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VIDA DE-sign by Michael Buckingham, aka Mick Muttley

Dear friends (yeah really, one of those) I have become a women's wear designer for VIDA! http://shopvida.com/collections/voices/ ...

Sunday 19 June 2011

SubVersion Stop 134: Muttley & Low Light - Multiples


The first collaborative mix between Dave (www.lowlightmixes.blogspot.com) and Mick from SubVersion (www.subvertcentral.blogspot.com).

Both contributors start with a 9 minute section, multiplied to 18 minutes apiece. Mick concludes this 54 with a 13 minute mood-based response, including stems surrounding his "Spillage" EP on Audio Gourmet.

While you're out in the world looking for some of this music, head over to Entropy Records. The Buddha Machine Music cut used in section 5 is available there, as well as Beatsystem's "The Sound Of Two Eskimos Kissing".

Section 1 - Muttley
01. Stars Of The Lid - Broken Harbours Pt.1 (from "The Quiet Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid", Kranky, 2007)
02. Steinbruchel - Home (from "Home", Slaapwel, 2008)
03. Richard Devine - Murman (from "Idol Tryouts", Ghostly International, 2003)
04. Grouper - Disengaged (from "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill", Type, 2008)

Section 2 - Low Light @ 8:50
05. Strom Noir - Rusty Nails (from "Sen Zimnej Noci", Hibernate, 2009)
06. Fieldhead - I'm Fond Of Maps (from "They Shook Hands For Hours", Home Assembly Music, 2009)
07. Rhythm & Sound - Imprint (from "Rhythm & Sound", Efa Imports, 2001)

Section 3 - Muttley @ 18:00
08. Ateleia - Salt Horse Sculpture (from "Formal Sleep", Xeric, 2007)
09. Foci's Left - Regurgitated Impulses (Spheruleus remix) (from Spillage, Audio Gourmet, 2010)
10. James Toth, Kerry Kennedy & Jason Meagher - The Time Machine (from "Honest Strings", Jack Rose, 2010)
11. David Tagg - Pentecost 1 (from "Pentecost", Install, 2010)
12. The Sight Below - Shimmer (from "It All Falls Apart", Ghostly Int., 2010)
13. Lawrence English - Droplet (from "A Colour For Autumn", 12K, 2009)
14. Quosp - Deep Space (from "Soundscapes I", U-Cover, 2007)
15. Eluvium - As I Drift Off (from "When I Live By The Garden And The Sea", Temporary Residence, 2006)

Section 4 - Low Light @ 35:00
16. Loscil - Cello Drone
17. Listening Mirror - Not Yet Ready For The Day
18. Marc Codsi - A White Rabbit In A Hole
19. Mantsevich Dzenis - November
20. Taylor Deupree (I think) - rough

Section 5 - Muttley @ 52:30
21. Heidi Harris - Stolen Child (Sand In The Line LP)
22. Helios - First Dream Called Ocean (Eingya, Type)
23. Enuui - Morality (Mindstate Disposition LP, self-released)
24. Beatsystem - The Sound Of Two Eskimos Kissing (The Sound Of Two Eskimos Kissing LP, Entropy)
25. Fursaxa - Birds Inspire Epic Bards (Strange Angels, www.boomkat.com 14 Tracks bundle)
26. Foci's Left - Ear Nest (A Breath Of Peace LP, Unreleased)
27. Foci's Left - Stable Ghosts (A Breath Of Peace LP, Unreleased)
28. Jan Linton remixes Fm3 - Zhongruan Ceng Yu (Buddha Machine Music CD, Entropy)
29. Danny Saul - My Escape (Harsh, Final. LP)
30. Implodes - Wendy (Black Earth LP)

end @ 1:08:00

Download

Wednesday 15 June 2011

SubVersion Stop 133: Duotone + Jane Griffiths & Colin Fletcher @ Warneford Chapel, Oxford


Kitted out like an ark for Matrix Neo-folk gaggle, OCM's MIND-sponsored education and outreach showcase soon sells out. All proceeds going to Artscape, tonight shimmers into action slowly with Jane Griffiths & Colin Flectcher on violin and guitar. Reminiscent of classical aficionado Gavin Bryars' sunken sooth, the performance goes tooth for tooth with Cornish/Irish/Scottish piece historics. We're left with giddy aftertaste and resolutions that are always fresh. A cover of Dylan's "Let You Feel My Love" sounds more poignant here than Bob could manage with a Best Of - free of framing, unpredictably alternative. On their last instrumental jig, about a Staffyn corrugated tin hut, bumpy guitar traction rides across the strings, perfectly in time for Barney Morse-Brown and James Garrett to take the reins.

It's 'tone Cleudo in the Chapel as the pair walk to stage, black hats tipped, two acoustics, one electric, percussion and zxylophone, with no determined direction. This is the first time I've seen Barney non-solo and it's a hugely welcome surprise. Whereas his Holywell support to Balmorhea last year centred on looped guitar and cello, here it's akin to coastline attacking and receding, always infused with innature and mystery. Raevennan Husbandes, new female vocalist featuring on their album out October 3rd, gives the event a sunkist attribute, arbitrary The Cinematic Orchestra and Enigma likeness.

Instrumentally, sounds slip and slide against mics and pedals, and the venue acoustics lift any swamped or lonely output towards homely, heartfelt emotiveness. Jane and Colin re-appear as members of Barney and James' The Quintones, a noticeable and powerful departure along with Brown and Garrett; "Nightwalk" assembled from playing Cleudo itself. After an encore from "You Don't Need Church", Barney returns for "Work Harder...", the title track from Duotone's last album, and you couldn't ever say he and company hadn't earnt the right for that applause.

Garrett Brown Music: website
Griffiths & Fletcher: MySpace

Sunday 12 June 2011

SubVersion Stop 132: Adam Walker - Piano Brain (Self-released) / Berg & Various Composers - 1951-1953 Archives (Naxos)


Everyone knows the piano has the most notes of any world instrument, but seldom are the octaves a cause for appraisal. With the guitar assimilated into pop psychology like a romcom for Teletubby ASBOs, there's small room besides the regularly snob-laden middle class market to impregnate lasting polyrhythmic incense. Even when the BBC invites late night entertainers like Jools Holland to welcome stand-in pianists or as part of a band, the limelight is binary: you're better off seeking attention from hitchhikers on a one way trip to the Rocky Mountains.

Incidentally Colorado, Adam Walker's home, doesn't typify the aesthetic of his stylistic grace. He's got the experimentalism of Greg Haines but it's less slamming in the emotional registers; an almost jazzy freeride along an ever-changing peninsula; sophisticated and loose at the same time. "Perihelion" builds its phrases like a political rally on galactic osmosis; forever polarising moods but never colliding temperatures, and as the more sober pieces follow you get the idea Walker has limitless delightful melodies at the tip of his fingers. If there's one drawback of this it's that "Piano Brain" is chock full of it so you're dazed for when the real drama hits your soul, with the aplomb he's clearly capable of.

The Berg recital is not lacking in this quality, despite "Piano Sonata Op.1" sounding like key freeloading for Superbowl juggernauts. Canadian classical giant Glenn Gould's piano has a keen ear for disharmony and it's rarely restful. One can imagine silent films at hyperspeed scrolling on a clear cinema. Coming to life on Naxos in company of great violin modernists including Gloria Coates, "3 Fantastic Dances (H.Glickman)" on Op.2 stretches the pizzicato out into oblongs of textural fretplay.

Albert Pratz' modest recording career up to his 1995 decease also doesn't show on "Romances From Ellis...", where a runaway love story violin coalsces beautifully against Gould's tenative piano cascades, then sprints to the wilderness for good old fashioned kissing-in-the-forest passion. "10 Pieces From Cinderella" closes this excellent set with reverb smattering the plucks, Gould nipping the acoustic headroom when he wishes. Buy with pride.

SubVersion Stop 131: Ben Kei's Dalston Chilli


"Any of you who know me in real life probably realise I have a bit of a chilli obsession" remarks Ben Kei in his SC Chilli Growing Blog first post. Whatever turns you on in the kitchen is all fine by me. I initially met him at the IChiOne 5th Anniversary (they've just had their 7th with dgoHn) where food including Chicken Satay's were provided.

What are Ben's top three favourite chillis now he's a specialist? "A top 3 is tricky really because I like preparations of chilli as much as the varieties themselves" he notes. "I love the Habanero family, the taste is incredibly fruity and smokey and packs a mean punch heat-wise. I use Scotch Bonnets to make my hot sauces because of their intense heat and flavour, and the endorphin rush I get from eating them. They really are a unique chilli but one that's not for the faint-hearted.

I get these Turkish pickled Jalapeno slices. Now they're not like your run of the mill Mexican restaurant Jalapenos, in fact I think it might be something lost in translation, because the taste and colour are different. These things are perfect in salads, on a pizza etc... versatile and always in the fridge. Finally I'll go with Thai Bird Eye chillies. They're intensely hot but without an overpowering flavour. Perfect for pretty much everything from Asian food to pasta sauces, to north African - you get the idea. And what's also great is they dry out really well and taste just as good when they're dried."

Is it a populist myth chillis always require sunlight, or does it depend upon the length of chilli as to how much radiation it needs to germinate? "For germination they don't need sun at all, just warmth. If you think about it, the seeds are underground anyway where there's no light. Warmth is vital though with some varieties not germinating at all unless they're up near the late 20'c. Put them in the airing cupboard or on top of your boiler, cover the dish in cling film too to keep the humidity up.

Once they germinate they'll need as much sun as you can give them. Too little light and they'll grow tall and weak looking for some sun. Don't over water them either or they'll either die or give you bland fruit. One of the first posts on the blog covers this is quite a bit of detail and is definitely worth a read for anyone wanting to grow chillies at home."

In the SC thread you state high hopes for the Trini Perfume shoots with lighter sauces. If you were gagging for a cig and read that as smoke an outcome, are there any particular chillis that give off great fragrances? "To be honest, you don't get much of a smell of a chilli plant. The flowers don't smell and the fruit doesn't smell when it's growing. However, if you get something like a Habanero and cut it in half, the smell can fill your house! It's something you'll either lover or hate, I'm firmly in the love camp here."

Should you be worried about how tall hybrid plants grow, and is this something to keep in mind regardless of if you stray from natural ingredients? "I've not had much luck with hybrid plants" Ben writes. "I've cross-pollinated a fair few varieties, and had some suitably mutated looking fruit but for the most part; the seeds collected from them have failed to grow. I had one that grew last year but never flowered.

I think the problem is that you need to pick varieties which are fairly similar to begin with and this can be tricky because you can't force your plants to flower at the same time."

Finally, what in Ben's view is his best recipe for Dalston chilli? "The promised recipes haven't gone up yet - I've been looking into getting certificated through the environmental health to be able to sell my sauces. Last year I tried some sauces from a company who have won a few gold taste awards and thought 'hang on, mine taste better than this'. I always knew that I liked my sauces as did people who tried them but to find out that they're better than award winning varieties made me think seriously about making a go of it as a business idea.

As for favourites, it has to be either Ben Kei's fucking hot sauce, or my tomato and chilli jam."

www.dalstonchilli.blogspot.com

Friday 10 June 2011

SubVersion Stop 130: Infinite Sloth - Best Of The Distortion Days LP (Black Hoe 091 download)


Ambiguity, house chores, argumentativeness and privacy promote the sloth in each of us, four states where we lose the will to proceed at a fast pace, and achieve our fullest potential. Infinite Sloth's 2004-2008 Black Hoe LP resonates thusly, and applying simplest terms, deserves your patience. Folding D&B slogan creases: classical instruments, distortion, sampledelia within the amen edit: time-stretching; short loops; glitch; syncopation, "Paper Castle": it's all very reminiscent of Sublight's Enduser. This isn't Breakcore though - for one tempo sits below 180bpm; second edits adopt ordered systematic, not fissured aggro. "Conformity Conspiracy" relies on tried/tested Ed Rush pounding two-step, but here atmosphere ripens by a stattaco tighten up break rattling out a stop/start riddim track. If only it was given more time to coalesce and layer, and Fracture & Neptune trod the path smoother on Bassbin's "Wrong Think".

Interest lifts on his remix of Parallels "Looking Out Into The Sky", taking off the Amit basketball half-speed bounce and Techno grit. There's more space in texture, again, that perhaps could be filled by drones or pads, but sparseness as LP lengthens seems appreciation conduit rather than barrier. Filters lower those lead weight drums; instead of sinking, the low frequency melody keeps you on the edge while still feeling safe. Then after a short interlude, pummeling beat arrangements return to receiptent, but direction and momentum strikes a tad lost in programming masturbation. Lay off the Scorn pornogrind aping and we're - wait, another shift! "Untitled Halfstep Minus One" realises Sloth's abilities in the way Breakage developed from dubstep exposure post-2006. The playlist closes with two Gabba styled blasts of bill-shredder Noise & Bass.

Compos mentis of Infinite Sloth, from this appearance on Black Hoe, impressions him as a Spaniard impostor, interpreting D&B roots on an English chat show - technically very proficient - at points decidedly anal - however, altogether having a skewed perception on the format. Whether this will wash well with you, like a deliberate party piece, depends on how open you are to sound as language, and language isn't always as sound as sound. Capiche?

SubVersion Stop 129: Format Umbra


Three unusual formats here: the CD-R, painstakingly designed vinyl and single-sided cassette, all sold through digital channels without the ability to buy digital direct from label. U-Cover has foraged a trawler of underwater Ambient in its limited run history, whereby TDD readers should recall a favourite of mine: Quosp's "Soundscapes" LPs. Ex Confusion's compositions on "Something To Remember", like an estranged couple's last word, dispel into the wild silence around you before you can dwell on their structure and interpersonal idiosyncracy. "Prologue (Before We Begin)" almost sounds as Helios would if he was tied to a chair, forced to write an essay on the benefits of asymmetrical repetition. It's brightest torchbearer stylewise, and notions of vignette versus suite, imply production time for Ex Confusion having the same agenda, but nuanced to suit his narrative. All better for the price that interchangeable tendency plays on drone's relationship with logic, focus and mood discrepancy.

Which is a questionable proposition for the Weevil Neighhbourhood listener. Operating via the Weevil Orchestra label - WO have issued three series of leftfield Electronica, a collectors edition - now, the second Weevil Neightbourhood brainchild, codenamed "Blindfold", also arrives as a name, not a number. The label concept signifies this - to have the catalogue instalments acting as part of a neighbourhood: places, scenes and actors, as opposed to standardised scales and developments. Hitherto this unknown artist, the collector's edition coming on dirty black to clear vinyl, has an apt double-barrelled title: "All Those Colours / We Cannot See". Transparency plays ultimatum mistress when it comes to beats labelled underground. Can we taste fervent liquor from rave's noughties dismemberment, or is there utopia on this horizon to weave your mind and soles? Gladly "All Those Colours" unites the tribal progression of Shackelton with the fussy programming precision of Geiom, while B side "We Cannot See" deflates the minimal neurofunk subgenre of Drum & Bass and takes it down, also, to dubstep tempo; Joey Beltram's mentasm dotting in like a leaking oil tanker from techstep's burgeoning heyday.

Weevil's previous tape outing, coded "Picnic" is by Felix of Repetition/Distract. Titled "Old Weevil Neighbourhood"; noticeably different from these two offerings on first hearing. A polysemous embryo of musique concrete, light chordal bass with a hibernation timbre played against filling-up-a-glass-of-juice click and scrape backing. Compared to Ex Confusion the textures are harsher, more pronounced in combined sonics as opposed to langurous drone overcompensation. Envisage Bibio on a bad hair day, slumped under the covers of his fluffy duvet, slowly coming to terms with downsides of engineered solitariness. Affinitively, Felix's work originally documented the whereabouts of his invisible cat, which is an accurate metaphor, also, for his Plainaudio and No Type post-rock - toing and froing between rest and activity, like the inquisitive advert misomner he's indirectly associated the RD lineage. Also recommended: "Halogen Breathing Lungs" from "Peripheral Geometries EP".

These three reviewed instalments distinguish their aesthetic in a convincing triplet: to listen is to appreciate you'll take chances; to take chances is appreciated listening; and appreciated listening enables you, from the records' respective outlets, to look at space for physical and take chances on ordering them.

Ex Confusion - Something To Remember: Purchase
Old Weevil Neightbourhood - Blindfold: Purchase
Old Weevil Neighbourhood - Picnic: Purchase

Thursday 9 June 2011

SubVersion Stop 128: Dying Matters

SV's Jonathan posted a cool discussion on SC recently highlighting the "Dying Matters" campaign. According to the topic, "If these findings indicate that people tend to grow more reconciled to the inevitable, others suggest lingering anxieties about the manner of one's final departure, and inhibition about discussing death." Never mind the figures, what about the here and now? All of us, it shouldn't need to be said, are in a stage of death, whether it's short-term incurable, or long-term ("...pain is pretty dreadful", Jon notes). What we are figuratively doing: fantasising about heightened conscience and resistance to the unknown side; the fact that conspiracies and ill thought out indirectness still occurs, put you closer to clocking off sooner than you intended, as a transistory pitfall, insinuated hemispherically by stress on the limbic system.

One of my favourite writers, Clarissa Pinkola Estes - see SubVersion's Fanu interview for snippets of re-processed text - penned in her superb "Women Who Run With The Wolves", that secrets of any kind affect the psyche identically. "Here is one example. One woman, whose husband forty years earlier had committed suicide three months after they were married, was urged by his family to not only hide the evidence of his major depressive illness but also her deep emotional grief and anger from that time. As a result, she developed a 'dead zone' regarding his anguish, her anguish, as well as her rage at the cultural stigma attached to the entire event." In effect, she had killed part of herself off before she, if remaining alive today, had yet moved on to afterlife.

And what of euthinasia these days: political correctness sidelined, diplomacy tablet swallowed - do we place too much emphasis on selfish behaviour - in attempting to end someone elses life? If it were me and I wanted to die, there'd be three important factors, regardless of timezone, to take into account. 1) Quality of life. 2) Quality of life. 3) Patience. Two ways, one problem. This situation leads on from causing torture to the mentally ill; those deprived of their bread and butter expression and forced to live in emotional poverty, down to mistreatment, cold-heartedness and ridiculed societal laws, perpetuates the "dead zone" Clarissa speaks of. Otherwise, vigilance to avoid snapping the straw is pivotal. "We don't manipulate people we love, we just let them know honestly how we feel and what's important to us. Manipulating people is patronizing and controlling and altogether unacceptable" said Richard Templar in his The Rules Of Love collation piece.

There are several families that have been devastated by death, while individuals weep in sorrow in silence in the existing universe. Parallels are dormant here: you can't touch time where survival is concerned, but you can work with it. "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," renowned theorist Steven Hawking added. It helps that courageous souls like Hawking have been through such an ordeal - in his case, with Motor Neurone Disease - to tell us of a hardened and fearless view. And it also puts in perspective for collective sanity that there is light waiting, as long as nobility stays intact.

Dying Matters

Wednesday 8 June 2011

SubVersion Stop 127: SC Digital 012 - Soundclash 005



The paragraph, nowadays cultured, is stuck in a stories-within-stories, typsetted ambivalence made up of the sweetest coconut lines, then the most bitter nectar. Our mind is no longer designed to program in the simple sequentials. Or if we are able to grasp them, they are lost in a mire of copy as allocates your attention span. Like a scratch card: only so many chances to boost empathy credit before confidence in commerce, and communication for that matter, wilts away.

Holler at your SC Soundclash. Run by Euphony and Statto, this compilation collates the ten best submissions for SC Digital Spring 2011, so rather than one tune disappearing from hard-drive vision, you receive an album's worth of fresh talent to strike a prize with aurally. Euphony writes: "The forum has helped me meet some great people across the years, and gain some great production tips. I also owe to the label, as they hosted my first ever release by winning a previous Soundclash competition. So it was my way of giving my support back to them and continuing the SC Digital legacy, that has seen releases from some great producers over the years, such as Macc, Dissident, Pilote, and Z-No to name just a few."

When reviewing modern D&B with the jaded cap snug on, we're inevitably set to encounter one to two bar loops, techstep fissure poisoning palette from Vancouver to Brixton. But also an airgun-noise dynamic, where track/track agony awaits the breakbeat conniseur, and pseud's corner euphoria glances out the window. "Take your eyes off the road for an instant and you'll do or say, interview or schedule something that is so uncredible that all that hard work of gaining yourself a reputation will seem like a complete waste of time" wrote Simon Bates in his My Tune autobiography. Does this explain why shifting outsider press eats its innards until discrimination time, rather than praise the wound it may have created? Forever debatable until proven innocent, and arguments aren't what SubVersion is about.

Furthermore the album or compilation format isn't dictated by being dancefloor or home listening; the garbled subconscious principle that time-saver journalists with too many blunts will feed you. No, like a classical composition, there's movements within nothing (to thin air), and impermanent beat mechanics; making one minute seem a split second in the right dose - consonance obliterated if you're a Remarc fan. Accurate thusly to prescribe a favourite of Soundclash 5, with mine being SpeaK's "Silence". Doc Scott and DJ SS entrapped in a sampler sparring session.

Given that byline, how does SpeaK feel about his post-jungle being promoted with backing of credible sources? "Naturally I'm damn happy about it! Personal progress is always the most important thing for me, but that doesn't mean I won't be super glad to get recognition" he explains. Luck will have listeners otherwise that SC Digital embraces diversity, so there's hiphop and half-speed rhythms constituting the global location effort. Dive in, and don't expect to get stung.

Download for free here

SV Stop 126: SubVersion Recommends: Simon Scott - Spring 2011 Mix


Slowdive's original drummer and Brian Eno collaborator Simon Scott joins Sonic Pieces' Greg Haines and Nils Frahm, as the third contributor in the exclusive SubVersion Recommends series. Scott: "59.5 mins of electroacoustic stuff for you to digest", including "Caxton Gibbet", an offline installation piece. "I also added a recent live recording to bring in a contemporary angle as a lot of this is vintage electronic music (Stockhausen, Bayle, Radigue, Wishart etc). I want the mix to represent influences of mine that have helped inspire my music and Iive performance. Hopefully someone somewhere will discover a new music treat if they listen to this mix."

01. Anthony Moore - Mu Na H-Uile Ni A Shaoileas
02. Christian Marclay - Guitar Drag
03. Eliane Radigue - Jetsun Mila (disc 2- edit A)
04. Francoise Bayle -Toupie Dans Le Ciel 4
05. Stockhausen - Mikrophonie 1 (excerpt 1)
06. Simon Scott - Caxton Gibbet (installation piece)
07. Trevor Wishart- Blue Tulips
08. R. Murray Schafer - The Vancouver Soundscape
09. Stockhausen - Mikrophonie 1 (excerpt 2)
10. Simon Scott - Live at Bristol Arnolfini 27th May 2011
11. Eliane Radigue - Jetsun Mila (disc 2- edit B)

Download

Simon Scott: MySpace
Simon Scott: website
Purchase "Depart/Repeat" 7' vinyl at Sonic Pieces webshop

Tuesday 7 June 2011

SubVersion Stop 125: Jan Linton remixes Fm3 - Buddha Machine Music (Entropy M-Series 007)


Inter-race migration: mythology, attire, stubborn vows, is no 'real' biggie for Buddhism. The irrational toss knives, splitting Yolk without heat. But jeopardy Ouija for the Buddhist, promotes God-inside-yourself. So we have Entropy giving life to Jan Linton's reworkings of Fm3 in its seventh mini CD.

With Triphop and one D&B Bauhaus cover for "Communion II", Linton's no stranger to sensuality. Here, he's resampling Fm3's lauded ambience device. In a short, six edit affair, there's cleansed detritus on offer - and no Dark Ambient cliches. "Maoduhinan Bla" penetrates warmly, next it's noisier melange. Echoing work with Duran Duran's John Taylor, his guitar mangles rectory, in combine harvester, schizo-soothed affinity.

Pure Ambient fiends, fear not: "Wu Song" delves deeper into glitch. Spread relaxation bedding on "Shengxiaozhong" impresses, but it's "Zhongruan Ceng Yu", the longest by far, that astounds, it's main instrument floating atop toned loop. "Yang (Infinite Delay)" closes; the glazed work of Boards Of Canada and Shaula adjoined; but not at organised scripture, where several religious calamities arise.

As with any conjured mass, the greater the teachings, the bigger the effect, whereby "Buddha Machine Music" meditates with you like moths to cans of Red Stripe. Fluttering in the background, clouding up enclosed space, Linton moves Fm3's instrumental chant towards a comprehensive prayer: a feat past life regression if you've 22 minutes to spare.

Sample and purchase via the Entropy SoundCloud