electronic directory

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Cielo Club, Mons | Doors open at 11pm | €10 on door

• FABRICE LIG
• BRANDY
• MASSIMO DACOSTA
• SPIRIT CATCHER
• KOLOMBO
• ROMAIN

Mons’ brand new club, Cielo, opens its doors this Saturday. The opening night will be all about Cielo, with Spirit Catcher playing DJ, and Brandy, Massimo Dacosta, Kolombo and Romain backing up Fabrice Lig on the turntables.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Café Capital, Antwerpen | Doors open at 11pm | €10 in advance

• JUAN ATKINS
• WILL O’BRIEN

SUB-SCAPE proudly presents Juan Atkins, the originator of Detroit techno music, on Friday 3rd April at Café Capital in Antwerp’s Stadspark.

At the dawn of the 1980s, Juan Atkins began recording what stands as perhaps the most influential body of work in the field of techno. Exploring his vision of a futuristic music which welded the more cosmic side of Parliament funk with rigid computer synth-pop embodied by Kraftwerk and the techno-futurist possibilities described by sociologist Alvin Toffler, Atkins produced hi-tech dance music gems under aliases such as Cybotron, Model 500 and Infiniti. The track "Clear," recorded by Atkins and Rick Davis as Cybotron in 1982, is widely regarded as being the very first techno release.

Juan founded his own label, Metroplex Records, and recorded his first single as Model 500, "No UFO’s", in 1985. This seminal track, along with other groundbreaking Metroplex singles like "Night Drive", "Interference" and "The Chase", set the template for Detroit techno; moody and sublime machine music, inspired by the drone of automated factories and trips down the I-96 freeway late at night.

His output continued during the nineties through Belgian R&S Records and Berlin’s Tresor Records. Atkins visited Tresor’s studio in 1993 and worked with 3MB, the in-house production team of Thomas Fehlmann and Moritz Von Oswald. He returned to Berlin several years later to begin recording what was, surprisingly, his first album since the days of Cybotron. Finally, in mid-1995, R&S released the debut Model 500 album, "Deep Space". The label also released "Classics", a crucial compilation of Model 500′s best Metroplex singles output. Another retrospective, Tresor’s "Infiniti Collection", traced Atkins’ work as Infiniti, recorded from 1991 to 1994. The second full Model 500 album, "Mind and Body", was released in 1999 on R&S.

Since then Atkins has remained active, releasing an album of new productions entitled "The Berlin Sessions" and compiling the "20 Years Metroplex" double-disc, both released by Tresor.

More recently Juan has embarked on a Model 500 live project with a line-up of Detroit musicians including Mad Mike Banks of Underground Resistance.

"High Tech Soul", a documentary exploring the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, focuses on Atkins along with fellow techno innovators Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson and explains why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit.

Those who appreciate true techno music will not want to miss this chance to hear Magic Juan Atkins play in the intimate setting that is SUB-SCAPE at Café Capital.

Support from resident Will O’Brien.

Presale tickets available at Fnac stores and online at www.fnac.be

Café Capital, Rubenslei 37, Stadspark, 2018 Antwerp

I just wanted to draw your attention to my partner in crime Itokim first release for 2009. "No One Else EP" is now available to buy from Beatport, Juno Download, iTunes Store.

Release Information

Artist

Itokim

Title

No One Else EP

Label

Nice & Nasty

Release date

23rd March 2009

Format

Digital

Catalogue number

NANO 54

Tracklisting (Click track name for a free sample)

• 01. One & Two
• 02. Two & One
• 03. We’ve Had It All

Description

Japan’s Itokim releases his debut on Nice & Nasty – a sublime 3 track EP full of melody and depth. Itokim like many of his Japanese peers pays hamge to the innovators of Detroit; the European Techno Soul renaissance; and pure good ol synth sound. This is techno. It is melodic, it is deep, it is also groovy. Itokim is fast becoming of force on the global techno scene after a solid upbringing in the world of human and technological wonder that is Tokyo, Japan.

Here’s some feedback:

• Very Nice Production! – Orlando Voorn (NightVision)
• "two and one" and "we’ve had it all" are awesome! thanks – Russ Gabriel (Ferox)
• Killer release. – Rennie Foster (Dirty Works)
• Amazing Ep, I can not choose my fav, love all tracks … Nice & Tasty!! Full support from me!! – Tony Blunt (Dpress Industries / Thump Elektroniks)
• Digging ‘We’ve Had it All’, love the strings! – Franco Cangelli (Mowar)
• Nice deep and funky release. I dig two&one and between visible and invisible. Great mover. Big thanks for the promo. Full support! – André Kronert (Neurotron)

Electronic Directory catches up with Fabrice Lig to find out about his new club, Cielo Belgium.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been very busy and haven’t updated Electronic Directory for a while, but I’ve just done an interview with Fabrice Lig, I’m going to post it up in the next time.

I have started using Twitter: http://twitter.com/electronicdir

• (in no particular order)
• Vince Watson – My Desire [Planet E]
• Laurent Garnier – Gnanmakoudji [PIAS]
• Blunt – EchoChamber Part 1 [Thump Elektroniks]
• Darren Nye – Emotional Process EP [Organica Music Labworks]
• DJ 3000 & Esteban Adame – Heritage EP [Motech]
• Shake – Levitate Venice EP [Morphine]
• Steve Rachmad – Hidden Alleys [Saved Records] / Quince – For My Mr (Steve Rachmad remix) [Delsin]
• Franco Cangelli – Create Your Own Space [Mowar]
• Claudio Mate – Dub Island [Dpress Industries]
• Rone – Spanish Breakfast [Infiné]

Friday, March 6, 2009

Café Capital, Antwerpen | Doors open at 11pm | €7 w/pre-mail / €9 on door

• ROB HALL
• WILL O’BRIEN

Rob Hall’s style is genuinely refreshing, distinctive, and energetic. The defining characteristic of his performances is his ability to expertly blur the lines between techno, electronica, industrial, ebm, rave, and electro. He sensitively moves between these genres without losing flow or momentum, creating a cohesive but constantly shifting set, while managing to tailor his selections to suit the performers he is playing with on the night and for the entertainment of the audience he is playing for.

Rob began his career at techno night Megatripolis held weekly at the legendary London venue Heaven. His first of many appearances there was with Autechre in the summer of 1992. Rob Hall’s connection to Autechre is long established and infact Autechre have been his most valued friends and biggest supporters. He has played support DJ on most of the highly successful Warp duo’s tours over the last 14 years.

From 1995 to 2006, he also worked closely with Andy Maddocks and Ged O’Hara running the highly revered and respected Skam Recordings label, releasing music from artists including Gescom, Bola, Shadowhuntaz and Boards of Canada.

Rob has also contributed to numerous productions, remixes and live sets as part of the Gescom project, a collective consisting of a diverse range of producers, including Autechre and Bola. Many DJs and producers cite the work of Autechre and Gescom as being highly inspirational on their work, including Radiohead, LFO, Surgeon, Coil, Oscar Mulero, Mark Broom and Exium.

After 17 years of refusing to compromise or dumb down his sound, Rob Hall’s skills are constantly in demand and he is widely regarded as one of the most talented and influential DJs in his field, with Mark Broom, Surgeon, Regis, Ellen Allien, Meat Beat Manifesto, Andrea Parker, Plaid, LFO, Squarepusher, Speedy J, Marco Passarani and Adam X all happy to wax lyrical about his sets.