bvdub review in Cyclic Defrost

May 13th, 2008 | Category: Label News, Reviews

Seb from Cyclic Defrost has writen a review of bvdub’s ep “monuments to oblivion”. Posted here for all to see:

Ex-Sydney label Southern Outpost relocated to San Francisco just over a year ago but everyone knows their spiritual home has always been Detroit. bvdub’s first release for the label arrived on audio cassette containing four tracks, two of which also have release on 12″.

First it was a challenge to find a tape deck to play this back on. I had to pull several boxes out of deep storage to find my old 3 head Sony deck. And to my surprise, cassettes sound frightfully good for what they are - I think most of us have forgotten that if they were made properly and played on a decent rig then they could be quite good, especially compared to the flatness of mid-quality MP3.

I’m sure that’s part of the story behind this release because as the tape spooled over the dusty heads, bvdub’s 4 ten-minute plus epics of warm, gaseous dubbed out Detroit techno were filled with even more hiss, static, and flutter as a result of the cassette medium. Much like a faded photo the effect of the cassette medium on the muted kicks and plangent synths adds a degree of melancholy and age to the listening experience. The Side A tracks meander on jerky rhythms and clouds of synth delay. Side B’s ‘Tears for a Fallen Empire’ and ‘Gone are the Days’ bubble along on rubbery analogue bass and straight techno kicks, and are the pick of the four.

There’s little new here - but that’s exactly the point - just top quality Detroit influenced dub techno in the vein of contemporaries Deepchord and Echospace. It is even worth digging out your cassette deck to listen.

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Some great music

April 23rd, 2008 | Category: General News

Just wanted to mention some great music that I have picked up recently…

- Aguirre (Haswell & Hecker Remix) - Popol Vuh - Mego Editions
If your a fan of Haswell & Hecker, you know what you are in for with this remix. Starts very innocently, spacious and ambient, but very soon gets very dark, frantic and as you would expect noisy. The mastering on this is superb, done by Rashad Becker @ Dubplates and Mastering. Mika Vainio does his reworking of Nachts: Schnee on the other side.

- Indio-Inca EP (Parts 1 & 2) - John Beltran - Rhythmic-Tech Records
I really haven’t been keeping up with Beltran’s releases for some time, but these two releases have given me a wake up call and to be honest breathed some new life into ‘real’ techno. Personal favourite is the A side of part 2, really reminds me of those early Detroit records that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck… lush and moody strings, layers of syncopated percussion and that banging kick! I doubt i’ll hear this out in San Francisco on a nice loud system, but I can only hope.

- Watamu Beach Rework (Moritz Von Oswald) - Sebbo - Desolat
Great to hear some production (well… remixes) by Moritz again. As with most of his other work, especially under his Mauritzio alias, this track takes it’s time to develop, taking up the whole side of the 12″. It’s stripped back right down to the *really* thumping kick and the groove of the simple bassline, only occasionally breaking into some distant pads and trademark echo.

- Eichenholz ep - Leftover - Baum
For the fans of deep dub techno or for those who miss the sound of the M series. I like them both, so this works for me ;) Lots of echo, straight up mid paced beats and low bass. This is just smooth all over. Need to check out more of his stuff.

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bvdub 12″ vinyl release Sold Out!

April 22nd, 2008 | Category: Label News

Wow, what can I say.. that sh*t went a bit crazy. The vinyl release has sold out from Clone already (24 hours). You may be able to find it at other stores around the place.

We will repress the record very shortly.

There still seems to be a few 12″ + cassette bundles still avail via Clone, so you better hurry!

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SOSP-001 bvdub - out now!

April 21st, 2008 | Category: Label News

Finally our special project from bvdub “Monuments To Oblivion” tape and vinyl are now out from Clone. Better hurry, the tape is only limited to 100!

Go get it here.

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Review of recent Scape One and Dcast Dynamics releases

March 28th, 2008 | Category: Reviews

Totally missed this review taken from German magazine, Groove.de:

Scape One alias Kurt Baggaley ist einer der herausragenden britischen Electro-Producer, man kennt ihn von Releases auf SCSI-AV, Emoticon oder Science City. Die genretypisch düsteren Tracks sind sehr originell aufgebaut: „Cosmic Waves“ verzichtet ganz auf eine Hookline, Melodien sind allenfalls im Bass anzutreffen, in den höheren Frequenzen gibt es ein Fiepsen und Pfeifen, das einen Bezugspunkt zu Drexciya herstellt. Der Track realisiert die Vision einer Musik, die ganz aus den Geräuschen der Maschinenparks einer industriellen Welt zusammengesetzt ist. „The Star Fraction“ ist freundlicher, die Claps und Cowbells der 808 erzeugen eine gewisse Milde. Dcast Dynamics ist ein neues Pseudonym von Shad T. Scott aus Miami, der besonders als Gosub mit Releases auf Labels wie Isophlux, Frustrated Funk oder Kondi bekannt geworden ist. Die Tracks brechen das fest gefügte Trackschema von Electro auf: Die Grooves werden linearer und fließender, entwickeln fast so etwas wie einen minimalen Charme, die Synthie-Figuren erzeugen eine in diesem Zusammenhang überraschende Trippigkeit, die Sounds sind ganz weit draußen und wunderschön. Nicht nur für Fans des Electro-Genres ergiebige Tracks.

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