SURFACE TENSION is proud to present an inaugural mix series, featuring five brief mixes showcasing our influences, sound and vision. Each mix is designed to present one of our residents' unique take on the SURFACE TENSION concept.

The second entry in our series comes from Chris Zaldua, presenting a mix that begins with post-industrial broken bass music from Britain, bleeding into a techno groove that builds in intensity.

01 / Pinch & Shackleton // Rooms Within a Room /// Honest Jon's
02 / Cut Hands // Eat Them Like Bread /// Downwards
03 / Akkord // Destruction /// Houndstooth
04 / My Nu Leng // Waltaknocks /// LNUK Records
05 / Jack Murphy (Echoghost) // REF004 B2 /// Reference [Forthcoming]
06 / Peter van Hoesen // Attribute 39 /// Time To Express
07 / Skudge // Overture (Substance Remix) /// Skudge Records
08 / Akkord // Navigate /// Houndstooth
09 / Surgeon // Bad Hands (Monolake Remix) /// Dynamic Tension
10 / Archae & Grovskopa // Surface Tension /// Surface

ST SEQUENCE CZ.1

This mix was originally released as an exclusive bonus CD included with the first pressing of JEALOUS GOD 06, a 12" by 51717 and Silent Servant. 

Tracklist:

Muslimgauze - Satyajit Eye [TMPS]
Pye Corner Audio- Conical Space [Dekorder]
Suicide Commando - Industrial Underground [Climax]
Sprung Aus Den Volken - A-i Akcam La [Faux Pas]
Prostitutes- Kisses Undelivered [Diagonal]
S. English- System [Desire]
Mika Vainio - It's a Muthang [Comfortzone]
Positive Centre- Field of Tongues [Our Circula Sound]
Eomac - Spectre [KILLEKILL]
Autechre - Dropp [Warp]
Killing Sound- Eight Methods [Blackest Ever Black]
D.Å.R.F.D.H.S.- Untitled (Isorinne Remix) [Clan Destine]
Smell the Flesh- Unsettled Conflict [Skudge White]
Sturqen - Ingebrik [Kvitnu]
Black Seed- Break the Silence [Details Sound]
ASSS- Halt Sex Mi [Haunted Air]
SPE - Carex [Rwina]
Damaskin - Contra Theatra  [Unknown Precept]
Diamond Version - Science for a Better Life [Mute]
Esplendor Geometrico- Bombotó [Geometrik]
Musumeci - Schwartz Morgen [Mannequin]
Tom Ellard- 303B The East is Red [Dark Entries]
Silent Servant - Lust Abandon [Jealous God]
Cabaret Voltaire - Seconds Too Late [Rough Trade]

Nihar Bhatt and Jason Polastri - Mix for Jealous God 6

Surface Tension is excited to launch a new regular podcast series with an inaugural mix from one of our residents, Nihar Bhatt. 

Nihar has been a presence for years in the Bay Area dark electronics landscape. In 2009 he co-founded Warm Leatherette, the DIY minimal wave/post-punk club night that in 2013 evolved into Surface Tension, where sounds shifted to a more EBM-, industrial- and experimentally-minded techno perspective. Nihar makes music as Nine, and as one half of Sutures, a collaboration with Baltimore-based producer Alex Bennett.

Tracklist:

Coil - A Cold Cell - (Cold Spring) - 2015
Himadri - Lucid Lure - (Plus 8) - 1994
L/F/D/M - No Cure - (Ecstatic) - 2015
Steve Moore - Panther Moderns - (L.I.E.S.) - 2012
Shinichi Atobe - Plug and Delay - (Distort Decay Sustain) - 2015 (reissue from 2001 original)
Unit Moebius - Dolphinarium - (Interr-Ference Communications) - 1994
Patricia - Life is a Hideous Thing - (Opal Tapes) - 2015
Panasonic - Radiokemia - (Blast First) - 1995
Biosphere - M I R - (Apollo) - 1994
Sean Deason - The Shit - (Distance) - 1995 
Dempa - Scabulous - (Akute) - 2015
DBX - Spock’s Brain - (Accelerate) - 1995
Obtane - A Thunder Will Purify Us - (Semantica) - 2013 
Oscar Mulero - Stimulated Reflex - (Pole) - 2015
Phase Fatale - Rot - (a+w II) - 2015
Realmz - Architecture of Time - (Sonic Groove) - 2015
Arcing Seas - Incal - (Our Circula Sound) - 2015
Rrose - Vellum - (Eaux) - 2015
Antigone - Enter - (Token) - 2015
Casual Violence - Acceptance of the Fact at Hand - (Sect) - 2011
Sutures - Bind - (Ascetic House) - 2015

Surface Tension Podcast 1- Nihar Bhatt

The second edition of the Surface Tension podcast series brings you a blistering set of live electro courtesy of Oakland's Identity Theft, recorded at Surface Tension 11 at F8 in San Francisco, September 12, 2015.

Identity Theft is the solo project of M. Buchanan, performed entirely on hardware synthesizers and rhythm machines. A co-founder of the Katabatik concern in Oakland, he has been a source for all manner of esoteric sound vibrations in various settings and guises:  magisterial interdimensional emanations as a member of Nommo Ogo; wintry crystalline synth pop in Seacrypt; derelict warehouse sounds as one-half of Abandoned Footwear, his collaboration with Jay Fields. 

Read an interview with Identity Theft here: 
http://surfacetensionsf.tumblr.com/post/141487944346/interview-identity-theft

Surface Tension Podcast 2- Identity Theft

For the fourth edition of the Surface Tension podcast series we present a set of unheimliche sounds from CoH, recorded LIVE at Surface Tension 15 at F8 in San Francisco, March 11, 2016.

CoH (“sleep” or “dream” in Russian) has been producing avant garde electronic vibrations since the 1990s from his home base in Sweden, including releases on esteemed labels such as Raster-Noton, Eskaton, and Editions Mego and collaborations with Coil, Cosey Fanni Tutti, William Basinski, Richard Chartier, and many others. While his music has a reputation for uncompromising exploration and rigorous precision, this performance nevertheless triggered a sublime physiological commotion on our dance floor.

Released concurrently with this recording is RETURN TO MECHANICS, a new 12" EP released on San Francisco label Ge-stell. This live recording is based on edited and improvised loops and sequences from the EP. RETURN TO MECHANICS is available at fine record stores everywhere or direct from Ge-stell: http://www.ge-stell.net/products/567532-coh-return-to-mechanics-12-ep

Mastering by Johnny Igaz aka @nacktmusic. 

Surface Tension Podcast 4- CoH

Number five is a brain-burner of a mix riveted together by Brooklyn industrial rhythm queens Appetite. Appetite is the current iteration of a best friend collaboration between Jane Chardiet (ex-Foreplay) and Ciarra Black (No-Tech) making confrontational “pop” music. Jane also writes and produces beautiful and challenging photographic work (http://janepain.wordpress.com/). Ciarra also DJs and co-ran the ultrafucked No-Tech club night from 2013-2015; it’s now the No-Tech record label (http://no-tech.bandcamp.com/releases).

Read an interview with Appetite here:
http://surfacetensionsf.tumblr.com/post/145864575861/interview-appetite

Tracklist:

Sofia Reta - Roquefort -  (Sofia Reta Corporation) - 2014
Carol - So Low - (Dirty Dance/ Weyrd Son) - 2016 (reissue of 1981)
Anna Domino - Land of My Dreams - (Les Disques Du Crépuscule) - 1984
Jason Kudo - View From The Outside - (forthcoming Ascetic House) - 2016
Drew McDowall - Untitled - (Unreleased) - 2016
Horoscope - Possession - (Unreleased) - 2016
Ciarra Black - I’m Speaking To You -  (TBA Angoisse) - 2016
Via App - Con Artist - (forthcoming Break World) - 2016
Young Male - Drug Deal Videos - (forthcoming White Material 008) - 2016
DUST- Tell Me - (2MR) - 2016
Silent Servant - Dissociation - (L.I.E.S) - 2016
Marshstepper - Side B of Give Yourself To The Moon - (Ascetic House) - 2014
CP/ BW - Bored Hurt - (BW) - 2015
Shredded Nerve - excerpt from Boundless Epiphany - (Unreleased) - 2016
Susan - Screamer - (Epic) - 1980
Suicide - Cheree (Remix) - (Bronze) - 1999 (reissue of 1978)
Dane Fantasia - New Fiend - (forthcoming No-Tech) - 2016
Cocteau Twins - Watchlar -  (4AD) - 1990
Rudimentary Peni - Rotten To The Core - (Corpus Christi) - 1983
The Dicks - Dicks Hate The Police - (Radical Records) - 1980
No Trend - Too Many Humans - (No Trend Records) - 1983
Cabaret Voltaire - Sex, Money, Freaks - (EMI) - 1987

Surface Tension Podcast 5- Appetite

Podcast 6 is a mix of vast, expansive techno made for us by TRACER, an experimental techno/dub producer based in SF. His most recent project is the soundtrack for Choice Provisions' game LASERLIFE.

http://tracervision.com/

Tracklist:

Akkord - Torr Vale - (Houndstooth) - 2013
Plaster - Tangle - (Stroboscopic Artefacts) - 2013
Shaddah Tuum -  Merkabah - (Portals Editions) - 2014
Fluxion - Aviation - (Chain Reaction) - 2000
Twine - Should - (Unknown) - Late 1990s
Rrose - Kneeling - (Stroboscopic Artefacts) - 2013
Immune - Artists of the Floating World - (Dream Catalogue) - 2016
Aymeric de Tapol - Un Mirage - (Vlek) - 2015
Emptyset - Signal I - (Subtext) - 2015
The Infiltrator - Thought 1 - (Underground Resistance) - 1998
Richie Hawtin - EXpanded - (Plus 8) - 2015
Michal Jablonski - From Red to Black - (Translucent) - 2014
Gagarin Kombinaatti - Massa - (Puu) - 2015
DJ Richard - I-Mir - (Dial) - 2015
Monoloc - Things - (CLR) - 2014
Retina.IT & Dadub - Kykeon - (Stroboscopic Artefacts) - 2013
Twine - Lightrain - (Unknown) - Late 1990s

Surface Tension Podcast 6- Tracer

Podcast 8 was conjured up by BWO, one node of esoteric Baltimorean late-night experimental dance concern Vague Output.

soundcloud.com/bwithouto
soundcloud.com/vagueoutput

Tracklist:

Tadd Mullinix - Bridge Out - (Bopside) - 2016
Shapednoise - Well-Being - (Type) - 2015
Sa Pa - Russolo - (Forum) - 2015
In Aeternam Vale - Congestion Cosh - (Dement3d) - 2016
Bakunin Commando - A Sense Of Light - (forthcoming Vague Output) - 2016
Vakula - Modulation 03 - (Arma) - 2016
Porter Ricks - Nautical Dub - (Chain Reaction) - 1996
In Aeternam Vale - Autour Du Signal - (Dement3d) - 2016
Point G - Braka Revamp - (Point G) - 2016
Leo Anibaldi - Aeon Fusion I (2016 Stretched Edit) - (Future Primitive) - 2016
Acronym - Letting Go Of It All - (Northern Electronics) - 2015
Shifted - The Incoherent - (Avian) - 2014
Tadd Mullinix - Skein - (Bopside) - 2016

Surface Tension Podcast 8- BWO

The ninth edition of our podcast is selection of cyberpunk sounds mixed together by Rivet, the technician behind warped body-moving releases on Skudge and Kontra-Musik, among others; head of the darkly glittering Kess Kill record label (http://kesskill.bandcamp.com/); and the discerning ear that animates the absolutely indispensable Rivet Selects blog (http://rivetselects.com/).

Read an interview with Rivet here:
http://surfacetensionsf.tumblr.com/post/148648495661/interview-rivet

Tracklist:

AG Geige - Yachtclub & Buchteln - (KlangFarbe) - 1987
Bill Converse - Consulted Acid - (Dark Entries) - 2016
Space Knight - Starline - (Djuring Phonogram) - 2015
ARIISK - Codex Spiral - (Bandcamp) - 2016
Geneviéve Pasquier - Fairy Tale - (forthcoming Kess Kill) - 2016
Tackle - AGR 803 - (Another Dark Age) - 2016
The Actor - Unreal Personality - (Trumpett) - 2005 reissue of 1982 original
I:Cube - Un Proton Pour Toi, Un Neutron Pour Moi - (Versatile) - 2006
Kikrokos - Life Is A Jungle - (Loop) - 1978
Juan Ramos - Last Of The Natives - (ESP Institute) - 2016
Beatrice Dillon - Curl - (Alien Jams) - 2016
Unknown - Unknown - (Kess Kill Demos) - ???
John T. Gast - Babl Callin - (5 Gate Temple) - 2016
Gesetz Der Oktaven - Sensor - (Third Ear) - 2016
TWINS - Chase the Sound - (CLEAR USA) - 2015
Plastiktanz - Chord Invasions - (Loop) - 2014 reissue of 198? original
Cube - Private - (Left Hand Path) - 2016
Ploy - Sala One Five - (Hessle Audio) - 2016
Sølyst - Shelf - (Bureau B) - 2016
Celldöd - Falska Gudar (Dub Mix) - (Kess Kill) - 2016
Cute Heels - Third Skin - (Dark Entries) - 2016
Rivet - Untitled Loop - (Unreleased) - ???
Bronze Teeth - Accidental Myiasis - (BAKK) - 2016
Gesetz Der Oktaven - Stellwerk - (Third Ear) - 2016
Suspended In Gaffa - Two Four Two - (B-O-D-I-E-S) - 2016
Prostitutes - Cheap Amplifiers - (Spectrum Spools) - 2016
Geneviéve Pasquier - Lines - (forthcoming Kess Kill) - 2016 
Snowy Red - Blood Blood Blood (Demo Version) - (OnderStroom) - 2011 reissue of 1980 original

Surface Tension Podcast 9- Rivet

Our tenth podcast is a psychic swamp of a live set from Forests 森林 out of Taipei City, Taiwan. A little geniale dilettanten, some mummified krautrock, some horrifically beautiful Beach Boys-esque psychedelia, all dredged in a bath of a corrosive techno throb. 

Forests 森林 @forestsing are :

Jon Du (synthesizer/vocals)
Zun Long (drums/electronics)
Guo (bass)

This performance was recorded live at the Surface Tension Loft Series in San Francisco, July 28, 2016.

Surface Tension Podcast 10- Forests 森林

Edition eleven is DHRA AKA Judy Li, once upon a time of San Francisco but since having sailed on to greener, rainier shores in Dublin, Ireland. Her mix was recorded LIVE at Surface Tension’s Loft Series with Forests 森林 (the subject of our last transmission) on July 28, 2016. 

In the past she’s laid heady bass concoctions for Discwoman and Parameter— here she drops expansive billowing clouds of sound seeded with heavy grains of metallic percussion and a visceral pulse that keeps things anchored in the moving body. Follow her: @dhra

No tracklist, but we do know this one opens with Demdike Stare and ends with Shackleton.

DHRA @ SURFACE TENSION

Surface Tension Podcast 11- DHRA

First issue of 2017 comes your way from Surface Tension’s own DJ CZ, captured live at our three-year anniversary with Rrose and Joshua Kit Clayton on December 16, 2016. Stay tuned for words of benediction from JKC himself at the end of the mix…

Tracklist:

Prince of Denmark - Latenightjam - (Giegling) - 2016 
Dorisburg - Tundra - (Aniara) - 2011
Peder Mannerfelt - Clear Eyes, Full Heart - (Hinge Finger) - 2016
Wata Igarashi - Mood of the Machines Pt. I - (The Bunker New York) - 2016
Solar - Five Seconds - (Forthcoming Squirrels on Film) - 2017
Palms Trax - Paws - (Dekmantel) - 2016
Justin Cudmore - Crystal (Servito's 7:30 Reshape) - (Honey Soundsystem) -  2016
E.R.P. - El Camino - (Bleep43) - 2012
Carl Finlow - Definition - (Device) - 2001
The Knife - Silent Shout - (Mute) - 2006
New Order - The Beach - (Factory) - 1983
Bambounou - Ignition (Laurent Garnier remix) - (50 Weapons) - 2013
Physical Therapy - 909 Reasons Why - (Delft) - 2016
Marco Passarani - Clair - (Peacefrog) - 2005
Solvent - My Radio - (Ghostly International) - 2004

Surface Tension 15- DJ CZ

Guess we were warned but we did it anyway: we present to you a "Don't Ask Me to DJ" Mix by Article C. 

Article C is the shorthand for Chris Latina's solo work focusing on the intersection of club abstraction and computer music. Latina has solo releases on Anòmia Productions and represents one-half of ambient power electronics outfit and eponymous label Private Archive. He often develops custom audio-visual hardware and software for live performances. 

This mix for Surface Tension attempts to tie together experimental music driven by acousmatic electroacoustic composition, hardcore interwoven synthetic lattices, subwoofer bass tones, and a smattering of personal connections to people, places, smells, and sounds. 

Follow us down the rabbit hole: http://article.codes

Tracklist:

University of Michigan - Music Moves Microfluidic Drops - (UM News Service, Youtube) - 2009
Robert Normandeau - Palindrome - (empreintes DIGITALes) -  2012
Boston Marathon Bombing - (Live Stream) - 2013
Divided - A (Black Swallower / Intervene) - (Project 13) - 2016
Robert Normandeau - Jeu de Langues - (empreintes DIGITALes) - 2012
Ilpo Väisänen ‎– Osat 1-5 - (Kvitnu) - 2016
Mark Fell - The Occultation of 3C 273 - 5 - (Editions Mego) - 2011
Chatline - Glasss (Wee Bey Last Minute Mix) - (W - I) - 2015
Åke Parmerud - Krén - (Ton Art) - 1984
Cont Ext - (Unreleased) - ???
Death Qualia - Conjoined Ma'nene - (Private Archive) - 2017
Simon Chioini - Gurgle Ragu - (Unreleased) - ???
Article C - Tangible Hybrid DSP - (Unreleased) - ???
Liima - Version 2 - (Kangaroo) - 2001
Kazuma Kubota - Kizu - (Amethyst Sunset) - 2015
White Noise Sounds of Frozen Arctic Ocean with Polar Icebreaker Idling - (Relax Sleep ASMR, YouTube) - 2017
J-Zbel - ZHF (Poppers Mix) - (Brothers From Different Mothers) - 2015
51717 - Oranienburg IV - V - VI - (Total Black) - 2016
Denis Smalley ‎– Darkness After Time's Colours - (empreintes DIGITALes) - 2004
N1L - Chasing The Sun - (Where To Now?) - 2017

Surface Tension Podcast 17- Article C

Eighteen is a rendering of the long piece “Air Traffic” by Piano Rain, performed live at Surface Tension on March 3, 2017.

Piano Rain is one square in a patchwork quilt of sound art projects summoned from the ether by Oakland’s Alexandra Archuleta, having previously manifested as Aja Vision, Believe, Opulence, Crescendo, and the Psychic Handbook. At our night she used her machines to channel vaporous spirits and billowing presences from somewhere out there directly into our dreaming minds.

Mastering by David Last.

Surface Tension Podcast 18- Piano Rain "Air Traffic"

Emission 19 is a recording of Bill Converse’s whip-crack body mover of a vinyl set live from Surface Tension on March 3, 2017. It’s a headlong dive down the acid bobsled track that kept us throwing crazed shapes into the wee hours and we’re oh so grateful to be able to share it with you.

Bill Converse hails from Austin, Texas and has releases on Dark Entries and Texas Recordings Underground. His new project, Tide Eman, has a record forthcoming on Active Cultures.

No tracklist, sorry folks!

Mastering by David Last.

Surface Tension Podcast 19- Bill Converse

Our 20th podcast is a recording of BLEIE’s immersive, bracingly suggestive and mercurial set performed live at Surface Tension on May 12, 2017 with Demdike Stare. Rhythms lumbering alongside tones that snaked and scythed the club fog brought to mind shifting sands and hulking alien structures for those in attendance and we do not doubt it will plant visual seeds for listeners here, too.

BLEIE is Oakland’s Sarah Bly. She produces and performs hardware-based experimental electronic music ranging from dark and elastic ambient noisescapes to cerebral, singular techno. She has current and forthcoming releases on Sound + Matter/B-O-D-I-E-S, Unheard Records, and 3AM Devices, with another release due out on a Bay Area label in 2017.

More sound: @bleie

Mastering by David Last.

Surface Tension Podcast 20- Bleie

For this issue we are beside ourselves to present a live mix from Carlos Souffront (Interdimensional Transmissions/No Way Back), shepherding dancers through the strange hours of the night at the July 6, 2017 Surface Tension with Drew McDowall and Hiro Kone. The selections wend a path through a sonic labyrinth of underground burrows and secret doors with unblinking confidence; in this garden of forking paths, left turns are always the safest bet. 
 
Carlos cut his teeth on Detroit radio, curates cheeses in San Francisco, and DJs around the world.

No tracklist, sorry :)

Surface Tension Podcast 25- Carlos Souffront

This time around we’ve got a mix prepared by Surface Tension resident Jason P. Refined throbbers and searching odic emanations for your third eye. Enjoy!

Tracklist: 

Pan Sonic & Keiji Haino - Preparation Is Unnecessary From This Point On, Leave Me Alone Some Time - (Blast First Petite) - 2010
Tomorrow the Rain Will Fall Upwards - Wreck His Days - (Blackest Ever Black) - 2016
Cienfuegos - Entre Amigos - (BANK Records NYC) - 2016
Reanimator - Clicks and Drones May… - (Community Library) - 2006
N.M.O. - SpecialgesamtkunstwerKunst - (Anomía) - 2014
Phew - Echo - (Mesh-Key) - 2017
Borusiade -  Brain Bazaar - (Correspondant) - 2016
Novo Line - Three Forces - (Ecstatic) - 2016
Vromb - Emphase - (Ant-Zen) - 2001
Delia Derbyshire & Barry Bermange - Colour - (Psychic Sounds) - 2014
S. English - Permanence - (L.I.E.S.) - 2016
Body Without Organs - Osiris Rises (Murray CY Edit) - (Sign Bit Zero) - 2016
Wilted Woman - Tick - (She Rocks) - 2017
Yuji Kondo - Human Chord - (10 Label) - 2017
Tor Lundvall - Humidity - (Dais) - 2015

XOXO

Surface Tension Podcast 26- Jason P

For edition XXVIII we bring you a buffet of aural oddities collectively known as The Subdwellers [Black Lodge Mutants Mixxx] compiled by Black Lodge’s co-commanding entity, Kosmik. A bit of a departure from his usual dance floor oriented mixes, “The Subdwellers” includes a load of obscure and not-so-obscure tracks from his vast vinyl collection that highlight the mutant electronic sounds that you might find in one of the many dimensions of The Black Lodge. Tracks range from Annie Anxiety to Suicide to Charles Manier to Murray CY to Villain X/Naughty Wood, Sun Ra and beyond; some represent his own roots and influences while others point to the direction his own future productions are going. 

This year the Black Lodge launched a new record label inspired by their gatherings in Los Angeles. Their first comp, “Spirits of The Black Lodge Vol. 1” is out now on vinyl and the 2nd is at the pressing plant as we speak. 

Enter the portal only if you dare…

No tracklist.

Links:
https://blacklodge.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/theblacklodgeLA
https://www.instagram.com/theblacklodgela
https://soundcloud.com/theblacklodgela

Surface Tension Podcast 28- Kosmik

For issue 32 we find ourselves spiraling back to the sounds of one of Surface Tension’s favorite maniacs, E-Saggila. This recording is a document of her thunderous and hypnotic live performance at our four year anniversary show on November 11, 2017, during which she alternately raked our ears with abrasive textures and bludgeoning bass bin pounding and triggered astral projections with gorgeously droning tones.

E-Saggila is the solo project of Rita Mikhael; since we last checked in with her over the summer in issue 22, she has released a full length tape, Lux Campaign, on Opal Tapes, put out a scene-spanning comp on her own Summer Isle, and toured for gigs alongside Vril, Rabit, and Hiro Kone.  How does she do it?

@esaggila
http://www.summerisle.net/

Surface Tension Podcast 32- E-Saggila

Issue 37 is deep mesmeric astral pulsations from IORI, who graced the December 22, 2017 Surface Tension with this finely-detailed dub monster of a set.

IORI is the production alias of Iori Asano, once from Okinawa and now based in Tokyo, where he has been crafting shifting polyrhythmic voidscapes for DJ Nobu’s Bitta, Phonica, Prologue, Field, and Semantica.   

Please strap in and enjoy!

@iori927

Surface Tension Podcast 37- IORI

With issue 40 we present a guest mix from Liquid Asset, weaving together bent acid forms, fraying noise textures, and ephemeral NYC underground striations. Perhaps the highest single-issue concentration of unreleased music from past and future Surface Tension extended fam in our series to date, we could not be more inspired by the work of the artists included here and are pleased as punch to be pummeled, freaked, and ultimately soothed by these sounds. Also please note that the proceedings get started with Longmont Potion Castle.

Liquid Asset is one moniker of Alene Marie, formerly of North Carolina and now in New York City, who has applied a modded-hardware-centric approach to diverse lo-fi acid mutations over such ST label heroes as Primitive Languages, Summer Isle, New York Trax, and Jacktone.

@liquid-asset

Tracklist:
Liquid Asset - A Little Ambiance - (Unreleased) - ???
Longmont Potion Castle - Excitement of Tandy - (Post Replica) - 2002
E-Saggila - Through Concrete - (Summer Isle) - 2018
Housefire - Sonic Pres-sure Trance Violet Wave - (???) - ???
Enrique - Cinder Block Bed - (Unreleased) - ???
Donnie Tempo - Mental Problem - (Alleviated) - 2001/2016
Cray Emoticon - Gnawing of the Heart - (Unreleased) - ???
FBI Warning - The Night Stalker - (Unreleased) - 2015
Green Velvet - Abduction - (Music Man Records) - 1999
Stallone the Reducer - Always - (Est. 83 Records) - 2018
Cienfuegos - El Ultimo Circulo - (Unreleased) - ???
Isabella - Upbeat Abrasion - (Unreleased) - 2017
Liquid Asset - Synapse Work - (Unreleased) - ???
Semblance Factor - Jack the Void - (New York Trax) - 2018
Hiro Kone Ft. Roxy Farman - Infinite Regress - (Geographic North) - 2017
Beta Librae - Urras - (Incienso) - 2018
Bookworms - Astnight 3 - (Unreleased) - ???
Motiv-A - Hannah Blumen Sex - (Unreleased) - ???
Bergsonist - Solyaris - (Unreleased) - ???

Surface Tension Podcast 40- Liquid Asset

Issue 42 is a guest mix from Montreal’s mysterious kindred spirit Lacedetail, suiting our tastes right proper and then some— noise inflections, body music and eerie ethereality in spades with tons of under the radar material from way up north and east. 

Lacedetail is the recent project of one Nela Paki, debuting with releases on Summer Isle and that Power Puerto Rico comp, and performances alongside a grip of ST alums and favorites like Hiro Kone, Nick Klein, Enrique, Wetware, E-Saggila, and Minimal Violence.

CECILIA - Gros Animal - (Halcyon Veil) - 2018
S. English - The Room Tonight - (L.I.E.S.) - 2018
Ogoya Nengo - Orutu Run (Lena Willikens Remix) - (TAL) - 2017
Ninos du Brasil - Noite Atras - (Stroboscopic Artefacts) - 2018
Cienfuegos - The Seventh Sister - (L.I.E.S.) - 2018
CECILIA - Pagliaccio - (Halcyon Veil) - 2018
E-Saggila - Lounge Trip - (BANK Records) - 2018
Tzusing - Cubicle - (Physically Sick 2) - 2018
Ciarra Black - By Design - (Physically Sick 2) - 2018
M.E.S.H. - Coercer - (PAN) - 2017
Pelada - Destado - (Physically Sick 2) - 2018
Hiro Kone - Twisted - (Physically Sick 2) - 2018
GB - Time Is My Enemy - (Unreleased) - 2018
Buttechno - M - (Zodiac 44) - 2018
Jaclyn Kendall - Artificial Hell - (Self-Released) - 2018
Nick Klein - Aging Champion - (Self-Released) - 2018
Enrique - Here Comes The Pain - (Unreleased) - 2018
S. English - Bilocation Drift - (L.I.E.S.) - 2018
Passion Aveugle - Untitled - (Unreleased) - 2017
Essaie Pas - Complet Brouillé - (DFA Records) - 2018
Anabasine - Intercity Express - (Unreleased) - ???
Deejay Xanax - Djxana2 - (Exotic Dance Records) - 2016
Support/Surface - InterLingua - (Unreleased) - ???

Surface Tension Podcast 42- Lacedetail

For edition 44 we are very proud to present a recording of Bleie’s live performance at Surface Tension X Infinite Beat’s late night CounterPulse Festival collaboration from March this year. Originally one pearl in a string of magickal ambient performances that included live sets from Brooke Keller (previously featured on the podcast) and frequent collaborator and SF psychedelic house master Roche, Bleie’s set held us transfixed with its slow-boil ritual aspect. Chimes and healing drones function like an alien walking meditation, patiently ushering in increasingly vast and phantasmagorical sounds to convey a sense of movement across cosmic-scale distances both spatial and temporal.

Bleie is the East Bay’s Sarah Bly. She has produced cavernous techno for Sound + Matter and 3AM Devices, and recently launched Paramour, a new ambient collaboration with Roche. 

@bleie
@mr_ms_paramour

Surface Tension Podcast 44- Bleie

Issue 45 is a set of thick jams of the post-punk inflected wave persuasion selected by Atlanta’s Pyramid Club, wending its way through dreamy tape-warped synth emanations, new new beat chug, and skeletal techno.

Pyramid Club are Chris Daresta (also of Anticipation) and Matthew Weiner (also of TWINS), who in addition to righteously deadly drops for Unknown Precept and DKA have managed to collaborate with countless other nodes of the U.S. electronic underground between them.

No tracklist, sorry!

@pyramid_club
@anticipationatl
https://dkarecords.bandcamp.com/

Surface Tension Podcast 45- Pyramid Club

For issue 46 we present nothing but ACID on nothing but VINYL RECORDS brought to you by none other than Tennesseean networked acid linchpin Grey People. Plenty of OG 1980s jackwork at the front end blending with more recent raw business from no-nonsense Midwest luminaries toward the back, ideal for activating the rave pleasure centers squirreled around your brain.

Grey People is the hugely prolific Alex Michalski out of Nashville, with wax out on Public System, CGI, and Valcrond Video plus a 12” and a tape on the way this year, for Nerang and 99cts respectively. He also runs TRAM Planet records with @future-daze, with tape releases from kindred maniacs Bergsonist, Prostitutes, and L/F/D/M among others. 


@grey_people
@tram-planet-records

Tracklist: 

Charles "Hotmix" Nelson Presents Dezuan - Party House (Smokin' The Bass Mix) - (Chi-mix Records) - 1988
BnC - House Ain't Giving Up - (AKA Dance Music) - 1987
Farley Funkin Keith - Jackin The Bass - (House Records) - 1985
Derek "Smoking" Jones - Homeboy (Club Mix) - (Rockin' House) - 1988
Hex Complex - I Want You (The Transcontinental Mix) - (Sunset Records) - 1987
Smokin' Gang - Latin House - (Hot Mix 5 Records) - 1988
Symbols & Instruments - Mood (Optimystic Mix) - (KMS Records) - 1989
Civi - Ride The Beat - (Basement Records) - 1987
Secret Studio Featuring Kink - Alarm Call - (Secret Studio Records) - 2018
Fanon Flowers - Part One - (Studio Sound) - 2010
BMG & Derek Plaslaiko - Sonic Rendezvous (NWB Mix) - (Interdimensional Transmissions) - 2018
Bam Bam - Where Is Your Child - (Tresor) - 2001/1988
Apogee - Sunset On The Second Moon - (Peacefrog Records) - 1993
Unknown Artist (House Without a Home II) - It's Just A !!! - (Maachan Records) - 1989
L.N.R. - Kream (Short Mix) - (House Jam Records) - 1988
Dar Embarks - Fezzik - (The Corner) - 2017
Textasy - They're Trying To Control My Mind - (FTP) - 2018

Surface Tension Podcast 46- Grey People

Here now slinks issue 48, slouching our way from the REC OUTs of Atlanta’s Anticipation, brimming with wavy skronk and NDW-inflected oblique energy, plus periodic grounding forays into minimally-produced trance-inducing jack trax and rave gear.  Thoroughly arresting radio-style spelunk through the nether regions, strap in!

Anticipation is Chris Daresta, 1/2 of Pyramid Club and co-conspirator behind DKA Records (whose just-released Tape Programme Vol. II is available to cop at Bandcamp as we speak!). We’re told there’s unreleased DKA material in the mix here but we confess that most of the tracklist stymied our concerted trainspotting efforts so we guess that means it’s up to you to unravel this mystery…   

@anticipationatl
dkarecords.bandcamp.com/

Surface Tension Podcast 48- Anticipation

Number 49 is a beautiful glob of shimmering, romantically-minded high fantasy courtesy of Tucson’s C10. Trickling sun-dappled ambient passages bridge full spectrum synth pop, swooning shoegaze and sinewy minimal electronics, post punk and darkwave; an intuitive meander through dramatically heightened emotional states.

C10 is a moniker of one Jacob Samuel Seaton, glittering node in the U.S. underground firmament, formerly affiliated with Baltimore’s Vague Output parties, currently DJing, producing and performing live music in AZ while also running Devine Records.

@c10-audio
@devine-records

Tracklist:

Sutekh - Track 9 - (Force Inc.) - 2000
ZWI - Float (Instrumental) - (???) - ????
Silvia Kastel - Concrete Void - (Blackest Ever Black) - 2018
The KVB - Atlas - (Invada) - 2015
Soft Kill - Vacant Home - (Pagan Day) - 2013
Professor Genius - ??? - (???) - ????
Security - Position - (Hungry Eye) - 2017
The KVB - Poetics Of Space - (Invada) - 2015
IIVA - She’s One Brave Lady - (Self-Released) - 2018
Svemirko - Kako Da Znam - (Više Manje Zauvijek) - 2018
White Hex - In The Night - (felte) - 2014
Break & Survival - No I.D. - (Quarantine) - 2006
Ebi (Susumu Yokota) - 浴 Yoku - (Space Teddy) - 1994
Black Mare - Femme Couverte - (Magic Bullet) - 2017
Detachments - Stay In The Shadows - (Officers’ Mess Recordings) - 2015
Silent Servant - Still Life - (Electric Voice) - 2014
Mononomonooto - ウオ - (Self-Released) - 2018
Ortrotasce - You’ll Never Be Real - (Disko Obscura) - 2016
Automelodi - Addio - (Self-Released) - 2009
MIMCO - Big Sister - (???) - ????
Ahmed Malek & Flako - Tape 27 Track 3, Part 1 - (Habibi Funk) - 2017

Surface Tension Podcast 49- C10

At long last, and just in time…  a guest mix from extended family lands portentously at number 50!  In celebration of All Hallow's, the Bay's own Topazu has compiled a mix animated with the restless spirit of its namesake film, padding through misty choral ambiance before coiling and pouncing, one moment mischievous and knowing, the next feral and gnashing.

Topazu is head jock at Infinite Beat on Radio Valencia and a top-tier metalhead.

No tracklist, sorry! :)

@topazu
facebook.com/infinitebeast/

Surface Tension Podcast 50- Topazu "Kuroneko"

First release of the 2019 season is this gathering of deep-rooted weirdness from Scott Moore, helmsperson at Other Stranger. Spindly minimal electronics glare cross-eyed at crusty dance rhythms underneath storm clouds crackling with static; yes, please, and more so besides. 

Scott Moore plays guitar for the long-running influential queer hardcore band Limp Wrist, and in the dreamy, dark punk and angular pop group Flesh World. He also records electronic music in the duos Concrete Island and Election Day, and as a solo artist on Jacktone Records.

https://soundcloud.com/scott_moore

Tracklist:

T.A.G.C- ???
The Twenty Committee - National Re-Doubt - (Not on Label) - ???
Throbbing Gristle-Something Came Over Me - (Industrial Records) - 1980 
Solvent vs. Lowfish - Close Encounters - (Vynalogica) - 2004 
Delia Derbyshire / Barry Bermange - Colour - (Psychic Sounds) - 2014 
Bill Converse - Shuck - (Fit Sound) - 2018 
D’Arcangelo - Somewhere in Time - (Suction) - 2018 
Inhalants - Humid Window - (L.I.E.S.) - 2016 
Don’t - DK - (???) - ??? 
Severed Heads - Elephant Decibel (snippet) - (Ink) - 1985
Another - Paris Tribe - (Backstreet Backlash) - 1982 
Muziekkamer - Being Home Tonight - (Contort Yourself) - 2018 
Group A - Consumer A - (Kashual Plastik) - 2018
Die Form - In a Tea-room - (Bain Total) - 1982 
Ixna - Ixna Portal Exo - (Dumb) - 1981 
Chen Yi - Honey Money - (90% Wasser) - 2006 
T.A.G.C. - ???
Stallone the Reducer - Cruising the Rubber - (Est. ’83 Records) - 2018
Diseño Corbusier - F-P-2 - (Auxilio De Cientos) - 1985 
Unit Moebius - World Turns Around - (Acid Planet) - 1994
Ariisk - Man-Plus - (Difficult Interactions) - 2017
Depeche Mode - Ice Machine - (Mute) - 1981

Surface Tension Podcast 51- Scott Moore

Issue 52 is a billowing mind-expander compiled in February 2019 by Mx. Silkman, resident DJ and co-founder of Cleveland’s In Training. Widescreen drones and unsettling tones set a desolate scene before fevered rhythms begin to clear the fog and the dance takes hold. Too many idols of ours to enumerate in this collection, beautifully contextualized by one another's company.

Mx. Silkman is one facet of Aerin Ercolea; with In Training, she has helped establish a queer-run monthly underground electronic music series and community in her native city of Cleveland that both celebrates and cuts against alienation in contemporary life. In addition to her residence, Mx. Silkman has appeared at established parties such as Honcho, Neon Falls, Staub, and Nothing Changes as well as being a fervent supporter of the techno-by-way-of-punk DIY underground party scene throughout the Midwest and East Coast. She also records leftfield dancefloor electronics as Auton.

https://soundcloud.com/mxsilkman
https://jacktonerecords.bandcamp.com/album/la-lotta-continua

Tracklist:

4023 - Untitled – (Jacktone) - 2018
Psychic Warriors Ov Gaia - Dust (At The Crossroads) - (KK Records) - 1994
Mika Vainio - Conquering the Solitude - (Editions Mego) - 2011
Dark Alceste De Socaï Vômie - Electrone (Flies Mix) - (RRRecords) - 1991
Eomac - Prayer Pt. 1 - (Bedouin) - 2016
Nerve - Glass Fist (Reprise) - (A Colourful Storm) - 2016
Silver Waves - VI (Ossia Remix) - (Portals Editions) - 2016
Carsten Endraß - Untitled - (Markant) - 1998
E-Saggila - Glass Wing - (BANK) - 2018
Stave - Fought Pt. 1 - (aiia Recordings) - 2017
Pessimist - Grit - (Blackest Ever Black) - 2017
Giorgio Gigli - Spazio - (Prologue) - 2009
400PPM - Sintered Bauxite - (Avian) - 2017
Hiss : 1292 - Known For Being Awkwardly Shaped Spaces - (Dement3d) - 2013
Black Merlin - Vision Animal - (Berceuse Heroique) - 2017
Iesope Drift - Korot - (Seico Corp) - 1998
Chasing Voices - Scold - (Preserved Instincts) - 2019
Spiritflesh - Mortuary - (No Corner) - 2018
Michael Claus - Ice Pick - (Left Hand Path) - 2018
Metasplice - Cylindrics - (Morphine) - 2013
Muslimgauze - Takfir Wa Higra - (Staalplaat) - 2015
Christoph De Babalon - Meditate - (A Colourful Storm) - 2018
Donor - Station A14 - (Prosthetic Pressings) - 2015
Mike Parker - Untitled - (Geophone) - 2011
Stanislav Tolkachev - Proof - (MORD) - 2016
Avatism - Self Control - (Vakant) - 2017
R Gamble - Mas Torque - (Lost Soul Enterprises) - 2016
Markus Suckut - Plain - (SCKT) -  2014
M//R - Windfall - (Great Circles) - 2018
PCM - In The Cooler - (Possible) - 1996
Air Liquide - This Is A Mind Trip - (Intergalactic Research Institute For Sound) - 2018

Surface Tension Podcast 52- Mx. Silkman

Edition 53 is a lyrical collection of electronic miniatures assembled by NYC’s Videograve, grimy and grandiose at once, spanning sputtering  industrial funk, shuffling undead synth pop, nocturnal cyberpunk spasms and neon ambiance. 

Videograve is Danny Riley and Mitch Patrick; via a periodic series of cassette releases and an upcoming full-length, "Flatphreaks," on DKA they’ve explored the mind- and body-distorting effects of screen-culture, identifying a spooky entanglement between the grainy fantasia of the VHS era through our current all-everything-all-the-time omniculture.  

https://soundcloud.com/videograve
https://videograve.bandcamp.com/
https://dkarecords.bandcamp.com/album/videograve-flatphreaks

Tracklist:


Slap - Blue Lunch - (Duotone) - 1985 
Sheila Fleurator - Minimal Hypnosis - (Neubau) - 2017
 Art of Noise - Instruments of Darkness - (Chrysalis) - 1986
 Femminielli Noir - Exotico - (Mind) - 2014
 Psykosonik - Krankphreak (Hi-Hat Version) / Technojihad (X-Kaliber 2097 Cut) - (???) - 1994
 Ricky Giovinazzo - Factory District (Combat Shock OST) - (Troma video rip) - 1986
Slap - From the Wrist - (Duotone) - 1985
 Toshinori Kondo - Live at Mózg Club in Warsaw - (Not on label) - 2016
 Black Vomit - Condeclint5 - (Frequency Thirteen) - 2009
Dwight Sykes - After Midnight - (PPU) - 2012
 Hirokazu Ohta - Z-walk #2 / Last Exit - (Victor) - 1995
Future Shock - Hip Shakinʼ (Instrumental) - (Becket) - 1984
 Yaz - State Farm (Extended mix) - (Sire) - 1983
 Drem Bruinsma - Bhopal - (Materiali Sonori) - 1991

Surface Tension Podcast 53- Videograve

For Issue 54 we are very proud to present a wriggling, whipcrack live set from Force Placement, recorded live at TVOD X Rent Control at the Public Works in February of this year.  

No introduction likely needed for this co-founder and rezident denizen of the Black Lodge LA, whose storied DIY happenings down south light the beacon for all the miscreants and whose vinyl releases send heavy mutant joy oscillations pulsing through the hearts of even the saltiest rave folk. Force Placement is Jason James, also responsible for transient noise bursts as Nu Sire; check outings on Tigerbeat6, Black Lodge Recordings, and Lost Soul Enterprises.

@forceplacement
residentadvisor.net/dj/forceplacement

Surface Tension Podcast 54- Force Placement

Issue 55 is a set of restless, solarized rave maneuvers, performed live by Ghorba at TVOD on December 28, 2018. Sounds are brightly illuminated and crisp about the edges, with thick, syrupy tones toward the middles; warm vocal samples beckon us to the floor where more caustic shapes spasm and throb.   

Ghorba is Natalie Robehmed, an LA-based producer, live performer, and DJ. Her party series and Dublab radio concern, FM+, highlight womxn and nonbinary people. She also helps run a workshop series, FeM Synth Lab, which encourages music production among femmes. Her debut full-length, Zero Threat to the Rave, was released on Jacktone Records in November 2018. She also puts out music and performs live as half of rave duo DIVORCE (Fatt Grabbers, Sweat Equity).

@ghorbadj
@FMplusplus
womenscenterforcreativework.com/events/fem-synth-lab/

Surface Tension Podcast 55- Ghorba

SURFACE TENSION is an interface between primal sound and future vision
SURFACE TENSION is a party series in San Francisco, CA
SURFACE TENSION are:
Justin Anastasi / Nihar Bhatt / DJ CZ / Jason P

Booking Inquiries/Contact: surfacetensionsf at gmail.com

SURFACE TENSION

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