A Review On The Music End Of Things! by Damien Waters

As the end of the year draws near, it seems like an appropriate time to weigh in with a roundup of the real happenings in 2011, like Richie’s latest opinions on vinyl. We wanted to dwell on these exhilarating points of discussion before everyone’s fatigued with the tedious end of year review format. Well, we’ll try to keep the subject matter interesting even if the premise promises a snooze. All that said, this year hasn’t been half bad at all for an aficionado of electronic music, especially in Ireland; independent labels continued to crop up & grow, local producers continued to see their work hit the record stores, charlatans continued to reach the dizzy heights of Beatport’s latest genre-bending set of charts and we all continued to consume and invest in the music we love while the country slipped further into the abyss. It’s been a riot of a year really!

Firstly, a few words on some my favourite releases of 2011. Personally, I felt that 2010 was a year of some real quality music. Gems like Love & Happiness from one of Legowelt’s many guises and Storm Queen’s anthem “Look Right Through” spring to mind immediately. While ’11 has had its fair share of good music, I just didn’t feel there were many releases which will go down as classics in years to come. Then again, I’ve never been the trainspotter type so I may be omitting some glaringly obvious numbers. Juju & Jordash showed how it’s done with the phenomenal Avian Oasis on Downbeat, a slow paced atmospheric piece of music packed with a menacing subdued bass & raw organ sounds permeating through the track, not exactly club music but this was definitely a memorable record for ‘11. The Labyrinth L.P. was the stand out techno release of the year with Convextion’s epic deep techno cut, Oil on Metal, being the pick of the bunch. Another one to reminisce over whilst civilly sipping your hot-ports this festive season, is Marcellus Pittman’s “The Mad Underdog”, an unrelenting acid jam with an abrasive bassline that never lets up, the demented cow-bell arrangements have the propensity to pick at your brains like a medieval head crusher. Another artist who made an impression on me this year was Conforce. His Dystopian Elements E.P on Delsin offered a lovely variety of tracks, from slow paced dubbed out tracks like Desolate Ground to the uncompromising bassline that defines Lonely Run. The fruits of his talent for production really come to bear under his electro alias, Versalife. Night Activities Part I & II showcased a unique ability to craft deep electro with hypnotic qualities akin to the works of Convextion. Admittedly, Conforce was a name I knew little about prior to ’11, but it’s a name I’ll be seeking out in future under his various monikers. The year has also been kind for younger diggers & Discogs Luddites like myself, who wouldn’t own as much of the classics as desired. It was great to see U.R. repressing some of their finest works like Hi-Tech Jazz, Dark Energy & Interstellar Fugitives. Clone also announced the first in a series of Drexciya re-issues from the seminal Detroit artists’ earlier works. The first release is scheduled for early December, I’ve my PayPal topped up & reminder set, this is one not to be missed. Two techno institutes, Planet E & Tresor also celebrated their 20 year anniversary this year, and with it was another re-pressing I was delighted to find, Urban Tribe’s “Covert Action”, a proper deep slice of Detroit. Of course, there’s been more than enough quality music coming straight out of Éire, but we’ll come to that the end of business later.

Marcellus Pittman – The Mad Underdog

While there were no shortage of decent gigs for ‘11, again, I felt it lacked a stand out party, like the BTC events which preceded it. The New Year began with Function playing at the SoundFactory. Sadly, my recollections of the night are lost in a hazy fog of wet paint, a musty overheated basement and general grimness. And even more unfortunate, there weren’t really many notable afterhours since which we had come to take for granted. We were treated to a night of house classics back in July courtesy of Chicago legend, Tyree Cooper. At MN, we were proud to host a weekend of Mike Huckaby related treats including a Sun Ra set which coincided with the release of his Sun Ra edits on Kindred Spirits. GMOS crafted a truly lush mix of cosmic jazz from the icon’s catalogue to mark the occasion. This eclectic selection from Sun Ra’s oeuvre was one of two of my favourite mixes of the year, the other courtesy of Lerosa. Mike will rejoining us early next January for a night of jazz, house & techno shenanigans in the Twisted Pepper. (Shameless Plug!) On gig related business one thing’s for sure and that’s for Stingray to deliver in Kennedy’s next weekend in what may become the highlight of the year, the Drexciyan DJ has both the skills and the records to deliver what’s necessary.

Gmos – Sun Ra Mix

On the festival circuit, Ireland has been lacking a distinct outlet for quality electronic music since the sad wind-up of the annual DEAF event. Bar a hippy gathering in the Nevada dessert, I got my fix of festival fun from Bloc and Freerotation. Bloc Weekender was a bit of a disappointment this year in comparison to previous events. The line-up was considerably weaker than events gone by, with the exception of a few artists like Dopplereffekt, and the vibe just isn’t what it used to be. The symbiotic relationship of an nasty element in the crowd & overbearing security also contributed to the festival’s woes. I suspect moving the festival to London in the Summer time may well be the final nail in the coffin. March will never be the same! Freerotation on the other hand was a unique occasion. Held in the beautiful grounds of Baskerville Halls, with an intimate 800 people on the attendees list, the festival is as much about the relaxed environment as it is about the music. And the music had its fair share of treats. Surgeon & Shakleton offered some respite from what is a predominantly house-orientated festival. Sometimes the house was a bit much, case in point, getting “Tango’d” twice by Steve Tang with fairly generic buzz-killing sets. Move D on the other hand, set the mood lovely on Sunday, a day which became a special day of blistering sun, frolics and some pitiful face-painting on my part. Freerotation is an event I’ll certainly be penciling into my diary next year.

move d @ freerotation 2011-07-24

So back to the music end of things. While I may sound a tad pessimistic about 2011 overall, and on the whole, I think it may become a bit forgettable, back at home things went from strength to strength in departments that really count. Irish artists and labels released some excellent music. The Parallel garnered attention with a nice dub-techno release on Komisch and another release on Signal Code, Aaron Costelloe’s record label, which we talked over with him earlier in the year. Aaron will be dropping another release on the label next month. Another new label which surfaced was Kenny Hanlon’s Apartment records. Kenny, from the same neck of the woods as ourselves, has always had an ear for good music and what better way to showcase it than to start-up a label. The first release featured London based producer, NCW. The pick of the bunch from this release was Panther, a deep and dark industrial track which grabs your attention and sucks you in as it grows. The second release by Carlow’s TR-One is due to hit the shops real soon. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to witness TR-One’s live show but I keep hearing from reliable sources that its one to check out. Judging on the samples I’ve heard from this record, it sounds very promising indeed and comes with a fine remix from Juju & Jordash. Veterans in all things disco & funk, Fatty Fatty, have also launched a label to push their sound, Fatty Fatty Phonographics. To conclude the label talk, Lunar Disko Records continued to add to their ever expanding repertoire with contributions from Glaswegian Meschi and a cosmic journey from outer space’s Raiders of the Lost Arp, arguably one of the strongest releases on the label since Submersible Machines. On a deeper house tip, Dublin duo Slowburn released their debut E.P. on Elektrosouls, these lads are ones to watch for 2012. Dublin’s adopted Italian, Lerosa, released a full L.P. entitled Amanatto on the London based Uzuri label. The album is full of vintage house arrangements with superb vocals provided by Oliverwho Factory. I mentioned earlier about Leo contributing one of my favourite mixes of the year. Well his “Wave Disco” mix for the Corkonian collective, Sunday Times, has been on constant rotation, one of those special mixes you keep coming back to like a stray dog seeking a treat. I often find myself reverting to the tracklist to reference the music. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, I’d highly recommend it.

On a final note, and speaking on what’s been good at home, it’s great to see All City continue to defy the odds in the current climate and maintain a top quality record store. Between All City’s stock of hip-hop, dub, jazz and other related delights, coupled with Sunil Sharpe’s Earwiggle section which caters more for house & techno orientated music & a fine selection distributed from Clone, there’s always plenty to dig into on a visit. The infamous Plug’d record store in Cork has also re-opened its doors in spite of the potential pitfalls. It really is inspiring to see such a healthy underground scene across Ireland from producer, to label to the record store. This is what really counts and it will be what I remember most when I contemplate over the music of 2011.

Damien Waters