my favourite style of music is Chicago house. There's something about the way that it combines rawness and a machine finish that makes it such an irresistible anomaly. There is an inherent unpredictability at play too, that makes it kind of dangerous, kind of like wandering down a dark alley in a city at night. 'Machines' combines all of these elements and does so brilliantly - the squelching, squeaking 303, the shuffling drums doubling up to climax, the nasal robo whine in the background - this is the ideal (for me at least) of man and machine interaction.
So there's five off the top of my head: like I said, this is subject to change on a daily basis. Where for example is Rob Hood - and what about all the great more recent stuff? I think this topic deserves another post - which I will get around to soon. In the meantime, feel free to reply with your own desert island discs...
Here's something to make your Thursday go a bit faster: a live set from Legowelt, recorded somewhere in Italy (he gets a big up at the start in what sounds like Italian, but I could be wrong). This is proper nasty, grimy jacking acid music. While Legowelt's sequences between tracks are a bit patchy in places, the tracks he throws down more than compensate. Although he has been a reguar visitor to Dublin, for one reason or another, I have never made it to one of his gigs - so I can't wait for his appearance at Bloc. In the meantime, check out this set...
Confusingly, the Wee DJs is but one person, Scottish producer and live act Dave Paton. The creator of wonky, experimental electro for labels like SCSI-AV and Touchin’ Bass, in his first proper interview, Dave holds forth about his ambient past, the inspiration for his ‘Fear & Lothian’ album and his love of Hawaiian music
How are things? Do you still do a day job?
“I’m fine thanks, yeah, I still work a normal job. There isn’t a huge living to be made out of underground electro. I have tried a few times to make more populist music, but it must have something to do with the way I produce, because nothing ever came of it. Apart from the Wee DJs, I’m also in a band called Nob: we have played live a few times - in an underground bunker and a Victorian mental hospital and we plan to do a gig behind a waterfall on the island of Mull soon.”
Are people surprised when they find out that there’s only one of you?
“Yeah, so many times I have turned up to do a gig and people have said ‘where’s the other guy?’ For a while, I pretended that there were a few people involved just for a laugh - it’s easy to keep these kinds of myths going in techno and electro.”
Was there any other reason for having a confusing name?
“Years ago, well, back in the 90s, I used to release ambient stuff on Weatherall’s Emmissions label as Being, but eventually I got sick of that because I wanted to do some dance floor stuff – and I didn’t want people to associate my older material with what I’m doing now.”
Did you find it easy to get the music you make now signed?
“No. When I made this decision to change, it took me about four to five years to get a release, but I think it’s because my stuff is a bit weirder than most electro. I wanted to be experimental, but obviously going in that direction is even less popular than underground electro! It took forever to release a record, but eventually I did, on SCSI-AV and Gassoline.”
So how did you hook up with Touchin’ Bass?
“It was by accident. A few years ago, when I was trying to get my tracks signed, I did a big mailshot to about 50 labels and I got seven replies that said ‘it’s not bad, but…’. I never sent one to Andrea because Daz from SCSI-AV gave her a copy, but she liked the music so much she put out the album. Having said that, the album didn’t do as well as everyone thought, in fact it only sold about 750 copies, but Andrea thinks it’s the kind of release that will sell a lot in the long term. I hope she’s right! Andrea’s whole taste has totally changed, she has got into weirder sounds – and that’s great for me!”
So it happened by accident rather than design?
“Yes. To be honest, getting a record out is all just a game of luck and having some contacts. If someone wants to release my music, I’ll let them contact me. Nowadays, I put out most of my music online for free. I get about 200-300 downlaods per track I upload, so I know that I have a small fanbase! “
You mentioned earlier that you feel your music is a bit weirder than most electro…
“Well, there is so much electro that just doesn’t do it for me: it should be about earthy stuff, the darkness of life, not vocodered vocals and sci-fi fixations. This approach has never done it for me: I don’t understand why a lot of US electro artists still focus on it. My music is just me pissing about, it’s about my life.”
Was that reflected on your debut album, ‘Fear & Lothian’?
“Sure, the LP is grim: I grew up in fear of my life. Lothian is dark and dreary and West Lothian, where I’m from, is worse. In the 60s, the council went out into a green field with concrete and farted out a town. That’s West Lothian. When I was growing up in the 70s, it was clean and nice and quite a futuristic place, but then it started to fall apart and since then it has turned into a massive shithole. It has all the social problems that you could imagine, but probably the worst thing about it is the kind of backwardness that it breeds. The people who live there never leave it, it almost feels like it was a social experiment.”
So what effect did it have on you?
“It messed my head up, especially as a kid I had to watch my back. I got battered to shit a few times and I was bullied at school. I never felt like I fitted in there, I never made any childhood friends that I’m still in contact with, in fact I know no one there from my chikdhood, they were all assholes. I’m glad I left when I did - at 17. I’m sure if you went back now you’d find all the people I was in school with getting senselessly drunk in the local pub.”
Instead of getting drunk, you got into music…
“That’s right. I had started out playing in a brass band and then I got some synths and of course that makes you more introspective, but I had moved by then to Glasgow.”
So where are you based now?
“I live in Edinburgh: there is still a techno scene here, the remnants of Pure and Sativa. There is one small club called Substance that does electro and techno and I’ve played there. Edinburgh is like any small city, it’s easy to fill a club if you’re playing cheesy commerical crap, but drawing a crowd to an underground night is hard. What I like about Substance is that it’s full of old familiar faces and young kids, 17 or 18, who are just getting into the music now. That’s encouraging.”
Were you in the same position - a teenager going to Pure in the early 90s?
“Yes, going to Pure had a big influence on me, especially hearing people like Claude Young play. The whole Detroit sound had a big effect on me - more to do with the attitude. The music has a naivety, but the way that they manipulate sounds is crazy. 4/4 electronic music, and by that I mean tracks that are based on a straight kick drum, still sell well. For example, SCSI-AV put out a 4/4 release by an electro outfit from Holland who I’m not allowed to name - it was out under a different name - and it sold out within two weeks. Maybe it was only a thousand copies, but it proves that the straight stuff is far more popular than anything experimental. What’s impossible to tell, of course, is what music will be timeless.”
Speaking of Detroit, what do you make of the city’s most famous electro acts?
“I would say that Dopplereffekt and Drexciya are some of my influences, but it’s more that I interpreted some of their music than it directly influenced me – some of my tracks are interpretations of Marvin Gaye. I love the elements of the sounds that both Drexciya and Dopplereffekt use: Gerald Donald is always one step ahead, it pisses you off his stuff is so good, it’s the same with DMX Krew.”
What are you up to over the next few months?
“I have a remix of ‘Freaky Bitches’ coming out on Touchin’ Bass and I’ll be doing a live set at Bloc. I use Ableton to play live, but when I produce I use a program called Vaz Modular. It feels like you are playing hardware in real time. “
Finally, what’s on your turntable/CD player at home?
“At the moment I’m hooked on Hawaiian music, Arthur Lyman is my favourite guy from this scene. He was one of the people who started the exotic/lounge style of music. There are usually a few great songs on each album and then the rest sounds like the music that plays over the tannoy in ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’!”
