Marty’s Back Room Boogie Experiments 8 (I think)

It’s been a while.. much longer than usual, but it’s time for another back room blog action. 

I’ve been mostly doing weddings, birthday parties, silent disco’s (at weddings), and the likes in the past while.. so I won’t bore you with the records I was playing there.. well I might one day… as I never seem to get bored of them :) 

I have also been away in NYC, and still a bit jetlagged I think, even though it was about 3 weeks ago. My first time there. It’s just like you see on the films. Taking of Pelham 123. Well we spent most of the time on the subway.. but when we did pop up overground we happed upon some interesting musical excursions. Coney Island.. where you had guys set up with their sound system on the boardwalk, belting out some quality NY House, akin the P Garage and Spiritual Records sorta vibe. Maybe about 20 dudes having a dance.. people out walking the dog, and some characters that haven’t stopped dancing since the 70’s. Best thing was, we were the youngest folk there. You wouldn’t get away with this in Saltcoats, without getting jailed or slashed.

Then we boogied on on the F train, up to the Mister Sunday party. Open air, decks uncovered, lights on the trees, food on the go, and even better NY house music.. and maybe few bits from Chicago in there as well. I couldn’t help but think.. if this was in Glasgow… would be waaay different. Don’t think I have to elaborate further. But I will.. Carnagerous I think is the word. Justin, Eamonn and Anthony and crew have releasing under the Mister Saturday Night label..  

http://www.rubadubrecords.co.uk/profile/labels/name/mister-saturday-night

only 2 releases to date, but watch out for the 3rd soon.. by Anthony Naples, and there’s some other forthcoming belters by the Justin Timberlake look a like (without the millions), New Yorker. but he’s on the up. Check him out. NY is a bit of a hotbed of recent, with a plethora of labels rocking out from there these days, inc The Corner, Discovery, Mister Saturday Night, subBASSSS, Deconstruct, Love Revolution, Strength Music etc etc.. and of course Novel Sound, and the L.I.E.S. imprint… That’s provided they’ve not been wiped off the face of the earth by recent super storms !..I’ve been walking out my front door the last few days, into the freezing, horizontal rain, thinking ‘this aint so bad’.

Forthcoming Techno Point of note - Further delay on the Deepchord LP’s.. that have an insert with artwork, and photograph.. (that are framable).. well would be if the printers weren’t in New Jersey. We fear the worst. I’m sure I saw them flying down the boardwalk on the news the other night. Anyway, we’re sorting out.. and will be out soon.

What was I saying.. oh aye records that I was going to play at club.. last week. Got lost in a  Back Room Boogie Time warp there.. next thing you know it’s the next Friday. So aye, this blog shit is meant to be about the records I’m listening to right now in my back room, and not talking shite… 

Now I’m listening to.. Jeedo - Chaos / Scorpio (DTR), Tuff Sherm (The Trilogy Tapes), Legowelt - The Paranormal Soul (CJFD LP), MK on UTTU… over house, and Well Rounded Housing Project 7, and the other Well Rounded white I got today. Sounding good.. I feel a rant coming on… 

Somehow managed to surpress that rant.. or more likely just caked it, as it’s now next Friday, and it’s time for another Back Room Boogie Experiment. Since we  have a birthday party coming up, then I may be listening to a few of the tunes I’m likely to play there. Whether I actually blog about them is another kettle of fish. So like buses.. wait for ages, and two come at once. Or maybe even three. If you’re very unlucky. 

Adam-X Interview

Mother interviews honorary Glaswegian and longtime Rubadub friend Adam-X.

First off, could you tell us a bit about “Second System” and the influences and ideas behind the LP?

The theme from “Second System” comes from a proposal in the 1920’s to build 200 miles of new tunnels and elevated structures in the NYC subway system. The majority of the project ceased to be built but some construction provisions in the already existing system for this “Second System” were built and are still standing. Unknown to most people including subway workers of what these construction oddities are. My fascination on this topic is partly nostalgia of my youthful days of the late 80’s. I spent many days and nights lurking about in train tunnels painting graffiti art on subway trains. I have always loved the exploration of being in the tunnels. A dangerous place which was also one that was forbidden to be in. One of my favorite places to paint graffiti on trains was a section of new train tunnels and stations that would open a few years later. During the years before it opened part of the tunnel was used for train storage. I vividly remember my first excursion through there. It was an amazing adventure to walk & explore through this area of new tunnels and new stations under Central Park and heading off under the East River some ten stories below the ground and yet to be opened to the public. It became a painting playground for my friends and I. Some of the best graffiti artwork of the late 1980’s was produced in this place. Behind one of the new stations we use to walk through was a provision to connect to the “Second System”. I was unaware of this at the time and wondered why this one side of Lexington Ave/63rd st station was left unbuilt but yet had a train track running through it ending at a dead wall. Two decades later I would learn this was a provision for future expansion to the Second Ave Subway , part of what would be the “Second System”

It’s been around three years since the the first ADMX-71 album (“Luminous Vapors”) was released. How do you feel the ADMX-71 project has evolved or changed since then?

I’m not sure if I could really say it has evolved or even changed that much. It just adds on to where I left off with the “Luminous Vapours”. Perhaps this album a few more songs with more melody in it. For me though it is a perfect followup to my last ADMX-71 album.

As someone who’s no stranger to the album format, what’s your method of gathering material for an LP? Are the tracks made with an album release in mind, or do you collect tracks you’ve previously made that you think will fit nicely together, and sequence them appropriately?

ADMX-71 is a very conceptualized project so all songs are written in mind to play next to each other. So yes they were written in the winter of this year as a planned album with exception of “Elevated Dreams” which I wanted to use for “Luminous Vapors but did not have space for. I thought this would work well on “Second System” so I also included it on there.

“Second System” is available on Vinyl, whereas “Luminous Vapor” wasn’t. Even though Digital formats are gaining momentum by the minute, vinyl seems to have picked up in the last year. Was this a factor in releasing “Second System” on vinyl, or are you just as dedicated to releasing on Wax as ever?

No not a factor on my decision to press vinyl. In fact for this kind of music I felt it could be very risky because I would think most people want digital formats for home listening. Though these songs can be played at some club event’s. They were not designed for the techno dj in mind. So I’m not sure those who support vinyl for djing purposed with buy this. I did have quite of bit of requests for vinyl on “Luminous Vapors” and thought to try it with this album. It was also very rewarding to receive it on vinyl with the amazing artwork my designer put together for the project. I really enjoyed listening to it on wax. I pressed it at Record Industry in Holland and they did an incredible job with on the sound quality.

There’s a lot of similarities between your Traversable Wormhole material and the ADMX-71 stuff (in my humble opinion at least), even though they are quite different in what they both aim to achieve. How do the two projects overlap for you?

There are for sure some similarities on some songs between both projects but you might as well add some of my Adam X material in the mix too. ADMX-71 for me is the home chill out or beginning of the night warm up to my other projects.

I read in an interview with you from last year that you really wanted to put out some music that isn’t necessarily the type of thing you’re known for making, possibly anonymously. Are you still planning on doing this? Maybe there’s an Adam X Hip Hop record out there and nobody knows it’s you?

I meant that in a more dance music type way. I do like to make other types of techno such of the housier variety or songs with a much more of an old school 90’s classic feel. Though for me I do not want to mix that up with my main artist projects. So maybe another side project for this.

It seems that a lot of people who were making experimental electronic stuff have recently been trying their hands at Techno, with some pretty far-out results. What you make of this kinda thing (if you listen to it, that is), and do you think it’s important for people from other musical backgrounds to put their ideas into the genre?

Yes I do listen to a lot of experimental music. I am always up for artists of different genres cross pollenating their sounds. It makes for a more forward thinking music culture. 

What’s next in line for you?

Their is a new Adam X 12” entitled Navigational Shortcut / Diversion to Bangor out this month. I have two Adam X remixes out coming out one of which is Italian techno legend, Leo Anibaldi. I remixed his classic “Depression” track from 1992. Then I have a featured remix of Violet Poison coming out soon. Next week Perc and I will put our finishing touches on an EP we have been working on for quite sometime now. It’s a beast. On the Traversable Wormhole front, CLR will be releasing shortly,  Vol 6-10 digitally and a mix CD of the same volumes. Their will also be TW remixes from Sonic Groove artists, Orphx, Northern Structures, Dasha Rush and Industrial Rhythmic Noise legend Monolith. I also just completed an ADMX-71 podcast for Electric Deluxe. It is the followup to the mix I made for them two years ago, which is one of the top downloaded podcasts on their site. On the gig front, I am off to St Petersburg this weekend, Brussels the following weekend then the USA for a month for a bunch of gigs. So yes busy, busy, busy over here!

ADMX-71 - Second System is available from our good selves on vinyl and CD. Cop it here 

http://www.rubadubrecords.co.uk/profile/artists/name/admx-71

Adam-X - Navigational Scout is also out now. Grab it here.

http://www.rubadubrecords.co.uk/music/techno/navigational-shortcut

Sex Tags Mania

There was a time in Underground Dance music culture when it didn’t really matter who was behind the music that was being peddled by obscure labels. In fact, a conscious attempt by some to remain anonymous coupled with the sparse flow of information on such subjects in the pre-internet age meant that you’d be lucky to find out who was behind a particular record even if you wanted to.

It was under this veil that lone producers released dozens of records in a fairly short amount of time, going by a different pseudonym for every single one, and in some more famous examples it is still contested to this day whether or not the person alleged to be the creator of these works is even responsible for them at all. 

When thinking of Norway’s Sex Tags this approach springs to mind. Not just because there is a scant amount of info on many of the artists involved with it but also that sex Tags embodies an era when the idea of collective and label stood above that of individual achievement, for lack of a better term. Not that Sex Tags is a strictly retro-fetishistic outfit, but proprietors DJ Sotofett and his maternal brother Peter are proud to wear their influences on their sleeve and it’s the combination of their wide-ranging tastes that makes Sex Tags the unique unit it is.

As Sotofett stated in an interview last year with Phillip Sherburne, Sex Tags is less of a label and more of a long-running project to showcase the brothers’ work and that of their friends, which can include everything from zines to posters and art installations. The actual record label part eventually split into two arms; Sex Tags Mania for House and Techno related material and Sex Tags Amfibia for all the other stuff that didn’t quite fit into that category, not to mention the collaborative mini-label run by DJ Fett Burger, Sex Tags UFO. In this respect, Sex Tags has more in common with multi-media imprints like Irdial Discs, as its not content with settling for any specific genre or format and spreads their creative endeavors over a wide range of mediums. And, as is often the case, the whole thing was born out of a lack of similar enterprises in their immediate surroundings.

Anybody who started making or releasing music in a shitty town or city will tell you that the main incentive was to create their own take on things, looking to bigger scenes for inspiration but invariably ending up with something entirely it’s own that gets squashed through the magical filter of a no-mark environment. Growing up in Moss, Norway, (by the their own admission, a shittay citay) the brothers ingested a protein-heavy diet of House, Disco, Techno, Acid, graffiti and B-Boy culture, something that is evident in the visual and sonic aesthetic of Sex Tags.

E.P’s like Don Papa’s “Distortion Buzz Funk” (MANIA 19) take on the low-slung, B-Boy machine funk tip, while the paranoid spastic-synth runs of Transilvanian Galaxi (MANIA 20) work out some post-disco demons at the wrong end of a three day biscuit bender. More esoteric releases on Amfibia include one-man Organ Black Metal outfit Engvaal’s “En Utvilsom Makt” 10” (AMFIBIA 12) (possibly my favourite Sex Tags release full stop and one of the most underrated releases of this year) and the dirty beach rock of Ungdomskulen.

But the Sex Tags posse aren’t exactly lacking in balls-to-the-wall Techno and Acid material either. On the contrary, some of the finest, roughest and weirdest dancefloor cuts in recent memory have come outta their shed. Hooking up with the excellent Laton imprint, they brought us a killer 12” from Lithuania’s Benzo (MANIA 17/Laton 41), all mad, bad and wrong in its fucked Techno ways. The dusty Detroit vibes of the Reson’s EP (MANIA 23) is also a highlight in the Mania channel showing that the traditional way wot men do Techno is far from dead. 

What wonders Sex Tags will bequeath us next is really anybody’s guess but you can sure as shit expect many interesting and straight-up dope releases from these gentlemen. That much is a given. Unless they decide to call it quits on music and move into holistic therapy as Sex Tags Inner Sanctum. 

Words by Mark Maxwell - http://thenewbackwards.tumblr.com/

MFB Restock!!!

All your favourite Zwergs are back in town (well Glasgow anyway) as we’ve just had a fresh box of electronic fun from our friends in Germany, MFB.  MicroZwerg, NanoZwerg, SchlagZwerg - all the Zwergs!!!  Some of them are around 10% cheaper now due to better exchange rates.

Famously diminutive with home spun build quality and design,  and even more famously, stupidly large sounding (especially when taking into account aforementioned size), you need to get at least one of these into your studio just so people can say “what’s that daft wee looking thing there” and then you can blow their trousers off with a few notes from one.

We like all the MFB stuff but here’s a couple of belters if you can’t afford to buy every one of them:

MFB 522 BOOM! It’s all about the low end on this superb 808 inspired box.  No wait - it’s all about that Clap.  No, the crack of the Snare. No, it’s the piercing hish-hish of the Hi Hats. Aaargh - it’s all great.  And it’s got MIDI too!

MFB 503 We’ve got a LOT of love for the ultra minimal design of this 909 inspired unit. There’s not much too it except for the thunder and roar of the drum hits, it’s the shizz.

NanoZwerg A seriously compact little unit (smaller than many desktop calculators (VERY Kraftwerk) but with MIDI and CV/Gate. It’s superb for basslines and general analogue squelches.  It’s also VERY affordable for what you get.

Microzwerg Not many of these left now. Tiny little semi-modular synth so you can experiment a little with patching control signals to see where it gets you without splashing out a lot of cash or spending three hours working with a bigger modular system and still only getting a slightly weedy buzzing noise as we often do!

SchlagZwerg We’ve always meant to look up the meaning of Schlag in German just to see if it’s as funny as it is in English but haven’t got round to it yet (think it’s something to do with whipped cream in Holland as my failing memory reminds me - Jason).  This unit is more for the serious patchers and tweakers. It’s a 16 step drum sequencer with some more advanced patching and routing capabilities for your Drum Sounds and the ability to sequence different sound parameters too (so you can have more movement in your sounds as they play).  Takes a bit more getting used to but is the sort of instrument that will surprise and inspire for years to come.