Ekoplekz – Memowrekz [Mordant Music]

Ekoplekz first came into view via. Punch Drunk late last year and it was an unexpected and downright refreshing release for the label that acted like a pallet cleanser. Not many people expected a dubbed-out beat-less noisy analogue freak out from one of the leading lights of the, for want of a better word… dubstep scene. Peverelist’s open policy of putting out pretty much anything he’s feeling as long as you’re from Bristol paid off yet again though. When you dig a bit deeper the move makes a lot of sense, noisy freak outs aren’t to far removed from dubtsep’s outer limits as the label in question here: Mordant Music has been working with another Bristol freak from the scene Shackleton for years, he draws together those distant yarns in his own way. You can connect threads further field too: Ben UFO pretty much played a noise set the other night on Rinse, debuting some extreme guitar excursions by Andrew Coltrane from Trilogy Tapes that’s a label who’ve dropped a 12” from Dro Carey who has been known to get a bit dissonant with his sound pallet all while keeping that dance slant rolling, same goes for Egyptrixx and his noisy past you hear filter into his Night Slugs… Then you have the general love for people like Hype Williams and Forest Swords from the scene… But right now we’re concentrating on the latest long-player/double-cassette and don’t worry digital collection from Bristol’s improvisational analogue experimentalist Ekoplekz.

Memowrekz is an epic thirty three track workout of dub infused dissonant synth music, it’s a tough one to pin down. It’s the sound of the Radiophonic workshop on a bender, blazed-out taking Dr. Who on an adventure through cavernous warehouse full of abandoned synths and dub records, in some sort of alternative universe where they’ve come alive, joined forces and have minds of their own. But this time the Doctor just chills out and vibes off the mutant soundboy’s and rolls another… It’s a dystopian vision but one that draws you in, it’s dissonant but never gets overtly confrontational. Its tough to draw comparisons, the record sits somewhere within that bunch of freaks on Olde English Spelling Bee: Stella Om Source and maybe even Forest Swords, its got the synths of one and the heavy dub of the other. But that’s to simplistic… You could draw lines with the Not Not Fun stable: Sun Araw’s and Peaking Lights dub-psych jams, both the heavy and breezy angles... It even fits next to Oneohtrix Point Never, but its way more free flowing, compelling and as much as I dig last years ‘Returnal’ it seems simplistic and rigid compared to Ekoplekz. This is the album I wish that one was in some ways.

The free flowing nature of these tracks brought on by the improvisational nature of the way Ekoplekz works really shows and pays dividends. Deep synth squiggles get shaped before your eyes. Beats bubble under, when they appear at all. Echo drenched surges of noise build layers of intensity on top of the warm synth tones. It’s intertwined with the odd bass and guitar line, dropped deep into the synthetic ocean of sound. The aesthetic should surely be harder work than it is, but Memowerkz makes for a really enjoyable listen. Blissful bright passages making each tonal change in mood and texture really pop, the extremes are balanced with ease, it’ll grab you, draw you in and take you somewhere you wouldn’t expect. Ekoplekz and Mordant Music are a killer combination: wrap your ears around this.

Mix: Electronic Explorations #146: Ekoplekz

http://ekoplekznews.wordpress.com/
http://soundcloud.com/ekoplekz
http://www.mordantmusic.com/

Originally written for the revamped and fresh looking: http://www.sonicrouter.com/

Peverelist & Hyetal – The Hum/rrrr [Punch Drunk]

Massive collaboration from two of Bristol’s finest, it comes off the back of their two solo releases: Peverelist’s ‘Better Ways Of Living’ and Hyetal’s ‘Phoenix’ 12”s both of which wont leave my bag in a hurry. The two producers first melted their sonic sensibilities when Peverelist remixed ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ to great effect, twisting the original into a trippy number that still sounds like nothing else around. This time the two hook up for some original productions. With Peverelist’s knack for hypnotic techy dubbed-out sounds and Hyetal’s bittersweet melodic sensibilities it’s a collaboration just aching to happen.

The two tracks ‘The Hum’ and ‘rrrr’ feel like early electro experiments that where forgotten but dug up, rearranged and lovingly finished especially to move some dance floors. There’s a retro feel in there somewhere but one that’s brought on by the melancholic melodies and synthesized sounds rather than any kind of revivalism, because nothing really sounds like this collaboration. You never know who did what in collab’s like this but you can hear Peverelist’s swirling dubbed-out percussive ticks and bumpy rhythms and Hyetal’s knack for shimmering synthesized melody in both the tracks. They’re hypnotic and introspective but the bright synth tones and subtle funk keep them from being ultra deep eyes down material. There’s an uplifting quality to the tracks that hits that magic bittersweet spot which gets me every time.

Punch Drunk is a buy on sight label already and this 12” is just sublime. It’s the sound of two artists flexing their production skills and it coming together so on point that it makes me wonder if there’s more.

http://www.myspace.com/punchdrunkrecords
http://soundcloud.com/punchdrunkrecords
http://www.myspace.com/thepeverelist
http://www.myspace.com/hyetalmusic

Originally written for Sonic Router.

Peverelist – Jarvik Mindstate [Punch Drunk]

The Jarvik heart is an artificial heart, a mechanical replacement for the biological heart an idea that echoes Peverelist’s music and explains the artwork for this his debut full-length record. The music he makes has this mechanical soul a flowing tech infused blues in the vain of much electronic music from the past. The need to make machines have a human soul and connect to us has a long history from Kraftwerk through the finest Detroit techno producers and many of today’s artists. The artwork also looks a little like the insides of what you’d expect to be under the swamp tinged digital camouflage jacket of the Hyperdub compilation ‘5’ or some kind of Jungelist outfit. Jarvik Mindstate is the debut full length from a producer that’s always had my attention, Peverelist the head honcho of Bristol label Punch Drunk.

The echo-drenched fanfares of ‘Esperanto’ ushers in the album while drum patterns, masterfully programmed to create some stone cold grooves, deep shifting bass tones and techy melodic loops make epic futuristic shapes infront of your speakers. These are all traits of Peverelist’s sound every track has a subtle stripped back feel that opens up gradually and develops into something stronger than the sum of its parts. The super minimal half-stepper ‘Revival’ with another Bristol mainstay Pinch has an epic sense of space and dread, a darkness that’s barely held together by an unknown force. The fantastic ‘Bluez’ is up next, a track that I’ve been wanting to get my hands on for some time along with ‘Esperanto’, the deep soulful organ melody that ushers in the bumping space bass really grows on you. The super dry mechanical sounds get drenched in a subtle merck and hypnotise relentlessly before prolonged synth pads and chiming robotic bells and that original organ loop drops in again and your left with a beautifully bitter sweat dance floor moment.

The title track ‘Jarvick Mindstate’ isn’t dissimilar to ‘Bluez’ with its looping organ style riff, but this time its altogether more urgent and tinged with electro snares that snap around the bumping kicks before descending into spaced out breakdowns and teasing hypnotic loops. ‘Yesterday I Saw The Future’ is another new track I’d not heard before the album and it’s an undoubted highlight for its booming bass lines mesmerising subtle melodies and watery underbelly. Its echoes Bristol’s jungelist past in its kick patterns and history he’s very familiar with. The beast that is ‘Infinity is Now’ a track that was released last year on Tectonic still hits the spot just as it did then, the twinkling twirling techy arpeggios get me everytime. Pev’s music stands the test of time well I would have been happy to hear older gems like ‘Roll With The Punches’ on here too, tracks I always find myself digging out.

The jungelist vibes are even stronger on ‘Not Yet Further Than’, with all its pent up urgent energy and distinct techno dystopian future soul that could soundtrack a chase scene in hover cars in a sci-fi film set in a flooded city. The uplifting housey chords on ‘Valves’ really echo Detroit for me, as do the skipping high hats. Pev’s touchstones are always highly filtered through his unique sound and come out as twisted mechanical-soul that works its way into your mind. Another favourite ‘Clunk Click Every Trip’ makes a comeback to finish the album off in fine style. I had a surreal moment playing this track at a club night at a gig venue where Sigue Sigue Sputnik just chilled at the bar in full on glam rock gear, its not something I expected to happen and the coincidence that Sigue Sigue Sputnik and ‘Clunk Click Every Trip’ rhyme was pretty funny. Anyway the track just slays it by building and building with the retro drum machine bleeps and reverb before dropping the perfect answer to all that build up, a sweat euphoric string section that gets you reaching for the sky… only to drop that away for another sublime build only to conclude at the very end of the track, goose bump inducing stuff.

Jarvik Mindstate is a hell of an album Peverelist pulled off a full length with ease showcasing his single vision and sound so well. For some that vision is going to be to much, just as some of his peers such as Shackleton whose darkness is sometimes over whelming but for some you’ll find yourself coming back to this album time after time. 2562 and Martyn pulled off quality techno-infused album this year as well yet Peverelist’s vision still sounds so different, it just goes to show that even the techno inspired dubstep producers can’t really be lumped in together so easily, the range is vast. It’s up there as one of my full-length highlights that’s for sure.

http://www.myspace.com/thepeverelist

http://www.myspace.com/punchdrunkrecords

Guido – Beautiful Complication/Chakra [Punch Drunk]

You know those tracks that you hear and they just hit the spot perfectly, but don’t seem to come out for about a year for you to actually own and play out yourself… well ‘Beautiful Complication’ is one of those and it just dropped through my door. I first heard it on the excellent mix by Guido from late last year. I’ve posted it before but its worth another listen so you’ll find it bellow. For me ‘Beautiful Complication’ featuring the vocal talents of Aarya is the perfect mix of slick R&B and synth heavy soul shaking dubstep coming from the new breed of producers that are going through a hell of a purple patch this year. It’s been in my head on and off ever since I heard it, like a love song beamed in from the future designed to lodge it’s self in your brain plus his productions always creep up and grow on you. The slinky emotional and soulful voice of Aarya playing off the deep, bright synth lines, midi orchestra and horn sounds work perfectly and add another dimension to Guido’s twisted soul anthems.

The flip comes in the form of ‘Chakra’, which is on a similar loved up tip with sweet housey piano’s and melodies offset against some deep rough bass and a vocal mantra proclaiming ‘I can make you feel good, I can make you feel me’ I think anyway... There is something about his midi sounds that brings out a simple almost Detroit techno feel to his music, a machine soul. The clicks and snaps of the drums have a hip-hop boom bap skip to them that really suits the Timberland gone haywire on a dub soundsystem vibe. Guido has such a musicality to his work, his stuff just screams melody and accessibility. With rumours of Hudson Mohawke being picked up to work with R&B stars like Rihanna maybe Guido could one day follow suit and as his future soul already sounds like R&B’s next step. But who knows what will happen I’m just glad this is finally out, Guido brings the goods and Punch Drunk delivers.

http://www.myspace.com/guidoproductions

Download: 29 Minuet Mix by Guido

tantalized – guido
beautiful complication - guido, aarya & ruthless
chakra – guido
you do it right – guido
orchestral lab- guido
johnny 5 – gemmy
mad sax – guido
do it! – joker
tango – guido
digidesign - joker