The ill-ec-tro-nic

OK, so the fact that we officially closed this blog in 2010 serves as some excuse for not dropping by here to give an update on things sooner but this post is a little overdue so as I'm here now, I'll cover off a couple of bits at once.

As mentioned previously, my main musical focus after quitting blogging was always intended to be making music of my own and last year finally saw the official release of some my music - hoorah! My debut EP, Beyond The Green Wall, came out as a digital release on Broken20 at the end of November and is available to buy via Boomkat and direct from the label. The EP contains two tracks from me plus two remixes from Broken20 label boss TVO and another from Spatial. It picked up nice reviews from Boomkat, who also put it on their 'recommendations list, and Bleep 43. Getting such nice comments from both of these camps made me really happy as I hold both organisations in high regard and have long used their views as a staring point for hunting out music to buy myself.

The EP proper also came with a great little bonus release; four additional remixes - one from me plus fellow Broken20 label mates Erstlaub, Production Unit and Kwaidan. The companion release is FREE and you can pick up a copy here.

So that's the main news from me on my Nanorhythm front - I started a new Nanorhythm blog over on wordpress so you can keep up with my production adventures there.

As it's the start of the year, I figured on also throwing my hat into the ring for a 'best of 2011' roundup. Characteristically, I'm somewhat late off the mark with this as people seem to be putting lists up earlier each year - some even starting as early as November which seems rather strange to me but there you have it.

For various reasons, I didn't really buy that many 12s last year but the pick of my rather limited crop was: a smattering of Sandwell District EPs, the awesome Black Dog 'Liber Chaos' remix package, the first part of the Drexciya reissues on clone, a couple of nice things Burial was involved with ('Street Halo' and the collaboration with Four Tet & Thom Yorke), Tropic of Cancer's 'The Sorrow of Two Blooms' plus a great Digital Mystikz remix of Lee Scratch Perry's 'Like The Way You Should'.

Album-wise my favourite was probably Zomby's 'Dedication' - it has loads of great moments that really do it for me although it's definitely something to be listened to in its original context as many of the tracks are ridiculously short and the album feels like a mix in parts with tracks effortlessly flowing between one another. On the dancefloor front, Byteone's 'Symeta', Omar S' 'It Can Be Done But Only I Can Do It' plus Sandwell District's 'Feed Forward' (which actually came out very late in 2010) were all brilliant. Lucy's Wordplay For Working Bees' has some great moments and save for the guitar intro (sorry boss) I really like TVO's 'Amid the Blaze of Noon'. Kangding Ray's 'OR' is a sonic delight and finally Tropic of Cancer's 'The End Of All Things' is also very enjoyable, albeit that it doesn't really have any particular standout moment for me, unlike the awesome 'A Colour' from their Blackest Ever Black single that I mentioned earlier.

Anyhow, that's my brief roundup - no links I'm afraid as getting bogged down with such tedious admin was one of the reasons why we got bored of this blog in the first place. If you're interested enough, a quick google will soon help you track the releases down.

Bye for now and I'll hopefully be back later in the year with some more Nanorhythm news. Until then you can always drop by Cafe1001 on the second Thursday of each month to catch Langer, myself and a bunch of our mates dropping some of our favourite tunes as per the flyer Langer posted up previously.

Labels: Broken20, Erstalub, Kwaidan, Langer, Nanorhythm, Production Unit, Spatial, TVO

Another installment in my irregular updates and it's good news on the Nanorhythm front again.
This time, my alter ego has taken to the decks and knocked out a mix / podcast for his new home, Broken20.

Clocking in at around 70 minutes, Bunker Funk dishes up a helping of stripped down warehouse-friendly techno, featuring cuts from some of my favourite dancefloor-focused producers and a cheeky little number, hot from my own basement studio.

Head on over to Broken 20 to check it out for yourself.

Tracklist:
1. Nanorhythm - Micron [unreleased]
2. Marco Fuerstenberg - BBT (edit) [a.r.t.less]
3. Unknown Artist - FB06 - B [frozen border]
4. EQD - EQD004 - A [equalized]
5. Kevin Gorman - Shakey Metallic Beats [mikrowave]
6. Pattern Repeat - Ofetriade (Ben Klock Remix) [echocord colour]
7. Martyn - Seventy Four (Redshape Remix) [3024]
8. Redshape - Blood Into Dust [styrax leaves]
9. Conforce - Stop Hold [meanwhile]
10. N/A - Variance (Function Edit) [sandwell district]
11. O/V/R - Interior [blueprint]
12. Robert Hood - Museum [m-plant]
13. James Ruskin - Graphic [ostgut ton]
14. Mark Broom & James Ruskin - Hostage [blueprint]
15. Silent Servant - Untitled (Regis Edit) [sandwell district]

Things are shaping up nicely on the release front too, with my debut EP, 'Beyond the Green Wall', scheduled to drop around June / July time, featuring two cuts of my own plus remixes from TVO and Spatial. You can check out Spatial's remix as the opener on his recent mix for Hyponik. Keep your eyes on the wider Broken20 schedule too as there's some killer releases on the way in the shape of superb dubby techno from Isodyne (Forward Strategy Group) and utterly immersive ambient drone from Erstlaub which is about to drop and available at a ludicrously cheap price from Boomkat.

Labels: Broken20, Erstalub, Forward Strategy Group, Hyponik, Isodyne, Nanorhythm, Spatial, Techno, TVO

As mentioned in my last post, changes are afoot at the ill-ec-tro-nic and the news is that Langer and I have decided to close the blog down.

Over the four and a bit years we’ve been running the site, we’ve enjoyed ourselves immensely and while we never really had a goal for the blog, its primary aim in providing us with a vehicle with which we could share our music tastes with a wider audience has been well and truly met and in fact had we been pushed to baseline our expectations at the start we would certainly have exceeded them as we never expected to achieve the hit rates we did or be sent so much great music (we also got sent an unbelievably large pile of dross too though!).

The most frequent comment we’ve received has been a 'thank you' for unveiling a new artist, track or label to someone and we can honestly say we’ve had great pleasure in helping to expose people to the music that we’re so passionate about. We’ve never seen ourselves as anything special for writing about and posting such music and in essence, the blog has only ever been an extension of the enthusiasm we show each other and our circle of friends when we find something exciting and new and share it with them.

So, given that electronic music is very much alive and well, why the decision to close the blog down? No single reason really, although running out of relevant and interesting things to say, a general lack of time and the fact that doing posts with any kind of worthwhile regularity became almost like a chore that felt like it needed to be done rather than something that we looked forward to like at the start - clearly not a good situation for bloggers to be in!

From a personal perspective, I also want to focus on producing music under my Nanorhythm guise as the blog has undoubtedly resulted in a reduction in my studio time over the years. Despite being given offers of releases on two occasions, both offers have failed to materialise thus far, although at the time of writing, there’s also possibility that some of my music may finally get a release as part of the forthcoming Broken20 schedule (a new label headed up by TVO so no doubt an interesting project to keep an eye on regardless). However, given my previous experiences with anticipated releases and the fact that it’s very early days for the label, I’m trying not to raise my expectations too high and will believe my release cherry has been popped if / when it finally happens.

Anyhow, enough of my ramblings, other than to say it’s definitely been a blast and to give a big shout out to all the artists that inspired us to write about them, the kind folks that have sent (decent) music our way plus of course the people who have bothered to read our pages over the years.

As I write this, I'm not sure whether it will be the very final post for the site or not. Langer has suggested he may write a few words at some stage or it may be that we use the site to let you know of any parties or other relevant musical adventures we’re involved with so maybe pop back every now and then for a quick check.

So before I go, it seems appropriate to leave you with just "one more tune!" - one of my all time favourite records and something that seems fitting for the occasion.

Underground Resistance - Journey of the Dragons // Underground Resistance

Labels: Broken20, ill-ec-tro-nic, Nanorhythm, Underground Resistance

As with most of my posts, this is somewhat overdue as it contains a recording taken from my debut live gig which was a good few weeks ago now.

As advertised on these pages at the time, Langer and I put on a party at London's Concrete and despite a few technical issues with the venue we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were happy with how the night went. TVO played a superb live set and then went on to DJ from his laptop back to back with Goodhand when we discovered one of the decks was broken - in hindsight the broken kit was a blessing as the pair rocked it good style between them.

I also got to burst my live set cherry and again depite a few minor glitches (of my own making) I was pretty happy with how it went. I've just put the set up on my website (you can get the track listing there too if you're interested) but figured I'd put it up here as well. All tracks are unreleased and pre-demo. Hope you enjoy.

Nanorhythm - Live at Concrete (July 2009)

Labels: Goodhand, Langer, Nanorhythm, TVO

Here's a final reminder about our night down at Concrete Bar in London. We are showcasing Glasgow's Stuff records and playing live is The Village Orchestra and ill-ec-tro-nic's very own RAW in his Nanorhythm guise.

TVO has an arsenal of electronic weapons in his machines ranging from cerebral armchair electronica through to dancefloor bombs whilst always exhibiting an air of playful experimentation. With a new album just released on Highpoint Lowlife and still riding the wave of the critical acclaim he received for his The Dark is Rising EP on Stuffrecords earlier in the year, this rare London appearance for the talented producer should be unmissable.

Nanorhythm will already be known to The ill-ec-tro-nic readership and while a small number of his productions have been exposed to the world via the blog and through the Soliton Research netlabel (of sorts) that he co-runs, this is Nanorhythm's debut live set. He's been working on a host of new productions and is looking forward to unleashing his brand of dub-infused techno minimalism on the crowd.

If that's not enough then Stuff and Numbers resident DJ Goodhand will be bringing the funk with his glitched-up party tunes and myself, Langer will be playing deep Techno and my favourite cutting edge Dubtec records.

We always like to give you a little something extra here at ill-ec-tro-nic so TVO has put together a superb mix of Techno and Dubstep for you listening pleasure.

TVO - Blank Page Mix // 1 h 40 mins

You can get the tracklisting plus other Stuffrecords podcasts Here.

Saturday July 18th
Concrete Bar,
Hayward Gallery, South Bank,
London, SE1 8XX
8pm - 1am / Free Entry

Map

Facebook

www.stuffrecords.co.uk
www.ruaridh.marciablaine.com
www.nmbrs.net
www.solitonresearch.com
www.myspace.com/djmarksolo

Labels: Concrete Bar, Nanorhythm, Stuff Records, Stuffrecords, The Village Orchestra

Apologies that our posting frequency's been even slacker than normal of late but one of the things that's been keeping Langer and I busy is sorting out a party for next month.

It's at Concrete Bar which is part of the Hayward Gallery on London's Southbank and is crackin' little venue both inside and out. We've got a Stuffrecords special going on with The Village Orchestra playing live as well as Stuff/Numbers resident DJ Goodhand. I'm donning my Nanorhythm guise for the evening and playing my debut live set and Langer and our mate Mark Solo are on DJ duties as well. It's on Saturday July 18th 8pm-1am and it's FREE to get in too so hopefully see you there!

Saturday July 18th, Concrete Bar, Hayward Gallery, South Bank, London SE1.
8pm - 1am Free Entry.

Map

Facebook page

We'll be reminding you about it nearer the time too but to whet your appetite's here's a tasty little mix that Mark did for my Soliton Research site - enjoy!

Mark Solo - The Waters Have Broken

Tracklist:

01 | Tokyo Black Star - Game Over (Loco Dice 5am Remix)
02 | Deepchord - Vantage Isle (DC Mix)
03 | Deepchord - Vantage Isle (Original)
04 | Ovatow - Phalaenopsis
05 | Onur Ozer - Kasmir (Loco Dice Remix)
06 | Reese and Santonio - How To Play Our Music
07 | Affkt & Danny Fiddo - Points
08 | Fuckaponydelic - Switch The Lights (Motorcitysoul Mix)
09 | Kenny Larkin - Bass Mode
10 | Inspirational - Releasing The Pressure (Rhadoo Mix)
11 | Lauhaus - Cassmance
12 | Jona - Sunset
13 | Minilogue - Ghost
14 | Repeat Repeat - Why Must
15 | Body Code - Equidistant
16 | Queen - Flash's Theme
17 | Chromatics - Running Up That Hill

Labels: Concrete Bar, Goodhand, ill-ec-tro-nic, Mark Solo, Nanorhythm, Soliton Research, Stuffrecords

...but I've finally got round to finishing some new tracks.

As with the majority of my previous efforts, both cuts fit under the broad categorisation that is techno but they are both fairly different from one another.

Third Day is pretty much a dancefloor banger whereas Sith Lullaby is one of those strange beasts that plods along in a mellow kind of way before changing tone and getting a little dirtier. Anyway, that should be sufficient to give you a taster of what each has in store so I'll avoid further descriptive dissection and just leave you with the music.

Nanorhythm - Third Day //unreleased
Nanorhythm - Sith Lullaby //unreleased

The tracks are also available via the Soliton Research website and any constructive criticism that anyone cares to make will be greatly received.

Labels: Nanorhythm, Soliton Research, Techno

Labels: Nanorhythm, Soliton Research, Techno

I avoided the over confident approach of posting this track during our 'Birthday Bombs' series despite the fact that the two previous Soliton Research tracks I posted did technically qualify as 'exclusive releases'.

This latest ditty is something I've knocked up recently and as usual I'll just leave you a link to the track and let you make your own mind up about it.

I've also entered it into a competition to try and win some free studio time - you can check that out here. Would love to know what you think (good or bad) so comments here or via the comp would be greatly appreciated.

Nanorhythm - Continental Breakfast

P.S. Anyone who has already heard this track, this is a slightly different version that was only completed today.


EDIT: Thanks to the guys who made the comments and for the positive feedback - much appreciated :-)

I had to temporarily change the hosting of this track as we broke March's bandwidth allowance at Soliton Research. Not sure where the comments disappeared to after the re-post?!

Labels: Electronic, Minimal, Nanorhythm, Soliton Research, Techno