Our first glimpse at one of contemporary techno’s most exciting collaborations - Lucy and Xhin came courtesy of Stroboscopic Artefacts Delta Sampler, which presented us with LX1. The pair now return with LX2 and LX3, released on Chris 'smiling techno giant' Liebing’s CLR imprint.
LX2 is introduced by an immediate and upfront wallop, quite contrary to LX 1's syncopated stop start rhythm, LX2 means business with some four to the floor functionalism pushing which push the boundaries of compression and contemporary techno. Backed by a sinister synth line and fluctuating white noise LX2’s stereo field rattles left to right with a hammering hi-hat and snare combo locking the track into an accelerated groove. Scattered hints of Xhin’s previous work Link and Blade Moth are occasionally audible capping off what is a peak time club banger.
LX3 starts were LX2 left off, only this time Xhin and Lucy were convinced that anyone left standing would be crawling into the nearest speaker cone. A true deep into the night ‘What the hell happened” track where things suddenly turn red and everyone loses control. Wailing and dystopian synths glitch and duck through an apocalyptic soundscape held together by LX3’s buckled rhythm. Lucy and Xhin’s high energy LX collaboration along with a CLR enforced backing will no doubt see LX 2 & LX 3 a staple amongst compression and dub loving DJ sets in 2011.
Lucy and Xhin's CLR 044 is due for release Feb 28th
The premise is simple. A different DJ each month makes a promo mix from a club of the past. They might have played there, they might have danced there, they might have never gone there at all. Hopefully it will be an exercise in nostalgia, imagination or great music. If we're lucky, it'll be all three. - Promo Mixes
For those of us that have read about the good ol days at Chicago's Music Box, New Yorks Red Zone or dreamed about dancing at Berlin's E-Werk or Birmingham's House of God we now have the chance to make that dream a little more real.
Promo Mixes has given the chance to a select few djs to compile and mix their own set for a legendary dance floor of the past. A lovely concept where some of the DJ's included may have yet to spin their first record when these dancefloors were at their peak.
Imagine...Silent Servant at Tresor 98, Function at Red Zone 91, Peter Van Hoesen at Prestige 88, Patrick Walker at Pure 96 or Promomixes latest Lucy at E-Werk 1993.
Time Magazine likened Glasgow to Detroit during its 1960s Motown heyday, now TEA now likens Glasgow to the halcyon days of Detroit techno from the 1980's.
With bands such as Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinad and Mogwai once hogging the limelight its projection has somewhat turned to Glasgow's thriving underground electronic music scene. Continuing in helping keep this vibe alive is the Glaswegian pure gemme Harvey Mckay.
Since 2008 Havey Mckay has seen his tracks embedded into the catalogues of Perc Trax, Manual Music, 8 Sided Dice and his local Soma Quality Recordings. With one album under his belt and another in the pipeline TEA caught up the Glaswegian shortly after the release of his Substanz Underground EP for a blether about DJing in clubs underage, producing techno on his iphone, playing with his border collie and english tea with no added stimulants.
Tell us a bit about how you began to work you way into clubs?
I first got a residency at a Glasgow club around the age of 16 or 17, that was fun. I was quite young for that slot and wasn't really old enough to be in the club legally (laughs). As I got older I did the usual, running nights with mates in Glasgow and it all really started from there.
How was it first getting picked up by Artificial Silence?
The Artificial Silence thing was pretty easy. Jon Virtue was a very good friend of mine who ran the label, we were into the same vibe so he signed me up. He also signed Gary Beck who is now a mate of mine around the same time too, this was back when nobody really knew who any of us were so I think Jon had quite a good ear for what had potential.
What then eventually led you to Soma Recordings and how has it been being part of the Soma Family?
Yeah it's nice. I have been a fan of the label for a very very long time so it's great be apart of it. To release along side such huge artists is a real honour, I have a great working relationship with Soma. My main man at Soma is Chris Lamb, a good friend of mine. It makes for a easy going working relationship as we can be very honest, so when it comes to tracks and projects we don't have to worry about offending each other. Being honest about what we think is good, it may not always be what you want to hear but it makes things much easier and faster.
You just released your Substanz Underground EP. Do you feel that it’s a bit darker then what you would normally produce?
I wouldn't say the Substanz ep was the darkest I have ever put out, I have released darker stuff before. I would say it's one of the deepest EP's I have put out and really enjoyed making it. An aim of mine when making it was to show people my music is more than the peak time techno I am known for. To be honest I didn't think the EP would do as well as it has so I am very happy about that.
What is it about Glasgow do you think that spawns such wide range of amazing electronic music?
Drugs and nut jobs (laughs). To to say Glasgow is full of characters is an understatement. I have had the chance to travel about a bit and have had my fair share of good times, but there is something about Glaswegians that is very specific. I think we are very lucky to have had prolonged exposure to such high quality underground music and DJ's in Glasgow, I think that comes through in the music. Its almost like a communal understanding and maturity in Glasgow's underground dance music scene.
Tell us about your track Nano you made with your iPhone.
I came across the program Nano Studio and thought it looked cool, and for only £6 crazy! Full sequencer, mixer, synths, and samplers. You can even visually edit wav in it. When I first started producing with reason you couldn't even do that to the same standard that you can in Nano Studio on the iphone. I just wanted to see if i could write and produce an entire track on an iphone music app that was of a reasonable standard. To be honest it wasn't really that hard. It took me about a day of playing about with it to become familiar enough with Nano Studio to write a track. Then it took me about a day to write the track itself. It was good fun and I think when I get the chance again I will do another track on the iphone. I think it's the first or at least one of the first tracks to be fully done on a phone, so that's a pretty cool.
You also mention that Reason is a great program to begin learning production?
Reason is a great way to start. It's quite hard to get a nice sound at first so you have to become quite inventive in squeezing sounds from it. Because of that process you develop a better understanding of how things actually work and that leaves you in good stead for moving onto other platforms and DAWS. A lot of the other DAWS that support VST's sound great from the start and that is all well and good, but if you have used reason you will have probably had to do a bit of wiring and manipulating to beef things up. This will help in giving you an proper understanding on what exactly needs to be done in order to get the results you want.
And Harvey Mckay live, tell us a bit about that.You mention that your live show is more of an organic process?
As for live. I use Abelton to produce music these days. But for performing I use Traktor. I can do so much with it and I prefer that for performing these days. On the production side of things Abelton is the nuts! I love it, it really changed the way I write my music and lay down my sounds. I love working in the session view because it means I can basicly do a performance and record it onto the sequencer page. I prefer this to spending weeks on the sequencer page and arranging the blocks of audio and midi.
Whats coming up in 2011 for Harvey Mckay?
Loads of stuff happening. I have a few big tours on the horizon and another 2 eps signed up, one on Soma and the other one on Alan Fitzpatrick's label 8 Sided Dice. I also have quite a few big remixes as well, but I'm not sure what I'm aloud to say about them at the moment so I better leave it at that for now. I am in the position that if i wanted to I would not have to write music for the rest of the year and be covered, as I have enough music coming out for the rest of the year, but thats not the plan of course. I will be writing a lot more and there will be lot of music out this year for sure.
When your not performing or in the studio, what do you like to get up to in your spare time?
Just chill out and play with my insane Border Collie dog. I also love a good comedy. I'd say that's my second love, comedy, as well as getting together with my mates and getting into some trouble. It always ends in trouble but I think it's usually my fault (laughs).
What is your favourite tea?
Just boring old English tea, decaf though. Those stimulants are bad for you.
This is small book I stumbled across whilst pottering about Melbourne's Brunswick street last week. John Cage (1912 - 1992) was a pioneer of 'chance music', electronic music and the non-standard use of musical instruments. Cage was famously known for his 4'33 composition, pronounced Fourty, Thirty Three (Ring any bells LCD Soundsystem fans?).
It was composed in 1952 for any instrument or combination of instruments. The score instructs the performer not to play the instrument during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements. The first being thirty seconds, the second being two minutes and twenty-three seconds and the third being one minute and forty seconds. Although commonly perceived as "four minutes thirty-three seconds of silence the piece actually consists of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hears while it is performed.
Above is a touching youtube clip where John Cage enlightens us on the beauty of sound and silence. With field recordings, ambient textures and spatialization playing a bigger role in todays techno and post dubstep movements we owe alot of what we are hearing to these sound theorsits and philospophers such as John Cage Karlheinz Stockhausen and Edgrad Verese.
What better way to start your friday then with a delightfully deep and melodic mix by Lawrence aka Sten aka Peter M. Kersten.
Lawrence along side Carsten Jost and Turner founded Dial Records, a label that for the past 10 years has become and institution for house music lovers. Dial is responsible for Pantha Du Prince's and Efdimin's first two LP's as well John Roberts exquisite Glass Eights release last year.
This mix comes courtesy of RBMA radio at Athens Entechno festival via its main stage last year.
Tommy Four Seven has uploaded a small teaser to his soundcloud page of Armed 3, the final track from his 9 track LP Primate due for release the 28th of March.
If Sor and now Armed 3 are any hint of what is to come then we are in for a well deserved ear walloping.
TEA is proud to present the Australian tour of Xhin, one of todays most thrilling talents in contemporary techno,
Xhin will be hitting Australian shores for the first time on March 17th with his first show hosted by hAUL Music and TEA at Melbourne's Miss Libertine Saturday March 19th. (Perth 18th March TBA).
Supporting Xhin at TEA's very own Melbourne show will be hAUL and TEA representatives Christian Vance (hAUL), Craig McWhinney (hAUL), Mike Callander (hAUL) and James Manning (TEA). Whilst Melbourne’s Knee Deep collective of Toby Josef, Luke Bruin and Louis McCoy will have Miss Libertine’s front room Raffles for our Singaporean occasion, alongside G-Town’s Isaac Fryar.
The Singaporean producer is already a master in the dark art of brooding, dusky techno. Even his earliest forays into production were produced with a careful hand, eliciting a controlled pummel that quickly caught the ear of established heads: Speedy J, Luke Slater and Sandwell District’s Function are all paid up members of the Xhin fan club.
Following releases on German label Meerestief, Xhin was taken under the wing of Stroboscopic Artefacts boss Lucy, the result being a label-artist combination that pushes boundaries and defies categorisation. An upcoming long player for the SA and CLR imprints slated for 2011, has hAUL and TEA giddy with anticipation.
In addition to his own productions, collaborations with the likes of Schaffhäuser, US stalwart Jerome Sydenham and LX series with Lucy has ensured his star has risen further still. Indeed, if 2010 goes down as a breakthrough year for Xhin, 2011 promises to be stratospheric.
$20 pre-sale tickets are available for hAUL & TEA's Melbourne show through RA, Moshtix and TEA.
With a name reminiscent to that of an British rock group from Birmingham or a Floridian funk group from Miami comes Australian born and bred disco sensation Francis Inferno Orchestra.
2010 and saw a slew of releases for Francis Inferno Orchestra on Under The Shade, Wolf Music and Dikso which gained the attention and support from disco and house dons The Revenge, Eamon Harkin, Session Victim, Cottam, Eddie C, Jay Shepheard, Hot Toddy and Chamboche.
I met up with Melbourne's youngest disco pup at the Melbourne House Mafia's equivalent to the Soprano's Buddabing, Alley Tunes. Over a coffee and a few cups of tea we talked Madchester, longed winded disco band names, Industrial design and honey lemon tea.
First up tell us a bit about yourself and growing up in Australia.
I originally grew up in Canberra and moved to Melbourne when I was about 6. My parents lived in Brisbane before I was born. They have always been into music, Dad was really into Joy Division and New order all that Madchester stuff, he actually went back recently and did a Madchester pub tour, he loves all that Hacienda stuff. Mum was really into her punk too, I have pretty cool parents. My Dad has still got this giant David Bowie poster and a big collection of records, way bigger then mine.
How much of your musical taste do you own to your parents?
A fair bit. They were the ones that got me into the mind set that commercial music is not the way to go. They were always watching the oldies music channel on TV. This led me to realise that yeah, this older stuff is cool, way cooler then the modern day commercial music we hear today, it's untalented and boring, microwave shit, in and out in two minutes. My favourite video that I used to watch with my Dad was New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle, so when other kids were bonding with their Dad kicking the footy we were doing it watching the Bizzare Love Triangle video.
How did you first get into producing music.
For years I listenined to a lot of hip hop, I was really into 9th wonder. The real sampled based stuff that had a lot of 60s soul and diva influences. The hip hop I was listening to was never really rap, but produced hip hop. I used to make hip hop beats on Garageband and Fruity Loops for a bit of fun. I’ve noticed the older you get the more you are inclined to listen to dance music, not only because you start going to clubs and music festivals but it's as if you gravitate towards it. So naturally as I got older I started seeing DJ’s and these guys were putting their own little spins and edits on their tracks. I had my own little DJ set up at home and thought I should really get back into producing so I could play sets with with my own edits.
So what came first DJing or producing?
Producing, but not seriously. I started DJing and then producing came after that, so technically yes producing came first but not seriously.
And how did your first release come about?
I started uploading my tracks to Soundcloud and at first I didn't get very many plays so I thought I’d better start getting some more exposure. I saw that labels, reps and big name DJs had their own Soundcloud accounts. I sent a couple of tracks to my friends as well as some of these big names who I'd never met before in the hope that some one would listen to it. Within about a week I had all these different followers and listeners coming in. Under The Shade got in touch within half an hour of me sending them my music and were like we really like this and want to press it. Later on Dikso approached me and within 2 months I had a track signed and pressed with them too.
So tell us about your latest release with Under The Shade.
After they said they were interested initially, they got back in touch and 3 months later they had Eddie C and Soul Clap on board for remixes, at one point there was talk of a Motor City Drum Ensemble remix, if that had happened I would have jacked in my pants (laughs). It took quite a while for the release to come out but I was cool with that as it’s a good label and I was willing to stick with them and give them as much time as they needed to release it.
How big a role has Melbourne played?
Pretty big. I saw Daft Punk here when I was 17 which then got me into all that electro. Then I started going out to a night called Third Class where Andee Frost played. They were playing that real New York disco sound of the time along with some Italo and not so much of that French house sound.
Your music seems quite sample based, is hunting for rare vinyl and samples something you do often?
I buy a fair bit of vinyl as well as downloading samples. If i’m out and about and looking through stores I rumage through the crates down the bottom. Im very inspired by 9th wonder and J Dilla as all they do is go digging for records and find cool samples. I like writting originals with original chords but at the same time sampled based is fun as you can put your own little twist on it. There are a lot of people that put out an edit and are like ‘yeah I like this old song’ and keep it exactly the same but add an extra kick drum. I don't do that, it has to be really worked on, not just some an half ass attempt at an edit. I really try and giving it the Francis Inferno Orchestra sound.
And Francis Inferno Orchestra? Tell us about the name.
I think at the time when I was thinking up a name, all of the bands I was sampling had these grandiose and hilarious names like KC and the Sunshine Band. Real lengthy names that say “disco band!” I was like I should be be disco band. I thought of it with a friend and was originally going to call it “something’ inferno musical, as in a musical experience but I went with Francis Inferno Orchestra. It rolls of the tongue pretty well. It’s not meant to be to serious. I’ve noticed recently people have put orchestra on the end of their names and its really bumming me out, I know I wasn't the first and I'm sure I won’t be the last but maybe I need to change names (laughs).
And your track Time For Tea, are you a tea drinker?
I defiantly am. That was the first deeper house track I made as I was making a lot of disco edits and sampled based music at the time. I wrote Tim For Tea with a lot of rhodes, chord progressions, filter effects and all that so when I finished I was like ok cool done, time for a cup of tea, so I called it that. I don’t drink crazy amounts of tea but when I do I’m a plane Jane english breakfast type of guy.
The Francis Inferno remix? Is this something we will see more of?
That’s really funny as I’m always happy to do remixes for people but no one contacts me. I was talking to Jeremy Duffy aka Duff Disco and Duff Step, he gave me his album and said if there are any tracks you want to remix let me know and ill send you the stems and we’ll put it up for digital release. So I was happy with the remix I did and it seemed to work really well. I also remixed Sidwho for Future Classic. I have done like 2 remixes ever and would love to remix more. I think I have done enough originals now so I need sometime to remix tracks to help re-inspire me for some new originals.
So being into Hip Hop, House and Disco, does that make you a vinyl purist?
I cant handle vinyl purists, I love spinning vinyl but as much as I’d love to be Im not old enough to be a vinyl purist. I’m not big on people being ‘I’m vinyl for life’. I like spinning records and it's a lot of fun and my sets are over half vinyl, its just that a lot of stuff I play is promo that I have from friends and it’s just Melbourne stuff. Lots of tracks from Andy Hart, Mic Newman and a few others. We are only on CD and haven’t really got many records out except for a few of us. Sometimes it just seems as if vinyl for life guys are after another thing to get snobby about.
Do you have any tours planned for Australia or the rest of world?
Im going to Europe in June and doing a small tour when I’m over there. Basically it’s a planned holiday with my best mate and Dad. I told a couple of labels and they are keen to have me play. I’ll be going over during my month break of uni, I’m studying Industrial design.
Is Melbourne where you plan to stay?
Hopefully Berlin, I’ve never been but from what I’ve heard it seems like the place to be, that or London. I don't want to sound as if I’m following the crowd but in terms of a career in Industrial design there are more firms and companies there where I could gain work. If not somewhere like Singapore, I just want to be somewhere closer to where it's all happening. Sometimes in Australia I feel we are so far away from it all.
Whats in the Pipeline for 2011
I just got the promo’s back for Melbourne Deepcast’s first label release. The Melbourne Deepcast is Andy Hart and Myles Mac. They decided they wanted to make a vinly only label. Andy I just started producing together and we really clicked in the studio. We made a track and were planning on giving it away but then we thought we’d keep it as a Melbourne thing. The track won’t be under a new name but it will just take very long to say, Andy Hart and Francis Inferno Orchestra presents (laughs). I also have an EP coming out with Join The Dots who is Jeremy Duffy aka Duff Disco and that is a pretty housey thing. People are starting to think that I can only make slow tempo music but this will show people that I have a bit of variety. I just got the masters back for my Sleazy Beats release too and it’s sounding nice. Kolour Recordings also got in touch which is cool as they were one of the labels I originally sent my tracks to in the first place.
Finally what is your favourite tea?
Well on the regular I drink english breakfast but my favourite is honey lemon tea because when you are feeling sick it makes you feel so much better, it’s natural medicine and when you drink it its like nothing else.
Get a sneak peek at FIO's latest release on Sleaze records here
