Four Things #18
Four Things #18..
One of the highlights of the week for me was when I called a friend of mine in Berlin on FaceTime and the phone was answered by one of his best friends. They got together to have a drink outside a little bar in Neukölln, while enjoying the sunshine. It felt at the same time mundanely trivial and almost otherworldly, just having a drink with a friend 'like in the olden days'. It gave me so much more energy and hope for the future than watching one of the early attempts at clubbing in the Covid era, which to be honest, just depressed me more. I've been listening in on a workgroup organized by RA that discusses the future of streaming and clubbing and there are some really good ideas circulating. It's all about coming out of this crisis in a better way than you went in, by progressing and keeping the faith, and helping each other. So in the end we can all have drinks again, together, in the sun.
Before I let you go, you know I usually like to stay away from Techno Twitter Industry Polemics but a great artist on my label, Jake Colvin a.k.a. NKC, penned a piece about streaming and the platform Currents.fm so check that out here.
Thanks to my new subscribers for joining up, I've hit a bit of a milestone this week in terms of subs which is very exciting! Your thoughts, observations and feedback are always appreciated! Let's get to the Things. If you enjoy reading this news letter, feel free to pass on the link to your friends, or check out the archive right here https://tinyletter.com/Martyn-Deykers. Stay safe - Keep the Faith..
Martyn
May 25, 2020
FIRST THING: NEOTROPIC
Came across a thread discussing women in IDM and it reminded me of the great musical talent that is Riz Maslen aka Neotropic. In 1996 I was literally devouring new and exciting music on a weekly basis, following the fresh output of dnb labels like Metalheadz and Moving Shadow, the grainy hiphop influenced downbeat sounds of Mo Wax and Ninja Tune and the continuing evolution of ambient power houses like Future Sound of London and The Orb. Neotropic's "Laundrophonic" EP on Ninja's ambient offshoot Ntone impressively brought all those musical developments together on a single record, and her debut LP "15 Levels of Magnification" is a highly underrated IDM classic, with beautiful pieces like "Weeds" and "Northwest 37th" that still sound modern today. Turns out Maslen had a connection with FSOL as she linked up with them after moving to London from the West Country in the early 90s, even performing with them on Top Of The Pops, singing the famous sample on 'Papua New Guinea' (I couldn't resist googling that and I found it here on Chinese Facebook). Since those dwelling-old-man-friendly 90s, Maslen has continuously developed her sound, sparingly releasing beautiful ambient records such as 2018's "The Absolute Elsewhere".
SECOND THING: DEAD HOMIES
During this crisis, I am pretty sure most of us are engaged in a constant battle with themselves over how to use social media without falling into an endless pit of despair about the state of humanity. My tolerance for people who carry on virtue signaling as if nothing's happening in this world is wearing extremely thin these days and so I found myself culling the 'following' lists of both my Twitter and Instagram accounts. As with the contacts list on my phone, I just can't bring myself to delete names/numbers of people that have passed away. It feels like I would be erasing them from my consciousness, and with a weird, completely nonsensical sense of "digital honor", I keep them in my list. It's comforting to know that even when my 'dead homies' are on a different plane they are still following me, so it would only be right to keep them in my list as well as my heart.
THIRD THING: THE DEATH OF OPHELIA
It's so hard to find anything to read these days that's not either "This is how bad everything is going to get" or "Ten things to cope with ...." or "This is how messed up everything is during this crisis (it will get worse)". I do long for beautiful reads that transport you to another world, carefully arranged words that portray damaged emotions or uplifting feelings. I've been reconsidering a few monthly subscriptions just because I frankly feel disappointed with what they have had to offer. Thank goodness the New Yorker always comes correct and there I found the poet Elisa Gonzales' "In Quarantine, I reflect on the Death of Ophelia"
"I agree I want the past.
For a magnolia to bloom in a crowded street, all safe in beauty, for I
still love the world, though it drowns
and dies like that girl, avoidably."
Pic: "Ophelia" by Friedrich Hayser
FOURTH THING: THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON
A nice and happy 'Fourth Thing' to end this newsletter on an uplifting note? Nah. Sly and the Family Stone's "There's a Riot Goin' On" (1971) is not an easy album to listen to. It was recorded at an absolute low point of Sly's life, while heavily addicted to cocaine and PCP, at odds with most of his band (and family), and suffering from record company pressures to deliver something at least as great as the number one hits "I Wanna Take You Higher" and "Everyday People". Apparently most of the songs were recorded by Sly laying down on his bed, singing, accompanied by his drum machine (a Maestro Rhythm King MRK-1). The band later did overdubs of the drums and backing vocals. Riot kicks off with "Luv 'n Haight" and it feels like you're about to dive into another Sly Stone hit-filled funk masterpiece reminiscent of "Stand!", but on the second song "Just Like a Baby" it's clear something's very wrong with Sly. It's a hauntingly beautiful song but you are also witnessing an artist at his very lowest. Later on in the record, "Spaced Cowboy" is not even pretty anymore, almost embarrassing to listen to an addict struggling to yodel (!) through the tune. But when that pain and suffering interlocks with Sly's creative genius, it results in some of the greatest soul songs ever recorded, and I mean ever. Listen to "Family Affair", "Running Away" and the brittle "You Caught Me Smilin'" and tell me that I'm wrong.