EarPIPE

EarPipe’s Things We’ve Liked and Are Looking Forward To

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 | Event Preview, Event Reviews | No Comments

Sorry for being a bit slow on the posts front recently. Its mainly down to me being found at weekends crawling around the floor of darkened rooms playing repetitive electronic music. That said I want to tell you about a few of those excursions.

Firstly way back at the end of February we got invited to the launch of Nic Fanciulli’s Saved Sessions at matter. The brand spanking new club was ideal for the heavy weight line up that Nic had brought in. Nic Fanciulli himself played a brilliantly judged tech house to techno set, whilst the the comedy techno antics of Green Velvet blew the socks off many a bewildered tourist clubber. The New York legend Francois K then smashed it home leaving only the lovers of techno to revel in the ridiculous bass that the matter sound system pumps out. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful residency. Judging by the next Saved Sessions it sure will be. Derrick Carter vs DJ Sneak, Dennis Ferrer, Theo Parrish, Jerome Sydenham and Will Saul!?!?!?!?!?!?Surely i’ve died and woken up in US house heaven?

Fast-forward a couple of weeks and we’re down at East Village where Prologue had brought in Norman Jay for a bit of Good Times magic. I was worried whether Norman Jay was a one trick pony with his chesse-a-thon sets as seen at Carnival. However I was happily proved wrong as he dug out some great house music to have the basement turned up to gas mark nine. › Continue reading

Tags: Cobblestone Jazz, Dennis Ferrer, Derrick Carter, DJ sneak, East Village, Francois K, Green Velvet, Hector, Jerome Sydenham, Laurent Garnier, Layo and Bushwacka, Mountain People, mUmU, Nic Fanciulli, Norman Jay, Prologue, Rederico Molinari, Saved Records, Saved Sessions, Secretsundaze, Shake It, Theo Parrish, Will Saul

Omar S – Fabric 45 | Album Review

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 | Album Review | No Comments

For the past few years Omar S has been releasing his unadulterated music across the world with the kind of swagger and disregard for everything else that only Detroit musicians can do. With Omar S there are no techno cliques, he’s just a guy that works at the Ford factory by day and at night he produces his own brand of luscious deep music at the same rate as a factory. His label FXHE is completely independent, releasing and distributing his music across the world from his lowly basement in Detroit. All this makes Omar S a definite character. God, he’s so out there he doesn’t even known who Ricardo Villalobos is.

For Fabric 45, he goes and does a Villalobos by mixing up a compilation of self penned works. But lets not worry about the technicalities of whom done what first, the real question is, is it any good? I’m happy to say the answer to that is a resounding yes. His Fabric 45 drifts you away on a sea of electronic synths following a natural current which casually floats you from one track to the next.

The mix weights itself around the focal point of Omar S’ synonymous Psychotic Photosynthesis. Each track from the very beginning edges towards the pinnacle in a fluid and organic manner. In the opening moments Strider’s World combines a haunting organ with 8bit gameboy sounds sets the mix up with an edgy tension before allowing the flood gates to open up to the warm deep synths of Detroit. The luscious melodies of Oasis Four, Crusin Conant and U are tightly intertwined and all reservedly controlled leading into 1 Out of 853 Beats which strips back to bare beats to set up the phenomenal release of Psychotic Photosynthesis’ resonant bassline. Its plunge into the emotive melodies is definitely the pinnacle of the mix.

From there the mix unravels out through various flavours, dicing between soulful numbers such as Set Me Out and the brilliant Day through to the spooky spaced out Blade Runner. And before you know it you’ve arrived at the end.

It’s such a strange mix; the progression is so gradual that any other mix would be considered boring. Yet with this mix the minute details keep you tied in, with wave after wave of intricacy and a build of so much purpose it just never gets tired. I’ve already listened to it countless times and I reckon you will too.

Buy Omar S – Fabric 45 on CD

Tracklisting:
01 Omar-S – Polycopter – FXHE Music
02 Omar-S – Flying Gorgars – FXHE Music
03 Omar-S – Strider’s World – FXHE Music
04 Omar-S – Oasis Four – FXHE Music
05 Omar-S – Crusin Conant – FXHE Music
06 Omar-S – U – FXHE Music
07 Omar-S – Oasis 13 ½ – FXHE Music
08 Omar-S – 1 Out Of 853 Beats – FXHE Music
09 Omar-S – Simple Than Sorry – FXHE Music
10 Omar-S – Psychotic Photosynthesis – FXHE Music
11 Omar-S – The Maker – FXHE Music
12 Omar-S – A Victim – FXHE Music
13 Omar-S – Oasis One – FXHE Music
14 Omar-S – Blade Runner – FXHE Music
15 Omar-S – Day – FXHE Music
16 Omar-S – Set Me Out – FXHE Music

Tags: Detroit, Fabric, FXHE, Omar S, Villalobos

AGF/Delay – Symptoms | Album Review

Monday, March 9th, 2009 | Album Review, Music | No Comments

Symptoms is the new album from AGF and Delay on the formidable BPitch Control. You may recall that AGF was the co-producer of Ellen Allien’s Sool album from last year. Here at EarPipe we raved about that album in a length post here. So expectations were high of AGF to combine her poetic talents with the sparse and diverse production skills of her husband Vladislav Delay.

Symptoms has all the similar elements that made Sool a good album. However AGF and Delay fail to make the same recipe rise in the oven. The same raw and industrial electronic sounds found on Sool buzz and whirr through out Symptoms, yet they seem to lack the coherence or direction to formulate a structure to really hit a chord with the listener. The overall experience is pretty blasé with few moments to take notice of.

That’s not to say the whole album is completely throw away. The pulsating track Most Beautiful brilliantly captures the essence of slow motion in sound as AGF repeats the simple lyrics in a softly spoken voice. Bells and drum hits fade in and out in a kind of Doppler effect to paint an illusion of time slowing down which I guess is what happens when you see the “most beautiful thing” according to the lyrics? The other track worth a mention is Connection. Another slow RnB paced number with syncopated percussion and fuzzy yet bright layers of synths create a Bjork like atmosphere.

Apart from that, unfortunately the album just doesn’t strike a chord. Which is a shame as much was expected from AGF since her effort on Ellen’s Sool.

Buy AGF/Delay – Symptoms on CD

Tracklisting:
01. Get Lost
02. Connection
03. Downtown Snow
04. Outbreak
05. Bulletproof
06. Generic
07. Congo Hearts
08. Most Beautiful
09. Symptoms
10. Smileaway
11. Second Life
12. In Cycles

Tags: AGF, BPitch Control, Delay, Ellen Allien