While we're on the mini-groups tip, here's some haunted synth-pop from Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford. That is, it's synth-pop that's haunting them. What results is something far more dense and interesting.
From 'That We Can Play' on Hippos In Tanks
8.2.11
Transmission - The Stallions
The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Tears (Stallions Remix)
Awesome work from Lee Douglas and Lovefingers, infusing the hippie-esque tones of TPHB with their wonderful strain of percussion-heavy desert-disco, and finishing up with something more genuine-sounding than the original.
Get it here
19.1.11
Bad Dimension #3 - Saturday 29th January at The Horatia
On Saturday 29th January BAD DIMENSION will be hosting a live performance by GNOD, a Mancunian psychedelic collective drawing on influences as disparate as afrobeat, krautrock, drone, noise and jazz. GNOD’s music rotates and expands around a constantly changing line-up, summoning the freak ‘n’ roll of Ash Ra Tempel, the motorik beat of Neu! and the groove of early Can. Their recent release with White Hills, “Drop Out…II”, has been declared... "the best album to come out of Manchester in 2010" (Drowned in Sound).
BAD DIMENSION with GNOD Live
Saturday 29 January
The Horatia, 98-102 Holloway Road, London
£FREE
http://www.myspace.com/gnodgnod
20.12.10
2010: The Final Frontier
Well, we're not going to forget the 27th of November in a hurry. Thanks to all who braved the ice and helped make it such an epic win. For those who missed out, Brassica - whose 'Hey Man' has incidentally just come out on Relish - let rip with a blistering live set that was as focused and uncompromising as it was dreamlike and futuristic. Kid Who's following DJ set was basically an education in dark, psych-infused cosmic disco.... Sound good?
On NYE we've been invited back to Shoreditch's Horse & Groom to host room 3 - the intimate 'boudoir' - and we're bringing Kid Who back as our special guest for the night. The last time we took over this room was for Lasermagnetic's Moxie party, and the atmosphere, mainly thanks of course to the amazing crowd, was just great. The rest of the night features legendary DJs Ray Mang and Rob Mello as well as the Discovery and Fragment crews and runs until 6am. Will we reach the outer rim by midnight? There's only one way to find out.
Sadly, Chev can't make it on the night as he'll be hauling his black ass down the pistes of Europe, but in an attempt to channel his spirit I will begin our mini NYE-teaser Youtube playlist with this wonderful cover:
Thanks to Derry for this incredible slice of eerie garage-psych stomp:
One of my favourite tracks this year - a perfect merger of Italo and washed-out psych:
And finally this dark dub-disco number from the night's headliner:
Set retroactive boosters to 11.
Kid Who on Myspace
Ray Mang on Myspace
Rob Mello on Myspace
[Photo credit: Jamie Grant]
25.11.10
Bad Dimension with Brassica and Kid Who: The Interview
We hope to see you on Saturday for another night of discodelic space-boogie at the Horatia. It’s a pleasure to welcome two of our favourite rising producers of 2010: Brassica, performing a unique live set, and guest DJ Kid Who. Brassica’s immaculate nocturnal disco has seen recent releases on forward-thinking labels like Dissident, Cyber Dance and Nocturnes, with a new EP forthcoming on Relish Recordings. Kid Who’s epic cosmic remixes chugged out over all our favourite dancefloors this summer, followed by the release of his first EP of originals, Ochre, and – today – this spangly number on Enzo Ponzio’s ‘Reworks’ EP.To warm up for the party, we got together for a chat about genre-bending space noises.
BD: Recommend us three tracks that you’d like to hear more often.
KW:
- Charlie Mike Sierra - On the Moon
- Taj Mahal - Country Blues No. 1
- Scientist and Prince Jammy - Flash Gordon Meets Luke Skywalker
- IV29 / Emmanuel Jal - Kuar (Olof Dreijer Remix)
- Ozric Tentacles - White Rhino Tea
- Spruxx & Bill Ambrose - Bad Lovers, Bad Drivers
What do you think it can be about some dance tracks that breaks through to engage people who wouldn’t normally choose to listen to electronic music?
B:
The non-musical/audible elements of the track. Now that supposedly 'everything has been done', many people need various pre-conditions to engage in a piece of music. For example a nice accompanying artwork/video they can associate when listening, whether their friends approve, whether the artist has a great ponytail, or whether it was made by that bloke from The Knife etc. This isn't a bad thing necessarily. However I do feel the closer we get to an unfiltered response of sound waves hitting our eardrums, the greater the musical experience. More instinctive, less cultural.
KW:
I think what is great about what's happening these days is that the genre boundaries are blurring, and have been for some time now, there's more scope for crossover. DJs are getting away with playing a wider range of music too, which I think helps people who are less familiar with traditional dance/electronic music get into the right frame of mind for it.
What is your favourite way to listen to music?
KW:
Among friends who are enjoying it as much as I am.
B:
On a cassette walkman with headphones, between the age of 8 and 14, in stereo sound, preferably produced by Trevor Horn or similar. Pure magic!
Some musicians seem to prefer to write in isolation, while others see their work more as part of an ongoing conversation in a developing scene. What role do you think listening to other people’s music has in your productions?
B:
You need a healthy balance of both. Some research and experience, some blinkered hard work. Regarding my own productions I'm lucky to have many musical friends that inform my work more than any wider-scale scenes or movements. On the other hand I've just recently countered this by moving to a disused care home on the south-east coast to write, record and produce with ample space, no distractions, no pressure to get a shit job to pay London rent prices etc. I'll swing the pendulum again soon and get back to a city in 6 months or so.
KW:
I don't think it would be possible for me to make music that wasn't referencing stuff I'd heard beforehand - that sort of thing just happens naturally whether you want it to or not. I can hear things in my own tracks which are coming from music I was listening to in my teens and even before then. I like to sample quite a bit too which I suppose is again dipping into the past. What's going on now has a huge influence on it as well of course - I doubt I'll be making this sort of music in ten years' time, things will have moved on by then and that's not a bad thing at all. I think dance music is always scene-driven, by nature. The true pioneers - and I mean the ones who really turn things upside down and create something totally fresh and new - they don't come around that often at all.
In what environment do you like to imagine people listening to your music?
KW:
On a dancefloor of course!
B:
I don't like to think about this too much. I would prefer if people listen in their own personal space. I don't think my music is good for club systems, but I'm working on this now beginning with my current live set-up. I'm also starting a new project with a very good friend which will address this directly. Surprisingly, a few people have admitted they have had sex to my last record. I thought that's what Carcass are for, no?
You both include psychedelic or cosmic elements in your music. What is it about this aesthetic that appeals to you?
KW:
Hypnotic rhythms, plenty of texture and lots and lots of effects! You can really have fun with it. It’s also quite tongue-in-cheek which I enjoy too.
B:
I suppose, as things currently stand these kinds of sounds exclusively belong to themselves and don't occur anywhere else - they have to be created and they're immensely enjoyable to hear because they exceed our auditory expectations. The sound palette belonging to many other forms of music differs little from the mundane sounds we hear every day. Perhaps, as computer technology is good at predicting patterns in future conditions, our current notion of 'cosmic and psychedelic' may be tomorrow's everyday sounds. I'm sure our cityscape would sound pretty cosmic to a cave man!
What visual art do you think your music most sounds like? You may draw us a picture.
B:
http://bit.ly/gFh928
I'm kidding... maybe one day.KW:
Now that nobody seems to be able to make any money by selling records, we wouldn’t blame you for thinking about some merchandise. Rammstein do a branded blowtorch, and you can get Kiss licensed coffins. What would you like your first item of merch to be?
KW:
I wouldn't mind having my own branded breakfast cereal...
B:
I'm working on a range of new Class A drugs. Listen out at clubs... "any brassicas, mush?" Look out for the green pills with my face on it.
17.11.10
Audioscope 2010
A couple of weeks back, the discerning gentlemen of Audioscope over in Oxford raised loads of money for Shelter with a night of epic riffs and throbbing boogie. The bill racked up the legendary Kraut king Deiter Moebius, a rare performance by Billy Mahonie, The Oscillation (who you may remember unleashing the kosmische jams at the Bad Dimension opening party in August) and Catalan crazies Qa’a (who didn't make it to Oxford in the end, presumably because all those musical slabs of steel floor cladding and ventilation pipe wouldn't fit in the car) with loads of local favourites like The Half Rabbits and Nought. A team outing was mounted. The jury has been out ever since as to how any of us got home, but there is complete consensus on the excellence of the night.
This festival has been a yearly treat for ten years now, and this time has stretched to three nights: the final one is on Saturday. The full line-up can just about be made out on the right hand side of the handsome cake captured above (or here). If you can make it down, don't miss Mugstar, who will serve to remind you that swirling psychedelic jams are not at all incompatible with massive balls. Below is a clip from a performance at Tate Liverpool in 2005.
(photos Daniel Paxton / Stuart Fowkes)
15.11.10
BAD DIMENSION II
After a short break to regroup and rearm our psychedelic arsenal we're delighted to announce the return of Bad Dimension, featuring Brassica live and Kid Who on the decks.
Brassica is a hugely talented producer whose warm, warped analog explorations, passing through krautrock, disco and pure cosmic electronica, are truly unique. This near-perfect live set from Bristol over the summer, showcasing releases such as this one on Andy Blake's Dissident, should give you the idea:
Kid Who has been steadily making a pretty serious name for himself over the past year with some incredible releases, including what may be the last ever edits 12" on Mindless Boogie and his debut originals EP, Ochre. His brand of chuggy, druggy cosmic disco is both subtle and utterly irresistible on the dancefloor - and his DJ sets are no different...
As ever, resident DJs will be plugging the gaps with psych, garage, kosmische and disco and the door will be free.
The wicked poster design is courtesy of the ever-brilliant Simon Minter, at nineteenpoint
BAD DIMENSION
Sat 27 November 2010
The Horatia, Holloway Road, London
8pm-2am
Free entry
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