#teshno

(Originally published on teshno in January 2014).

Dog Eat Dog is a new night coming to Manchester, spearheaded by residents Ciaran Hansen, Toby Nicholas and Jordan Plange (alias Jeremy Toast). In preparation for the party’s first instalment, to be hosted at Kraak Gallery this coming Friday 31st January, Dylan Thompson caught up with the lads to check if they’ve got the right pedigree…

Eh up fellas. Could each of you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? Any nights you've been involved with before?

Ciaran: I’m Ciaran and Dog Eat Dog is the first night that I've been involved in running, although I've been resident at a few others. Currently resident at Butter Side Up in Leeds (where I went to uni) and I’ve had residencies at a few short-lived nights in Newcastle - notably Vision, where guests included Jeremy Underground Paris and Margaret Dygas. Also had a night in Leeds called Krucht a few years ago, where we had Substance and Vainqueur play - in addition to Murmur, Forward Strategy Group and Pendle Coven, amongst others.

Toby: Ook - I'm originally from down south, near Cambridge, I run Six Axle with a couple of mates and have done a little bit here and there for a few nights up north in the past few years. Nothing proper in Manchester though - have been waiting to find an appropriate venue and meet some likeminded lads to run it with. Everything's fallen nicely into place over the past six months, real excited!

Jordan: Hi Dylan. I'm Ponte' born, Ponte' bred (‘ard as fuck and good in bed). I've spent the past 3 years in Manchester studying, which is where I first got involved with doing parties. In second year I teamed up with a lad I'd met and we started a night called Archive. At first the music policy leaned more towards bass music than it did house (as I was more into that sort of stuff back then) but for the last party we had DJ Sotofett smash it out for 6 hours, which was absolutely class.

Ciaran: I played the last party you dick.

Jordan: Oh yeah... that last party was a bit of shambles, wasn't going to mention that. Ciaran was alright though! Saved the day in fact - brought his mixer, needles, and a turntable - what a rate lad.

Toby: All I remember from that do was getting kicked out for spewing down the stairs.

How did you three amigos come to know each other then?

Toby: Err... roughly through going out in Leeds I'd say, for me at least.

Ciaran: Well, I remember meeting Jeremy/Jordan/P-Man after a night out in Leeds - we were both crashing at a mutual mate’s house and ended up coming in at the same time before heading to a house party together. The first time I met Toby was at Soup Kitchen in Manchester, but it was pretty brief…

Toby: Was it?

Ciaran: I think so. I’m sure you introduced yourself to me, because I knew your brother Josh. This was years ago mind.

Jordan: Haha yeah I remember that now! I knew that it had something to with the Louche parties in Leeds, but yeah fully remember that now. Toby - I think I met you at some house party in Manchester, we must have been talking for a few hours before I clocked that you were Josh's brother…

Ciaran: I think Louche probably has brought us together in a way… through the degrees of separation.

Toby: Yeah definitely!

We all love Louche. What were your motivations for starting something of your own then?

Toby: Well, the main one for me was going out in Manchester for the past four years to a lot of nights - some good, but the vast majority pretty flawed, whether in terms of DJs, sound system or crowd - and just wanting to have a crack at it myself.

Jordan: Personally, after running a night for two years, I'm was at a point where I knew exactly what I wanted out of a party - a small venue, intimate crowd and a banging soundsystem. I'd nearly achieved that with Archive, but the lad I was running with had different music tastes to myself. Both Ciaran and Toby's music tastes are very much inline with my own, as is their ethos - plus they're both bob on DJs, which together sets us in good stead for the months ahead!

Ciaran: I’ve wanted to start a night of my own for a long time, but have been waiting to be in the right time and place to do it. I want to bring a different sound than I’ve been hearing in the city.

And what is this sound you want to bring?

Jordan: Straight up bangers.

Ciaran: The sound that I’m on about is hard to pin down really. It can be heard in the sets of hardworking DJs that live to do it. It’s the passion or something… it’s hard to describe it without sounding like a cheesy bastard.

Toby: How can you define the good end of house and techno without sounding wanky? The “deeper side” of it?

Ciaran: Yeah... the cheesiest of the non-cheesy.

Jordan: 'Proper house'.

Ciaran: Just proper dance music.

Toby: Passion's key, definitely - dance music for people that properly love dance music.

Ciaran: Bangers are sound too, like.

I think your use of the term "dance music" seems quite appropriate here, from what I know about you guys and the stuff you play. Tunes that don't get caught up in noodling or experimentation or being too "deep" or whatever - cool, interesting music that still makes you move. Why have it at Kraak Gallery?

Jordan: Kraak Gallery is one of the very few venues in Manchester that are small, dark, and permit the loading of additional sound (something we all feel is the absolute key to a good party). I used to do parties at Q Cavern, a little Jamaican joint also in the heart of Picadilly, and it was class - it ticked all the same boxes. Problem is, it's run by a clueless knobhead.

Toby: Because it's the best small venue going in the city centre that'll let us put our own system in. For all its disused warehouses and trendy little bars, Manchester's strangely lacking in nice little spaces like Kraak.

Ciaran: Yeah, I’m relatively new to Manchester and have only been to Kraak once, it's a quality little space though - ideal for the atmosphere we are trying to create.

Could each of you pick one record you'll definitely be playing on Friday night? And why you'll be playing it?

Toby: I will most definitely be playing this, because like most of Tito's stuff from the late ‘90s it’s an absolute JAM. 

Jordan: When I first heard this, all I could think was “This is soooo Dog Eat Dog”. So I bought it especially. 

Toby: Stinks of Dog Eat Dog that, P-Man!

Ciaran: I just found a cool record I bought a few months ago that hasn't had as much love as it deserves. Will probably play a couple of tracks from it - sorry, it’s not on YouTube. 

Jordan: That’s what we like about Ciaran, he's so underground half his tunes never make it to YouTube…

What does the future hold for Dog Eat Dog? Any cool bookings in the pipeline?

Ciaran: Well we’ve got some tosser on next month, like..

Jordan: Then we’ve got Andrew James Gustav in March, excited for that one. And then Ciaran’s having a little birthday bash in April, playing all night.

Ciaran: Yeah, really excited to hear Andrew play. His mixes are excellent and was lucky enough to hear him play all night in London last year, basically he's totally mint.

Toby: We’ve got a few slightly bigger things planned for after that, but you’ll have to wait and see.

And finally, if Dog Eat Dog could speak, what would it say?

Toby: “I’ll eat your dog”.

Jordan: “You’re a tosser”.

Ciaran: “Woof!”

(Originally published on teshno in April 2014).

With all of this in mind, a total of five (yes, five) Mood II Swing represses are scheduled for release in the next month or so - three of which I may or may not have already owned. The Move Me, Do It Your Way and I See You Dancing EPs (released on Music For Your Ears and Groove On, respectively, in 1995-96) represent, in my eyes, the pinnacle of John Ciafone and Lem Springsteen’s collaborative canon, equalled only by the haunting, drawn-out groove of their “Borderline Insanity Dub” mix of Crustation’s “Flame”.

“Move Me” opens with urgent hi-hats and a slightly-knackered sounding dub techno stab straight out of a Maurizio record. An understated bassline appears to rise out of the smog, accompanied by more paranoia-evoking stabs and a choice sample of African-American writer Barbara Ann Teer talking about universities, dancing and feeling lifted. Feeling raised. I can only imagine what this track must have sounded like in 1995 because there’s still nothing that sounds quite like it. It’s an incredibly dark track done with such subtlety, such sexiness, that you couldn’t even really try to rip it off. The “Alternative Mix” on the A2 never really did it for me. The quirks and the darkness are done away with, the spoken word retained and a much more palatable bassline added: I’m sure it’d work fine in a club, but somehow the magic’s been lost along the way. On the b-side, “Call Me” succeeds in flipping the script with a canny, swinging ode to telephones; there’s Rhodes chords, muttered bits of vocal (“Yo… yo… yo… can you hear me?”) and the crunchiest open hi-hat this side of Brooklyn - all providing a much more manageable blueprint for the plagiaristically-minded. It’s far from hugely inventive but if you’re looking for slick, classy ‘90s NY house, you couldn’t really do any better. The crunchy hi-hat returns on “Function”, another peak-time bomb - a little more sample-heavy, and probably not to everyone’s tastes, but potent nonetheless. I’d be lying if I said I’d gone off this track a bit since buying it, but maybe that’s just me.

On “Do It Your Way”, an absolute belter of a bassline is borrowed from Vincent Montana Jr.’s “The Toys Come to Life” - underpinning a spoken word sample from what sounds like another empowered African-American female. “Learn to love yourself”, she intones. Shuffling drums roll on and on for over nine minutes but this groove’s far too irresistible to ever become tedious. B1 track “All Night Long” might be my favourite thing Mood II Swing ever made: a wholly life-affirming record that’s all swirling pads, fleeting chord flourishes and wistful nostalgia. “I’m dying to rock with you all night long, ‘cos you’ve been on my mind”. It’s that simple really - a dreamy little gem that toes the line of being cheesy without ever overstepping the mark. One for hazy, serotonin-impaired mornings in your mate’s living room, a proper reminder of just how good house music can be. B2 track “I Like It” ultimately fails to hold its own next to the other two - it’s a fun, drum-led track with some of the same dubbed-out moods as “Move Me”, but somehow feels less substantial.

(Originally published on teshno in May 2014)

In the space of just two releases, Berlin’s Slow Life posse have caught the attention of heads and Discogs speculators worldwide with their own idiosyncratic brand of sultry and celestial deep house. Distributed by Kristina Records, their “Fuck The Clock EP” finally hit shelves in late April after a long delay. teshno’s Dylan Thompson caught up with crew members Cecilio and Laurine to find out a little bit more…

Can you tell me a little bit about the Slow Life collective? How many of you are there? How did you come to meet?

Right! There are six of us in total, four of us DJs – Laurine, Cecilio, DJ Tree and Mayto – and two producers – Sergio and Pepe. more of us are starting to produce though, too. At the beginning it was three of us just meeting with some gear in common, and then we realised that we had more shared goals than just making music, and that more than the three of us were involved…

Four of us are originally from Spain and two of us are from Italy. the Italians (Francesco and Lauri) already knew each other from London, and three of us Spaniards already knew each other from Cordoba. It was around three years ago – we all met and connected at first sight.

Why choose the name “Slow Life”? Is it a luddite rejection of today’s fast-paced information society? Or does it just sound cool?

Mainly, it made sense with our way of living… the name came in the beginning, Even before the project developed into what it is now. We were hooked on the slow life movement, and its deep meaning. We think that it’s really important to have time for your passions, and today’s society does not help with that. And we also loved how it sounded.

Speaking of “slow” – what was the deal with SL001 taking so long to hit the shops? Could you clarify what happened for us?

Actually it was too sloooow even for us! Firstly, we were going to press the record in a French pressing plant, and just after we got the test pressings (which were wrong anyway) they went bankrupt, and we lost the money we’d invested, and the lacquers. We were waiting for a solution from them, but in the mean time, we realised that we had too much material to drop, so we decided to go ahead with the 002 first.

Also, already in the new production of the 001, the release got delayed for many reasons: mainly because the new pressing plant failed (once again!) and pressed them with the wrong labels, from a hardcore release…

Blimey, that does sound stressful. I noticed on the Discogs comments for SL001 that someone said they thought it was a big publicity stunt – building the hype before finally releasing it. SL002 currently sells for a fair bit, despite having only been released last year. How do you feel about that?

Hehe… I know, I had to deal with those comments. About the 002 Discogs prices – it’s mainly for the ‘cogs hype… it’s not only about new and limited releases, many old records that were really cheap couple of years ago are now unaffordable, we suffer that too. We are not happy about it, but we think it is a lost fight, unless you keep repressing and repressing – we want to focus on releasing new material. Anyway, from time to time, represses of high demanded ones will be coming.

Ah, good news for folks who missed out then. But yeah, high prices for these amazing old records can be really frustrating. I guess the easy solution is to just look a little harder for more obscure tracks...

Right! It’s actually a main issue for us – not only to focus on new material, or hyped ones, but also to dig deeper, finding those obscure gems, there still are tons of them.

Any tips on good labels or artists from the past that you feel don’t get enough recognition?

Hmmm… we are not fans of charting or track listing mixes. Anyway, not an easy question. We like and buy many genres of music from a lot of different artists and labels, let’s see if any tip comes to our mind.

I can respect that attitude – I’m the same, to be fair.

Norken/Metamatics is one that comes to mind, we all love his music and buy his records… truly deep! And he does not have the recognition that he deserves, in our opinion.

Ahhh yeah. I love that “Meander” track of his. really fast but great. Do you guys do a lot of digging in berlin then? Any favourite spots?

Yes, but to be honest it’s more a Discogs thing. Second hand, all shops here know the value of the records they have, so it’s not always the best option. But we love some spots, where we usually find good stuff – like Audio-In or the “well-known” Record Loft. For new material, its all about Hardwax, OYE and hhv.de (for prices).

It’s interesting you say that about them knowing the value of their records. It kind of ruins it – their access to Discogs means you’ll never get a real bargain. Good for finding records that aren’t on YouTube though…

True that!

To go back to your label’s releases – I noticed they were mastered by Mark Richardson, who of course did a lot of the great old ‘90s Chicago labels (Prescription, Cajual, Dance Mania, etc). What was the thinking behind getting Mark involved?

Since the beginning, I always knew it was all about him doing the mastering. He is truly a master of his thing and a big favourite – most of our favourite records have his trademark. We think the music we release deserves the character that he provides.

Well they sound great anyway. The heavyweight pressing makes a difference too! That’s one thing about old records – it’s a shame finding an amazing old record with a really poor, thin pressing.

Thanks! We want them to be released in full quality. As you said, back in the day it wasn’t always a priority.

So what’s next for Slow Life then? Can we expect another release any time soon?

Sure! Unmastered snippets of the next one will be hopefully available next week. We have much material ready to be released, from us and from friends/guests, but we prefer to keep the names hidden as not to jinx them…

Very exciting. How about you guys – any good DJ gigs coming up that you’re looking forward to?

Yes! In June we are heading to Barcelona (Sonar week) and then in July we’re playing at the Art Of Dark anniversary in London. Also some local gigs here in Berlin that keep on coming…

(Originally published on teshno in April 2014)

Nowadays, it sometimes feels like there isn’t a week goes by without another repress of another old record hitting the shelves. As an ardent vinyl buyer, this phenomenon has the potential to conjure up an array of feelings, based largely around whether you already owned the original pressing or not. One week you’re buzzing because that Kerri Chandler record – you know, the one you’ve been after for ages but won’t buy because it’s £40 on Discogs and that’s loads of money – gets repressed. “Juno, take my money!” you shout. You’ve just got a mint copy for £7.99 plus postage, avoiding the doubtful “VG+” rating you’d have risked on Discogs and you’re over the moon. you remove it from your Wantlist and Add To Collection with haste. But then, the week after… what’s this? Yes, that Mood II Swing EP, the one you copped for £25 in a brief moment of student-loan-day indiscretion last year, is next up for repress action. and with original artwork, no less, meaning there will be no way of differentiating between this copy and your copy. Imagine that… you won’t even be able to prove to people that you had it before they did!

As such, represses draw out painfully passionate responses from people on both side of the coin. You can’t hate ‘em because of all the great records you’ve got for cheap, but Contemporary Repress Mania is such a cruel and unforgiving mistress that you could never honestly say you loved her, either. And it’s not always because of the financial aspect: no self-respecting DJ would want to play/buy tunes that everyone else has got, right? That’s why you spend hours trawling the murky depths of the internet (or actually browsing through records in real life, when possible) sweeping through entire label or artist back catalogues, or praying that you can find a 30-second preview of this Derrick Carter dub from 1998 that’s not on Youtube. You want to set yourself apart.

We, as humans, constitute our identities through the things we consume, whether that’s records, clothes, haircuts, choice of aftershave or whatever. So when that obscure gem you sweated to find and/or spent a wedge on suddenly finds itself in the Juno Top 10, you don’t like it because that’s your identity being eroded right there. You’re not quite as much of a proper DJ now, you’ve got one less secret weapon and it’s in every Tom, Dick and Horatio’s UDG bag.

But then there’s the other side of the coin, of course. Those who regard such attitudes as elitist and that music should be available to as many people as possible, which is equally valid. In fact, probably a whole lot more valid. Plus there’s the fact that the purist view makes you sound like some tight old anorak desperately clutching on to what you see as rightfully yours when it’s not actually ‘yours’ at all, it’s a record some fella from New York made in his bedroom twenty years ago for the whole world to hear and enjoy.

(Originally published on teshno in February 2014)

For the second instalment of Mosaic’s Split Series, label boss Steve O’Sullivan enlists the help of German upstart Kashawar, alongside vastly under-appreciated Detroit don Titonton Duvanté and celebrated jock-cum-producer Eric Cloutier. O’Sullivan and Kashawar combine forces on the A1 with “Take A Seat”, which does away with the dub techno stylings of O’Sullivan’s earlier output whilst retaining the classy, reductive approach to tech house that allows said records to command such eye-wateringly expensive Discogs prices. The track saunters along with a breathy chug and a plaintive piano line that firmly designate it as prime warm-up tackle. There’s also a crafty sample of Tee Hee (yes, the Bond villain of “Live & Let Die” fame) in the mix, and if that’s not worthy of praise, then I don’t know what is.

Over on the flip, old Titonton delivers a skittering, melodic techno jam in the form of “Such Good Taste”. Whilst it doesn’t quite reach the same giddy heights as his older records on Metamorphic or Residual (also be sure to check his collaborative EP with Morgan Geist on Phono - TIP!), it’s refreshing to see an old D-Town head like Duvanté continue to adapt his style for a contemporary audience, and to do it with such finesse. A tapestry of blips, bloops and pitched 909 toms borrow from the Perlon school of groovy minimal house, ensuring that a playful, endearing energy pervades the track.

back in july, giorgio luceri was the second italian this year to release an album on jamal moss’s excellent mathematics imprint (following in the foot steps of fellow interviewee simoncino). voices in my head follows an ep on the same label as well as others on the likes of otp, and comes ahead of a new 12″ on increasingly impressive fledgling label fly by night. the thing that ties all this music together is spectacular synth work, achingly blissful melodies and plenty of muddled house beats that go really quite deep into an alternate universe full of starry night skies and blurry eyes.

luceri (one of many italians doing great do this year, like countryman and another recent interviewee, nicholas) considers it to be a collection of experiences, of mini tales that allow you into his inner psyche. to find out what he means, and to learn a bit more about a man who until now has remained rather mysterious, teshno tracked him down for an interview.

how are you, what’s been keeping you busy?

i’m fine; i just come into the studio after much time around italy. it’s the most pleasurable times working on new experiments and looking for new influences – always different.

there is little info about you online so lets get some history… where did you grow up and what was access to music like? what were you hearing?

i started with music with the first piano lessons when i was child learning classical music under a teacher in my hometown in south italy in salento, a magic land rich in culture, nature, story and art with some of the best landscapes in the country. i left to study classical eleven/twelve years ago, but the time i came to love music came many years after when i started to listen to techno records from the european scene of 00s. i started considering electronic music as the strongest influences on my vision. during the time around italy in all the places i lived, i went to many clubs, heard different movements and crews playing house music, but the most important moment was when i went for the first time to red zone club in perugia in 2008.

the power of this club since 1989 and this city until the end of 2010 was incredible. it was for me a total reset, refreshing all my knowledge with the beginning of a new era and a new approach with music. first i setup my studio and released some tracks from there. i left in perugia some of the best years of my life. then i lived for a time in spain, in madrid, with the house circuit of this beautiful city and then in bologna, another interesting place in italy. during all this time i never stopped listening and making music. all my tracks contain pieces of this little story, every note has got the memory of a day like pictures of this tale.

when did you become a conscious music buyer and when, what stuff got you into it?

i started to buy my first records in italy in the 00s from many record stores in north italy. first stuff came from european techno and italian house, then i began the study of the story of italo house and disco. my first records came from irma records and ibadan records – they were the first labels i started to collect and listen with care. afterwards in my red zone period, i started to listen to true house music and i am very thankful to this place for that.

is italo something you have ever been into, does it influence you in anyway, or does the more classical music of your home country?

italo disco period in italy was the most important period for italian music, where people started to buy italian music all over the world. i start to see this historical moment after some years focusing my attention there. i started with music with classical study for a little period. i trust in the power of influences. contamination can be the most important key for the future of art and also for music. but never stop to study and consider your roots and where you came from; the future can be written studying and learning from the past.

your music is quite bright, ethereal and melody rich, where does that style come from do you think? what inspires or influences it?

it’s hard for me think about a regular style when i start to make my work. i cannot consider one “style” or “genre” talking about my personal vision. doubtless electronic sounds take place from classical, but focusing myself on dance music is like the first step. from this step, creativity and power of the mind can move you wherever you need to go. i think it is your life that moves yourself to make your things with machines. you can start to write your art just by seeing and listening what life has got for you. and for this all things come from the experiences and influences (not only musical) you receive. i consider this the first rule – to be different. when things come from the heart almost instinctively, your work is sincere and, i think, the most important thing which in recent years is missing in music, is the sincerity.

how did you first hook up with maths for the ep last year and then how did the album come about?

i discovered mathematics in 2008 studying the great history behind the label. from 2009 my dream was to make something for this incredible place, but only in 2011 i was ready to make something there. “eternamente” came out during the first months of 2012. to finish this ep i needed to revisit tracks from my first studio in perugia in 2008. all 3 tracks came from these years, when my mind was influenced by red zone and the many personal events of my life during 2008-2010.

after math059, my album has got work from the last two years on it. i can say jamal is one of the first guides and mentor for my music in the last year, opening other’s points of view and never stopping learning and evolving. mathematics is a mind status, not only a label or family.

about the album, did you know how you wanted it to sound when you started? was there a plan for it?

my first thoughts behind the album project were different. i think now it is the summation of all this vision, mixing atmosphere, feeling and messages. i don’t consider it a dancefloor bomb or something to burn dancers, but i prefer to see it like ten different scenes of a tale trying to tell a different story each one by one. every track comes from an experience.

what’s your working process like, are you a hardware or software man?

i trust in a mixed setup, to give the power of analog sources with the comfort of digital for mixing, but at the same time i think it’s so hard for a digital algorithm to work like an analog machine to create the synthesis of sounds… my process in every track is always different and i’m so happy for this, to not follow always the same creative ways. i think there is not a best way to start work in the studio because it’s your mind that goes ahead, and your mind is always different day by day… luckily.

is any on thing more important than another in your music, ie the bassline, the synths, the mood, how it will work on a dance floor?

i love and consider all elements equally in a track, sometimes sounds that make differences are the most invisible. i love the texture of music and the “secondary” sounds that a listener cannot see in the first instance. i would like if you think you are dancing to my sensations like if you are, for a little moment, walking in my emotions. only in this moment have you, the producer, created a perfect language with the listener.

what is 6d22? there is a track titled that way and you have it as an alias on your ra page…

many tracks have got this sign, not only on the album, also other works with on the prowl (the whole ep is called 6d22). this is a personal code, a numeric series that is the container of this thought and philosophy. they are so important for me, like also 11 and 02. numbers have got a strong power in music and in life.

what is one of your dj sets like? similar in vibe to the album or…?

a dj set is the way for me to go live in the people. it is like i am in that moment, i prefer anyway to go deep, to create something during the set, i don’t like flat dj sets with the same velocity, same mood, same vibes in and a total stop of emotions. i hope to paint an atmosphere when playing my records, people must connect with you and listen to the story you are telling.

where do you hope to go from here now that album is done? do you have new goals for yourself?

i don’t know where, i made this album to have the opportunity to leave with people something about me. i don’t make things to have success. i have a simple life with simple things and music is the most important activity of my days.

what else have you got coming up/are you working on?

new things come out this year. never stop working for the future.