Category: Techno House (page 1 of 2)

Nastee Stuff

Nastee Stuff is a funky techno jam with a thick bass line, a quality it shares with a few previously covered tracks including Overtone.  About 4 minutes into the track the bass riff is stripped down but the beat is augmented with lots of percussion.  I’ve contemplated making that break more dominant in the track since it was more along the lines of material I would play when DJing, but ended up preserving the original format of the track.

While the track is over 6 years old, it was never aggressively shopped and therefore never released. So here it goes. Let me know if you want the original (.wav) version and I’ll get you a copy.

By the way, the title is a quote occasionally used by Walt “Clyde” Fraizer when calling Knicks games. If I remember correctly the last Knick to stuff nastily would have to be Latrell Spreewell, so he deserves partial title credit.


Download: Nastee Stuff (mp3)

Mantra

Released in 2002, Mantra appeared on one of the first Made On Earth compilations released by Bush Records.  As Bush was one of my favorite labels at the time having the track picked up by Eric Powell (label owner) was a real treat.  Alongside Mantra were productions by Sean Colt and DJ Kruze, another bonus.

Mantra itself is a raw, loopy track inspired by one of my favorite producers, DJ CZR.  In fact, if I remember correctly, a part of the beat was sampled from a DJ CZR record.

As it turns out I can’t for the life of me find the original digital file of this track.  Its either buried somewhere on some disc, or maybe exists on a DAT someplace.  What I do have is a CD with it which has since become almost unplayable and is the reason you may hear some digital crackle on the MP3 link below. (And yes, I do have a few vinyl copies of the record, but the decks are not accessible at the moment and the busted CD was the best available option for this post.)

Exclusive: Balkan Express

Balkan Express is a 2002 effort with a driving groove which earns it its name. The track has a very clean, unprocessed quality and would probably benefit from either further post-production or just plain old loudness(!), so keep that in mind when listening.

High quality wav is once again available.  Enjoy.

Download: Balkan Express (mp3)Download: Balkan Express (wav)

Barrel Bottom

barrelBottom

Barrel Bottom is a fun track that took a while to get to sound right, and I’m still not totally happy with the final cut. However, the groovy beat and catchy synth riff earned it a spot on an Alek Biotic record released on the French ExtraBall label and featuring three other tracks including the title track: Idiom. (See cover on left).

idiom

The voice sample used in Barrel Bottom is by Alex Peace and was pulled off a Subliminal release by CZR & ITO titled Bringin’ The Funk. Chicago based producer and DJ,  CZR is probably my favorite house producer and while I haven’t kept up with his recent releases I used to buy his vinyl without even listening to it first, knowing that the production and grooves would always stand out above the rest.

Samples from Alex Peace’s accappella on Bringin’ The Funk record also ended up in a few Biotic tracks. I’ll try to point them out as we go forward.

Back to Barrel Bottom. Again, no download links since this record is available for sale, for example here.

Middleman

Middleman appeared on Bazooka10 label’s first EP, along with the title track: G-Lock.  If this label sounds familiar, its because another Biotic track (Ghost, covered here already) appeared on a Bazooka10 compilation as well.

alek-biotic-g-lock-ep-baz01The track itself is a pretty early work (#21 in fact) and was produced in 2001. While the raw production shows both its age and its adventurousness, there is a certain quality about it that I’ve always liked.  So much so, that the string sounds and synth arrangements make it a candidate for a remix in the future.

While this wasn’t the first ever Biotic release (Ghost would be it), this was the first non Various Artists release available on vinyl.  The photo above shows its label, along with the name misspelling on it.  And no, the mislabels wouldn’t stop there. Future Alek Biotic releases would contain mis-named or mixed up tracks, even the artist name.  But seriously… who cares?

Download: Middleman (mp3)

The Culprit

The Culprit is a circa 2003, loopy, funky techno jam inspired by the sounds of Joey Beltram and DJ CZR.  A few labels nearly picked this one up, but at the time I had no other productions which would make good record companions, so for that and probably other random reasons it never made it out.  Its loop-based structure makes it fun to play and useful DJ tool, so I’m making it available here, in original wave format.

Almost entirely sample based (I believe the only played part was the bass) its got a retro vibe dominated by the thick, filtered groove. Have a listen and download it below.

Download: The Culprit (mp3)Download: The Culprit (wav)

Alek Biotic Delivers a Brand New Live Mix: Present Day

In case you haven’t noticed, for the first time that the Production and Posted On dates are the same. That can mean only one thing. A brand, spankin’ new release! That’s right. Read on and check it out.

Compiling, mixing and recording sets can be a long and exhaustive process. But as a live mix, I really thought that this one would be done quickly.

Wrong.

Endless last minute track substitutions and additions, re-takes, multiple mastering attempts (each separated by careful review of the entire 80 minute set on different speakers and headphones) all stood in the way of the final recording.  But all that is behind us now. I’m thrilled to have this set finally perfected and available to you. Get ready for: Present Day.

While it’s precedent, The Hook Up Service, was your summer pool party mash-up stacked with funky, up-beat grooves, Present Day is a focused and dark live set featuring the latest releases by techno artists spanning the globe; from places like Argentina, U.S.(Texas and Minnesota), Ireland, France, Germany, Slovenia, all the way to Japan.

Mixed live using the incredible Vestax VCM 600 controller and Ableton’s Live software, Present Day is a vintage Alek Biotic live set, updated to present day repertoire and technology.

So, turn up the volume, hit play and enjoy. Track list will be posted here soon. Comments are always welcome.

Download: Present Day (mp3)

Track List:
Minimorph – Marrakech
OTP, David K, Jerome Pacman – Out Of Phase
Makotrax – What a Fxxxing (Side B Katana Remix)
Phase – Subraum-Omen
Dollkraut – Cheveux Noir
Lemos – Jo The Monster (Agaric Remix)
Wolfgang Gartner – Latin Fever
Solead – Les Capitales
D. Diggler – Bipolar 3.0
Phil Kieran – Past The Present Future
Recilod – Softrum (D. Diggler Remix)
Cari Lekebusch – Spindizzy
Umek – Work This Data
A.Mochi – Black Out
Sasha Carassi & Gianluca Luisi – Homer (Dustin Zahn Remix)
Phil Kieran – Never Ending Mountain
Kalon – Haiku (Female Remix)
Pfirter – De a Poco
Secret Cinema – Jazz Me

Btw, if you like Present Day, be sure to also check out Stereohype which has a similar vibe.

Incognito

Incognito is an old housey track.  It was produced in 2002 and almost got released on New York’s Gotham Grooves label shortly after the release of Funk Matter EP (which came up a couple of months ago in this post), but I forget why it never made it out.  The artwork on the left was being considered as well at the time.

Anyhow, much like Funk Matter, Incognito is a sample-based, up-tempo jam and features some nice bells in the background. Wav download is provided.

Exclusive:< For the first time on on this blog (if my memory serves me right), I’m posting a few key samples used on a track so you can mess with them, if you’d like:

Download: Incognito Bassline (wav)Download: Incognito Guitar Loop (wav)

If you just want to listen to or download the track these links are for you:

Download: Incognito (mp3)Download: Incognito (wav)

Alek Biotic Presents: Stereohype

Stereohype a techno house set from 2006, heavily induced with funky and tribal grooves.  It was the last live set recorded with vinyl as the source.  As you probably know, the volume of vinyl records varies from one to the next as does the balance of the (left/right) channels.  To make things even more problematic, turntables, needles, cables, mixers, etc. all join the effort of making sound of mixed sets unbalanced and uneven, and making it that much more difficult for the DJ to achieve a tight blend.  While that’s always a part of the challenge (and the fun), getting an even mix became a central focus of this recording and I did a few takes before getting something I was happy with.  I’ll admit that some volume/balance adjustments were made during mastering and I think they really helped.

The problem described above are main reasons why I switched to DJ products like Traktor Scratch, Serato and Ableton Live – all of which are based on audio files played from the computer which minimizes the stereo problems to some degree and allows for more (visual as well as aural) control over the sound of each track.

On to the mix itself…

Its probably one of my most favorite mixes and the response has been very positive.  Many of the tracks on it were frequently in rotation and got lots of play time at the Frying Pan, Liquids and other NYC venues around this time. Heavily featured is the artist Hertz, whose Alone & By Myself is a classic and comes in around the 19th minute.  Another big-time track from the period is Joris Voorn‘s Incident. (As I look back at the track list, I want to mention each of the tracks as they are all amazing but I’ll highlight just a couple of more here.)  Tobias Van Hofsten‘s Afterhours is one of those massive tracks with a huge driving bassline.  Memory Lane (better knownw as Tomie Nevada) who could do no wrong delivers easily one of my most favorite techno house tracks of all time – Untitled 4a – whose driving raw elements make my head spin (pleasantly, that is) every time I hear it.  Lastly, Stereohype is the only mix I ever recorded which features one of my own productions, Idiom, released on the French label ExtraBall in 2004 (around 48th minute of the mix).

Download: Stereohype (mp3)

Track List:
Blueface – Nan In
Mario Lenzi – The Loop of Love
Memory Lane – 4a
Samuel L. Session – Less
Hertz – Phonk
Memory Lane – 4b2
Hertz – Alone & By Myself
Deetron – Don’t You Know Why? (Edit 9000)
Patrick Dubois – Another Track (Southsoniks Remix)
Joris Voorn – Incident
Frank Biazzi – Reflections
Unknown – Expression Sessions 004
Cave – Paseo (Hertz Remix)
Alek Biotic – Idiom
Marco Carola – Question 7b1
Bad Pimps – Get On Up!
Tobias Van Hofsten – Afterhours
Marco Carola – Question 7b2
Hertz – Work It (remix)
Nico Awtsventin – Aurelon
Hertz – Progress

Untitled

I’m being perfectly honest when I tell you that I don’t remember when this track was produced or even that it was. I came across it on an old CD of my productions and it was (and remains) unmarked. So here it is, a rare untitled track and I must say that I don’t dislike it. Its a raw track that sort of resembles Clusterfuck and Fake House, both of which were featured here recently.

Download: Untitled (mp3)Download: Untitled (wav)

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