Scott Wilson speaks to recent L.I.E.S. signing Oliver Vereker about his unique take on industrial techno, the teenage years spent as part of L.A.’s noise scene and his distinct video work.
Acquaint yourselves with the next artist to join the ever expanding L.I.E.S. stable with the video to accompany Samantha Vacation’s forthcoming white label.
Whilst Terekke fits in on L.I.E.S. as part of the cast of unusual suspects that have come to prominence since the label emerged some three years ago, his soft, smudgy productions have a certain magical quality that’s quite separate from the thrusting, relentless Dance Mania-inspired immediacy of Delroy Edwards, the deranged sonics of Svengalisghost, or Steve Summers’ current lopsided techno manifestation.
Preview the first of three extended mixes culled from Marcos Cabral’s False Memories album.
Listen to the second track from the forthcoming Mimesiak double LP from the mysterious Gunnar Haslam.
Stream a cut from the incoming 12″ on the L.I.E.S. white label series from the Future Times captain.
Anyone who may have seen Svengalisghost performing live recently will probably have been surprised at just how unremittingly savage his performance was, especially if they were expecting the comparatively gentle analogue house he displayed on last year’s debut record for L.I.E.S. The fracas of monochromatic, jutting rhythms and serrated, mulched up synth lines that blasted out from his decrepit table of hardware seemed the antithesis of the Mind Control EP’s more vivid, rolling take on jacking hardware house.
This edition of Scratching the Surface sees Scott Wilson cast his ears over some of the more severe movements in techno over the past few months.
One of the biggest surprises of the recent L.I.E.S. showcase in London was Jason Letkiewicz’s live hardware performance under his Steve Summers alias; while his music has always been characterised by the kind of rawness only analogue hardware can provide, there was something especially bleak about it. Steering away from the classic Chicago house inspiration he’s been mining over several releases for Jack For Daze, Construction Paper and L.I.E.S, and devoid of the even sweeter melodies of his recent collaborations with Bookworms, his set had more in common with the recent crop of hardware techno coming in from the noise scene – albeit a little less severe.
Marcos Cabral will release an album compiled of tracks from his personal archives on L.I.E.S. in June.
Bloc’s re-ignition continues this Easter weekend, and we have tickets to the next two parties with featuring Omar S and the L.I.E.S. crew to give away.
Florian Kupfer is the latest artist to grace the L.I.E.S. white label series, with a four track EP of raw house.
The relentless march of the the L.I.E.S. titan looks nigh on unstoppable, as the label shares a taste of forthcoming releases from Steve Summers, Delroy Edwards and Svengalisghost.
Daywalker & CF helm the next L.I.E.S. white label – check the mellow electronics of “Insectorium” here. Read more
In an era where circumventing the Internet is near impossible, it’s nice to see L.I.E.S. injecting a bit of mystery and confusion back into things. Around the same time that Long Island Electrical Systems label boss Ron Morelli’s spoke on the price-hiking policies of the Internet and proclaimed “that Discogs is some bullshit” on Twitter, releases from the L.I.E.S. BLK sub-label were being stocked in assorted record shops around the world. No promotional blurb went out, no pressing information was provided, and no list of store names was given.
Next up on the L.I.E.S. juggernaut is some new material from the enigmatic Terekke.
The record releasing juggernaut that is the New York-based L.I.E.S. have started to reveal details of their 2013 release schedule, lead by a pair of EPs from video director Oliver Vereker.
Although their appearance in the top label lists for many online outlets (ours included) may have seemed like it came out of nowhere, in reality L.I.E.S. have been releasing music for over two years and have already racked up about 25 releases – the majority of which arrived in the past 12 months.
Whilst we were all enjoying digging deep into the Quality Street reserves, L.I.E.S. were busy being L.I.E.S. and launched another sub label appropriately christened XMAS – hear the A Side track from Delroy Edwards here.
Record labels are the bricks and mortar of the independent music industry, the foundations upon which artists and scenes flourish and grow. During 2012 there seemed to be a glut of new labels popping up across the board, and though some made strong statements with their initial releases, our list largely acknowledges the imprints who continue to lead the way for others to follow. The people behind our top labels are individuals we – and many others – willingly place our trust in; their curatorial abilities are integral to ensuring they stand tall amidst a sea of samey musical dross.
In many cases, passion for the music these labels have released is the over-riding factor, any notion of profiting from the releases secondary to the rush of seeing it out there, pressed on wax and housed in a nicely presented sleeve. For regular readers of Juno Plus, these ten names should make perfect sense; a selection of labels whose output has made it easy for us to show our support for over the course of the last 12 months.