January 23, 2004
Let's go deep
The talented and forever glamorous Cassie (here pictured performing alongside Akufen, Ricardo Villalobos, and Luciano at MUTEK Chile) spent a good 10 minutes that morning raving about some forthcoming material from Baby Ford and Thomas Melchior that's supposedly going to flip our collective noggin six ways from Sunday. As chance would have it, lately I've logged more than a few hours revisiting Melchior's early project Yoni on Source Germany. Yoni, the duo of Melchior and Tim Hutton, is better known as Vulva, but for my money nothing Vulva did ever managed to top Yoni's lone album and single (no disrespect to Rephlex, who put out most of Vulva's work). My Little Yoni -- with a title as vaginally obsessed as their pussyfooting four-to-the-floor always was -- was one of the first "techno" albums to grab me. In fact, it may have been the very first; when I bought it in 1994, the only electronic music I listened to at the time was Aphex Twin, Autechre, and the like. Stuck in my punk-rock prejudices, I hated anything with a discernible dancefloor beat. And then I heard Yoni.
To this day I can't figure out why Yoni hit me while so much other techno still didn't. At the time, I had a bizarre aversion to handclaps in drum machine patterns. It was a twofold complaint: I didn't like their simulacral sound, but beyond that, I hated the very way they signified. Handclaps, to my mind, represented the root of the participatory experience, and their mimicry seemed not just hollow but patently false. Yoni's tunes are pocked with handclaps, but their usage -- strung into rapid-fire, staccato sequences, swathed in delay -- is so very over the top that all my puritan objections fell away and left me gaping in awe at the very post-humanism of it.
From the very first bars, My Little Yoni dares you not to engage with it; the opening kick drums and bass line of "Creepy Bitch" poke you in the sternum as though commanding your pulse to step in line. Meanwhile, a hissing acid arpeggio peels off frequencies that could send dogs into convulsions. It's as though the duo were planting flags at each end of the audible spectrum and saying, "This is ours and we are your conquerors." Owned by tone, you comply.
They're not just lords of frequency, though. Every aspect of My Little Yoni rings out with a triumphant cry, from the hypercharged syncopations and manic dub bass of "Black Forest" to the bafflingly broad timbral array of "Spirit of Adventure," which pulls together dry, scabby drum patterns, liquid squelches, breezy pads, and spine-tingling, metallic effects. Every bar is a lesson in sensory overload.
Later, much later, I'd learn concepts and find words -- acid, Detroit, techno -- to lend meaning and context where at first I heard only dub bass and an unnameable explosion of organized sound. But all the knowledge hasn't diminished the radical strangeness of the record for me. Every time I put it on, it sounds like a universe cracking open and every last shred of meaning bleeding off, drop after mercurial drop.
Posted by philip at January 23, 2004 03:38 PMI do know that there is a couple things coming from Thomas "Melchior Productions" Melchior on Playhouse this spring. In april there is a single and in may there is an album entitled "The Meaning" I am not sure if Peter "Baby" Ford is involved, but it would be a grand surprise if he was. Two great producers in one melting pot would equal sure brilliance, just like Villalobos and Nicolet put together as Sense Club. We shall have to wait and see, but I assure you that 2004 has a LOT of goodies coming from Playhouse (and many other labels...such as Perlon...hint hint *Minimal Man* hint hint). Keep 'em peeled.
Posted by: Jesse Somfay at January 23, 2004 07:53 PMMinimal Man? Baby Ford project? C'mon, more hints please... and here I thought I was tapped into the Perlon pipeline....
Posted by: philip at January 27, 2004 01:30 AMI'll waste no time then, here is a list of goodies that will be sure to carress your eardrums (these come out inbetween the present and summer 2004): Fym - Say No To Primate Research Labs! (Telegraph), Monobox [Robert Hood] - Molecule Remixes Vol. 1-4 (Logistic) These 4 EPs are released seperately and are then compiled on cd [the remixers include Pantytec, Ricardo Villalobos, Matthew Dear, Akufen, Ultrakurt, Substance, Circus Crew and more], John Thomas - t.b.a. CD/LP (Logistic), Various - Post Office 2 CD/LP/12" [with Ben Nevile, Sety, Fym & Diane, Ark, Ricardo Villalobos, Cabanne, Spasm, Luciano, Ultrakurt, Dandy Jack, Vlock44] (Telegraph), Ben Nevile - t.b.a. CD/LP (Telegraph), Daniel Bell - Blip, Blurp, Bleep Remixes CD/LP [mixes by Ricardo Villalobos, Dimbiman, Akufen, Richie Hawtin, Cabanne, Losoul, Ark, Fym, John Tejada] (Logistic), Pan/Tone - Newfound Urban Calm 2xCD (BiP_HOp), Pan/Tone
Breakfest included LP + 2 e.p. (Onitor), Pan/Tone
Unsubscribe e.p., (Sub-Static), Supposedly there is a new Akufen LP expected later this year, Benny Blanko Homestyle 4 EP and Homestyle Album (Playhouse), Melchior Productions EP and Album (Playhouse), Famous When Dead Vol 3 (Playhouse) the vinyl version includes an isolee remix of villalobos' what you say is more than I can say, Spektrum 'Enter the Spektrum' LP and Interference remix ep (Playhouse), Cabanne EP (Telegraph), Ultrakurt EP (Telegraph), Kalabrese Chicken Fried Rice (Perlon), All that new stuff from Luciano [Blind Behaviour Album, Alain Brito 12" feat. Ricardo Villalobos (I've heard clips, it's VERY good), the new Cadenza with Pierre Bucci, Cadenza 04 with Dandy Jack...], Quenum EP (Cadenza, the 3rd release), Matthew Dear Anger Mgt. (Spectral), Lusine Flat Remixes [incl. Dimbiman](Ghostly), Random Factor Convergence Album and Remix EPs [Remixers incl. Swayzak, Ricardo Villalobos, John Tejada, DJ T, etc.] (2020 Vision), A release on Found Sound Records from yours truly ;), an album from dB on Background, some neat bits from morris audio, a few new things from karloff (substatic sublabel)...and that pretty much covers a fair bit of flavourful upcoming releases :) (You must be drooling like mad now, I know I am ;)
Hallo !!!!
Great Homepage!
can we expect more pics from sense club
or other artists that have performed live
at this years micro mutek in chile???
looking forward....best regards
Patrick
Holy mother!!! Thanks for posting all that!
I CANNOT wait for that Luciano LP to drop.
Posted by: Philippe at January 28, 2004 01:23 PM