Electro-Dub

[volum]

Wondering if anyone out there in the quandar sector knows of any dubbed-out electro artists/albums.

The obvious one's that hit me are HIA, Deep Space Network and UUM. I know that HIA/DSN aren't specifically "electro", but what I'm looking for can bend the genre's if it wants to. Heavy on the dub, mid to low-tempo (80-110bpm), spacy, can be melodic, and very synthetic. The less ragga-muffin styles, the better.

And a newbie hello to other readers/posters/moderators/losers/smokers/lockers.

http://volsoc.com


-volum

[alex cortex]

obviously that´s the part where i´ve to leave a reply.
you mentioned hia and dsn. i hope you know their collab "dsn meets hia" released on source records (released '96). this stuff is spaced out, still one of my ambient favourites. dsn also did a cd on fax records, called if2. but thats long time ago. if you can find it, take it. should feed your want for dub-fueled electronics. also interisting for you, opensource.players, a compilation on source, also fits your description. the new esem cd on defocus i mentioned before on this bord, but still a good hint, aswell the black buildings by detroit escalator co on peacefrog. and concerning dub+electronics... all records on "rhythm and sound", "burial mix" and "main street records (for dub especially #3,4,5). all three labels also offer compilations on cd. and ah yes, check the jeremy dower album on plug research.

[volum]

Thanks Alex.

I've a few of the pieces you mentioned, and am very much down with the dsn vs hia album, as well as the detroit escalator co.

I'm a big fan of fax, and am a little disconcerted that if2 so quickly evaded my otherwise watchful eye/ear.

I'm asking because I'm embarking on a new electro project that will take me away from the dancefloor for a few months, and would love some inspiration on electro-fueled dub. I've some tracks already finished for this side/solo-project, and hope to have a complete album by September, when my plan for world conquest can finally unfold.

If interested, there's a little bit of music and some video of my main project, Volsoc, which I am partnered with SOC (who's a member here)

http://code404.com/volsoc
http://volsoc.com


volum

[alex cortex]

yeah, have fun doing your project. but concerning the topic inspiration i direct you to the link i´ve given on the link-page. in this radio-interview, drexciya is making his/their point clear about this. i agree completely with drexciyas opinion: avoidance of influences is the key to making music which is inspired itself. but who am i telling you how to do it... :)
(if i´d really follow that rule, i´d miss sooo much good music...)
btw. you could like the two dettinger albums on kompakt (#2 & 7)...

[volum]

Although half of me agree's with your/drexciya's belief in influence-deprivation, there's another half that wants to know what's out there, and more importantly, what *isn't* out there.

Knowing what my peers are doing can be the only thing that keeps me from being stale or redundant.

Thanks again for all of the info

-volum

[freshmint]

but drexciya themselves are inspired by kraftwerk, eighties, whatelse..
aren they?

[wheezer]

there were some more dubby/spaced out electro releases on sprungkartellwachs, elektrolux, depth charge, electron industries, leaf, el turco loco... check out some of the stuff by capitol k as well, I have an ep on elf cut that might fit the bill nicely...

[alex cortex]

@ volum
you´re right. people gotta know what to avoid. but then it depends if they can stick to their own rule. to me it´s sometimes quite hard to make music, especially when i found a record that i really like. in this case i drop producing for a while.

@ freshmint
that´s right. in some interviews drexciya mentions artists like cybotron (alleys of your mind, 1983), stevie wonder, quincy jones, prince, africa bambaata, newcleus, p funk allstars, george clinton, jimi hendrix, b52s, wham. surely it´s hardly possible not to be influenced to a certain degree. but i guess it´s possible to change that at the point where an artist has to decide, whether his or her work is meant to be reflecting the world as it is or if it should offer a transitory escape. drexciya is redundant, but in a very pleasant way.

[Peezee]

hey,

dubby style electro.. check these out:

ectomorph (interdimensional transmissions)- an obvious one but very much dub-electro. new album should be out soon..

flexitone - nausicaa (planet e) - BMG of ectomorph with member of drexciya on this classic melodic dubby electro 12" - still in print to my knowledge

luke eargoggle (stilleben, bunker) - a lot of dark synth melodies in his work, but very minimal, spacious dub production style

spesimen (amici curiae, infocalypse)- this guy makes brilliant stuff, but its poorly distributed and most have never heard of him. his music is sort of electro-break style beats w/ basic channel dubby stuff on top.

other stuff to mention: stuff by electronome (viewlexx), stuff on the young Down Low label out of Texas, some of the stuff from Anthony Rother, Carl Finlow, Device records in England....

[Peezee]

Sorry, Should have read your initial post closer, the stuff I mention is def. not 110 bpm stuff, prob 120-130. Also, more under the electro umbrella than dub- but great stuff to check out nonetheless.

can't help on slow dubbier stuff much- aren't you berliners supposed to be experts on that stuff?

i'd say any of the bc, burial mix, m, and related labels are obvious starting point..

[alex cortex]

@ peezee
well, i have this spesimen record, and it´s great! do you know if there´s more from this guy?

[alex cortex]

i mean, i have the spesimen on amici curiae. the b2-track is def the best to me. reminds me (in a positive way) of old juan atkins stuff and maybe also drexciya´s "the return of... ep". i remember spinning this spesimen heavily when it was released, should put it back in my bag. here´s the the infocalypse link.
http://members.aol.com/infcalypse/
there are two records released, but they´ve never crossed my way. similar hard to get as pi gao movement, it seems (somebody has ultradyne´s antarctic ep (pgm #1) to offer?).

[Peezee]

I'm not sure if infocalypse is still operational. But you could try spesimen@aol.com or US phone number 313.663.4360

I used to see these spesimen/infocalypse records in some of the used bins here in the midwest, but have not seen any for a while. good luck finding them.

[freshmint]

spesimen- i got the two records on infocalypse, absolutely dope- especially the first one..
what else is out there from spesimen..

[alex cortex]

spesimen (amici curiae recordings, NL, 2001, 12")

and one track on an ep-compilation from kalamazoo. can´t remember the name, found it in the sonic groove data base.

[freshmint]

gracias, gotta check...

[Basic]

Check out the releases on Toytronic for that Basic Channel sound with a bit o' bite (Toytronic 10 most prevelant in my mind with this statement)

[Hiro]

Speaking of Basic Channel- Has anyone heard the latest Sade album "Lover's Rock"-

A wonderful album (as per usual)- Although, there is one track that sounds extremely close to the Burial Mix sound- Does anyone know who is the author of track 6 (I believe)- I don't have the sleeve nearby-

[alex cortex]

@ hiro
lovers rock is wonderful indeed. almost all songs (including track 6) are written by the four of them, as usual. as far as i know the album was recorded in a homestudio in her house. the sound is incredible and burial mix is surely a good hint, i.e. this dub feeling winding through the whole album. btw her live dvd is pretty nice, interisting especially for producers and musicians. this sound was refined throughout 20 years and only 5 albums, as is the perfectionism of the whole performance.

[freshmint]

how big is your recordcollection, alex?

[Hiro]

acortex-

Thanks for the info RE: DVD- and I agree wholeheartedly. So amazing to witness (eye&ear) the presentation of such a smooth evolution in sound.

Are their any dubbish (is that even a word?) side projects that I may not be aware of (re: Andrew, Stuart, Paul, Sade)-?

[alex cortex]

paul spencer denman, andrew hale and stuart matthewman are "sweetback".
matthewman works with maxwell and some other solo-artists. he has his solo project cottonbelly. he releases records on his brother techno-label edge records (anyone knows that?). he did film music ("to be a black man", "beneath the dog", "twin falls idaho" and upcoming is "jackpot").
hale works together with watermelon from japan. (2 albums, "out of body experience" in 97 and "field trip" in 99, both on file records). he worked with jim white. as among his influences he states herbie hancock, neil young, tarwater, herbert and... cristian vogel. -> look at www.sadeonline.com

@freshmint
it´s not too big, but i´m in the happy situation to know a lot of music nerds, some of them even have a record-shop. i just try to keep an ear on various styles and periods in the history of music. this way i cover about 1000 years of music, of course only excerpts... :)

[Hiro]

acortex:

Thank you for the brief (perfect cliff-note mention) summary- I will look into the above listed projects.

Likeminded music nerd companions are cruicial for the occasional overlooked overlaps in music adored... blah blah...

Makes these forums feel more confortable.

[volum]

peezee -:-
Love all the stuff you mentioned, and am a big big fan and producer of electro.

Speaking of Finlow, Daz/SCSI is releasing a new full length of Silicon Scally. More great, melodic and mechanical Finlow style electro, closer to the Voice Stealer days of old. (he also has a new Random Factor full length album coming out in september FYI) And just a few days back, my partner and I dusted off my 12" collection of IT/Ectomorph stuff. The 2000 release of "Breakthrough" is one of my favorites. Dirgey and psychedelic. mmmm.

Not a Berliner, actually. Although we have releases with two German labels, I'm a Los Angelino. And to my knowledge, most of the Berliner Electro is pretty hard, Detroit influenced dancefloor electro (see bolz bolz et al)


-volum

[volum]

acortex:

re: sade - live dvd

Which dvd were you speakig of? She has two live dvd's. Sade - Live. And, Sade - Lover's Live. I would assume you were speaking of the Lover's Live DVD.

-volum

[alex cortex]

@volume - yep, lovers live.