Subject at POGO
Saturday September 24th
at The Twisted Pepper
Stage:
AFRICA HITECH - Live [Warp]
(Mark Pritchard & Steve Spacek)
Marcus Ignored
Chillage Idiots
Basement:
SHED [Ostgut Ton]
David O'Sullivan
Eoin Callanan
Loft:
Radiomade.ie w/
DISCO BLOODBATH DJS - London
Aaron Dempsey
& Guests
Cafe:
Sidetracked presents Loud Mouth w/
Nic James
Shortie
Redahan
Box:
Drop-d.ie
Doors: 10:30pm / Adm: e15/e12. Advance tickets - e12 from:
www.tickets.ie and All City, Spindizzy & Plugd | www.bodytonicmusic.com/store | www.ticketmaster.ie | www.residentadvisor.net
Africa Hitech - www.myspace.com/africahitech
Nearly nine years ago Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek began bonding over their shared passion for the seemingly disparate spheres of bubbling Detroit techno, soul and fierce Jamaican digital dancehall. First came an appearance by Spacek on Pritchard’s Troubleman album, then the collaborative track “Turn It On” released on Sonar Kollektive.
It was when they both, by pure coincidence, found themselves living in Australia that the connection was cemented. Africa HiTech is the moniker which represents both Steve and Mark’s love for all things progressive within music, whilst acknowledging that the roots of much of today’s popular music can be traced directly back to Africa.
Pritchard had already begun to narrow the gaps between the pair’s beloved genres under his Harmonic 313 moniker and Spacek was eager to explore new directions in both his production and vocals after the disbandment of his eponymous band and the worldwide acclaim of his Dilla-asisted “Dollar” single. The first widely heard fruits of the duo’s labor was the striking single “Blen”. A penetrating exercise in minimalist dancehall swordplay, it was released under the intriguing name Africa HiTech which immediately seemed to encompass both the influences and ambitions of the newly christened 2-piece.
While Spacek’s predatory ragamuffin chat on “Blen” was a pleasant shock to many, Pritchard’s compositions straddled UK garage and ruff-neck Kingston logic just as deftly. More of the same could have easily followed, but instead came the “HiTecherous” vinyl double-pack. Nodding heavily towards classic grime, techno and even (on “Too Late”) smooth, futuristic lover’s rock, the expansive EP shed some light on where the duo were headed. As well as sculpting their own vision of future music, they would also stop do update the genres they loved along the way.
The result is 93 Million Miles, an unflinchingly ambitious product of international globe-trotting that carves a new faultline into the rapidly expanding terrain of “bass music”…or whatever it’s being called this week. The first point of introduction for many will have been the Ini Kamoze-sampling behemoth “Out In The Street”, immediately championed by Flying Lotus, Untold, Toddla T, Benji B, Scratcha DVA and featured in “Wild Hundreds”, a documentary about Chicago’s underground Juke/Footwork dance community. A brilliant exercise in artful international data-splicing, “Out In The Street” combines the ghosts of 1980s Jamaica with the youth-culture explosion of juke.
While there are several incredibly unique footwork deconstructions on the album, other tracks like “Our Luv” and the album’s title track look to Chicago house and Detroit Techno while Spacek’s combative patois returns drenched in sinister vocoder tones on the grime-meets-dancehall bubbler “Do You Wanna Fight?”. Still more explorations come with the album’s second half when afrobeat, dub and deep jazz experimentalism are all added to the already potent cocktail. For many this ambitious cultural intake could spell disaster, but in the hands of Pritchard and Spacek it becomes a surprising, fulfilling journey aimed squarely at the dedicated listener rather than simply at the dancefloor. Given the duo’s breadth of experience and exquisite levels of taste and ability, it could go no other way.
Shed - www.myspace.com/sheddingthepast
Shed is a man of action, a living example how to reinvent oneself again and again within the boundaries of electronic music. At the same time, Shed does not follow shallow trends. The Berlin-based producer firmly believes in the power of techno music. When techno was invented, Shed was not present. Born in 1975 in Frankfurt/Oder in the former GDR, he was simply too young. And also too far away from where techno was happening. As it turns out, being afar from epicentres like Berlin or Frankfurt/Main, was a blessing. Listening to the radio, Shed could absorb all kinds of music, styles and genres without being aware of the music's point of origin, the fighting and the bitching between various cities, crews and labels. Music is music. This is not only still true, but was at the time the most famous quote from Monika Dietl. She was the first DJ who played techno on the radio in Berlin. Like no one else, she was in this for new music only and perfectly ignored the past. She did not play cheesy disco classics, but focused on new tunes from Chicago and Detroit, celebrated local scenes like the Netherlands and, most importantly, played music from the UK. Shed was hooked instantly. The sample-based sound of UK-hardcore, a quick liaison with Gabba and the back catalogue of Djax Up introduced techno to him in it's purest form possible. Then he finally discovered Chicago and Detroit. Deep inside the ever-fascinating triangle of beats, breaks and samples, he today identifies 1995/96 as the most important time in Techno for him.
It is this very love for the early days, for a time in which nothing had been decided yet, which is shimmering through and through on his second album for Ostgut Ton. "The Traveller" is not about the cultivated yet boring DJ-tool, but pitches those qualities of techno, which got us all going in the first place. Passion, surprise and the never-ending strive to push both the human being and the machines to the limit.
It is no surprise that this passion for innovation made Shed hit the brakes in the late 90s. The more commercialised the music became around that time, the more pissed off he got. Between 1998 and 2002 he did not buy a single record.
However, he never lost the love for the music, which had changed his life. He used these years to focus his own productions. Around 2000, he had finished some tracks, which combined and contained everything close to his Techno heart, things which were almost extinct in the real world. "I'm a techno-kid, through and through", he says and laughs. When he started shopping his demos around, the idea of his own label was already lurking behind the door. "I suddenly realised how important it was to really do it all by myself."
What followed was not rocket science. His first EP on his own Soloaction imprint sold well, soon after that he recorded two EPs for the Amsterdam-based Delsin label, and the more he released, the clearer his musical vision became. Shed melts and merges rough and demanding dance floor skeletons with shockingly detailed melodies, harmonic structures, irresistible hooks and airy arrangements. A formula you also expose yourself to when attending one of his DJ or live gigs. A never-ending climax of the groove. Like it was in the founding days of the music, which today is a part of our culture.
In 2008, Shed released his debut album. "Shedding The Past" is a monolith up to this very day, an unique musical statement. For him, the release of the album also flipped a new switch. Straight after the record hit the shelves, he started two new labels. On "Wax" and "Equalized" he has been releasing critically acclaimed dancefloor anthems ever since. An important step to clear the table. Having wiped the slate clean, he could then focus on "The Traveller", on which he presents his most radical tracks ever. Up until now, anyway...
Disco Bloodbath - www.discobloodbath.co.uk
Disco Bloodbath is a legendary monthly party located in deepest Dalston. So far they've managed to lure some amazing international DJs to perform including Richard Sen [Padded Cell], Severino [Horse Meat Disco], Frank Tope [Rooty], Rune Lindbaek [Norway], Lee Douglas [Rong Music, NYC], Lovefingers [Black Disco, LA], The Cosmic Truth, Tako [cbs.nu/Rotterdam], Nadia Ksaiba [Our Disco], Felix Dickinson [Cynic], Toby Tobias [Rekids] and Andy Blake [Dissident], Ben Rymer [DFA] and Nathan Gregory Wilkins [History Clock] Johnny Nash [Discosession], Thomas Bullock [Rub'n'Tug], Serge Santiago, Slippery People [Naive Melody] & Dave Kendrick [Hacienda/Flesh].
They sometimes get to play records in other clubs they like... In the last few years they've brought Bloodbath magic to Bugged Out, Secretsundaze, Horse Meat Disco, Fabric, The Big Chill Festival, Matter, Trailer Trash, Electric Picnic and more.
Links:
www.warp.net
www.ostgut.de
www.radiomade.ie
www.africahitech.com
www.subjectevents.com
www.discobloodbath.co.uk
www.thetwistedpepper.com
www.myspace.com/africahitech
www.myspace.com/sheddingthepast
Facebook Event Page: http://on.fb.me/oN79Wd
Resident Advisor Event Page: http://bit.ly/ozw1K9
Saturday September 24th
at The Twisted Pepper
Stage:
AFRICA HITECH - Live [Warp]
(Mark Pritchard & Steve Spacek)
Marcus Ignored
Chillage Idiots
Basement:
SHED [Ostgut Ton]
David O'Sullivan
Eoin Callanan
Loft:
Radiomade.ie w/
DISCO BLOODBATH DJS - London
Aaron Dempsey
& Guests
Cafe:
Sidetracked presents Loud Mouth w/
Nic James
Shortie
Redahan
Box:
Drop-d.ie
Doors: 10:30pm / Adm: e15/e12. Advance tickets - e12 from:
www.tickets.ie and All City, Spindizzy & Plugd | www.bodytonicmusic.com/store | www.ticketmaster.ie | www.residentadvisor.net
Africa Hitech - www.myspace.com/africahitech
Nearly nine years ago Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek began bonding over their shared passion for the seemingly disparate spheres of bubbling Detroit techno, soul and fierce Jamaican digital dancehall. First came an appearance by Spacek on Pritchard’s Troubleman album, then the collaborative track “Turn It On” released on Sonar Kollektive.
It was when they both, by pure coincidence, found themselves living in Australia that the connection was cemented. Africa HiTech is the moniker which represents both Steve and Mark’s love for all things progressive within music, whilst acknowledging that the roots of much of today’s popular music can be traced directly back to Africa.
Pritchard had already begun to narrow the gaps between the pair’s beloved genres under his Harmonic 313 moniker and Spacek was eager to explore new directions in both his production and vocals after the disbandment of his eponymous band and the worldwide acclaim of his Dilla-asisted “Dollar” single. The first widely heard fruits of the duo’s labor was the striking single “Blen”. A penetrating exercise in minimalist dancehall swordplay, it was released under the intriguing name Africa HiTech which immediately seemed to encompass both the influences and ambitions of the newly christened 2-piece.
While Spacek’s predatory ragamuffin chat on “Blen” was a pleasant shock to many, Pritchard’s compositions straddled UK garage and ruff-neck Kingston logic just as deftly. More of the same could have easily followed, but instead came the “HiTecherous” vinyl double-pack. Nodding heavily towards classic grime, techno and even (on “Too Late”) smooth, futuristic lover’s rock, the expansive EP shed some light on where the duo were headed. As well as sculpting their own vision of future music, they would also stop do update the genres they loved along the way.
The result is 93 Million Miles, an unflinchingly ambitious product of international globe-trotting that carves a new faultline into the rapidly expanding terrain of “bass music”…or whatever it’s being called this week. The first point of introduction for many will have been the Ini Kamoze-sampling behemoth “Out In The Street”, immediately championed by Flying Lotus, Untold, Toddla T, Benji B, Scratcha DVA and featured in “Wild Hundreds”, a documentary about Chicago’s underground Juke/Footwork dance community. A brilliant exercise in artful international data-splicing, “Out In The Street” combines the ghosts of 1980s Jamaica with the youth-culture explosion of juke.
While there are several incredibly unique footwork deconstructions on the album, other tracks like “Our Luv” and the album’s title track look to Chicago house and Detroit Techno while Spacek’s combative patois returns drenched in sinister vocoder tones on the grime-meets-dancehall bubbler “Do You Wanna Fight?”. Still more explorations come with the album’s second half when afrobeat, dub and deep jazz experimentalism are all added to the already potent cocktail. For many this ambitious cultural intake could spell disaster, but in the hands of Pritchard and Spacek it becomes a surprising, fulfilling journey aimed squarely at the dedicated listener rather than simply at the dancefloor. Given the duo’s breadth of experience and exquisite levels of taste and ability, it could go no other way.
Shed - www.myspace.com/sheddingthepast
Shed is a man of action, a living example how to reinvent oneself again and again within the boundaries of electronic music. At the same time, Shed does not follow shallow trends. The Berlin-based producer firmly believes in the power of techno music. When techno was invented, Shed was not present. Born in 1975 in Frankfurt/Oder in the former GDR, he was simply too young. And also too far away from where techno was happening. As it turns out, being afar from epicentres like Berlin or Frankfurt/Main, was a blessing. Listening to the radio, Shed could absorb all kinds of music, styles and genres without being aware of the music's point of origin, the fighting and the bitching between various cities, crews and labels. Music is music. This is not only still true, but was at the time the most famous quote from Monika Dietl. She was the first DJ who played techno on the radio in Berlin. Like no one else, she was in this for new music only and perfectly ignored the past. She did not play cheesy disco classics, but focused on new tunes from Chicago and Detroit, celebrated local scenes like the Netherlands and, most importantly, played music from the UK. Shed was hooked instantly. The sample-based sound of UK-hardcore, a quick liaison with Gabba and the back catalogue of Djax Up introduced techno to him in it's purest form possible. Then he finally discovered Chicago and Detroit. Deep inside the ever-fascinating triangle of beats, breaks and samples, he today identifies 1995/96 as the most important time in Techno for him.
It is this very love for the early days, for a time in which nothing had been decided yet, which is shimmering through and through on his second album for Ostgut Ton. "The Traveller" is not about the cultivated yet boring DJ-tool, but pitches those qualities of techno, which got us all going in the first place. Passion, surprise and the never-ending strive to push both the human being and the machines to the limit.
It is no surprise that this passion for innovation made Shed hit the brakes in the late 90s. The more commercialised the music became around that time, the more pissed off he got. Between 1998 and 2002 he did not buy a single record.
However, he never lost the love for the music, which had changed his life. He used these years to focus his own productions. Around 2000, he had finished some tracks, which combined and contained everything close to his Techno heart, things which were almost extinct in the real world. "I'm a techno-kid, through and through", he says and laughs. When he started shopping his demos around, the idea of his own label was already lurking behind the door. "I suddenly realised how important it was to really do it all by myself."
What followed was not rocket science. His first EP on his own Soloaction imprint sold well, soon after that he recorded two EPs for the Amsterdam-based Delsin label, and the more he released, the clearer his musical vision became. Shed melts and merges rough and demanding dance floor skeletons with shockingly detailed melodies, harmonic structures, irresistible hooks and airy arrangements. A formula you also expose yourself to when attending one of his DJ or live gigs. A never-ending climax of the groove. Like it was in the founding days of the music, which today is a part of our culture.
In 2008, Shed released his debut album. "Shedding The Past" is a monolith up to this very day, an unique musical statement. For him, the release of the album also flipped a new switch. Straight after the record hit the shelves, he started two new labels. On "Wax" and "Equalized" he has been releasing critically acclaimed dancefloor anthems ever since. An important step to clear the table. Having wiped the slate clean, he could then focus on "The Traveller", on which he presents his most radical tracks ever. Up until now, anyway...
Disco Bloodbath - www.discobloodbath.co.uk
Disco Bloodbath is a legendary monthly party located in deepest Dalston. So far they've managed to lure some amazing international DJs to perform including Richard Sen [Padded Cell], Severino [Horse Meat Disco], Frank Tope [Rooty], Rune Lindbaek [Norway], Lee Douglas [Rong Music, NYC], Lovefingers [Black Disco, LA], The Cosmic Truth, Tako [cbs.nu/Rotterdam], Nadia Ksaiba [Our Disco], Felix Dickinson [Cynic], Toby Tobias [Rekids] and Andy Blake [Dissident], Ben Rymer [DFA] and Nathan Gregory Wilkins [History Clock] Johnny Nash [Discosession], Thomas Bullock [Rub'n'Tug], Serge Santiago, Slippery People [Naive Melody] & Dave Kendrick [Hacienda/Flesh].
They sometimes get to play records in other clubs they like... In the last few years they've brought Bloodbath magic to Bugged Out, Secretsundaze, Horse Meat Disco, Fabric, The Big Chill Festival, Matter, Trailer Trash, Electric Picnic and more.
Links:
www.warp.net
www.ostgut.de
www.radiomade.ie
www.africahitech.com
www.subjectevents.com
www.discobloodbath.co.uk
www.thetwistedpepper.com
www.myspace.com/africahitech
www.myspace.com/sheddingthepast
Facebook Event Page: http://on.fb.me/oN79Wd
Resident Advisor Event Page: http://bit.ly/ozw1K9
