the heavies of dubstep

quick set I did for my current radio show at Brown, which has some flavors appropriate for this blog.

Clearly I love Shackleton and Badawi.

ELEVENELEVEN :: 22 ONCE11

From down under, Jennifer Tao at ELEVENELEVEN yet again has posted some music that is just what I'd hope to find. I try fairly hard to keep my posts original,and not operate as a filter blog. But, when something like this comes up, I feel it's a really good thing to share. The album 'Smile Hunter' by Once11, on The Agriculture label, is certainly one of my favorite dubby albums of all time, and this mix contains discarded snippets and outtakes, mistakes, and "woulda-coulda-shouldas" from that album, as well as the general time period from 1999-2009.

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The text from ELEVENELEVEN:
Guest Programmer
Once11 (Brugges/ Montevideo/ LA)
theagriculture.com/once11

Podcast: All Together Wrong

About the podcast: “What is on this podcast? Trials, plan B’s, errors and rehearsals, leftovers and whoulda-coulda-shouldas, the stuff remaining under the wet hood: the little fellas that didn’t make it. Sketches, leftovers and drafts: an amalgam of wrongs.

This 11 tracks date from 1999 til 2009, since “bounced” they are no longer editable (a couple are mis-mixes from “Smile Hunter”). They are the elaborate trials of my inner professional artistoid, working the “crashing patching and doodling of doing”, on some very nice afternoons (obviously with the intention of making of all the right mistakes) next to the roaches and fliers and the hope filled tool bags of the sleepwalking artisan.” ~ Once11

Once11 (aka Ignacio Platas) born in Montevideo has never stood still for a second. He was an active member of the infamous Brooklyn Williamsburg scene (’90-’93). In 91, after building environments at Keep refrigerated, legendary illegal underground Williamsburg club, he co-founded Lalalandia Entertainment Research Corporation, whose large scale fountains, omnisensorial environments and pneumatic installations have been written about in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Lalalandia made many of the most memorable Brooklyn warehouse after- hours environments of that period.

In 1994, he started up Multipolyomni and We™. We™’s ‘97 release “as is” is considered a classic. We™ opened for the Orb that spring. Their third release, “decentertainment” landed them at Barcelona’s Sonar ‘99. Multipolyomni’s ‘97 New York production of the Solar Drama from their opera Quark Soup, projected a massive live view of the sun perpetually rising for 24 hours, broadcast LIVE from 127 consecutive locations as the world turned around once. It hosted 77 live performers and artists on two floors. The Early Aquatic Episode, ‘96 at the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, also from Quark Soup, was hailed by the New York Times art critic Roberta Smith as “the only work in scale with the Anchorage”.

In 99 he moved to Barcelona and formed a team to find solutions for marrying video game navigation, 3D music interface, audio visualization, hybrid environments, digital architecture, 3D sound, audio localization, and analogue input controllers. He developed the demo sutoolz 1.0 alpha. A 3D software interface for music performance. By navigating through a 3D virtual architecture the musician uses a set of 3D tools to interact with the virtual environment: gameplay zones, speaker volumes, speaker volume membranes, speaker navigation volumes and 3D multi-band FFT visualization systems.

In 2000 he released his first solo cd, Once11 Versus the Pyramid, followed by Smile Hunter in 2006, both on the Agriculture label.

Always moving forward Once11 started Meta Flora in 2002 and led a team to Costa Rica for 3 years building synergetic renewable bamboo structures. In 2004 he founded the Bamboo Institute. The Bamboo Institute seeks to develop innovative ways to utilize bamboo’s incredible potential to help solve a wide range of the problems facing the planet. Why not work on improving and promoting bamboo architecture and design, primarily focused on furthering the development and utilization of bamboo as a building material the strongest and fastest growing plant on the planet.

Dubby Vermont

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There are many fine things in the great state of Vermont; maple syrup, Shawn White, Jay Peak, the Burton factory, Phish, and cows, to name a few. There are also lots and lots of reggae fans. Big reggae fans-- ones that would establish an annual international reggae festival. It's practically the official state music. During a recent trip up for some snowboarding, I was reminded of just how much reggae you can hear coming out of cars, bars, gondolas, and ski shops, and houses. Here's a collection of some good ol' reggae---just like what comes out of the green mountain state, heavy on the early dub, with a few Trojan classics, and a few modern dubs.

• Lee Perry - Bathroom Skank
• Boy Friday - Virgin Girl
• Augustus Pablo - Kid Ralph
• Twilight Circus Dub Sound System - Achou
• King Tubby and Friends - Chapter of Money
• Tapper Zukie - Man A Warrior
• Susan Cadogan - Fever
• Once11 - Bottled Paycheck
• U Roy - Your Ace from Outer Space
• Mafia Allstars and King Tubby - Don't Think about Me (I'm alright)
• Scientist - One Man Dub
• Ladyman - Sexy Beast
• Lee Perry - One Armed Boxer

In Vermont you can do what you want!

Dang In Dub 2: The Curse of the Black Ark

This Upsetters dub mix was created a few years ago my Mr. Trick, for Rhythm Incursions ...still love it today. I've been playing it while working lately so I figured I would pass it on..Dang in Dub 2!


From the original post:
This is my personal selection of the finest Upsetter dubs from Lee Perry’s legendary time in his Black Ark studio. As a mix, this one is straight-up: 100% live off my 45s (replete with skips, crackles and more!), armed only with a reverb unit and a space echo to aid blends in true dancehall style. These tracks speak for themselves: heavy heavy dubs that can be enjoyed on your walkman, on the stereo or preferably loud as hell in your backyard via some homespun yard system comprising guitar amps, 12″ bass cones and god knows what else.

Club D'Elf @ AS220 Providence

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Club d’Elf is a band that plays regularly at the Lizard Lounge, in Cambridge. While they fly under the radar of most heads, they are pretty well known within circles of improvising musicians. Many well known artists have sat down to play with them over the years: John Medeski, Marc Ribot, Dave Tronzo, DJ Logic, David Fuiczynski, Mark Sandman, Danny Blume, Steven Bernstein, Kenwood Dennard, Oren Bloedow, and Mister Rourke, to name a few.

While Cambridge is their stomping grounds, they are gradually taking over the universe with their funk, heavy rhythms, and psychedelic improvisations. One of their recent conquests was a show at an art space in Providence, AS220 .

The Agriculture Mix

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right click to download Over the last 10 years or so I have found a small handful of record labels that consistently put out great music, and I usually end up owning all of their music. One of those labels is The Agriculture.

Now, and especially in college, my musical tastes were deeply focused on experimental jazz/free improv music. While I listened to every new type of music I could get a hold of, I was particularly fond of artists who made "new" music--music that did not follow any preconceived guidelines, trends, schemes, or most importantly---record label desires. My music room is scattered with albums by people like Alvin Curran, John Zorn, Christian Marclay, Frank Zappa, Cyro Baptista, David Shea, Derek Bailey, Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, Ned Rothenberg, Fred Frith, and so on. While it was noise to the vast majority of people I knew, to me, it was soulful and beautiful. Music for music's sake.

My knowledge of electronic music during these years was very limited; Moby, Fatboy Slim and maybe something else. To me, it was simple stuff that I did not care to explore. There was no edge, not enough change, and little creativity--no newness. Around this time I noticed this guy named DJ Olive appearing on various experimental and jazz CD’s I was picking up at the time. I was fascinated with what he was doing with a turntable and a computer in the realm of new music--- improvising with various ensembles, creating clever sounds from an endless amount of possible noises, combining them with the otherworldly sounds of his instrument-playing colleagues. So I checked on what else he had done---and it was all very good to my ears. I realized that a lot of the elements I looked for in good music could be found in electronic music, too. It wasn’t all just a bunch of marginal club music that was played at baseball games in between innings. What I found with the music of DJ Olive, as well as the other artists on the Agriculture, is electronic music with an extremely wide variety of new, worldly sounds, and above all else, music with a lot of creativity and soul. I can’t say enough good things about the music that has come out of The Agriculture—it’s some of the best music out there today, regardless of genre, style, or method of creation. So, the only logical step was for me to get a mix of songs up here for you to enjoy. If you like what you hear, keep tuned to The Agriculture for more new exciting music, and get down with some roof music.

Jellyfish Roll * Lunchbox
What's the Weather like tomorrow? * nnnj
Aa * QPE
Feely Soft * Ladyman
Secret Society * David Last
Hen Porch Blues *DJ Olive
Once Upon * QPE
Funky Cortado * DJ Olive
Evp broadcast * DJ wally/DJ Willie Ross
Rough Muffin * Lunchbox
Lush lope * Nnnj
end of public space * Nettle
Womanizer Dub * Ladyman
Chiki * David Last
Reptillian Agenda * DJ Wally/DJ Willie Ross
at least some knots get untangled * Dj Olive
Vaus (DJ Olive remix) * DJ Olive
a long beard on a throne * Once 11
Peanut Butter and Jelly * Lunchbox
makeout stakeout * David Last

DJ Lab

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I've always been partial to music that is either funky or sneaky. When both are accomplished in the same song, it's a rare treat. Case in point with his 2nd track, Spookers Dub. Fun!

from www.31337records.com:
We are proud to present you our latest release from DJ Lab one of Copenhagens top DJ’s!- Because of the great competitiveness in his city, Anders Brøndum aka DJ Lab has built a high standard of quality for his sets and prooves technical skills in his own productions which he already put out on labels such as echocord or tic tac toe.

Lab’s style took off as straight up banging minimalism but has developed considerably over the years. Today, his arsenal ranges from Detroit techno over trancey Cologne’ism to minimal house and Dub. As long as it’s quality, it’s playable.

From 1998-2000 he was a regular name in the Roskilde Festival lineup – playing for thousands and thousands of ravers at one of Europe’s largest music festivals.

By 2000 his credentials had brought him a monthly residence on the National Radio of Denmark. From 2004 and onwards, he’s upheld a residence at Copenhagen’s largest club, Vega – and since its opening in January 2005, internationally respected electronic club Culture Box has put Lab on the lineup numerous times.

The 30 something ep is packed with 3 beautiful Dub tracks starting off with “Libra” which was the favorite track of all of us including sean o’neil (someone else) on this ep, followed by “Spookers Dub” which is indeed a little spooky, but really unique and funky. The last track called “third shift” is very hypnotic and is more club oriented than the other tracks. all in all a great ep for everyone who is into minimal and dub!

whatwhat?

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unfoundsound presents a six-track masterpiece courtesy of brooklyn's david last -- featuring three original numbers, plus three remixes by so inagawa (of the suffragettes), ditch and suz. on the whatwhat? ep, david last demonstrates his diverse music-making dexterity and crystal-clean production skills. the ep commences with "animal hybrids" -- a quirky, snippy dancefloor killer fueled by snarling found sounds and snappy percussion that all minimal techno djs can appreciate. then on "where it falls", david last slows the bpm down to a chugging crawl -- yielding a groovy, slow-paced dub tune meticulously doused with blips, bleeps and heady reverbs (somewhat reminiscent of monolake). this is followed by "sporty ankles" -- a minimal masterwork that moves gently with broken beats, pretty vocal stabs, snippy percussion, drenching reverbs and a dubby undertone. then so inagawa reworks "where it falls" into a deep, sample-heavy minimal ass-shaker soaked with goofy found sounds and reverb-drenched timbres. then ditch offers an upbeat remix of "sporty ankles" -- a driving crowd-pleaser with a hard-hitting beat, gritty melodies and funny sound-sculpting. and last but not least, suz offers another version of "where it falls" -- a sexy and heady minimal house ditty doused with chopped up vocal snippets, a rumbling bassline, grainy textures and shuffly percussion. oh yeah! another whoppin' ep!