Defecting Grey

JejeJuly [SlaP My VoX Up] summer mix

2010-07-16T09:22:00.008+01:00

JejeJuly [SlaP My VoX Up] by defecting grey

1. Kode9 and The Space Ape - Sine

2. Debruit – Nigeria What ?

3. Bonde do Role - Marina Gasolina (Fake Blood Remix)
4. Joy Orbison – The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow

5. Wiley – Electric Boogaloo

6. UNKLE - Restless (Fake Blood Remix)

7. Mr. Oizo – Flat Beat

8. Ital Tek – Wind Tunnel

9. Ital Tek – Cyclical

10. Joy Orbison – Wet Look

11. Ramadanman – Each Time

12. Kode9 and L.D. – Bad

13. Zomby – Spliff Dub (Rustie Remix)

14. Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo

15. Darkstar – Need You

16. Benga – Amber

2010-06-12T12:04:00.000+01:00

A short mix I made for paris campus radio as a promo for the MiSH MaSH night in Paris.

DefectingGrey(MiSHMaSH)radiomix by defecting grey

DJing at MiSH MaSH, Thursday 17th June, Paris

2010-06-09T20:40:00.006+01:00

Originality: It's just so 5 minutes ago.

2010-04-13T21:36:00.003+01:00

Last year I wrote the following on the subject of postmodernism:

"Pastiche is the imitation of a particular style or what Jameson calls ‘wearing of a stylistic mask, speech in a dead language… without parody’s ulterior motive [satire].’ Postmodernism takes the unique styles of high modernism and uses them in new ways and in doing so creates new meaning, or the absence of it.
Jameson explains that pastiche has emerged due to the end of what he calls ‘individualism’; ‘…today, in the age of corporate capitalism, of the so-called organisation man, of bureaucracies in business as well as in the state, of demographic explosion – today, that older bourgeois individual subject [of the modernist period] no longer exists.’ Given this, he argues the old modernist canonical models can no longer function, ‘since no one has that kind of unique and private world and style to express any longer’ – modernist art is therefore no longer congruent to society today – the postmodern society. Thus the use of pastiche emerges at a point in history where individual stylistic innovation is no longer possible, only the recycling of dead styles into something new. In this respect postmodern pastiche seems to be an artistic representation and response to this change in society, a society in which ‘material’, artistic or otherwise, has lost its identity. This is perhaps most obvious in music where technological innovation and this loss of individualism has led to ‘sampling’ – the reuse of recorded audio in order to achieve, as Forbes says in relation to pastiche, ‘different ends or no apparent end at all.’
In film, similar reuse of old film footage combined with technological innovation can be seen in Forrest Gump (Zemeckis, 1994), although generally cinema prefers to remake or pastiche old styles rather than using old footage itself. Nevertheless, like audio recording, film ‘is the product of a technology which permits endless repetition and reproduction, it is constructed (through editing and montage) by literally assembling bits and pieces…’"

I loved the idea that the old canonical models can no longer function in society because of this loss of individualism. However sitting here writing my blog I could be considered in this context a 'hyper-individual'. Next to the millions of others writing on the Internet my words and opinions are of little importance, yet I still write. For good or bad, I would argue that technology is in fact making 'individuals' of us all. You just need to look at twitter to see that the Internet channels the (often hugely mundane) thoughts of the individual to anyone that will read. While the implications of this on how we run our lives are fascinating, I am especially interested in the implications to music and musicians.

I was therefore struck by Derek Walmsley's interview with the fascinating Steve Goodwin (Kode9), founder of the Hyperdub record label.

The Wire

May 2009

This is not just an issue for listeners but is of course relevant to the age old issue of artistic originality and historic value. How can you do something that is worthwhile when it will either have already been done or will be done tomorrow? The Internet and the availability of practically everything ever recorded often feels like a barrier to experimentation because of the feeling that 'everything has been done before'. Luckily Walmsley has a reassuring theory:

The Wire

May 2009

So, the answer to the question of originality in art in the age of Web 2.0 is: don't worry about it - everything you do will be past, present and future all at the same time, you can't go wrong.

Electronic extremity: Ryoji Ikeda and Autechre live in Paris.

2010-01-16T15:49:00.001Z

This month two of the most intensely visceral forces in electronic music will arrive in Paris to play live concerts, the Japanese composer and mathematician Ryoji Ikeda and the English electronica duo Autechre.

Ryoji Ikeda’s music is the epitome of a technological and scientific marriage with art. His concerts and installations often feel more like complex scientific experiments with the audience’s senses than artistic events, as we’ve known them before. Ikeda is no stranger to Paris, having displayed his sound and light installation ‘Spectra’ for the Nuit Blanche in 2008.

This time he will be performing an audiovisual concert called ‘Datamatics’. His tools are the mathematically pure sine waves, white noise, square wave clicks, and binary data of computers. His instruments are specially designed speakers that can output frequencies well below and above the sensitivity of human ears. These are sounds your body perceives in the head and chest rather than ears. His music also utilises astonishingly complex mathematically created rhythms, which are usually delivered at speeds whereby your brain will have to work hard to keep up. After all, this is the work of a man fascinated by the thresholds of human perception to audio and visual data. Be prepared for a strong physical and above all visceral experience.

No one would describe Autechre as musically accessible but next to Ryoji Ikeda they may well be. With an initial love of Hip Hop production they somehow took this starting point and launched their music into their own very special sonic stratosphere. On record, Autechre’s music can go from the lyrical, to the relentless, to the down right unhinged. This is music to listen to in a dark room with your undivided attention. Autechre seem to think the same thing; there is unlikely to be any lighting in the venue Locomotive, just two silhouetted pulsating figures lit only by their equipment. Like Ikeda, expect this concert to be a physical as well as an aural experience; while the dubstep and techno genres have a penchant for bass, Autechre’s incomparable beats seem to attack your chest with the same ferocity. Live they are fluid enough for the audience to be able to follow the music’s minimal evolution, effectively DJing with their own sound bites. This makes their live sets relentlessly hypnotic and at their best mesmerising experiences.

At the end of March the pair will arrive in Paris for the European tour of their new album ‘Oversteps’. Having spoken to them a while ago they explained that when playing live they prefer to explore music that hasn’t been released. So don’t expect the concert to be anything like the album.

Ryoji Ikeda’s audiovisual concert ‘Datamatics’ will take place on Friday 30^th January at L’apostrophe, L’-Théâtre des Arts in Cergy. For tickets call 01 34 20 14 14. At the time of publication tickets for Autechre’s concert at La Locomotive (becoming La Machine) are yet to go on sale, they are due to play there on 20^th March.

First published for VINGT Paris

Techstep2 mix

2009-10-29T16:31:00.000Z

This is more of a traditional flowing mix that I put together today. Nothing added other than the tracks below. It's both minimal, techy, dubsteppy and has some vocals thrown in too...

1. 2562 - Morvern
2. Zomby - Kaliko
3. Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe (Joker Remix)
4. Benga - Night
5. Martyn - These Words
6. ReUp - Joker and Ginz
7. 2562 - Techno Dread

Techstep2 mix by defecting grey

Bomb'd mix

2009-10-29T12:59:00.001Z

This mix goes a bit further by including vocal/instrumental samples layered over the top of other stuff and my own restructuring and edits of tracks. This is a live mix from about a month ago.

Intro. Appleblim - Cheat 1 / Jonny Greenwood - Moon Trills / Ella Fitzgerald, Gershwin - O, doctor Jesus
2. Vex'd - Smart Bomb / Appleblim - Cheat 1 / Various Hacienda samples
3. M.I.A - XR2
4. Moderat - Nasty Silence / A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
5. Moderat - Nr. 22
6. M.I.A. - Galang
7. Clark - Violenl / DJ Mink - Hey! Hey! Can You Relate (Hard Rap) / Sugar Bear - Don't Scandalize Mine
8. Boxcutter - Glyphic
9. Clark - For Wolves Crew / Laurent Garnier - Sound of the Big Babou
10. Modeselektor - Debouton / Laurent Garnier - Sound of the Big Babou
11. Moderat - Rusty Nails (Shackleton remix)
Finale. Clark - Outside Plume

Bomb'd mix by defecting grey

We Are Reasonable People.

2009-10-27T13:31:00.002Z

When we first started, the only thing we wanted to do was put records out that absolutely killed dancefloors… in a positive way.

From this humble goal arose a record label that was to become home to some of the most prodigious musical talent of the last twenty years. It all began in 1989 off the back of the successful FON record shop and a thriving club scene in Sheffield both of which centred on local northern artists and the sounds emerging from fellow industrial cities Detroit and Chicago. On the dawn of recession the ‘Republic of South Yorkshire’s’ music scene was buzzing. Madchester was dying and Sheffield had taken on the rave revolution. Warp founders Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell, two Sheffielders in their early 20s, and Robert Gordon, a studio engineer, began to support the city’s homegrown talent, with the record shop as their base.

The label’s first release in August’89 was ‘The Track With No Name’ by the Forgemasters (after the Sheffield Forgemasters steelworks) which set the bar for subsequent tracks from Nightmares On Wax and LFO. Warp’s worldwide reputation was made by the classic Artificial Intelligence series, which introduced, among others, Polygon Window aka Aphex Twin, to a wider public in 1993. This marked the age of reclusive, challenging electronic composers like Aphex Twin, Autechre and Squarepusher who came to define the first decade of Warp.

We Are Reasonable People. They famously live up to the acronym, taking a much more artist-friendly attitude to the creative process. Legend has it Aphex Twin would disappear without a trace and turn up to the Warp offices a few months later unannounced with a CD - his next album. EMI on the other hand have a fit if an album misses a deadline due to the massive amounts of money and preparation that goes into advertising their artists. The trust Warp shares with its artists can only encourage and nurture creativity and over the last twenty years has proven to be a successful technique in business terms also.

It is worth noting that as the big five labels have crumbled Warp has expanded. This is symptomatic not only of the quality of the artists but of a fan base which is devoted and trusting of the label itself, something only an independent label operating with fairly niche tastes can achieve. In 2004 Warp launched Bleep, an online digital music store notable for the absence of tracks containing digital rights management features preventing copies being made, unlike other music stores such as iTunes. Bleep.com not only sells Warp releases but those of hundreds of indie labels from all over the globe.

Success in music has been echoed by success in film with the creation of WarpFilms. Their release of Chris Morris’s (creator of comedy series The Day Today, Brass Eye, Jam) short film ‘My Wrongs #8245 - 8249 & 117’ won a Bafta for best short in 2002. This was followed by suitably anti-mainstream videos like Chris Cunningham’s brilliant but rather disturbing ‘Rubber Johnny’ about “a hyperactive, shape-shifting mutant child, kept locked away in a basement.”

Critics of the label claim that with growth Warp has lost its original aim of supporting cutting-edge electronic artists and has become home to a random collection of musicians straddling multiple genres. It is certainly true that by the late 90s it was no longer possible to talk of a Warp ‘sound’, but their devotion to boundary pushing talent, whatever the style, has remained unparalleled in the music industry as has the quality of artists. Some recent signings show that today there is something for everyone in the Warp catalogue:

With the speed and rhythmic complexity of bebop jazz and a fairly minimal aesthetic, Battles are extending the live possibilities of a ‘rock’ fourpiece. Using live electronics as well as guitars and keyboards they create immensely satisfying layers of sound with the virtuosity and tightness akin to ’80s prog rock but thankfully avoiding the fantasy symphonies and guitar solos.

Grizzly Bear are potentially Warp’s most accessible band. With punchy bass, Ringo-esque drumming, four superb countertenor voices and masterly control over the four minute song it’s hard not to think of them as a Beatles reincarnation from Brooklyn, but this probably doesn’t do either band justice.

With roots in Los Angeles experimental hip hop Flying Lotus has created an entirely unique sound. Deep, pulsating bass that sounds like it’s coming from a broken LP and clattering beats that trip over each other meet the odd Nintendo bleep for good measure.

IRCAM

2009-10-27T12:58:00.001Z

Art has always had an interesting relationship with technology. When Edison invented the phonograph and made the first sound recording he envisaged it being used primarily for recording dictation in offices but inadvertently spawned not only the entire music industry as we know it but a tool that has been used creatively ever since. Today the mecca for the development of this relationship between technology and music is found in Paris.

The Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) lies a stones throw away from the Centre Pompidou on the aptly named - for IRCAM is also a pillar of artistic experimentation - Place Igor Stravinsky. IRCAM takes its position as educator very seriously, holding numerous talks throughout the year, running prestigious post-graduate courses and offering training in computer assisted composition, real time processing and sound design. Since its opening in 1977 IRCAM has provided technical support to many big names of contemporary music such as John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Terry Riley. Its multimedia library contains almost 1,000 hours of recorded music and over 2,000 online scientific articles, in addition to its physical collections of sheet music and books.

IRCAM’s 2009/10 concert season kicks off this month and is a rare opportunity for anyone in Paris to hear the latest marriages between cutting edge technology and music. First up is Jacques Lenot’s mammoth work Il y a which promises to ‘suspend 84 virtual musicians from the heights of St. Eustache church’. Il y a consists of an installation daily at 11.30am, 2.30pm, 3.30pm, 4.30pm and 5.30pm commencing on the 21st of September and then a final symphonic rendering in four movements on Tuesday 29th at 9pm. The grand dimensions of Il y a and St. Eustache and Lenot’s reputation for fierce artistic independence promise to make his first electro-acoustic work with the aid of IRCAM a fascinating spectacle.

In October the action moves to the Centre Pompidou’s Grande Salle where there is an opportunity to hear the directions young composers are taking with electronics. The work of graduates from IRCAM’s distinguished Cursus course will be presented on October 10th and 15th. The following month offers an evening devoted to the sonic extension and transformation of that well loved instrument the saxophone, taking place in IRCAM’s ‘Espace de projection’. Looking like a set from Terminator, this concert hall, which also doubles as a large recording studio, is unique for its ability to radically change its acoustics to suit the music through the use of an adjustable roof and angled panels of either acoustically dampening or reflective material.

The concert on November 20th features some avant guard favourites by French born turned New Yorker Edgard Varèse and 20th century colossus Stockhausen. Their works Octandre and Kreuzspiel for traditional acoustic instruments are pitched against the French premier of Raphaël Cendo’s Introduction aux ténèbres for solo bass, solo baritone, orchestra and electronics. However, be warned, this ‘Run up to Darkness’ programme with its themes of apocalypse in Introduction aux ténèbres and the gloomy timbres of the Varèse and Stockhausen works will probably leave you colder than the French winter. Having said this, of all the concerts IRCAM is organising this side of Christmas, the ‘Run up to Darkness’ provides the greatest variety for those looking for a brief survey of the 20th century avant guard while also looking to the future.

First published by Vingt Paris, 03/09/2009