Category Archives: Tracks

My original productions

SPAM

A remix of one of my tracks, ‘Frosting’ is out soon on Andrew Duke’s Consumer vs. User album. I finished it in 2001. He finished the remix maybe a year or so later, and finally it’s made its way on to CD. Mastered by Mark Gage of Vapourspace no less! Here’s the blurb.

I am thrilled to announce that my Consumer vs. User album is out now and available on CD on California’s Phthalo:
http://www.phthalo.com/cat.php?cat=phth40

Phthalo has always been one of my favorite electronic music labels, and it is a priviledge to be on an imprint with faves of mine including Phthalocyanine, OST, Kit Clayton, Vladislav Delay, Massaccesi, Mimi + Boyd (ie Vapourspace and Punisher), Eight Frozen Modules (ie [a]pendics shuffle), Blectum From Blechdom, and many many more.

Consumer vs. User is rugged and rhythmic and raw, yet detailed and open and spacious, sort of like a distant cousin of my Sprung album–which was released on Bip-Hop and went on to be nominated for Album of the Year (Electronica) at the Canadian Independent Music Awards. There’s even DJ-friendly material on here, too (some straightforward, some more adventurous).

This album is mastered by Mark “Vapourspace” Gage, one of my early techno heroes, and features two collaborations with the USA’s Massaccesi and a remix of a track from the UK’s Tristan “Phonopsia” Watkins (a long-time 313-Detroit mailing-list member).

In part, the album is titled in a nod to I-F’s wonderful and inspirational Fucking Consumer album released in 1998 on Disko B. The album is dedicated to the memory of three whose artistry touched me
deeply: Aaliyah Haughton, Jose “Chep” Nunez, and James Stinson.

Here is what Phthalo’s Phthalocyanine writes about this album:
“Consumer vs. User is Andrew’s first appearance on Phthalo. It is a focused study, filling out unlikely accent schemes with abstract DSP techniques. The aesthetic is semi-derived from something reminiscent of classic Detroit minimal techno (I think of Terrence Dixon, Kevin Saunderson, and early Plus 8 stuff like the stark, controlled acid bass stabs of Heinrich Tillack AKA Sysex). I also however hear our label, Phthalo, embedded in this work, particularly references to the extensive exploration of heavily processed, raw, beaten-up drum machines given to us by O.S.T. (Chris Douglas) (e.g. Phthalo#09: O.S.T. Live @ Static) and Phthalocyanine (e.g. Phthalo#05: Phthalocyanine: Zacks e.p.) in the late 90’s. These ideas work here as the point of departure for a music that is meticulously arranged and much richer in variation than vernacular minimal techno, though much more ‘moderate’ than O.S.T.’s work. ”

Stay tuned for details on a remix contest that will involve remixing one of the tracks from Consumer vs. User. The best remixes will be released and there may even be some prizes.

You can hear one of the tracks from this album–an electro/idm-ish song–in the player on http://myspace.com/andrewduke

New track?

I’m at the point with this song where I either need to call it quits or call it done. Been working on it on and off for a year. Although I like the stuff I’ve come up with, I’m ultimately dissapointed because I suspect I’ll wind up sounding precisely like I always have, which has gained interested responses but hasn’t really left many people saying “yeah, that’s exactly what it should sound like”. Regardless, I’d like to have some suggestions. It’s the first song that has been close enough to done in two years to provide to the public, so I’m looking for any tips I can get to help me sound less like I do without reinventing myself. Obviously I go for a ‘maximal’ sound, and like to switch things around a lot, so basically I’d just like to know if anyone has good ideas about how I can accomplish that better, given this template. At best I think it’s just a matter of making it more DJ friendly, at worst I think it’s a matter of re-evaluating what I’m trying to achieve full-stop. Anyway, voila! Let me know your thoughts if you’ve got 7:15.

Happy Clapping

My Remix of Sean Deason’s The Shit

It occured to me today that I haven’t yet mentioned that my remix of Sean Deason’s The Shit is finally getting released on December 7th, over a year after completion! I’m very happy about this despite the wait and anguished wonder about whether or not it would ever happen. If you want to give the track a listen, it is available for download from here. Enjoy, and please let me know what you think, especially if you don’t like it!

Duke

Am just listening to Andrew Duke’s remixes of me for the 2nd time (first time on speakers). It’s bloody weird hearing someone remix you! The remix of ‘Frosting’ is not the first I’ve heard, since Christian Bloch has already had a go at it, but this one is really faithful to the original, but a nice variation, and about 50bpm slower. It’s really slow. The remix of ‘In Flight Defibrillator’, which he aptly titled ‘Flight 313’ is almost unrecognizeable, and much more dancefloor. I may need to play it out on Sunday. It’s quite driving and dubby with a slightly clicky edge. At any rate, this is cool stuff. Need more time to digest them!

Sean Deason’s “The Shit” Remix II

Just got that remix done. Worked on it from about 5-10, I guess… I really drilled down on this one and ironed out all the kinks. I’m really pleased with how it came together so far, but that could be a sleep deprived mind talking. I’m just happy I could exert this much effort to get it done without going crazy, because after that first three or four hours yesterday morning, I had a really clear idea of how it would work out. When I got back to it, I decided to write even more to push that idea further, but there was very little back-pedalling involved for once. It was a very straight trajectory, where the song laid itself out for me as long as I kept focused and didn’t wuss out. I don’t think this song would sound like it does right now had I not plowed through it full-speed.

Voila: ‘Deep Shit‘.