Four Things #35
Welcome to Four Things #35. Hope you are doing great. Previous summers filled with traveling and gigging used to make me feel quite disconnected from daily life, but this year I’ve been at home working on several larger projects for the label and myself and really enjoying it. A couple weeks ago I was asked to contribute to Nina Protocol’s excellent Magazine Rack with a piece about the relationship of labels and artists with their older work and back catalog. Have a read if you’re interested, I tried to keep it practical and constructive. I also put my Through Lines album on Nina, so if that’s your beat then feel free to check it out there. Let’s get to the Things though!
Welcome to any new readers on board, always blessed to have you and enjoy the ride. If you are into the Four Things vibe then please subscribe, pass the link on to your friends, and use it as your own conversation starter if you will, or check out my archive if you haven’t before. Feedback, topics or collaborative ideas are always welcome, hit me up! Wishing you love and health..
Martyn
Aug 10th, 2024
FIRST THING: THE LOT IG
In almost every major electronic music scene one can find a well-organized online radio station at its core. Running a station perhaps feels like one of the more thankless, unglamorous jobs in the industry but they are absolutely essential for pushing new sounds and providing space for upcoming as well as already established talent. The Lot, Belgian expat Francois Vaxelaire’s radio and coffee bar inside a shipping container in Greenpoint Brooklyn certainly deserves his flowers for operating as a hub for the New York City music scene.
The Lot also runs an instagram account with daily carousels featuring their incredibly wide range of artists and shows. Interestingly the IG profile has become almost like an art piece in itself, displaying a fascinating cross section of people playing and enjoying music, and the sometimes stark differences in their communal experience of it. The ‘template’ of The Lot’s well known sticker-filled studio only accentuates these contrasts. Check out the profile and have a browse through the carousels.
SECOND THING: RANDALL
Last week the British music scene lost an absolute powerhouse; Dj Randall was truly a foundational force that inspired many DJs and producers in the rave / jungle / drum & bass continuum as well as the music world at large. I’ve been listening to the 1994 mix CD “Renegade Selector 2.2”, which was mailed to me a couple days ago by a very friendly friend of a friend, and it reminded me of how I would study Randall’s tapes and CDs from beginning to end to figure out how he constructed his mixes. A few months ago I wrote about Randall’s mixing and how he inspired the name of our events (Red Zone) for the Through Lines project, so I figured I copy/paste those paragraphs below. And while you’re at it, also check out the first “Renegade Selector” on Soundcloud, literally one classic jungle track after another, and this video tribute by DaMetalMessiah.
“The name Red Zone was inspired by those early days spent hanging out with friends and analyzing mixtapes. One of our favorite DJ’s was (and is) Randall, who had a unique way of blending tracks together. Blending is perhaps the wrong word as it suggests a smooth, gradual blend from one record to the other. But Randall’s style sounded more like he was stacking records, similar to how hip hop DJs throw in records quickly to create crowd excitement upon recognizing a new track coming in. The other thing Randall excelled at was combining beat patterns, through stacking two different patterns he created a whole new beat entirely, one that didn’t exist on either record but only presented itself in his particular mix. Years later I discovered some of the records that were featured on those early mixtapes and they turned out not nearly as great as I remembered them from the Randall tapes. […] Sometimes at the club when I hear a DJ do one of those ‘stacked blends’ I quickly get my phone out and record the moment - could become an idea for a new track.
Randall would do something similar with sounds and melodies; play two records that are kind of clashing in key, but at the same time complementing each other in a strangely dissonant way. That slightly ‘uncomfortable’ moment when the clash leads you to a point where you are waiting to be released from it - you want to simultaneously turn it off but also keep listening. Dissonance brings a bit of ‘pain’ to the music. I love the tension that it brings, but it’s hard to do as a producer since you automatically tend to tune all instruments to fit together.
Those moments in the mix, where two beats become a single new one, or where the dissonant clashing of sounds turns the vibe more sinister, that moment where you are in the front row at the club and the DJ brings in that new track and you feel the tension building. It’s a feeling I’m absolutely addicted to and I keep on chasing it both in my own music as well as in listening to DJs play, that’s the Red Zone.”
THIRD THING: ON THE ONE
No doubt the algorithm served up the documentary “Breakin’ on the One” because I looked up the dates for the Olympic breakdancing debut, but (for once) I’m glad it did because this is a very enjoyable watch. Available on Hulu, “Breakin’ on the One” chronicles the run up to the legendary 1981 battle at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center between NYC’s most well known crews at the time, Dynamic Rockers and the Rock Steady Crew. You could argue that this battle during the Out Of Doors open air festival was the very first ‘overground’ moment for breaking, and through compelling story telling and interviews with b-boys and girls from then as well as now the film stylishly links that turning point to where breaking finds itself in 2024, as an Olympic ‘sport’. I’m glad the more ‘obscure’ of the four hip hop disciplines gets a quality look with some proper historic acumen, well worth the watch.
FOURTH THING: COSMIC RUNNER
For the Fourth Thing, I wanted to highlight the very first release on Terra Atomika, a new label by Rotterdam based electronic musician Alberta Balsam. The awesome “Cosmic Runner” has been firmly lodged in my brain since I heard it the very first time, such a great vocal electro jam in the tradition of Dopplereffekt and other Detroit luminaries. This EP also comes with two super hard remixes by fellow Dutch talent French II and Peder Mannerfelt, and an Alberta Balsam full length is coming soon.
I need to dig in to those Randall mixes as well as my own records, do some mixes and make note of those red zone moments. Also going to add “red zone moments” to my list of ideas, which ties in to my idea of “blue note magic”.