Its time for another exclusive! Blasted is a hard track with all of the ingredients I like in my techno. Groovy kicks, crispy hats, dark metalic samples and vocal stabs. If you remember the track Dirty Yellow (covered here a few weeks ago) the shuffled hi-hat should sound familiar, very likely since its was sampled right from it! Blasted also has a nice breakdown mid-way through the track which features the Enigma effect from the awesome Waves collection.
Tag: 2003
Not sure what I can say about this one. Its a weird, barely finished concoction from ’03. Aside from mangled beats it also features a few samples from John Cage’s Prepared Piano. The plan was to put those to better use at some point, but that still hasn’t happened.
If the title makes no sense to you, that makes two of us. Otherwise, fill me in. Either way, I hope you enjoy.
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).
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.
This just might be the biggest Dopevector release yet(!), and I’m thrilled to make it available in source format. Overtone is a remix of a track by the same name, but since I like it so much better than the original, it basically won over the title. The track was scheduled for release on the (awesome) Canadian techno label Ascend Recordings, however for one reason or another it never came out. Ascend hasn’t had a release in a few years and it appears that the label is no longer around which is too bad since I really liked its sound and have a bunch of the releases on vinyl.
In any case, Overtone remains one of my all time favorites and is likely my most satisfying production effort. What separates it in my mind is emphasis on the second beat which gives it an interesting rhythm shuffle. Rather than setting the tone of the track, the beat on this one serves the main theme and follows it closely. Obviously, the key element (preserved from the original) is the massive distorted riff, thickened by a sub level bass. These, and other synth sounds were played by a combination of the Access Virus B, and Native Instruments’ Reaktor software. Drums were played on the NI Battery drum sampler and dirtied up with the usual suspects.
(Btw, I’ll likely post the original version at some point in the future, so if you dig it do come back for more.)
Anathema was released on Gotham Grooves in 2005 on the Various Villains: Volume 2 record, which also featured tracks by Agent Orange, Adam Jay and Noah Pred. As mentioned in the previous post on Sativa, the two tracks are closely related and follow a similar sound pattern. The second of the two, Anathema is the more mature. For more production details, please check out the post on Sativa.
I was fortunate to have a release on Gotham Grooves’ first Various Villains record as well, which featured a track called Directive. We’ll cover that one here as well at some point.
Btw, while this was a Montaz production, it ended up on the release under the Alek Biotic handle. But, who cares… after all, BeatPort also misspelled “Villains”. But the player below is nice.
I’m also including our own player so you can hear the track in its entirety and in higher quality. But no download this time since its available at BeatPort.
Rough Cut is a hard techno track with a driving motive and thick groove. What I always liked about it is that it “grew” organically, much on its own with me just adding some water, so to speak. Much of the filtering was performed live and the final mix was initially considered the rough cut, which explains the title.
Due to the fast pace of music technology and the global reach and influence of dance music, many tracks quickly become characteristic of a specific time-frame (a polite way to call them “dated”), but I’d like to think that this one spans generations. Whatever,… enough metaphors. Here it is – another exclusive, and available in WAV and MP3 formats.
Download: Rough Cut (mp3)Download: Rough Cut (wav)
Rough Cut is a hard techno track with a driving motive and thick groove. What I always liked about it is that it evolved organically, much on its own with me just adding some water, so to speak, here and there. Much of the filtering was performed live and the final mix was initially considered the rough cut, which explains the title.
Due to the fast pace of music technology and the global reach and influence of dance music, many track quickly become characteristic of a specific timeframe, but I’d like to think that this one spans “generasions”. Whatever,… enough metaphores. Here it is – another exclusive, available in MP3 and WAV.
Vanilla String was released on DJ Becka‘s Gotham City Records label in 2006. The release, titled Departure EP, also featured tracks by Mark Verbos, Dan Physics as well as Becka and Agent Orange. A diverse set of tracks, Departure defined the sound of then new GCR label whose repertoire continues to evolve.
Vanilla String itself is an unusual track. It basic idea sort of caught me by surprise and seemed a good opportunity to experiment so I didn’t hold back. The result is a heavily mangled jam with wicked beats, heavily processed samples and a prickly riff which itself undergoes a transformation through Waves’ Enigma filter (if memory serves me right).
No download links since the track (the entire release, actually) can be purchased from BeatPort. Go get it!
And just in case the Beatport player doesn’t let you hear the entire track, its here:
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