Playing Favourites: Soundstream

> Love Unlimited Orchestra – Welcome Aboard (1981)

I found it interesting that this record sounded already a bit like what Metro Area were doing later on.

It is a very unusual track, especially for the time it was produced. There was not a lot then sounding like this. It almost has a housey touch, and a very beautiful atmosphere.

The track title is very telling, it is the perfect way to start a set.

Exactly, we did a show for betalounge.com once with Smith N Hack and used this as the first track.

The sound is very romantically space-like. Is this something you look for in disco? Some kind of futuristic touch?

Well, here it is a feature that definitely attracts me. I also like that it is so reduced. I like tracks that are special and unusual, like this. It is very straight, there is not too much happening in it.

Barry White kind of transformed his symphonic kitsch into something completely different with this production.

The beat almost sounds like it was sampled, very strange. I think it is a warm up bomb.

Your productions are normally not associated with sounds this mellow.

Yes, but this has this certain straightness to it, and I always like that. They hold this sequence for the whole track and just add strings and vocals, and the beat just goes on.

> El Coco – Cocomotion (1977)

This goes right back to your first Sound Stream 12”. I found it interesting that you just used a tiny weird loop, instead of its catchy bassline.

Yes, I often just get hooked on single parts and sample them. “Motion” was more like an edit. It is just a loop which then gets chopped up a bit. I like the loop because it holds the tension for so long, it’s very trippy.

But it is a very special approach to editing. You certainly were not aiming for authenticity or better DJ use.

It is kind of how it started. The first re-edits in Chicago for example. They looped bits and extended them until they developed a hypnotic quality. I think Ron Hardy initiated that. He rode a loop for several minutes and after a while it just sucked you in. This repetition also goes back to James Brown. His band played a riff for a while, then a break came on, and then it started all over again.

So you decidedly edit music to achieve a track-like quality?

Yes, definitely. With nearly all my productions I try to last long with little, and it is the same with other music I like. Simple tracks that don’t need much to hold attention for quite some time, instead of losing that after half a minute.

I remember hearing a Ron Hardy set a while ago, where he extended just the break part of Isaac Hayes “I Can’t Turn Around” for ages.

Yes, they reissued that tape edit recently. It sparked early house, like “Love Can’t Turn Around”. It is basically the same, they took the tape loop and replayed it with synthesizers, and some additional bassline and piano.

What do you think of edits that keep the arrangement of the original and just tweak the beats?

No. Something new has to be created in the process of editing. And as a DJ, I’d rather take a real drummer and fight my way through the timing. It’s funkier than a streamlined edit. That makes no sense to me. It’s okay if you have track with a wonderful part in it and then a break follows with guitars or something else you just don’t want to have. But an edit ultimately has to lead to something new.

Do you make edits for your sets?

I did a few. But they are secret. Read the rest of this entry »

Finn Johannsen – Last Heard In The Wires

This mix is well informed by my visits to Hard Wax at that time. I was living a 10 minute bike ride away and was going there several times a week to meet people and dig for new sounds. At that time both techno and uk bass music was buzzing with ideas, apart from the house stuff I was looking out for anyway. It was generally a very inspiring period.

UB313 – Q (The Black Dog Bitez Down On Beatz And Bleepz Mixx)
TRG – Broken Heart (Martyn’s DCM Remix)
Link – The Augur
Martyn – All I Have Is Memories
Shed – Warped Mind
Luke Hess – Renewal Part 2
Mikkel Metal – Lumever
Substance – Relish (Shed Remix)
B12 – 32 Lineup
Brothers’ Vibe – Cuero Para Mi Gente (Altered Vibes Mix)
Stefan Goldmann – Radiant Grace
Vakula – Loop For My Friends (Lerosa’s Unsavoury Mix)
Herb LF – Sunliner (Demo)
Prosumer & Murat Tepeli – Serenity (Soundstream Mix)

Todd Osborn – Bingata (Running Back)

Das deutsche Charmebolzen-Label hat sich überraschend die Tinte von Detroits Soundmurderer höchstselbst aufs Papier setzen lassen, oder auch Starski & Clutch oder auch TNT, Osborne, Osbourne etc. Weniger überraschend, dass es hier nicht um seine vornehmlichen Multitaskingfelder geht, sondern um House, den man in seiner Machart im Flickenteppich-Labelsystem des Früh90er-New York verorten könnte. Schmackes auf die Claps, Bounce auf den Beat, Silberschimmer in die Stabs und alles versonnen mit Bass, 303 und Tastennoodlings geschmeidig geschmirgelt. Die andere Version von „Bingata“ ist altertümlicher Cut-Up-Disco, wie er sonst eigentlich nur noch bei Soundstream zu finden ist, damit bin ich unbedingt solidarisch. Die hauseigene Supergruppe Pink Alert nutzt obendrauf die günstige Gelegenheit, sich per Remix mit viel Kontext-Expertise in Dub abermals in die Wahrnehmung derer zu komplimentieren, die einen guten Burrell von einem schlechten unterscheiden können. Sehr guter Schnitt, das behalten wir gleich an.

De:Bug 07-08/06