Tag: 2002 (page 2 of 2)

Decoy

decoyIn the short list of my most favorite techno labels has to be Luxus, a short lived German imprint known for intelligent arrangements built on crispy, groovy beats and superbly put together.  A few records by Plasmatics and Lower Level released on this label were frequently heard in my mixes, as well as of other New York based techno DJs including my boys DJ Eleven and Preston Space.

I bring up this label here since its sound, and the sound of Plasmatics and Lower Level in particular, was the inspiration for the track Decoy, available for download here.  Decoy is another personal favorite – a raw, loopy track with a tribal feel and a thick revolving bass laid over polished drum sounds.  The bass was (once again) played through the Virus B synth and processed with the RNC 1773 compressor.  The sound is deep enough to sit alongside the kick drum even without side-chaining and ducking, though this technique could have perhaps given the track more of a pump.  But it rolls nicely without it and the spotlight is on the sounds in the top end, of which the core is the highly compressed clap.  I used this sample on a few tracks and, if I remember correctly, it came from a Luxus record!  Aside from the percussion samples, present are a couple of other classic Techno elements – the TR909 snare drum and ride cymbal.

Download: Decoy (mp3)Download: Decoy (wav)

Exclusive: Battery

Produced 6 years ago (almost to the day), Battery is an alternate version of Alkaline, a track released in 2003 on one of New York’s premier techno labels: Gotham Grooves. Alkaline was a B-side on the Funk Matter EP, which featured remixes of the title track by Agent Orange and Valentino Kanzyani and will be covered here more directly later, but for now we’ll just focus on the Alkaline‘s gentler sibling.

Unlike the released version which has a darker, mangled vibe, Battery is a funkier jam with a free style bassline. Until now, only a couple of select few DJs had access to this rare mix. Now you do too.

Download: Battery (mp3)Download: Battery (wav)

Btw, you can hear and even Download Alkaline and Funk Matter on BeatPort!

Ghost

Produced ages ago, Ghost is the first officially signed Alek Biotic track! It appeared on the German label Bazooka 10‘s first release, oddly titled Erectional Thoughts. A sublabel of Hadshot (one of the first and most respected psy-trance labels), Bazooka 10 offered a different sound and to kick things off the label’s founder, Israeli DJ Yaniv Tal, assembled this compilation.  The album was available on both vinyl and CD and featured a variety of international artists including Cortex Thrill.

My discography with Bazooka 10 would include two follow-up EPs, but Ghost still stands out as it was the first ever signed record deal.

Ghost was inspired by the industrial sound of acts like Nine Inch Nails as well as a few popular Underworld tracks from the period. It was arranged using the Akai MPC2000 workstation and recorded to DAT. All of the sounds (drums, synths, samples) were played through the Nord Lead keyboard and the Quasimidi Polymorph module, and no loops were used. Ghost is a personal favorite and I’ve wanted to do a remix of it for a long time, however having sold most of the gear used to produce it and left with just the summed master the effort of recreating it from scratch didn’t seem particularly appealing. Maybe someday…

Lastly, this is the first track featured on trak.fm which has been previously released.  So, no WAV download available, but you can get yourself a copy of the full album at online stores like Psyshop.com.

Download: Ghost (mp3)

Goliath (part 1)

Goliath is a tech-trance jam from 2002.   The title comes from the sample used in it, taken from the 1997 Sci-fi flick Event Horizon.  If you haven’t seen this movie and you’re into the genre I recommend it, though Sam Neill’s annoying character (and his lame lines) ruined the ending for me.

I am generally not a fan of sampling stuff from movies, but I made an exception here since the track was inspired by the movie and the line (delivered by Laurence Fishburne) fit the bill.  The sound of thunder in the background also came from the movie and I always wondered what it was doing there since (unless the thunder was somehow on the space ship) it wouldn’t have been heard in space.  Hollywood… whatever.

Another interesting production note is that the bass is not played by a synth but is a heavily filtered sample of an Autechre track Rae from LP5, a sick album which I was heavily into around this time.  Rae remains one of my Autechre faves.

Initially, the track was not a Part anything.  It was just a track of its own.  But a few months later I wrote a different track based largely on it (sans the Fishbourne sample) and that became Part 2, making this one its prequel.  Look for the follow-up here in the future.

Download: Goliath [part 1] (mp3)Download: Goliath [part 1] (wav)

Clusterfuck

We’re going back to 2002 for this one.  Clusterfuck was (and still is) a personal favorite but it never made it out, until now.   The track is very raw and is based on a couple of rusty drum samples and a simple synth riff produced by the amazing Virus B synth.  That riff always reminded me of Pink Floyd’s “On The Run” which featured the impossible to find (or afford) EMS VCS 3.

studio_2002

Also heard on the track is the Nord Lead 2 keyboard which supplied the underlying bass sound.  The drums and the main line are all sample-based and played through the Akai S5000 sampler.  (The photo shows the studio setup from this period.  Seen in the upper right of the photo is the tiny 12 channel Mackie analog mixer which is one of the best sounding mixers I’ve ever used.)

Like many other producers, I’ve since moved on to a predominantly software-based setup, but Steinberg’s Nuendo software used to arrange and record the track is still in use, although upgraded to a more recent version.

Download: Clusterfuck (mp3)Download: Clusterfuck (wav)

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