Industrial music, production methods, darkness and much more are under discussion as the Bristol artist speaks about his upcoming debut album Black Body Radiation.
Julian Smith’s debut album, Black Body Radiation, will arrive through the Swedish techno label next month.
Is this the techno equivalent of the moment that Bobby Ewing emerged from the shower? Back in 2007, when it wasn’t really fashionable to put out hand-stamped anonymous releases, Seldom Felt was doing just that. With a manifesto that included the promise of ‘no minimal, no Ibiza, no sunrises, no ketamine, no Myspace, no repress’ (but no information about what it did stand for), the Rubadub-distributed label represented a Dutch Gold-soaked version of techno anonymity. Seldom Felt disappeared in 2009, leaving as its legacy six releases that flitted from slamming techno to sample-heavy tools and break beat rave anthems.
Swedish producer Rivet follows a long line of anonymous producers into the contemporary techno arena, but as his second record for the the Skudge Presents label shows, there’s a lot more going on underneath the (now discarded) mask than faceless linear tracks. The Rivet material that has most in common with Driftwood is his reshape of Tyler Friedman’s “A Night in the Woods” on Kontra Musik last year. In that instance, he turned the original track into a seemingly never-ending stream of consciousness expression, adding, subtracting and re-introducing a myriad of musical elements, some easy to identify others murkier and less pronounced.
As if Swedish techno hadn’t been whipping up enough of a storm already in 2013 between the dual-powerhouse engines of Skudge and Kontra Musik, it truly seems to be the gift that keeps on giving with ever more startling releases smothered in fresh ideas. Martin ‘MRSK’ Skogehall has already contributed greatly to this bounty with his part in the Fishermen project, which found tense industrial techno slowed to a doom-laden trudge and embellished with cataclysmic synths and sound design, and now he returns with a new project that enters the fray from a different angle, while still continuing a tangible thread the former project kicked off.
Swedish labels join forces for new series – Frak, TM404 and Skudge feature on first release.
The Swedish duo are set to unleash another double hitter of loopy techno – get a grip here.
Whatever you think about the notion of the hard-core continuum, there is no doubt that the electro sound pioneered by Detroit artists Cybotron, Drexciya and Aux 88 has proved to have longevity; earlier this month, this writer witnessed arguably the greatest protagonist of this music form, Gerald Donald, perform an hour’s worth of sparkling yet robotic Arpanet tracks to a rammed Dublin warehouse, while a few weeks earlier, the latest Versalife record Rate of Change appeared on Frustrated Funk.
Much like last week, these 7 days saw a host of surprise announcements, not least an album of unreleased Four Tet material that the producer gave away for free via Soundcloud.
Amsterdam based label Indigo Aera have revealed details of a four-part series focusing on unreleased material from those close to the label, with the first 12″ featuring tracks from Skudge and Different World.
Detroit’s Jared Wilson will add Skudge Presents to his impressive roster of releases this year with the forthcoming A Little Moonlight Dancing – get a taste here.
There’s no doubt that there’s been an excellent resurgence in quality techno lately, with past masters embracing new directions as much as the fresh talent coming through. From the broken magnificence of Perc or the Stroboscopic Artefacts roster to the ever-captivating energy of Robert Hood, via acts such as James Ruskin and Ben Sims updating their approaches while maintaining their principles, it’s a good time for tougher music in the 130 bpm region.
Skudge Records are offering a freebie in the shape of of Rivet’s ‘Analogue Freemix’ of his recently release “Sundry” – download inside.
We have tickets to give away to Untold’s forthcoming appearance at Fabric, along with vinyl copies of his Change In A Dynamic Environment series.
This release had the potential to become the essence of underground techno in 2012, with a masked producer releasing a record on a label set by another shadowy duo. The reality however, is markedly different, with Rivet delivering a veritably playful release. “Sundry” starts life sounding like a Frozen Border/Horizontal Ground jam, its sheets of metallic rhythms suggesting austerity is on the way. That’s not how it pans out though, and sun-kissed, mournful chords insinuate themselves into the supple groove, coming across like the middle ground between Phil Mison’s deep house and Detroit’s introspection.
Boddika’s Nonplus imprint has revealed details of forthcoming releases from Basic Soul Unit and Skudge.
Swedish duo Skudge are offering a recent live set recorded deep in the bowels of Berlin’s Berghain club for free download.
Canadian techno talent Rivet is the latest name to arise on the increasingly impressive Skudge Presents label with the forthcoming 12″ Grifter.