TEA's 2012 in Review - Part 1

TEA started off its 2012 with a look at the acts we thought were destined to turn some heads come December this year. It was nice to see our predictive “Ones To Watch” compass stayed pointing relatively north. At the furthest tip it was Troels Knudsen, one half of Copenhagen duo Northern Structures, who unveiled his Ctrls moniker via two ballistic EPs on Belguim imprint Token. Both Ctrls and Token chieftain Kr!z later supplied TEA with two accelerated podcasts of hulking techno in 2012. 

Parisian bastion Zadig aka Sylvain Peltier added two more releases to his fledging Construct Re-Form imprint, with two dubby and Roland-centric EPs from the relatively unknown Voiski, Deception Plan and Birth Of Frequency. He also launched a new vinyl-only imprint called ARS MECHANICA.

TEA podcaster number 26 MRSK and the masked Adam Rivet (TEA podcaster number 9) had releases pressed up for the Skudge Presents imprint in 2012 and Rivet was then lucky (or unlucky) enough to grace the pages of Resident Advisor, allowing RA’s garrulous comments sections to run riot. TEA's home town heroes the Carter Bros had their stellar Metropolitan LP, originally released digitally on Cuckoo Music in 2009, pressed up to vinyl and re-released through Kevin Griffiths Tsuba imprint.

Tom Dicicco thrummed 2012 with his usual three dimensional bass sonics with a stripped back EP on his (co-run with AnD) Inner Surface Music imprint, along with a second EP on Jonas Kopp’s Traut Muzik. ISM also released the 3 Stacked Layers, From Macro To Meta EP by Walker & Kennedy, a collaboration between Patrick Walker of Forward Strategy Group and Inigo Kennedy of Token fame.

As for AnD, I spoke with them for Little White Earbuds and according to Dimitri (the D from AnD), 2012 was all about getting “harder and harder and harder”. The two, along with Truss, helped career the 2012 alumni of UK industrialist and ‘90s inspired techno into the international spotlight. 

AnD - Features/Vol 3 [Repitch]

On top of releases with Hidden Hawaii LTD and a second missive for Black Sun Records, the Mancunian outfit also launched their own white label imprint AnD, with the 001/0101 EP - two tracks of gabba-techno hardness. The pairing commenced the year with a stunning two hour homage to all things electronic and experimental in their “No Ufo’s” mix, later earmarked 11 months later by Juno Plus scribe Tony Poland as part of his “top 10 mixes of 2012 to stroll along the Regents Canal to”. 

Henning Baer up routed his Ground Theory party from the bricky Arena Club and into its new (ex-bathhouse) home of Statdbad Orderberger. On the release front, Baer carved more of a name for himself internationally with the robust Drop Out 12” on Sonic Groove, as well as additional heavy cuts for Krill Music and Isolated System. 

His K209 collaboration with Milton Bradley released just the one production this year with a mellowed out remix (in comparison) to Joseph McGeechan’s brutal Failed By The Conformists EP, released on Chicagoan imprint Prosthetic Pressings (Ancient Methods remix on the flip).

Joseph McGeechan - Failed By The Conformist [Prosthetic Pressings]

TEA’s first gig for the year was at our techno safe house My Aeon on February 11, where we celebrated a second year of blogging, touring and transcribing. Welcoming pleasantries were of course entrusted in Daniel Filipovic, TEA’s warm up specialist and one of Melbourne’s finest DJs with an unrivalled ability to woo an entering crowd with his dub-laden selections.


I then unwrapped three hours of various techno records from a 112 record haul from a recent trip to Europe. The globetrotting and newly inducted TEA resident Nic Tuohey then blew the roof My Aeon in a closing set drummed with some of Prologue and Zooloft’s most brooding cuts. He then finished with Jerome Sydenham’s hands up Vocal Dub to Flora Cruz’s “Let The Sun Shine Out”.

As part of the Fresh TEA series, Northern Structures opened our podcast and interview account with one of our most popular mixes yet. Basic Soul Unit’s Northern Heights EP for TEA label featurette Other Heights then secured my interest in pursuing the label for a written special (I saw BSU play live alongside Sven Weisemann later in the year). 





Other Heights enjoyed an industrious 2012 with releases from Justin Berkovi, Herzal & Genoveva, Metropolis aka Lapien (who mixed the podcast to accompany the Other Heights label feature) as well as three various artists releases which included tracks from Unbalance, Tom Dicicco, Markus Suckut, Brooks Mosher and Ozka.

Swiss duo Isolated Lines, discovered via Donor’s digital platform Minuscule, then curated TEA’s 18th podcast which featured some healthy techno cuts from Mike Dehnert, Redshape, Adam Rivet and Skudge, as well as their remix of local band Casque's "Edgar". 

Markus Suckut, one of 2012s stand out producers, launched his own SCKT imprint with the gritty SCKT01 - SCKT02 followed up in September. Suckut was prolific on the remix front this year supplying 11 mix ups for an assortment of labels including Semantica, EarToGround, Non Series and Gynoid, with remixes for techno heavy weights Truncate, Pfirter and Mark Broom. He also featured heavily in Myles Sergé’s TEA podcast, a producers whose lo-fi and uncompressed style of production has criminally gone unnoticed for too long, so it was a pleasure to land a mix and interview from the Grand Rapids native.

By mid February I was being treated for a severe case of RSI, which I only conquered in September. Enduring weekly physio and dry needling sessions, I gallantly pushed through. Helping keep TEA afloat was Bristol producer Jobody with some boom town sounds for TEA's 19th podcast, which unbeknown to most included “Wttp”, credited as “Unknown - Untitled [Unknown]”, by the yet to be known MPIA3 - Truss’ drum synth and 303 alias.

Cassegrain’s extended shuffles and subaqueous dub techno strayed across TEA’s rader and the duo ended up with four strong releases in 2012, raising the curtain for the Modal Analysis imprint as well as supplying other cuts for M_Rec LTD, Prologue and nutty Berlin label Killekill via a collaboration with Tin Man.

Cassegrain - Plate EP [Modal Analysis]

In late March my frustrations of rarely seeing a CDJ DJ, let alone a vinyl DJ got the better of me, resulting in the small “Refining The DJ” rant, posing the question “how does society picture the DJ?”  More rants followed, including Melbourne’s lacklustre party efforts and the impossibility of avoiding Shed’s music, whether it be room two, garden bars or the main stage.

After some salubrious dusting downs, TEA was privileged to a podcast and extensive interview with Mike Parker and the highly underrated Fanon Flowers. Benjamin Brunn dropped TEA its 22nd podcast which was soon followed up by another mix by 2012 prop Bleak. 

The Scissors & Thread imprint then debuted the sultry sounds of Frank & Tony, earning them a review, as did youANDme’s dip in the deep end with the mouche EP on emerging German imprint Dub2Dust_Rec.

TBC.

Fresh TEA - Ctrls

To begin with Lasse doesn’t even like half of it, says Troels Knudsen, the other half of Northern Structures, a Copenhagen pairing who berated the second half of 2011 with a salvo of gravel-pit techno via Adam X’s Sonic Groove imprint. “He (Lasse) is the guy that got me into all the industrial stuff,” Knudsen says, “My stuff has always been a bit more dancefloor”.

Troels Knudsen this year launched his Ctrls project, a solo endeavour geared toward break-neck beats and heavy duty loops that pay homage to his love of bumping ‘90s techno and drum and bass. “It’s definitely more dancefloor...I like a 140bpm workout if I can make it work, like the late ‘90s Mills stuff,” Knudsen explains.

One of the few labels today to consistently release high-end techno at full tilt is Belgian imprint Token, run by Kr!z. Speedy techno bulwarks Phase and Inigo Kennedy regularly release on the label as have Oscar Mulero, Go Hiyama and Xhin. Ctrls is the latest artist to join Token’s roster after Knudsen sent Kr!z the track “Socket”, which was swiftly snapped up and pressed for Token’s 22nd release. It wasn’t long after Token bore birth to Ctrls that Knudsen’s music attracted the attention of techno’s hungriest jocks, including Norman Nodge who commissioned the track for his recent Berghain 06 mix. 

“Everything Berghain related is like ‘yes awesome’ and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an ego boost, but it just gives you confidence and makes you feel like ‘right, this is full time now and lets do something with this’. It’s a really powerful motivator,” Knudsen says, adding “I feel there is something very active going on there (at Token), Kr!z is very conscious about the Token sound,”.

Token was an obvious home for the Ctrls project and match made in the industrial underground of European techno. “I simply hit Kr!z up,” Knudsen says, “I’m a massive Token fan. It’s exactly the sound I feel like I can Identify with, there’s still lots of energy,” he says. “I stopped drum and bass and I knew I wanted to do techno, so I was practicing for a while before I felt ready to show everyone what was going on,”. 

The Ctrls project was a bedroom secret from 2008 until the release of “Socket” earlier this year. Everything before, Knudsen says, was still a little under produced. After Kr!z’s intake of “Socket”, Knudsen then specifically produced “Social Vector” and “Encrypted Sex” to round out his first solo EP. “The nature of techno is technical and you have to know a synthesizer, you have to have some idea of systems; even the Downwards guys who call themselves ‘situationists’ still operate under a thought-out system,” he says.

Ctrls may not necessarily be exclusively Token, but he does pledge an alliance to the Belgian imprint saying Ctrls is definitely “Token focused”. “Once you are in there, there is a family, it’s a very verbal thing with lots of back and forth and discussions and things like that, which I really like,” Knudsen continues.

Northern Structures is still a big musical priority for Knudsen, but he says once the necessary deadlines have been met, he then has time to focus on Ctrls. But it’s not only Northern Structures and Ctrls that take up his studio time, Knudsen also works under the moniker 2400 Operator, a shaded house collaboration with Copenhagen DJ and promoter Daniel Savi that has so far released music with Tartelet Records and Underground Quality.

“Leave that reverb, don’t adjust it, this is house,” Troels Knudsen says, impersonating Underground Quality kahuna Jus Ed. “I am a techno person,” Knudsen admits, before explaining his predilection for house music. “It’s really relaxing making house and I really like some of the people I have met...I knew about working with house music, but I’ve never really tried it before, you learn to keep things very instinctive and traditional. The whole peace-love in house music thing, even though it’s not a conscious movement, there are a lot of people that go for that. It’s charming and a bit romantic,” Knudsen says.

Daniel Savi and Troels Knudsen aka 2400 Operator

The 2400 Operator moniker is his escapism from the usual balls-out abrasiveness of his Ctrls and Northern Structure productions, and he says Jus Ed is a big inspiration for his continued embrace of house music. “He (Jus Ed) is one of my favourite people in the scene I think, he has so much character and personality. I’m really going to try and find a way to keep the house stuff alive. If it’s going to be as 2400 Operator or as someone else, it’s really hard to tell,” Knudsen says.

Knudsen is also the envy of many bedroom producers who are still trying to get their head around basic to intermediate synthesis. Playing live is an important aspect of his and Northern Structures’ production and performance tenor, which is also something that seems to be ingrained within Danish electronic music. “I feel like I have a lot more to work with (in Copenhagen) and it feels like everyone does too. A few venues opened and closed but we still have Culture Box and it’s really turned up the heat. There’s some other crews as well, its been very ambitious, some of it may have been a little unrealistic, but there’s definitely life that has been created that doesn’t want to die right now,” he says.

Ctrls will debut his live show alongside DJ sets from Marcel Fengler and Norman Nodge at Fabric on November 24th and Knudsen offers some insight into the evolving process of his live show and studio production. “The main thing with Ctrls is that every single sound is made by me. When I found out I could do that, I think it gave me a nice personal touch. Everything is mine, I might get the same results when using a 909, but the process is hugely involved,” Knudsen explains.

Teleport is a developing program that Knudsen employs for his live show. “Everything is done on a laptop, but I’ve found some new software which will allow me to be hands on with the plug ins, which is like having a whole rack of synths. As far as I know I am the first to really take it on stage,” he says, adding “To me it feels totally live, there are no samples involved so I really tweak everything, so there will be actual improvisations if things work out in time,”.

“Being able to write new things on the spot now is very attractive to a lot of people,” Knudsen continues. “Electronic music is very hard to just sit down or stand up and play, you have to programme things and it's usually not a format where you can just jam out of nothing. But producers are getting really ambitious right now and I think there's a lot of us that want some of the spontaneous options traditional musicians have”. 

Ctrls plays Berghain on November 10 as part of Norman Nodge’s Berghain 06 launch alongside Marcel Fengler, Redshape, Aña, Mark Broom, Answer Code Request and Norman Nodge.

Kr!z Podcast Tracklisting

1. xhin - elliptic

2. woo york - boloto

3. psyk - track 3

4. developer - entrada

5. henning baer - folsom

6. truncate - untitled

7. ignacio - chios

8. sigha - how to disappear

9. francesco baudazzi - untitled

10. developer - migrations

11. oliver ho - from modern to ancient

12. digital princezz - press the button 1

13. ad/s - transversal (sigha rmx)

14. mike parker - pulse trader

15. echoplex - searchin'

16. sunil sharpe - landing strip

17. pacou - flames

18. developer - revisited

19. lucy - tof (tommy four seven rmx)

20. sawlin - techno dumping

21. o/v/r - rapid eye

22. function - descending

23. peter van hoesen - transitional state 2

24. quake - device overload (marcel fengler rmx)

25. developer - trade

26. p.a.s. - cold bolster

27. phase - binary opposition (process 2)

28. 2000 and one - ethics

29. the nightripper - tone exploitation (p.a.s. rmx)

30. steve stoll - model t

31. broom & williams - volunteer

32. shifted - leather

33. silent servant – untitled

TEA Podcast #20 - Kr!z [Token]

Belgian imprint Token has been a standout label for the past two years. With a back bone made up of Inigo Kennedy and Phase, Token’s speedy and skeletal beats deviate from the current dubby and house tempo productions currently on trend. Other artists to grace Token's impressive roster include; Oscar Mulero, Grovskopa, Go Hiyama and most recently Xhin. A lack of inspiration toward techno in the mid 2000s saw Kr!z do what many techno cynics should, he started a label. Inspired by the visceral and uncompromising sounds of Axis, Downwards, Blueprint and Cosmic, Kr!z laid foundation to a venture which after 5 years is enjoying many of the superlatives used to describe a clutch of Belgian labels, past and present defining electronic music.

With over a decade of DJ expertise and a penchant for quick mixing, Kr!z delivers a seasoned podcast featuring new, unreleased and upcoming Token material. We contacted Kr!z via email ahead of his podcast for TEA where he spoke fondley of his community library, Daft Punk and (lack there of) black tea.

How and where did you records the mix?

At home on a Sunday afternoon, still fuelled with energy from Saturday’s gig. I used a mixer, two decks for vinyl and one CDJ for some unreleased material.

How did things first begin at Token?

I started asking people for tracks in late 2006. I emailed a few artists who I’d been a fan of for some time and that I knew weren't releasing that much music. I was buying records on a weekly basis for my gigs, but I wasn’t enjoying a lot of what was being released at the time. A lot of my favourite artists and labels had taken a break or even quit the scene for various reasons. The idea for the label was simple, I wanted to make good records available again. I took a chance and started emailing a few people about the idea of starting my own platform. Inigo was one of the first people to respond and he sent me some crazy tracks. I was really lucky to have those for the first release because it immediately put Token on the map, I guess that was early 2007. Everyone was playing it, sales were good and I started receiving a lot of music by new and established artists. Ashley (Phase) was one of those more established guys. Inigo & him quickly became the centre points of Token.

Token releases have earned somewhat of a trademark through their faster BPM's. Is that a part of the Token sound?

It’s quite hard to describe the sound. Some call it ‘Dark techno’ but that sounds so cliche and boring, plus we have released music that is ‘not so dark’. Initially the energy levels were really important. The tracks had to have power as well as fit into my sets. The speed of the releases is something that felt natural as I had always DJed with faster BPMs, Inigo & Phase also produce that way. Lately the pace has slowed, but to be honest I don’t care about tempo that much. Hail to the pitch control. I’ve heard DJs play 140 BPM Token tracks at 125 BPM, or play 125 BPM Token tracks at 135 BPM, it’s all good. I think the BPM discussion is as irrelevant as the digital vs analog or the vinyl vs mp3 discussion. Each to their own.

What is your relationship with Inigo Kennedy and Phase.

It’s a close one. After 5 years, my main focus is still to put out their records and to help boost their profile, basically create more awareness around their sound. I’m still excited each time they send me new tracks and I feel they’re still getting better. We’ve become good friends over the years, so it’s also a family thing. That’s what I want to create with all the artists I’m signing; a good relationship that's not just on a musical level.

How have you seen the label develop since 2007?

It’s been getting more and more recognition. As I stated before, the first release gave the label a kickstart. After that all I wanted to do was keep the standard high. The key focus is still quality. I spend a lot of time listening to demos and testing them out at gigs before I actually sign them. I think things through to make sure it fits the plan. Sound wise I feel the labels output has remained pretty consistent, at least that’s what I’m aiming for. I am taking more chances now however. 5 years ago I probably wouldn’t have released deep IDM or tracks at 120 BPM. I would have worried that it might not have sold well, or fit into my sets. I don’t really care about that anymore, quality is the only requirement. I am happy to see we have established a following over the years and I’ve noticed it’s a very open minded one.

How much has Belgium influenced you and your label?

My main influence was through techno parties. Seeing Jeff Mills at I Love Techno for the first time just blew my mind. Same goes for when I first heard Steve Rachmad DJ at Fuse club. Those moments directly influenced me, I wanted to do the same thing; take the dancefloor on a journey, have them follow you throughout your set and control the room with a hypnotic sound. As far as musical output I think my main focus was more on what came out of US, UK & Berlin. As far as Belgium goes I always did keep an eye on Music Man, with all the Rachmad, Dundov, Green Velvet & Cherry Bomb stuff. Great catalogue right there. But for Token I think the main influence came from labels like Surface, Axis, Downwards, Blueprint and Cosmic. Those labels always stood on their own, without compromise. Amazing music, interesting concepts, mysterious artwork. Real art to me.

I see you were a big hip hop and drum and bass fan. Tell us about those days, some of your favourite artists and how you made the transition to Techno.

I am still a big fan of hip hop. But also jazz, funk, soul, IDM, dub and glitchy stuff. I buy and collect a lot of different music, probably more than what’s good for me. I think it all started as coincidence. I was listening to a lot of terrible music around the age of 12 and 13. I didn’t have any money to buy CDs so I went to the local public library, loaned a bunch of them from the music section and recorded them to tape. After a year or so I had listened to most of the music I that I knew, which wasn’t a lot. I then started taking music home from the eclectic section, my choices were based on the sleeves or interesting names. I digested a lot of crap music, but finally I discovered stuff like DJ Shadow, Gang Starr, Krush, Photek, Aphex Twin, De La Soul and Amon Tobin, all by accident. This was pre CD burning and internet days. I developed a big love for the 90s style of hip hop, mostly jazzy stuff like A Tribe Called Quest, but I was really into Wu Tang & Nas too. I have a few close friends to thank for some important discoveries, but all in all that public library saved my musical life. I was DJing at local parties during this time and in retrospect I was playing some horrible music. I was lucky enough to pick up Daft Punk’s Homework when it came out and I started playing some house after that. Then I discovered techno, bought a lot of bad techno records but I eventually made it to the good stuff. I left out most of the embarrassing moments here.

Do you produce yourself?

I do, but not on the level that I’m ready to share with the world just yet. I’ve always been really demanding of my artists, to get the best output for Token as possible, so I guess I’m even more strict when it comes to my own material. There will be a release from me in the future, but I don’t really feel any pressure to do so. I have a lot of new music by other artists ready to go so I’d rather focus on that for now.

Whats coming up for Token?

The new Xhin record is out now. I am really happy with that one, he blessed Token with four genius tracks. We have talked about doing another one already. Token 22 will be by Ctrls of Northern Structures. I liked what Northern Structures did on Sonic Groove a lot, and when I heard Troels solo stuff, that impressed me even more. He’s a former drum and bass producer and he’s definitely got his sound right. There is lot of power in his productions. Ctrls will be a new regular on Token, he’s already working on a new ep. After that there will be some remixes for Phase’s ‘Binary Opposition’ ep. The feedback on that one was amazing and a lot of people were eager to put their own touch on it. The first mixes are coming in and sounding big. Next to that there should be a new Inigo Kennedy record coming soon. Phase’s next ep sounds very promising and there’s a few other artists confirmed that I can’t talk about just yet. Should be a very busy and exciting year.

What is your favourite tea?

I like black tea, but I’m more of a coffee guy to be honest. Maybe I just need more schooling.