Bio-Digital Jazz, man.: July 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Monday, July 18, 2011

22

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=753989

http://www.pilofficial.com/info.html

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Can't get enough of “Frequency.” So intense. I imagine that if God piddles around on the keyboard while ordering up some horrible natural catastrophe, it probably sounds like the main riff on that one.

I started out with Yolk and 2 Bad Mice, creators of two breakbeat obsessed records...both almost jungle. Cola Boy's “7 Ways to Love” is definitely not 'Hardcore'...but they couldn't resist throwing a funky drummer loop in their poppy take on house. As you can see from the Isotonik clip, a lot of these songs were climbing up the UK charts. Sharing space with standard chart fodder like Wet Wet Wet and—gasp—70's Queen. Over here in Southern California they were all underground, save the few that got play on MARS FM, the only [struggling] radio station to really champion this music--aside from late night programs and college radio. Human Resource's “Dominator” was one of those tracks MARS overtaxed the radio waves with. Then again, it was issued as a single more than 20 times in 1991 alone. That tune and the remix of "Nightmare" by Holy Noise represent Rotterdam in this little gathering. I'd say a 'darker' techno issued from that city at the time...but it's not as if this 'darker' sound is lurking behind an ominous tree making you feel unsettled. It's more like 'evil' attacking you from all directions.

'Hardcore' got written off as repetitive and annoying by non-believers. I think these sample heavy tunes are full of surprises that attempt to raise the energy level and pull the rug out from under you(If anybody ever bothered to put a rug down at a rave). They work very hard to please. Were you expecting to hear a fluffy A-ha sample amidst the hard breakbeats of “Bish Bosh?” Did you think the one and only “Dominator” would actually take the time to kiss himself, lip smacking sounds and all? What about that choo choo train Joey Beltram put into that track's remix...where's that coming from? A lot was pilfered from older dance tracks and hip hop. If you want to, “feel the house music steady steady pounding,” in “Hold it Down” your should probably take the record off the turntable and put on “I'll House You” by the Jungle Brothers. But, musically, that sample fits perfectly. And it's even been re-sequenced and munchkinized...not just thrown in. Hope that satiates any of you who are still shaking your head in disapproval.

Ok. Exciting stuff. Didn't dig too deep there but the old anthems got me all worked up. I'm going into Bio-Digital free form--maybe some love ballads--then I'm going to take a break. Need to come down.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

17

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=142658

http://www.djchrispaul.com/

Sunday, July 10, 2011

14

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Friday, July 8, 2011

12

Intelligent Techno?

Geeze Louise! The label 'Intelligent': Redundant and snobby. Especially in the world of dance music which is chock full of technical complexity, fetishistic studio wizardry and head-spinning innovation. I remember hearing this tag somewhere in the 1990's, and it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The Detroit techno pioneers of the 1980's were now relegated to 'Classic' status, with this advent of some new sound. Into its second decade, electro and techno wasn't busting down boundaries, but rather subdividing, and setting up new borders. Hey, that was the 90's.

Yet it's the best term I can use as the “umbrella” for where I'm coming from with this blog right now. Other terms: ambient, acid, just techno, bleep, Detroity stuff, Orb-ish dub, early trance...also apply here. In the first part of the decade, a new idealism and majestic concern for craft emerged...however abstract. It was what my ears tuned to, and what became my obsession. In its defense, 'Intelligent' might have a lot to do with artificial intelligence (and the Warp compilation of the same name). It is the sound of machines thinking and talking...to each other. We are lucky that someone put those sounds on a record for us.

A main reason the term 'Intelligent' got glommed onto was to set itself apart from 'Hardcore'. You know the type of techno I'm talking about: hyperactive breakbeats, whistles, sirens, keyboard riffs that are about to overload, samples that are pronouncements about who is alive or dead, who is leaving and coming into the building at any given time, plus the constant monitoring of the bass bins. You were either terrorized or irritated by it. Or you lost your shit to it. I love 'Hardcore' and the next few posts are dedicated to it...just to set the scene.