Vessels @ Sound Control, 07.11.13

Overcoming the winter sickness that seems to have been enveloping the North West in recent months, From the Kites of San Quentin presented their trademark, harmonious yet unnerving juxtaposition of sounds. With their sub-bass rattling all fixtures and fittings of Sound Control, they fuse end of the world rave sirens with the delicately manipulated vocals of Alison Carney.

There is an undeniable humanism to their music and a ludicrous level of mechanical dexterity from their primary beat-maker Blood Boy. That said, there’s plenty of headroom for progression for a band that could perhaps progress their sound even further and benefit from stripping things back to their bare minimum. Following a few singles and EPs, From the Kites of San Quentin have a debut LP due out on the new Victoria Warehouse Records imprint next year, so we’ll find out what direction their sound takes for that.

Having previously become acquainted with the music of Vessels through their superb cover of Nathan Fake’s ‘The Sky Was Pink’, their evolution from a synthesized post-rock ensemble to something resembling a live, contemporary techno sound was confirmed when faced with a back line resembling the deck of the Starship Enterprise, truly a synthesiser enthusiast’s wet dream. Shades of early Vitalic and Modeselektor were at times present, but Vessels really come into their own when they exceed all contemporary influences, like a house band on Mars riffing out alien love songs.

In a world where techno producers seem to spend more and more of their lives striving for the most organic, human principles of sound, Vessels have superbly embodied these elements of live bass, drums and shakers into their performance with ease and poise, and for this reason they remain as exciting a live prospect as you will come across, this year or next.

Words: Dan Coultas

Interview: Plyci

Our next headliner at Antwerp Mansion will be Welsh electronic music whizz Plyci, with live music support coming from Borland and Swansong and intervals filled by DJ sets courtesy of From the Kites of San Quentin’s Blood Boy and ERRrr.

Plyci, along with his label Peski Records, has been championed by BBC Introducing DJ Huw Stephens and refuses to be pigeonholed into one area of electronic music having shifted through, in his own words, “synth pop, glitch, ambient, electro, techno and IDM”.

Now Then fires some questions in his direction about that, his forthcoming EP and Welsh music generally.


Now Then: How did the involvement with Peski Records begin? You have an EP planned for release via the label – when can we expect this?

Plyci: Well me and Peski go back about 5 years now, I was asked to join Rhys Edwards in his Jakokoyak project which he released through the label; I handled all the live electronics at his gigs. We always spoke about releasing a Plyci EP on the label and now it's finally happening. We've finished the artwork and everything's ready to go so it should appear very soon.

NT: You’ve remixed tunes by your Peski labelmates; how do you choose which direction to go with your remixes? Are there any more in the pipeline?

Plyci: With remixes they tend to just happen, I never have a definite plan as to which direction to take. I begin with just the raw audio and see where it takes me. I can't really think of any remix I've done where I knew exactly what outcome I wanted, they’re very spontaneous.

NT: Aside from being part-based in Manchester, Peski has strong Welsh connections – where you’re also originally from. Do you think it’s important to keep the Welsh language alive in non-Welsh speakers’ minds through the medium of music? Which other Welsh-speaking artists would you recommend, in electronic music or otherwise?

Plyci: There's a great sense of identity among Welsh people, it's very obvious among Welsh musicians especially. My music is instrumental therefore has no language so in order to give it an identity I used Welsh words for song titles sometimes and reference various Welsh establishments along the way. In terms of Welsh artists there are some great acts such as Crash.Disco, Ifan Dafydd, Y Niwl, VVolves among others. There really is a lot of ace music in Wales; the scene in Cardiff is full of great bands!

NT: How did you choose the Plyci alias?

Plyci: I made the word up, it doesn't exist is Welsh but does in English as 'plucky'. I've never really liked it but it stuck so I kept it.

NT: What urges you to sit down and write music? And what is it that draws you to electronic music? Do you think you’ll settle on any one style?

Plyci: I really love the process of creating something from nothing. I could quite happily make music all day if I could. I’m initially drawn to electronic music because you have endless possibilities in terms of sounds. There is no limit. Over the years my style has changed, I started with broken beats and moved through synth pop, glitch, ambient, electro, techno and IDM and probably won't settle on any one. I create sounds that suit my mood at the time, what I'm listening to and other things I'm into. I see influence in a lot of different places.

NT: What do you have planned for Plyci’s future?

Plyci: I want to take Italo disco to North Korea! If I can't I'll just keep on producing and promoting my work, keep busy and hopefully create some sounds that people enjoy listening to. After releasing the EP I hope to start an album, we'll see.


Interview: Ian Pennington
Images: Courtesy of Plyci & Peski Records
Flyer design: Hattie Lockwood

Plyci headlines Antwerp Mansion on Thursday 26th April. Support comes from Borland (whose recent Islington Mill performance is described here) and Swansong (whose performance at Gulliver’s last year is reviewed here). Blood Boy and ERRrr take to the decks between performances. Pay what you like; £3 suggested.

Interview: Veí

Jonn Dean has been a constantly shifting musical experimenter during his time recording and performing music from a Manchester hub. An electronica project took the backseat while he played keyboards with local alt-rock group Kin, but since they disbanded Veí has moved to the fore.

The name itself is curious enough without introduction to the open-minded approach to musical composition lying beyond. Even the name ‘Veí’ has evolved during its lifespan, as Dean explains. “I started working on my own material whilst I was still playing keys for Kin, but I was quite keen to start writing with someone else rather than it remain a solo project. I worked on a few tracks initially with Paul Mckie (formerly of From the Kites of San Quentin) and I was trying to think of a suitable name for the collaboration. As we lived opposite one another at the time I thought it would be interesting to see whether the word 'neighbours' had a quirky ring to it when translated into another language. The Catalan word for neighbours is 'Veïns' which I loved instantly and we stuck with that.”

He continues: “When Paul became busier with Kites and wasn't available to continue with the project, I was curious to know what the singular of Veïns would be, so Veí was born. The notions of producing electronic music and writing and performing under a pseudonym have always felt synonymous to me, especially given my influences, and I enjoy the association with the actual meaning of the word – everyone is someone's neighbour.”

His tracks have been included on compilations and a debut digital EP, Thank You For Talking, was supported by forward-thinking music collective Mind On Fire. It could be said that recorded music is all about capturing a moment to be repeated as an exact copy; a live show is about recreation of that in person. Veí has until recently struggled with this dichotomy and there were always issues with preserving his improvised live show as a recording, given that reproducing the same song was a rare occurrence. That EP now remains distinctly in the past as Dean has adapted his live show by trimming down the wealth of flashing LEDs and bulky hardware at his disposal in favour of a simpler – and easier to control – laptop-based set-up. “I love improvised music and the processes associated with it,” he states, “but I personally feel that in the long run there is only so far you can take it.”

There was also only so far he could go in the eyes of local promoters. Veí’s name would often adorn posters as a warm-up act, meaning that only the early birds into any show would see his set. Given his proclivity towards ambient orchestral arrangements and only small remnants of recognisable individual songs, it was not surprising that he would precede more uptempo acts. Nowadays, tracks are still modified onstage, but the level of control is higher with a more stable groundwork laid.

He admits that the equipment progression has afforded him more freedom then before and has in turn affected the recreation of tracks for an audience. “My old live setup was primarily based around limitation. With the set-up I put together it meant that there were things that I couldn't do easily, but that in turn forced me to be creative and think of ways around those shortcomings and also focus on the things that I could do well with it.”

“Instead of improvising and creating tracks on the spot I've been focussing more on writing and production values from the outset of a track. I'm still experimenting of course, but I feel that now I can capture that experimentation before anyone else hears it and add it into my work, rather than getting lost in the moment of an improvised show and not being able to recreate it.”

It was a Now Then Manchester gig in December 2011 that became the first road test for that new, less improvised set using laptop software, supporting thebrokendoor and Jason Singh at a show, ironically, focussing on improvised and semi-rehearsed musical accompaniment to previously selected films. Although uncertain at first, he can reflect on having made the right move. “I felt at first as though I had abandoned my roots to an extent, but the tracks were really well received and I felt like I had definitely made the right decision.” His selection was a walkthrough for the Limbo computer game and the differentiation from the rest of the show in terms of improvisation mattered little, as Branching Dialogue’s reviewer afterwards expressed “an urgent need to buy the game and to see every gig Veí does from here on out”.

There will be another opportunity to witness that particular show, as he will perform to the same video clip for the Soundtracks From The Other City stage at this year's Sounds From The Other City festival in Salford. As no stranger to cinematic and musical cohesion, he will also take on the final segment of a combined re-soundtracking of 1980s sci-fi film Dark Star at Dulcimer bar on Sunday 22nd April, with his set following instalments by Christopher William Anderson and Yes Blythe.

The switch was in part due to an affiliation with the new Baptists & Bootleggers label, which provided the platform for his new production ideas. “I had been thinking about switching from improvisational shows to writing some actual tracks for a few months anyway,” says Dean. “But when B&B asked me to do the EP I thought that would be an ideal opportunity to make the transition.” His physical self-titled EP launch at the start of 2012 was a part of the launch of the Baptists & Bootleggers label as a whole, where his performance acted as further evidence of his move away from the unplanned and chaotic constructs of old.

The show later saw Borland (who will next perform at Antwerp Mansion on Thursday 26th April) and Go Lebanon tread the stage; the former shrouding the room in dry ice, leaving only their candlelit corner of mystical noise-craft as a visible reference point. Their audio reference points sway all the way from vocal parts as heavily encrypted by effects as Animal Collective to an incongruent rendition of Rod Stewart’s words in ‘Da’ Ya’ Think I’m Sexy?’ – and all backed by steadily mellow ambient duskiness to match the artificial atmosphere. The latter takes on a military guise both in terms of costume and their satirical humour (playing a “song about men who touch things they shouldn’t – called ‘Sarkozies’”) for a set of angrily cranked up injections of tinnitus. It is a show indicative of the variety of genres encouraged by the Baptists & Bootleggers label.

For example, another of Veí’s involvements with B&B was contributing one of the five tracks on the main launch record, ...Of The Wolves, which comprises a multiple arts smorgasbord centred around Dante’s Inferno, the 1930s film based on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. His fifth of the record – an interpretation of the same 8 minute 12 second visual clip selected for each musical act – is named ‘Decaying Bodice’, a typically serene piece of music even in response to a film whose fiery despair erupts loud and ferociously through the other musicians’ versions. It is almost detached from the imagery; accepting of the depicted hell and tapping into a quiet place, watching the bedlam from afar. Such is the paradox of Veí; a neighbour by name, but with a street to himself where music is concerned.

That isn’t to say he doesn’t have influences. Radiohead was a noticeable starting point with Kin, while his Veí EP nods towards Four Tet in parts. Dean also cites Bjork, Baths, Aphex Twin, James Blake and Amon Tobin.

He first became involved with the label after being introduced to its co-founder Callum Higgins at the launch event for a Mind On Fire and OneFiveEight collaboration, Hear No Evil, See No Evil, the CD for which features tracks by both Veí and Higgins’ solo music project, Yes Blythe.

“After meeting Callum at the launch, one of the MOF boys informed me that he was doing a soundtrack project and put me in touch again. As I was only using hardware with live improvisations at the time, I recorded 'Decaying Bodice' pretty much the next day, which was well over a year ago now. I knew there were plans to release it and I was really interested in the idea that it would be a compilation of tracks all inspired by the same piece of film. I didn't know at that stage that they were looking into the Umbro Industries bursary or that they would ask me to write an EP to coincide with the launch, so when all that came together it started to gain momentum and become very exciting.”

Since that meeting and subsequent support, Veí is growing in confidence and looking to the future. “I just wanted to show what else I am capable of. I still use elements of my old methods in the writing process but for now I definitely feel as though I'm moving in the right direction and don't plan on taking a step backwards.”

Words: Ian Pennington
Photography: Paul Green
Sunday Soirée poster design: Craig Brown - Beards Club Illustration
Now Then B&B poster design: Hattie Lockwood
B&B logo courtesy of the B&B label
Rod Stewart sourced from the internet

Veí will perform next at Dulcimer bar in Chorlton as part of a Now Then Manchester and Baptists & Bootleggers co-promotion featuring three electronic musicians re-soundtracking the 1980s sci-fi film Dark Star. He will take on the final section of the film, after Christopher William Anderson and Yes Blythe have performed live soundtracks the first two thirds. The gig takes place on Sunday 22nd April from 5.30pm.

Interview: Neko Neko

Type ‘Neko Neko’ into your internet search engine of choice and you’re met by numerous Japanese anime drawings of cats. That’s easy enough to explain; ‘neko’ is Japanese for ‘cat’. But delve a little deeper and Neko Neko, aside from meaning ‘cat cat’, is the alter ego of an electronic musician with a knack for successfully interlocking samples into fresh, soulful and funky settings.

For its creator, Graham Shortland, Neko Neko’s other meaning – “someone who has creative ideas that are damaging or get in the way of normal life” – was too fitting with his musical outlook to resist as a moniker.

The project is indirectly the result of a defining experience at the age of 16 that lit up a path in electronic music. “Late on one night, I was having a cig in my garden and I heard this amazing music coming from a neighbour’s window. Immediately, I ran round and knocked on until he answered. He told me it was Four Tet and gave me a bunch of records. That was it, I was hooked.”

The path has so far led from listener to composer and on to performer, with many and varied modes of musical production, which is what keeps Shortland interested. Sitting in front of flashing LEDs and digital complexities, he has a simple intention: “to create something with soul.”

“With samples,” Shortland explains, “it’s generally one little part of a song or phrase that catches my ear. Sometimes it's not even an obvious bit, might just be a single note or chord I can hear which I know I can transform into something else.”

Fulfilling that ambition is no easy task and the possibilities for filling every minute segment of musical structure are vast, so when writing he aims for a clear mind in order to produce something “that's different and has a new sound. I don't think I have any big notable influences that I try to emulate.”

Once pinned down, the samples are then often looped and it is a technique that walks the tightrope between mellow bliss and monotony bereft of meaning. That’s the risk at stake for any musician and Neko Neko’s output so far not only avoids the potholes, but shows early promise.

It’s also always a risk to rework any song considered sacred to many, but that didn’t stop Neko Neko taking on the Pink Floyd classic album The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, finding right amount of clever embellishments, tempo shifts and idiosyncrasy to make it something distinct enough from the original to take on a new life. Its title of Orange Side of the Moon is typical of his abstract and light-hearted approach to making music, with the orange part a reference to an unreleased album of his named My Favourite Sound is Orange.

Since then he has released a two singles via Manchester based My First Moth Records – the latest of which sold out of physical copies soon after becoming available to buy last month – which have been punctuated by another longer recording project in the shape of remixes from an old Reader’s Digest mixtape. He filmed the process via webcam as an added innovation to accompany the Balearic grooves that recall Aim’s funky trip hop in its smooth rhythms and instrumental ambience. For something he describes as being born from frustration, it makes for delightful listening, although not much of it has been retained for live sets.

What does merit inclusion in the Neko Neko live set varies between subtle clips and better known remixes, such as the B side to his latest single, ‘Ya Playin’’, with its lyrical nod to Jeru The Damaja. Now sought after by his peers, Shortland sets himself a high standard in remixology but, aside from his own material, he can appreciate anyone who achieves a composition “where the remix ends up standing up as a good song in its own right, like the Machinedrum remix of Bonobo’s ‘Eyesdown’.”

His realigned soundwaves are scheduled to be featured on the forthcoming record by Frameworks and BluRum13, while a recent gig supporting local trip hop trio From The Kites Of San Quentin at Salford’s Sacred Trinity Church proved an opportunity to air remixes completed last year for an EP by The Electronic Exchange. There are plans to develop this further in imminent performances as The Electronic Exchange’s vocalist, Najia Bagi, will make the step from an electronic sample to a live appearance in collaboration alongside Neko Neko. The first opportunity to see the results will be a Now Then gig with My First Moth Records on Thursday 8th March.

It is a sign that Neko Neko is an evolving artist with a busy year in the pipeline. Shortland admits that his current guise is by no means the finished product so there is plenty to look forward to in the foreseeable future. “This year there’ll be an album, another beat tape, a remix for Frameworks’ album, an EP and some possible collaborations with a local mc, but that's early days yet. I'm also planning to step up the live set, hopefully introducing some live instruments.”

Words: Ian Pennington
Now Then My First Moth poster design: Craig Brown (Beards Club Illustration)
Other art / photos courtesy of My First Moth or Neko Neko

Neko Neko's first performance in collaboration with Najia Bagi will be at Dulcimer on Thursday 8th March for a Now Then / My First Moth co-promotion. WhoAmI & Trebor will also perform live while MFM manager DJ Mischief will DJ along with TNC's Omas and Aver.

Manchester's Music at Xmas: Festive Freebies

The advent of the internet has paved the way to uncertain times for recording artists but, amidst the bad news and knee-jerk headlines, many musicians are taking advantage of the relative ease of access to listeners’ ears. Combine that with the perceived spirit of unselfish giving associated with this time of the year and you find yourself with an abundance of festive freebies. ‘Tis the season to give away free music, be it compilation albums or individual tracks; cover versions or selected album tracks.

But with so many floating freely across the ethereal www – and with a limited space on your hard-drive – how are you to know which samplers to stream or sample? Fortunately, our round-up is here to help you filter through the downloads of Manchester’s 2011 Yuletide.

We’ll start with a regular in the compilation game, Red Deer Club Recordings. Their fourth selection predictably comprises ditties from the folk pigeonhole in which they’ve built a strong reputation for picking winners (Stealing Sheep, Awesome Wells, Sophies Pigeons), but less predictably also includes many a nod to the post-Animal Collective ‘chillwave’ genre so prevalent on the palate of 2011’s tastemakers (Jewellers, O>L>A, Sun Drums). The seaside field recording seeing in the first 90 seconds of Chewy Benson’s opener ‘To Fallow, To Fall’ isn’t in the traditionalist’s model of folk music either, particularly when it kicks into sample-heavy electronic glitches. Elsewhere, Jonnie Common weighs in with a reworking of his own ‘Summer Is For Going Places’ and one of the standouts is Jess Bryant’s version of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Games’; an indicator of the reason why RDC has signed her to the label for 2012.

Also on the compilation theme, Little Red Rabbit have a varied record available on their website, lumping together album tracks, B-sides, exclusives and covers. Some are noticeably festive; Crazy Man Michael’s sombre but catchy copy of Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ obviously so, Last Harbour’s ‘Alone For The Winter’ more tenuously. As a collection, it’s an eerie, acid folk haunt through wintry isolation that sometimes steps inside to the warmth of a crackling open fire and knitted jumpers. The odd one out is Kalbakken’s ‘Ulversdale’ with its spiky, icily disjointed strings and avant-garde rhythms. Support act at the first Now Then Manchester gig of 2012 Samson & Delilah feature with a rejigged ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’, while the headliners for that show, Dan Haywood’s New Hawks, have also recorded a separate Christmas special, ‘My Heart Was Set On Christmas Eve’.

Debt Records provide the most appropriate set for the season; their amply talented roster chipping into an album concentrating solely on covers. Certainly there are improvements on originals – Rioghnach Connolly’s voice on Honeyfeet’s ‘The Wexford Carol’ is a delight, Louis Barabbas is his usual exuberant self with The Bedlam Six on ‘Do-Wap In A Manger’ and Alabaster DePlume’s eclectic a capella riffs around ‘Away In A Manger’. The worry with an album of Xmas covers is that tedium might set in, but with such an array of characters and styles within the label, tedium is never really an issue; Biff Roxby’s curtain closing Wonky Disco mash-up ‘All I Want For Xmas Is Spoo’ means you wouldn’t have chance to nod off with your belly full of turkey. The compilation’s title is a cracker: Debt It Snow! Debt It Snow! Debt It Snow!

Shifting genres, From The Kites Of San Quentin have grouped together their 2011 remixes under one bandcamp page; as ever with these aural inventors, there’s a fair range between the four, from the dubby, atmospheric Badly Drawn Boy number to a remix of 808 State’s ‘In Yer Face’ for BBC Radio Manchester, neatly supplanting its Haç pulse races with Alison Carney's calming vocal pining, via a more deadpan, mellow Dresden mix.

Vocal sculptor, beatboxer and electronic music whizz Jason Singh has produced an ambient plateau 'Christmas Thanks' worthy of a listen on soundcloud. Finally, take the time to add Air Cav’s cover of Kraftwerk’s krautrock classic ‘The Model’ to your download queue; adding Sophie Parkes’ violin to the mix in place of the high pitched synths makes it an inspired choice for the band.

Words: Ian Pennington
Dan Haywood's New Hawks gig poster art: Craig Brown (Beards Club Illustration)
Rioghnach Connolly Photo: Ged Camera
Jason Singh Photo: Courtesy of Jason Singh

The Narrows with Swansong & Flashing Astraptes @ Night & Day Café, Tuesday 13th December 2011

Manchester has battened down the hatches in readiness for the forthcoming storm. The chill wind is blowing along the deserted streets. Yes coming up is Black Friday, i.e. the one where every office Christmas party descends upon the bars and eateries in the centre, purportedly in support of a good time. Yes, I will indeed be somewhere in the mêlée the evening, but the consequence is a bleak Tuesday night. The paucity of numbers tends to indicate that I may be the only paying customer in the Night & Day, or at least one of the first.

Sat to one side of the stage, facing the side wall, the solo performer that goes under the name Flashing Astraptes is creating weird though not always wonderful sounds with his guitars and foot pedals. At times there is a comforting rhythm to the output, but with the amplifier ramped up to max, the distortion kicks in and self control seems to wane as the noises start to override any ambience.

Swansong consists of another solo artist, who has been playing the local venues, honing his keyboard skills and sounds, in a similar manner to xxxy. He is even wearing a t-shirt advertising another promising Manchester act, From the Kites of San Quentin.

Hunched over the synths, the icy rhythms dispensed are wrapped in a deliberately created warmth, just like an Arctic roll (ask yer mum!). It’s crisply dispensed and his lyrics roll freely from the stage. For all his body twisting and efforts though, on a night like this it’s going to be difficult to get anyone up and moving as the music deserves. Rather, it forms a pleasing backdrop for the evening’s conversations. When he finishes, the silence is quickly filled with genuine applause.

A night billed as an electronic extravaganza continues with The Narrows. The emphasis this time is more a case of the keyboardist (Phil Drinkwater) supporting the raucous energy of the two guitarists, Dave Battle and Adam Hynes. From the start there’s a frenetic energy flowing through the trio, as exemplified when the keyboard is almost knocked from its stand by Drinkwater.

The band forces their performance onto the listeners, attempting to dispel any pre-Christmas lethargy with vibrant, effective songs that certainly require a second listen. The unwanted technical “hitch” – a stray, repetitive burst of noise plaguing a song – fails to detract from an impressive performance.

Words & Photography: Ged Camera

Interview: Broken Bubble

Dance music is a lexical maze these days. The roots of the genre family tree are more intricately twisted than the soundwaves pounding your eardrums.

Not that there’s anything wrong with niches so long as music is constantly shifting and progressing, as Broken Bubble netlabel founder Guy Thompson would attest: “The reason there’s so many [names] is that genres tend to stagnate after a while so if you can look at things afresh then it’s a good thing. The group mentality means that everyone ends up taking too many similar elements to each other and so when something new springs out it’s one of the great things about the evolution of music. Now people can go from house to dubstep to techno to drum’n’bass to house to acid to anywhere else so it’s great if you can find a way to bring that all together in a meaningful experience...”

The development of dance music since dubstep nodded its head into a bass hungry public eye has served to further blur genre boundaries, so the dance family tree is more a forest and the resultant mixes make for varied listening. Those dabbling in post-dubstep have dipped into anything from reggae to jazz via funk and ambient IDM. If you ask any individual, they’ll label their sound differently. Broken Bubble artists Hurtdeer and Duskky call their output ‘dubfunk’, which Thompson agrees with, but the only certainty is that dubstep’s successors have presented a fork in the road.

“Some people still try to claim that dubstep’s a single genre but I think it’s blatantly split into at least two distinct styles. The very mid-range heavy stuff – I don’t really want to mention artists, but that kind of sound doesn’t connect with me on an emotional level at all. Then a lot of people are pushing the deeper sounds; that’s where names like future garage have come from. Duskky and Hurtdeer are calling their stuff ‘dubfunk’, which is quite a good catch-all term for the kind of sound they’re pushing. You could call some of the stuff my labelmates are making post-techno-funky-wonkstep, etc, etc and that still wouldn’t adequately describe the sound of the track.”

While Broken Bubble as a label opens its arms to a plethora of genres, there is a distinct sound emerging – one that owes a debt to the likes of Hotflush, Hyperdub, Echodub, Acroplane and Planet Mu, both in terms of forcing wide the mainstream gates for forward thinking and inspiration: “Burial’s albums obviously, Boxcutter’s Glyphic and Benga’s Diary of an Afrowarrior – they were all big inspirations that got me back into mixing tunes rather than just being a listener. From then it just seemed like I had a rare surge of motivation and decided that to get something going I might as well do it myself. Right now FaltyDL, Floating Points and Ital Tek are producers I look up to – he’s got his sound absolutely nailed on at the moment.”

From that surge, Sicknote was born. Thompson put his own decade’s worth of experience with DJing in deep house, prog house and broken beats into the fresh post-dubstep template of the late 2000s. Then, unafraid to stick to his guns with regular residents, including xxxy and From The Kites Of San Quentin’s Phil ‘Blood Boy’ Bretnall, he also gambled by bringing in the occasional imported non-Manc to headline.

“I’d met xxxy at a night called Offbeat Suburbia and got him on to do the first one, then had him as a resident for a while. Now things have gone extremely well for him; he’s headlining shows all over the place. I tried to focus on people who were away from the trends of the genres I suppose. The first one we did at the Corner in Fallowfield we brought Phaeleh up from Bristol for his Manchester debut and packed the place out – it was a really buzzing atmosphere. Again, he’s another one who’s gone on to have a huge amount of success.”

During a brief hiatus in Sicknote promotions, the Broken Bubble label has taken shape with the help of links with London-based Mothers Against Noise collective and the rapidly improving technologies accessible to anyone who puts the time into learning about them. Bandcamp is one of the online platforms that can help with music distribution by cutting out the middle man and collating similar sounds under one virtual roof.

“I think seeing people selling music that way showed that it was the thing to do. There’s a big trend for giving music away... for an artist the most important thing is to be heard as widely as possible, but at the same time there’s so much free music out there that people can perceive that it doesn’t have as much value as the stuff that’s being sold, so I’m trying to strike a balance with that. And there’s a lot of good music set ups now – I think Soundcloud really helps as a platform as well; helping like-minded producers to hear each other’s stuff – it’s been a major factor in getting such a good roster of artists together for the label.”

The roster has grown almost exponentially since Thompson’s DJing alter ego Cogidubnus launched the label in February with an EP entitled The Pan-Galactic Memory Bank. Others have followed and Duskky’s second digital album Rascality, released this week, is the eighth through Broken Bubble when including the superb 14-track mutual remixing compilation We Can Build You, which displays the kinship and respect shared between a group of producers whose shades of melody and rhythm can fuse harmoniously but equally command praise individually.

“Having been in contact with Duskky and Hurtdeer for a bit and swapping tunes with them, I realised we had all the wherewithal to do it ourselves, so I’ve been doing the artwork and distribution, whilst Sandy (aka Duskky) and Max (aka Hurtdeer) have been doing the mastering. They’ve been instrumental in helping me set up the label in the first place, adding a lot of ideas with all aspects of the process and it’s the same with a couple of the other guys.”

“Duskky tends to take quite a break-beat science approach to his tunes. He likes pulling apart drum breaks and working a real rhythm with a lot of reggae and funk influences. Hurtdeer brings in influences from techno, breakcore and videogame music and explores different time signatures with a lot of tunes in 7/4 instead of 4/4, which makes them difficult to mix from for other people, but it sounds great when he does it!”

The roster isn’t limited to that core trio. Second Line has so far appeared on the compilation and has an EP pencilled in for September, while Macka’s eclectic combination of dubstep beats, freestyle melodics and the occasional Shakespearian quote gives his Piano Works digital record some of the standout Broken Bubble moments.

Beyond those are a couple of newcomers in Broke’nFolk (“he’s done a really cool EP made out of funk, jazzy drum breaks and a lot of interesting synth work as well”) and Gravious (“he had an early release on Hotflush and has had a quiet few years, but he’s back with a vengeance pushing a very fresh sound”) who promise to add yet more sonic colour to an already luminous palette.

Although there’s a scientific approach to making the synthesis, selected samples often originate from science fiction. Cogidubnus in particular is partial to building on ideas from sci-fi literature and soundtracks: “Pan-Galactic Memory Bank is named after a novel by Kilgore Trout, who’s a character in Kurt Vonnegut’s novels. I’d been reading his Breakfast of Champions book just before I made that track... Then there are a few samples from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and, yeah, it’s always interesting to explore your influences by sampling.”

Cogidubnus brings those influences with him to Chorlton’s Dulcimer bar on Thursday 14th July, where he, Duskky and Hurtdeer will share the limelight for what will be a Broken Bubble live showcase. Thompson’s latest foray into live mixing prior to this was at the Total Garage night at Joshua Brooks; a more diverse line-up in a sense, but Thompson profited from an open-minded audience: “I think it [Total Garage] went well. The crowd was open to exploring the possibilities of what garage could be, I was able to play a lot of the minimal, 2-step stuff that comes under the ‘future garage’ umbrella. It’s an area that has a lot of creativity with producers like Roof Light, Sorrow and Fedbymachines all making great sounds.”

“I think at the Now Then Manchester night we’re probably going to alternate; we’ve got about four hours or so and I think we’ll rotate with half an hour each and gradually build it up. Max (Hurtdeer) and Sandy (Duskky) have been working on stuff at 200bpm – one of the things about dubstep when it started was getting a good change of vibe from switching tempo between 70 and 40bpm, so they’re trying that with 100 and 200bpm.”

Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Courtesy of Broken Bubble & This City Is Ours

A taster of Cogidubnus' mixing vibes can be heard here.

Interview: From The Kites Of San Quentin

For those out of the loop of modern music, I’ll let you in on a badly kept secret: we live in a digital age. And so, post-peak era for the recorded product, it can sometimes be easy to forget when or if a musical collective has released the mellifluous fruits of their labour outside of the world wide web’s virtual boundaries and into the tangible wild. One such musical collective is Manchester’s From The Kites Of San Quentin (FTKOSQ), who’ve previously self-released demo singles through the bandcamp blogosphere but never held their music in their hands.

The internet, of course, is just the latest in a long line of double-edged swords to have directly resulted in a physical music sales dip and subsequent major label accusations of ‘killing music’ (take a bow, cassette ‘home taping’, CD ‘burning’, et al). It’s a recent history which Kites’ laptop mix-maestro and beat merchant Phil Bretnall, aka Blood Boy, spends little time mourning. “As far as the major label industry goes... good fucking riddance. At the end of the day, they are just a glorified bank so, as much as they can give you exposure, now they just want to get their hands on things that are rightfully the artist's, such as a percentage of live show fees and merchandise. So, we would never rule out a bigger indie, but I think in this day and age being as self-sufficient as possible is the way forward.”

Indeed the internet holds a definite benefit for the self-sufficient. FTKOSQ’s forthcoming physical release – a split single with fellow local soundsmiths Borland – is a step along a path that owes a debt to their early demos’ circulation through cyberspace. It has also opened a time portal back, in part, to an earlier recording norm; that of the vinyl: “we love the idea of vinyl releases. The CD has gone the way of the cassette, so if you’re gonna have something physical to go with your download then it may as well be wax.” So, while the download has become in essence the primary release route for independent artists such as FTKOSQ, distribution outside of the vast, yet oddly restrictive, internet bubble represents a stride forward. You can only reach so many people through your browser’s bandwidth and at an often limited sound quality, as recent Now Then Manchester interviewee Tullis Rennie – of the Concrete Moniker label – would attest.

To add that up, the summation of FTKOSQ’s ‘Chet Beaverbrooke’ and Borland’s ‘Clockmen’ (plus mutual remixes) equals output that’ll be rewarding; not only for both bands, but also for folks who may be familiar with one but not so familiar with the other, suggests Bretnall: “It's our first proper release and we just wanted people to hear what we are capable of, which was why the full track and remix format really appealed. Plus it means peeps into Borland will check us out and vice versa. We love the Borland track and the remix they did for us is just awesome.”

Not that FTKOSQ have been tethered to a keyboard in a locked computer room. They’ve been performing as a reduced line-up of three, forced by the departure of Paul (Phil: “We had to change things around pretty drastically, so that took a bit of getting used to, but we’re good now. Live is where it's at for us to be honest!”). Regardless, the trio have infiltrated the forefront of many local promoters’ thoughts by virtue of a delivery lazily comparable with Portishead, but more complex than any one reference point.

A recent gig at Kraak Gallery, supporting Trojan Horse’s album launch show, sees Bretnall’s dystopian samples, wobbly FlyLo glitchstep and shifting synths align with his fellow Kites in their labyrinthine progressions. Turgid lilts from the belly of guitarist Luke Bhatia’s substantial FX soundboard set-up duel with warped, drowning vocals effusively transmitted through the added depth of Alison Carney’s dual mic dynamism. The former an oneiric harness to the latter’s jolting immediacy. Theirs is often a maze with Kubrickian looming threat; trip-hop amidst the streets of a Hunter S Thompson deranged urbanism. While there may be the vague hint of Tom Vek’s ‘Nothing But Green Lights’ trailing in the Kites’ slipstream, the gears quickly change; pedal floored in a blurry night drive through reds, while distorted inhuman voices hazily plume the flight away.

Influences are increasingly a non-event given the eclectic scope of the average mp3 player shuffle – another defining point of the fast-paced internet paradigm. But they can be an indicator. Although varied, a couple listed in the Kites’ listening habits stand out for their status as the great outsiders, namely prog rock stadium-fillers Rush and Yes. As bands much-maligned by magniloquent music journo types (the former in particular considered an easy – and fair – target, unfairly, although gaining recent unexpected kudos from a certain Manchester-founded newspaper), the implication by association is clear; their sound is their own – if you don’t like it then lump it.

Such a mentality perhaps fires Bretnall’s bluntness regarding the appeal of independence as an artist: “complete control and generally making things more exclusive.” You could lump it, but the chances are you’ll like it; the slow builds of ‘Chet Beaverbrooke’; the escapist harmony overwhelmed by discord around the midpoint; the glistening sonic polish of studio practise (Phil: “Our track on the split was mixed and mastered by our old friend Andy Giblin. At the time, we just weren't that great at getting a good final mix, so he helped us out”).

All of which sits within not only a first for From The Kites Of San Quentin, but also for Gulf Records. The label is the joint project of Borland’s Rob Gregg and Dubai-based Dan Fogg, who unwittingly join a UK music spectrum seemingly commercially welcoming of James Blake as the nominated figurehead of spliced future beats and post-dubstep downtempoism. But the Gulf Records timing shouldn’t be considered an opportunistic reaction. There’s no need for an exaggerated ‘I was there’ moment, à la Sex Pistols at Manchester Free Trade Hall; the pairing of Borland and From The Kites Of San Quentin represents a separate take as part of, not following on from, a burgeoning, efflorescent electronic music niche.

Borland as a live act are on a hiatus, which makes it all the better that Gregg’s time is freed up to continue their presence with the Gulf venture. And FTKOSQ themselves are no strangers to side projects, promoting and podcasting regularly under the This City Is Ours (TCIO) guise. Bretnall is quick to express him appreciation of his Manchester electronica promoter brethren. “Hoya:Hoya. Full stop, man. Best clubnight in the country, hands down, and we’re lucky enough that it's on our front doorstep. Probably the most forward thinking bunch of people in the UK right now with a residents crew to die for. Also, Mind On Fire. They have been at it for ages now and we have done fair bit together. We did a party with those guys at Islington Mill last year as This City is On Fire – we were turning people away at midnight.” He goes on to champion Drumclinic, Hot Milk, Norvun Sundays and Hit&Run, along with another freshly sprouted record label, Broken Bubble.

Manchester is certainly offering an enviable electronic selection; the future is promising. As far as FTKOSQ’s future goes, the short-term is the split single on 4th April with Borland, a record that aside from Kites’ tune conjures up Borland’s ‘Clockmen’ – a steady Balearic dreamscape overpowering the clicks and flickers of percussive minimalism – and swapped production credits to each other’s work. A launch night at Centro accompanies on 1st April, while further ahead Bretnall is planning for TCIO the label: “we mixed some other tracks with Andy [Giblin] that we’re gonna be releasing as a digital EP over the summer through This City is Ours, with the album being the first physical release on the label towards the end of the year. The plan is to release it ourselves as a limited marble/coloured vinyl run with a download and some lovely artwork. Totally not cost-efficient, but who gives a shit?! We’re not looking at making money from the label; we just wanna recoup and help fund the next release.” And with a listenership interest piqued by what has preceded, this independent, like it or lump it ambition can drive FTKOSQ’s digital beginnings into an actual reality.


Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Ed Sprake, except image #3: courtesy of Trojan Horse

This City is Ours & Mind on Fire present: This City is on Fire @ Islington Mill, Friday 20th March

Scheduling is crucial to the success of a gig. You can define the mood by arranging distinct styles to great effect. It doesn’t sound too difficult but it can elude promoters. This City is Ours and Mind on Fire hit the nail on the head with this one, though.

There are a few reasons for this: one being that I’ve never before seen Denis Jones fit so perfectly low down on the bill. This isn’t a point necessarily concerning ability – that’s on show everywhere in the Islington Mill. Instead, the flow from one act to the next is an incisive and steady progression towards higher tempo. Drawing between those lines are Cycloptic’s projected visuals and OneFiveEight’s live art doodling.

From The Kites of San Quentin are up before the top-billed trio; notable for interchanging echoing and a gargling, drowning feel to vocoded lyrics, sitting atop mountainous strata of bass-flecked, groaning FX plateaus. Technical issues aside, they bring a very listenable air of 1990s Bristolian trip-hop to the table.


Those technical issues have the opposite effect on Denis Jones’s set. ‘Clap Hands’ particularly is performed with added thickness in bass and the version of ‘Beginning’ is one of the clearer he’s produced live. It is also interesting to see this in the context of Denis’s transition from folk to electronic crowd – following the expected ‘Beginning’ ending he receives as appreciative a reception as ever.


Mount Kimbie, recognised as headliners but not last onto the stage, begin slowly. Visuals of a pebble dropped in the pool with ripples of sound gradually expanding are accurate, bringing in elements of their electronic gadgetry pick’n’mix all the while. The eclectic range of music in their 50 minutes is entrancing; mellow minimal to bass’n’beats, bleepy Nintendo pop to The xx lonesome guitar, Burial ambient dubstep to Roots Manuva deep bass. Although the venue is sold out, there’s still space to move and really feel the music pulsing; a contrast to many where the policy seems to be to cram people in beyond the capacity threshold.


XXXY steps it up a notch, tempo-wise, by laptop DJing with fast-paced foot-tappers incorporating what sounds like the dubsteppy Deadboy remix of Delphic’s ‘Halcyon’ and an echoey mix of MSTRKRFT’s ‘Heartbreaker’.

Words & Pictures: Ian Pennington