Enjoy a new episode in the Dekmantel Mix Series, published bi-weekly.
http://www.dekmantel.com
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Enjoy a new episode in the Dekmantel Mix Series, published bi-weekly.
http://www.dekmantel.com
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It is fair to say that Mark Fell is one of Rotherham's most acclaimed musical exports. His work is steeped in the industrial overtones that define the region in the North of England that also includes nearby cities like Sheffield and bands like Human League and Cabaret Voltaire. In particular, this sound artist and producer focusses on fusing together fragments of experimental, minimal music that has political overtones and unsettling, out-of-context atmospheres. He's released albums on Raster-Notion and Editions Mego, is one half of SND and performs at only the most avant-garde of clubs and festivals. This week he serves up some brilliant darkness and carefully deconstructed rhythms that will shake your bones and your brain cells loose. Artists that deal in soot-black synth, electro and post-punk sounds like Human League, Florian Hecker and Depeche Mode all appear, but there are also masterful sidesteps into hip hop, disco, pop from David Guetta, and words from William Burroughs. All these sounds take on hugely different moods and meanings when put together as part of Fell's unique lexicon, and make it a mix full of brilliantly unexpected moments.
France’s Emma DJ - not to be confused with Japan’s DJ Emma - had a hugely prolific 2019 that resulted in no fewer than three artist albums. The Paris-based Fusion Mes Couilles boss deals in abrasive textures and broken techno rhythms that chew up ambient, IDM, breakbeats and acid and spit them out in thrilling new forms. His year started with some debut shows in the USA, he also recently started his own show on France’s LYL Radio, and now keeps us entertained through the global lockdown with this week’s podcast. It starts with some paranoid, scene-setting ambience, sounds of factory automation and spoken words that are perfectly unsettling for these unprecedented times. When drums eventually appear, they’re slow and purposeful, there’s floating techno, visceral industrial and a flurry of breakbeats that are all run through with a real sense of dark mystery and otherworldliness. This is an intriguing mix that will keep you coming back for more.
Swedish born SPFDJ is a renegade spirit and ruthless DJ. She describes her own style as "trashy" and has said before that she disregards anything that might sound happy. To that end, she brashly bangs together techno, EBM, acid, industrial and trance in provocative and confrontational ways. She does so at her residency at Berlin's Herrensauna and also runs her own Intrepid Skin label, both of which are defined by big, banging kick drums. And so is this mix. 75 minutes of blistering textures, serrated synths and hammering drums that make for an impenetrable wall of ever evolving sound. As unrelentingly forceful as it is, monotony stays at bay thanks to the quick mixing and variation in mood, from marching and militant to acid and electric. Strap in, hold tight, and prepare for the ride of your life.
Sydney's club scene is thriving right now, and it is in no small part thanks to the likes of Adi Toohey. Her 360 degree approach takes in DJ sets, a long running radio show on FBi Radio, work behind the counter at The Record Store, and her own parties with the Rimbombo crew. All this has set her on an international trajectory that has seen her play as far afield as New York, Berlin and London. Her sound is accessible but high quality, with emotive house at the root of it all. Her mix for us makes no bones about that - it starts with some smooth and warm vocal grooves before a distinctive 90s flavour takes over. The mixing is tight and efficient, and breakbeats, progressive and big rave chords all colour in the bold, hands in the air grooves to make this a perfectly party starting set that wears its heart on its sleeve.
Nazira is a real powerhouse. She has almost single handedly built up an electronic music scene in her native Almaty in Kazakhstan. She runs her own ZVUK nights in a range of unique settings, was responsible for bringing a one off edition of Unsound to the region in 2017, and after word spread about her skills, she has gone on to represent around Europe while hosting workshops back home that aim to grow local talents. All this is even more impressive given how far removed her hometown is from the rest of the global circuit. As a DJ, host on Radio Cómeme and resident at Berlin’s Room 4 Resistance, Nazira brings physicality and angular rhythm to her work. For this week’s mix, she kicks off with skeletal bass and huge open spaces of futuristic ambiance before the jittery techno and industrial drum loops take over. Melodies rarely appear, instead the mood is dark, heads down, and focussed. It is the sound of an artist who is assured and uncompromising, which is a perfect reflection of the DJ behind it.
DJ Plead is a comparatively new alias for an artist who has been busy on the Melbourne scene for years. Jarred Beeler started as part of a DJ trio, then played in a percussive dance duo known as Poison, but as DJ Plead he has made most impact. Drawing on the Arab influences that come from being half Lebanese, he layers Middle Eastern percussion on top of lithe club rhythms and the results on labels like Nervous Horizon and DECISIONS are electrifying. This week's podcast proves he's also a master of threading together unhinged grooves and weird syncopations in the club. At times the drums are piled up so high and unevenly they feel like they're about to collapse in a heap around you, at others they're drawn out and deeper, sinking you into a hypnosis. Worldly drum sounds and intoxicating eastern melodies colour in the airwaves throughout, making this a series of glorious sonic collisions that up to one hell of a dance.
Eris Drew is one of those artists who seemed to blow up over night, but who had actually been hard at work for decades. A long-time residency at Chicago's Smart Bar brought her to international attention, and her own Motherbeat parties at various places around Europe furthered that reputation. It is there that she manages to cook up pure, unadulterated dance floor love and euphoria with hi-energy selections and a unifying sense of oneness that is put together with her own so called “orchestration” mixing techniques. An inquisitive musician and innovative recording artist, she has also just put out her debut solo EP on Interdimensional Transmissions and runs T4T LUV NRG with partner Octo Octa. This week's mix is all of the above and more: a throbbing, impulsive and full bodied experience that serves up the most bumping house grooves but run through with the warm ambient glow of a post-rave comedown. The music feels at classic but also thoroughly contemporary: it will make you pump your fist in sheer joy, but also sends warm waves of euphoria through your body. This is the sound of the Motherbeat. Eris on her mix: "In a recent interview for DJ Mag I talk about my connection to the song “Secrets of Mediation” by Dutch producers Alex Dijksterhuis (Jamez) & Gaston Steenkist (Dobre). At Chicago raves in 1994 and 1995, this track revealed to me that modern dance music contains archaic ritual elements such as trance-inducing resonances, penetrating sacred drums, and language transformed into glossolalia. My DJ mix for Dekmantel is inspired by my formative dance experiences and by the intense extended sets I play at psychedelic raves such as Motherbeat and No Way Back. The mix includes bass music, progressive, breaks, house, techno, and minimal, all of which I collage, drop and scratch to put us into a tunneling trance." Full tracklist here: dkmn.tl/270-ErisDrew
Mor Elian began DJing at parties even before she was strictly old enough. That was back home in Tel Aviv, and since then she has spent time in Berlin and Los Angeles. She now has also settled into her role as one of electro's most vital artists thanks to head-turning EPs on Delft and most often her own Fever AM, as well as recently minting Cinnaman's brand new Visible Spectrum with her Clairvoyant Frog EP. The strong independent spirit she has had since her youth led Mor to setting up LA-based party Into The Woods, and right now the music she makes and plays is just as singular as the artist herself. This mix proves that across 90 thrilling minutes which take in many different, futuristic blends of techno and electro. There's trippy sci-fi stuff for the afterparty, dark, strobe lit bangers for the peak of the night and deeper, more stripped back sounds to keep you in the zone. The tunes race by at high speed but also come stuffed with the sort of details that keep your mind in overdrive as you ride the rugged rhythms on the seat of your pants. Strap in.
American Phase Fatale is one of the residents responsible for defining the current Berghain sound. As well as regular DJ sets in the Berlin techno dungeon, his latest album, 'Scanning Backwards' — which was released on in-house label Ostgut Ton last month — was made with the cavernous club in mind. Just like his arresting DJ sets take influence from post punk, EBM and industrial, the album also looks outside techno's usual borders: snippets of speech, "brain-penetrating instrumentation" and plenty of raw textures all inform its grooves and make for a hugely visceral listen. On this week's mix, he serves up an uncompromising set of angular rhythms, doom laden synths and fizzing techno that is perfect for the darkest dance floors out there. Importantly, there are still nuances along the way despite the pumping machismo of it all. They keep you on the edge of your seat as the dystopian drama unfolds and all consuming bleakness draws you ever deeper into a world devoid of human life forms. It's beautiful brutality from start to finish.
It's impossible to talk about the sound of DjRUM without using the word cinematic. Whatever he does, it has a feeling of grand importance, widescreen elegance and moving emotion that elevates it way above a dance floor soundtrack. Throughout the course of his career, the UK artist has drawn on downtempo, blurred the lines between drum & bass and dubstep and always imbued his music with spoken words snippets, piano and chamber instruments. His Portrait With Firewood album was a real high-water mark in 2018, and last year his latest outing on R&S once again managed to draw on every aspect of electronic music and come up with something all his own. His mix for us this week is a perfect ethereal rave that finds plenty of beauty in the sparse rhythms he draws on from the worlds of garage, techno and drum & bass. There is a delicacy and elegance throughout, even when the beats hit hard and fast as they do at the overdriven and manic mid point. The amen breaks come thick and fast after that, but eventually melt away to propulsive ambient soundscapes that suspend you in time and space. Blissful.