Posted by: Matt

Back in 2004 I’d either just bought my first set of turntables or was still mooching off a housemate, but I was definitely buying records already. I really had no solid direction when it came to record hunting, so I just set off down the trail, stopping to sniff at whatever might pique my interest.

I did like me some Underworld at the time, which lead me roundabouts to Darren Emerson’s Underwater Records. A tromp through their catalog turned up Mateo Murphy’s Meltdown/Panic single, which was pretty rave-y for me in those days, as I was spending a lot of my time in Minimal Techno land, but its combination of evil, distorted bass and squelchy acid couldn’t be ignored.

Seven years later, and I just rediscovered it during a move and threw it back on the decks. It bangs my mind as much today as it did then. They’re so sinister and driving. I love it.

(The mp3s are rips from the vinyl. I think there might be a skip in one of them. I would have happily bought them if someone was selling…)

Panic

Meltdown

Like these? Check out more Mateo Murphy on Beatport.

Posted by: Cor

The Oscars are right around the corner and while the Academy’s ability to accurately gauge true quality in film-making is dubious at best, this year they at least got one nomination spot-on: The score for The Social Network is worthy of some accolades. Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Atticus Ross have produced a soundtrack that fit’s David Fincher’s film like a a glove: tender in spots, but with a cold, driving rhythm pushing it forward. Rapid staccato synthesizers conjure images of data packets zipping through cyberspace, swelling distortion adds a foreboding edge, and simple piano phrases suggest the humanity behind the technology. These piano lines are classic Trent Reznor; the one in Intriguing Possibilities could have been the melodic component of a Downward Spiral B-side. I’ve often wondered what Nine Inch Nails would sound like when Trent finally shed the increasingly inappropriate teen angst image. Now we know.

PLAY ALL

Painted Sun in Abstract

The mp3 album is an affordable six bucks at amazon, and I can personally attest that it serves as great background music for computer-related jobs.

Posted by: Derek

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled producer contest to bring you a piece of dance music cultural lore.

Back in the day, actually in 1986, when Detroit Techno was new, a producer named Kevin Saunderson ended up coming with an iconic sound - simple, effective, growling, with tons of built in movement - the essence of low end. Check out his bassline in Just Want Another Chance:

Note: Speakers with bass response or headphones HIGHLY recommended! We mean it!

Whoa, that’s some old school wobble….

Remind you of anything? This sound has come to be known as the Reese bassline (from Saunderson’s nickname “Reese”), and has played a huge part in the development of jungle and drum and bass as we know them!

For instance, Try Ray Keith’s 1994 tune Renegade - Terrorist, a true classic of the DnB genre:

The sound is easy to program and replicate - it’s just some detuned saw waves that beat against each other to cause a pulsating effect (you can find a basic description here if you want) - but has spawned generations of innovation.

Even with all the new craziness going on in the world of DnB today, it’s still a go to sound for many producers.

Check out the recent Commercial Suicide release Trei - Justify:

The sound here is made bigger through additional unison and some extra juice, but the concept is the exact same - it’s our friend the Reese bass! Damn that thing is hot. STILL!

You’ll hear DnB heads throwing around this term all the time, and this is what they mean.
This sound is key to the genre, and completely unforgettable…ever since people have come out with endlesss variations by distorting and mangling the frack out of it, but it all comes back to the Reese bass!

So take this moment to thank Kevin Saunderson for being awesome so many years ago!
Raise a glass and turn up the BASS!

Posted by: Matt

*photo from 2009, via psomatic imaging. check out the rest of this set, it’s fucking gorgeous.

Well, we obviously know what party people in San Francisco were doing on New Year’s Eve (or wish they were!) but what about elsewhere in the world?

Today’s mix Friday features an hour-long, live set by Techno super-god Adam Beyer, recorded live in the Drumcode room on NYE at Awakenings in Rotterdam. We don’t do capital-T TECHNO on The Beatery very often, and I was really grooving to this set while giving Mixcloud a spin (more on this below), so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to both focus on the genre for a moment and give their player and ecosystem a spin. Also, dude deserves some love. Despite my many musical wanderings over the years I have always found myself checking in on Mr Beyer’s work as well as the output from his label Drumcode. Speaking of Techno and Drumcode, expect a post from me looking back at the Gainlane series pretty soon.

So, Mixcloud. Apparently Mixcloud has been around for a little while though I didn’t know much about it until recently. They style themselves as the “Youtube for radio”, which basically translates to non-downloadable, user-generated content with a semi-transparent royalty structure providing the foundation for their claim of legality. On the plus side, their interface is very slick and easy to use, and they require track lists both for the end-user experience and also so they know who to pay. The downside is obviously that, like youtube, you can embed away but you can’t actually download anything.

Because of these restrictions though, some great DJs and labels seem to be embracing Mixcloud as a vehicle for releasing mixes and an alternative to iTunes podcasting, so you fine readers may start to see these players popping up around here more often. Give it a whirl (if you haven’t started it already) and let us know if you have an opinion about the format.

Posted by: Derek

And here we go with producer number 7 in our epic battle to the bass laden throne for our annual producer spinoff - So You Think You Can Bump 2010! Check out all the nominees here

For this new entry into the SYTYCB2010 championship, another dutchman, but with quite a different sound, Rafael Frost.

Frost combines elements of electro, glitchy shuffled techno, and a whole lotta hammer to the trance flow and mixes them up maëlstrom of sound that is completely enveloping and just. so. massive! The scale of them seems completely different than the modern trance trend towards more housey beats - his are beasts just waiting to be let out…in a huge arena!

Rafael has done some great stuff this year - enough to get him selected by Ferry Corsten as his favorite producer of 2010.

Let’s see a sampling of what he can slam us with…

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