February 13, 2010
Back Room
THE BUNKER/UNSOUND FESTIVAL
Description
2/13, BOTH ROOMS, 10 pm – 6 am, $30, $25 adv
Unsound Festival New York, Co-Presented by:
Unsound, Fundacja Tone, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Goethe-Institut New York
In Co-operation With:
Trust for Mutual Understanding, the Romanian Cultural Institute New York, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Consulate General of Finland New York, Pro Helvetia, Fonds Pop Over Zee
Saturday, February 13
Unsound Festival New York at The Bunker: Bass Mutations
FRONT ROOM
2562 (Tectonic | Netherlands)
Untold (Hemlock, Hessle Audio | UK)
TRG (Hessle Audio, Tempa | Romania)
Dave Q (Dub War | NYC)
BACK ROOM
Pole (~Scape | Germany) live
FaltyDL (Planet Mu | NYC) live
Pavel Ambiont (Belarus) live
Konque (Konque | NYC) live
Sepalcure (Machine Drum & Praveen | NYC) live
Stefan Betke aka Pole is one of the most important and well known electronic music producers to emerge in the past decade. His first three albums (“1”, “2”, & “3”), released from 1998 to 2000 and packaged in solid blue, red, and yellow sleeves, are absolute stone-cold classics. Betke reissued these three sadly out-of-print albums as a box set on his own ~scape imprint (titled “1 2 3”) in 2008, so they are once again available to the unfortunate souls who missed his timeless music the first time around. More recently, Pole released the “Steingarten” album on 2007, further developing his sound. He also did A&R for the critically acclaimed “Round Black Ghosts” compilations on ~scape, two collection of tracks that blur the line between dubstep and techno. We’ve caught Pole’s newest live set a few times in Europe, and he’s taken things in a much more dancefloor direction while maintaining the Pole sound design and creativity we all love.
Producer Dave Huismans is 2562, pioneering in the way that he has merged dubstep and techno. The result is a full yet lean, fluid hybrid that has found an audience not only among fans of dubstep, but anyone drawn to fresh and innovative club music. His 2562 album ?Aerial? was released in 2008 by Pinch?s Tectonic Label, and regarded by many critics as one of the albums of the year. As Boomkat wrote: ?This album follows in the massively revered tradition of dub experimentation and rhythm science laid down in the lineage stretching from Lee Perry through King Tubby, Scientist, Steve Gurley, Dillinja, Photek, Rhythm & Sound, Kode 9 and Burial.? Huismans also releases deep house and techno influences tracks under the alias A Made Up Sound.
Untold is Jack Dunning, described by Fact Magazine as the ?dubstep producer of the year?, for a trademark sound fusing garage, techno and UK funky with percussion and bass stabs. Releasing a succession of left field 12″?s on Hessle Audio and Scuba?s Hotflush, he also runs his own label, Hemlock. In 2009, Untold?s reputation as an innovator has exploded, for creating tracks that throw the rulebook out the window to create their own sound. Pitchfork wrote in June that Untold is bringing a vitality to dubstep in 2009, by using ?the limits of his imagination?, drawing from a sound palate that includes chirps, sub bass, plastic sounds made on a Casio keyboard and even elephant snorts. Boomkat called him ?the most talked about underground producer in the UK right now?.
TRG is causing a stir. Known in the bass-heavy music scene, electronic music communities around the world who share a passion for fresh new sounds will soon know the addictive grooves of 28-year-old Romanian producer Cosmin Nicolae. His first 12″ on Hessle Audio garnered the attention of BBC Radio 1’s Mary Anne Hobbs among others, and labels soon got on his case. TRG has been active in nurturing the electronic music scene in Bucharest since he relocated there in 2000. Influenced by classical, jazz and disco as a child, and son of a single mother, Cosmin has a fire inside that gave him the gumption for forward thinking electronic music in an environment where there was none. With several manuscripts under his belt by the age of 15, TRG was ready to play mega raves within a year of beginning his first DJ night. Bass Mutations is TRG?s North American debut.
Before New Yorker Drew Lustman began releasing music on UK labels Ramp and Planet Mu, he built up a small catalogue on US independents Unfun, fizx-recordings and Napalm Enema Records. Lustman’s first record as Falty DL was the jungle inspired Beat Lumber EP (Unfun 2007). Raised in New Haven, Connecticut, Drew was influenced by Aphex Twin and Squarepusher and had an early start with music as a child, He played upright and electric bass in the jazz quartet, Luggage, straight out of high school. On moving to Manhattan, Lustman started going to dubstep nights and was inspired by jungle, disco, and New York garage and house. After his jungle inspired releases on Berkley-based Unfun records in 2007, Lustman sent countless “crazy jungle” demos to Mike Paradinas, head of Planet Mu. He finally struck gold when Paradinas picked up the first track of his debut album, Human Meadow. The experimental-dubstep album “Love is a Liability” was released in 2009.
Pavel Ambiont is a producer of dub techno living east of Poland in Belarus. Long releasing his solo work on Internet labels, in 2008 he collaborated with Bristol producer Pinch during the Unsound project ?Connections?. This resulted in the track ?Poison / Remedy?, included on the project compilation compiled by scape Records and Unsound.
Dave Q is the founder and resident DJ of Dub War NYC, the US’s original dubstep party. He has played at London’s seminal DMZ night and many of the leading dubstep events around the US. Along with fellow Dub War residents Joe Nice, Juakali, and Incyde, DQ has been at the forefront of the fast-growing scene from day one. His sets are uncompromising in exploring new directions for the sound, and feature the most sought after dubplates from the scene’s top producers. His new label, The Index, is a collaboration with NYC producer Badawi, and launches in early 2010.
Konque is a music project and record label helmed by Sasha Kaline and David Last. Strange jacking tracks for dirty basements, or sometimes, just pure sound. Konque embodies a more electroacoustic side than Kaline’s Alka_Rex project, and a stranger palette than David’s usual wobbly funk tracks. They share interests in tape music, modern classical, asian percussion music, as well as dub reggae and ska; these influences are clearly present but not obvious. The textures they choose are meant to evoke images, and they have started developing the sounds simultaneously with animation. Separately, Sasha has released with Musique Risquee, Thema and Mille Plateaux, and David has released with Staubgold, The Agriculture, and Foundsound. As Konque they release on their own label Konque. Recently other artists such as Ezekiel Honig, Pheek and Morgan Packard have joined them.
Sepalcure’s combination of love for bass and 90s house acapellas is the culmination of a cathartic two week collaboration between Machinedrum and Praveen. Their mix of tribal dub, house and two step beats works equally well for both late nights in the club and rainy, introspective nights at home. Detroit techno chords cut through wooden beats, neon synths and dubbed out atmospherics. Future lovestep. Based in Brooklyn, NY, the two run the Cassette NYC series of events as well as the curated and user contributed mix archive, PercussionLab.Com. Integral to the thriving bass music scene in NYC, the past 5 years have seen Praveen and Machinedrum inviting artists such as Flying Lotus, Daedelus, David Last and Ghislain Poirier to perform alongside local favorites. Their own past releases featuring artists such as Theophilus London and Beno?t Pioulard reveal an artistic breadth unusual for the majority of genre-trapped electronic musicians today.