Grounding Heartbeart

shifty 10 bpm sep 30 take 1

Strahinja Arbutina - Teabagging Mystery

Biogen’s a different kind of musician, always travelling the road less trodden. All laws broken - no chords, no build-ups and no traditional drum patterns. Instead Biogen offers listeners fragmented shreddings, constant irritations, glitches, imbalance—and enough creative ideas to supply a whole battalion of electronic musicians. His works are full of contrast. Occasionally soft and mellow - like a cloud in trousers - Biogen would call that “sofatrance”. Other times the music’s harsh and uncompromising with uncomfortable, irrational beats and glitches - “Weirdcore” - a vast uncharted territory. Some might be tempted to connect the contrast and contradictions in his music to his long battle with manic-depressive disorder. But the disparity in his music is its strength, confounding and delighting the listener.

It’s five years since Biogen passed away, but his influence is keenly felt among Icelandic electronic musicians. In the early ‘90s, Sigurbjörn “Bjössi” Þorgrímsson was a pioneer of the modern electronic scene as a member of the old skool hardcore band Ajax, who for a short time counted Goldie as vocalist, and cemented his reputation for pushing the limits under his Biogen pseudonym. His musical creations weren’t made to serve the past or the present, but the future.

A fair amount of tracks on ‘Halogen Continues’ are previously unreleased, or self released in very small amounts. The music moves from ‘Irrelevant Information’ where Biogen illuminates on “Stabastab" a mysterious international institute he dreamt up, originally on the ‘Mutilyn’ LP that he handmade and sold himself. It was an anti-LP, a non-linear album of drones, crackles and weirdness. ‘Bliss’ is from the 1996 double CD compilation entitled "Icelandic Dance Sampler” that he helped compile. ‘303 Ambient’ one of the recent works of the "Weirdcore" era - also a regular event showcasing abstract electronica. He was the frontman of the movement, regularly performing in Reykjavik with shows included lots of breakbeats and 303s.

His creativity and freedom from tradition have seen Biogen gathering appreciation as an artist with the passing of time, and are hand in hand with the concept of трип. The artwork by Tombo is inspired by the idea of eternity and reverence after death.  Nina compiled the tracks much like other album journeys on трип -  “I was in the car driving in the middle of nowhere in Iceland when I heard Biogen's music for the first time. Dramatic weather conditions outside probably influenced that instant emotional connection that I had with his music. Later navigating through a large archive of his recordings it took me some time until the album took form. I picked the most idiosyncratic cuts that show his creative approach most brightly. Some of them are short cuts ending obnoxiously with a lot of temper and others gorgeous atmospheric narratives - so deep and haunting that it feels like they are not familiar with a notion of time and dissolve slowly into the eternity. It's been an honour and felt exciting to have complied his work, a responsibility I feel keenly, and I hope he would like his music together in this album.”

Biogen’s friend the Icelandic musician Ruxpin (Jonas Gudmundsson) who has worked to collect together Biogen’s musical legacy through his DAT recordings and hard drives, and kindly granted Nina access to the files, provided much of the text for the press release. Following the album release of ‘Halogen Continues’, a further album of Biogen’s ambient and experimental works will be released on GALAXIID later this year.

Halogen Continues

D3. Biogen - Halogen Continues

Read our interview with @ctrls and check out this mix's track list here: bit.ly/TRLPod

Groove Podcast 123

Tracklist

Groove Podcast 123 - CTRLS

Anagram Label follow up their ‘Phasing Faces’ releases with remixes from Efdemin, Lapien, Ryan James Ford and Terrence Dixon under his Population One moniker this December.

Released earlier this year, ‘Phasing Faces’ was a two-part series featuring Anetha, Elad Magdasi, Mathame and Maukook, not to mention label founders Sinfol and Octual. Anagram have now tapped up four reputable names for a heavyweight remix package; Dial regular Efdemin, fast rising MDR and Answer Code Request act Ryan James Ford, Dutch producer Lapien aka one half of Delsin’s Artefakt, as well as renowned Detroit artist Terrence Dixon appearing as Population One.

Ostgut Ton’s Efdemin opens the package with his immersive remix of Sinfol ‘Trembling’, incorporating pulsating drones, echoing effects and ethereal synths. Anetha’s ‘Acid Train’ then gets reimagined by SHUT founder Ryan James Ford – the Canadian combines thudding kicks with mesmerising atmospherics as metallic percussion skips throughout.

Adding further depth to the release, Rekids and Mistress Recordings artist Lapien remixes Elad Magdasi ‘Two Floors’ to generate a smooth aesthetic complete with serene nuances and soulful vocal coos before
Rush Hour and Metroplex’s Population One ties everything together with a deep house reinterpretation of Octual's ‘Dark Sky’.

Tracklist

A1 Sinfol - Trembling (Efdemin Remix)
A2 Anetha - Acid Train (Ryan James Ford Remix)

B1 Elad Magdasi - Two Floors (Lapien Remix)
B2 Octual - Dark Sky (Population One Remix)

Distribution by www.clone.nl
Artwork by Annemiek Höcker
Mastering by Marco Antonio Spaventi @ MASpaventi Studio

ANAGRAM011 | Various Artists - Phasing Faces Remixes EP

Altstadt Echo moved to Berlin from Detroit only 2 months ago, but we got him fast! His music cannot be put in any box. It is a melancholic mixture of Detroit's rough concrete landscape and dark Scandinavian romanticism. He is wise enough not to talk a lot. He gets things done instead. We let his music speak for himself.

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Altstadt Echo has accomplished what most up-and-coming artists only talk about: a handful of vinyl releases, multiple festival performances, and the curation of an event series that has become a fixture of local underground culture.

He's been remixed by electronic music leaders across the world - from Terrence Dixon and Erika in Detroit to Abdulla Rashim and Varg in Europe. He's been called "Detroit techno's new guard" by Resident Advisor, "the avant-garde element to Detroit Techno" by SPIN Magazine, and "one of Detroit's fastest rising electronic music names" by the Detroit Free Press. His tracks have been featured on Regis mixtapes, written-up by Resident Advisor, and sold out at Hardwax.

KILLEKILL PODCAST #34: Altstadt Echo

Taken from 'Musicofilia,' Adiel's debut on Kangding Ray's ara.

Info: https://www.xlr8r.com/news/premiere-hear-a-wistful-techno-track-from-adiels-ara-debut

@a-diel

D3. Biogen - Halogen Continues

trip