bleep and bass 2013 style

never trust your fantasies

classic darkcore "I can't believe these feelings" rave-dream-as-lie paranoia title to this Essence of Aura EP that's weirdly eluded my ears to until this very moment





Lord of Darkness himself Doc Scott on the remix tip here



"Intruder", from the Pure Essence EP also very much on that vybe (cf.  Luna C Project's "Edge of Madness"- "There's an invisible intruder / That's got inside your mind / Invading your sense of right and wrong / Making your conscience blind")





original of "Can I Dream"




love the label graphic on this 93 collab with Distortion Crew





unreleased cut issued by ardkore archival label sublogic



transitioning from dark into intelligence like so many others

ambient trap, dolphin drill

liquid gangsta

Chal Ravens frets over this Fat Trel track's street-nihilist allure in a piece at FACT that attempts to "redefine the guilty pleasure"

metal dance

while we're on this industrial-techno / Eurohardcore continuum tip (i.e. Gesaffelstein, Horrorist, Soulwax's Belgcore 'n' gabber slowed-down mix), one of my fave archaeologies of 2013 was  Trevor Jackson's Metal Dance:  Volume 2

like the first volume, an exploration of the hinterland between postpunk and techno-rave -- EBM, second-wave industrial, dancefloor-oriented Goth

like the first volume, a lot of this stuff I'd probably have shunned as past-its-avantfunk-moment in the actual mid-Eighties, when I was listening to Husker Du and Schooly D, but which now sounds really fresh

here's the tracklist:

01. Tuxedomoon - 59 To 1
02. Logic System - Unit
03. Psyche - The Saint Became A Lush
04. Skinny Puppy - Deadlines (400 Blows Remix)
05. Propaganda - (The Echo Of) Frozen Faces
06. Visage - Der Amboss (Instrumental)
07. Rusty Egan - The Twilight Zone (Trevor Jackson Edit)
08. Material - Secret Life
09. Rene Bandaly Family - Tanki Tanki (Rabih Beaini Edit)
10. Experimental Products - Work That Beat
11. Crash Course In Science - Jump Over Barrels
12. Liaisons Dangereuses - Etre Assis Ou Danset
13. Esplendor Geometrico - Necrosis En La Poya

01. Ministry - Over The Shoulder (12-inch Version)
02. Test Dept - The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom: Face 3
03. Mile High Club - Walking Backwards
04. CHBB - Ima Iki-Mashoo
05. Front 242 - Body 2 Body (2trax)
06. Vice Versa - Riot Squad
07. Chris & Cosey - Driving Blind
08. Doris Norton - Personal Computer
09. Plus Instruments - Vom Ertrunkenen Mädchen
10. Conrad Schnitzler - Das Tier
11. Neon - Lobotomy
12. Arthur Brown And Craig Leon - The Conversation
13. Haruomi Hosono - Platonic
14. Godley & Creme - Babies

Here's Trevor Jackson talking about the compilation at Resident Advisor

Here's a promo minimix TJ did



Here's a video mix, official or unofficial i knownot

 And finally some of my fave tunes from the compilation

FACT  flag up a mix by Soulwax (from a few years ago, seemingly) that involves slowing down gabba and Belgian hardcore to 115 bpm.

Awesome it is indeed, but I have to disagree that the result "sounds vaguely soothing and almost... soulful".  Decelerating gabba doesn't transform it into jazzual  Kruder 'n Dorf type downtempo emollience.  The insurgency and raging madness survive the tempo drop.

In some ways, it becomes even more woozy and drug-fucked. 

No, you couldn't really imagine putting this mix on at a dinner party as background music. It's too imposing, too infernal.

The b.p.m. reduction technique shows that what made gabba and Eurohardcore so intense wasn't actually the speed, or at least not primarily the speed. It was certain musical structures, timbres, tonalities...  and a mood.


FACT also point to the video accompaniment of Nederlands ravers in sports wear or stripped to the waist, gurning and sweating, and say "if you didn’t know better you might think it’s one of the 100% Silk lot having a laugh at our expense," i.e. a hipster house pastiche, a spoof.

And it does look a bit like the retro-rave video to that Miracles Club tune " Church Song".

At first I assumed it was old footage digitally spliced from some rave video-pak merchandise type thing. But many of the Nederavers look at a bit mumsy and dadsy, plump and balding (techno slapheads, but not by choice). So I assume it was done recently and the concept is "gabba for the middle aged".

Just my cup of tea, then.

(Via Eli Bingham)

piece of retro-future

Listening to the Gesaffelstein album, this track and certain other Aleph moments reminded me, in texture and mood, a little of the Horrorist. (Who incidentally put out an excellent album this year, Fire Funmania).  Actually the declamatory opening track "Out of Line" with its black drones and knelling tones is even more Chesler-esque.

Now when I first heard Yeezus I thought, you now what, bits of this, they really do sound like Kanye West has been listening to the Horrorist.... 

Well, knock me down with a feather, it's Gesaffelstein that produced "Black Skinhead"

And here's the Horrorist guest-vocalling on an EP by Sound of Science