Demdike!

Demdike Stare Mix - MovingMetals by modernlove

I tried very hard to think of a reason.

*insert journalistic angle for posting an old Demdike Stare video*





I fucking love Demdike Stare.

G.H - Ground EP (Modern Love)

G.H - Ground EP (Modern Love)

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Modern Love, and indeed much of the related material that emerges from the nothern techno axis; first hearing Neurofibro led to a fascination with Claro Intelecto, which in turn introduced me to Andy Stott's monolithic techno, and the surreal output of Miles Whittaker as MLZ and Pendle Coven. Lately, Demdike Stare's rusted and decayed drone compositions have dominated my listening, imbued with such a phenomenal depth of detail that I've found their albums impossible to move on from, and have left too many hours lazing in Hashashin Chant. This latest release from Modern Love features the other half of Pendle Coven appearing on his own for the first time, presenting three cuts of leaden-slab techno that revolve around the tension between a solitary bassline and a wildly malfunctioning tape echo device. Dark and experimental almost to the point of frustration, G.H. deals in Sleeparchive-influenced minimal grooves, dowsed in cobwebs and engineered to clinical levels. There's still a wall of noise there, but the majority of the noise comes from the subs and the rolling bassline, with the hi-end almost vanishing into nothingness; the epic breakdown on Ground emerges as the bass dissolves and a ray of high-end brightness breaks through, before dropping into the murk again. Albedo again bullies the listener with an omnipresent wall of noise, and sees G.H. referencing his Pendle Coven roots, sending a dubby stab trickling through delays and casting light onto the darkness. Despite the steady kick and warm chord, G.H. stays at arms length from the house-driven style of earlier projects, preferring to disconsert the listener with blasts of noise, dangerously constructed dynamics and continually garbled tape voices. Closing the record is the off-kilter Earth, which fires out the clearest vocal snippets, teasing a continual house vocal amidst a stuttering kick-drum and overloaded echo units. Despite being the most clearly developed track on the EP, its a little confusing - stopping and starting, disappearing in swathes of noise and changing focus a little too rapidly, providing an appropriately muddled, yet deeply infuriating finish to a fun little curio.

Demdike Stare - Hashshashin Chant

Tune.


Demdike Stare: Hashshashin Chant

Goodbye 2010.

Raymond Scott: Music, Machines & Mystery

I went to a great event here on Sunday evening - the Manchester premiere of a new documentary on the American composer/inventor Raymond Scott, directed by his son Stan Warnow. On the bill, along with the film itself, were special Scott-themed live sets by local acts Demdike Stare, Illum Sphere v Kidkanevil and the one-off supergroup The Manhattan Research Transfer Project.



Raymond Scott held down many different jobs during his long and varied career. In the 1930s his Quintette made a series of popular jazz recordings that led to them appearing in some major motion pictures. The best known of these is "Powerhouse", which in the 1940s was used by Warner Bros to soundtrack some of the most popular and best loved Looney Tunes cartoons.

In the 1950s Scott was the orchestra leader on the hit television show "Your Hit Parade". He used the money he earned from the show to fund his growing obsession with electronic music, and focused on building what would essentially become synthesizers as we know them. A pioneering visionary, Scott was the man who invented the concept and execution of sequencing, without which most modern music would not exist. His own electronic compostions of the time, used mostly as sound beds for adverts, are hauntingly beautiful, and still sound fresh.



Each of the acts that performed either directly acknowledged Scott's music, or came from a similarly out-there electronic background. First up were Demdike Stare, of the Pendel Coven/Modern Love family, who delivered an intense and hypnotic set of white noise infused ambience, backed up by some excellent cult movie visuals.



Next was a collaborative set by local beat-freakers Illum Sphere and Kidkanevil (from the Hoya Hoya club night), which tended to the more boom-bap side of things, yet managed to incorporate lots of samples and references to Raymond Scott's music. Again, there were excellent visuals on display, this time by artist EMN.



The final live act, and the highlight, was the Manhattan Research Transfer Project (named in part after Scott's own electronic "orchestra" of the 50s & 60s). A supergroup composed of 808 State's Graham Massey, Silverclub's Henrietta Smith-Rolla, and Dennis Jones, they played a set of Raymond Scott compositions on fully analogue synthesisers (so analogue that some didn't do as they were told). It's a rare treat to see such a full-on synth set-up in action live these days, and the sounds were phenomenal. Unfortunately no recordings of this gig exist (though there is talk of possibly some studio recordings in the future) but here is what it looked like:



After a short intermission we were back in to see the film "Deconstructing Dad", directed by Stan Warnow, who was also in attendance to introduce the film and field questions afterwards. It's an excellent documentary on a fascinating subject (featuring contributions from Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo and DJ Spooky, among others, and of course with an awesome soundtrack), and it deserves to get some wider distribution. The film is available to buy on DVD, and there is more information on Raymond Scott and Stan Warnow at http://scottdoc.com/. Watch the trailer for a glimpse into the life of this extraordinary man:



And if you are interested in hearing more of Scott's music, check out "Manhattan Research Inc", a 60-odd track compilation which is available to listen and buy from Boomkat.

Demdike Stare and that

I've had Demdike Stare recommended to me as my-kind-of-thing three times now, and so at some point last night/this morning I finally  took the plunge and started battering through their stuff on soundcloud.

  Demdike Stare Mix - MovingMetals by modernlove


It is good shit, but it has also made me wonder exactly what it is about it folks were so confident I'd like... is this my sort of thing? I had been sort of expecting clattering drums and stuttering syncopation framed by dub with a ravey skeleton. No idea why, and now I'm wondering what I think I like, and what I think other people think I like, and why I would think people would think that I would like that, and then what that says about me. What do I actually like, anyway?


I also went to the Eclipse mini-site today (yeah, that Eclipse... god, vampires are so dreeeeeeeaaamy...) after Warp Records tweet me go listen to the new Battles track over there. They sound like they've vainly attempted to clone Brian Wilson and ended up with some weird navel-less and nipple free beach boy on vocals instead(Vat sounds?). I'm not mad keen, to be honest. Sorry Warp. I shall not be linking to that.

Back to Demdike Stare... I just found they are named after a witch, Demdike. Her other name was Elizabeth Southerns, and she was one of the Pendle Witches. It all makes sense now, Pendle Coven and all. I don't know about you, but I'm really enjoying the occult
techno vibe, perhaps even more than I am the music. That said, I'm not sure it'd be as intriguing if I was listening to Justin Bieber...