Ectomorph

"One of the most difficult aspects of the last 13 months has been the complete lack of sound systems, which define the spaces where I both forged and maintain my relationship with techno. Proper dancefloors cocoon you in sound, granting freedom of body, mind, and soul, allowing for a completely individual experience with music, even moments of transcendence, while surrounded by some abstract, shifting mixture of friends and strangers. Pandemic delivered the exact opposite of this freedom, with lockdowns and isolation, fear and anxiety. 

7 months in, my memories of being enveloped by sound, anonymous in a crowd, felt so distant; my connection to this music I love so dearly was deeply eroded. Where it was once fun to DJ at home as a means to invoke the dancefloor, I could no longer summon those feelings; trying to play music for myself, alone, on small speakers, left me feeling disconnected and confused. Faced with creating a set for Samhain, a task I would normally welcome with joy, honor, and a sense of purpose, instead filled me with dread, apprehension, and a feeling of being hopelessly lost. 

Putting this set together was the most difficult creative exercise I have ever engaged in, I never struggled so much in my life to DJ. I forced myself to listen through music, assemble a collection of tunes, and finally to record a set, doing my best to summon missing feelings and connect to the lost spaces that hold so much meaning. This experience was so troubling that it would be the last mix I made in isolation.

6 months later, vaccinations are beginning to become a reality, and while my beloved dancefloors are still a ways off, things feel much less hopeless than they did in the autumn. Listening back to this mix fills me with a deep yearning for what we are all missing, and also hope for our future. I look forward so incredibly much to the day we can dance together again!!! and I can't wait to see you all.

xo"
— @erikadotnet

Interdimensional Transmissions Podcast

IT Podcast

IT.podcast.s10e12: Erika at Samhain XX

The hivemind of Ectomorph made its DJ world club debut at Samhain XXI, a collaboration of BMG & Erika on the Model 1 and effects. This is a recording of their closing set in Detroit on Saturday October 30th at Marble Bar.

IT.podcast.s11e01: Ectomorph DJ set at Samhain XXI

Gama 17 / Merino invites Erika @ Noods Radio (Feb 15, 2022)

Doing the streams was an incredible release in a time of social separation, it allowed us to get together and show our growth, changes in approach, changes to body, changes to mind. The catharsis of a No Way Back set allows for a kind of spiritual rebirth. 

There’s been many phases to my approach to DJing technically, but one constant has been combining the love of so many genres and aspects of this music with live production techniques, the mind that comes from creating music combining with the mind of the DJ, deep mixing and recontextualization and of finding ways to unlock codes that release special energy and emotions. 

For this set I combined the Model One and the modular, where I had a special patch set up to create fascinating delays that evolved and changed in ways plug ins or pedals can’t. Using CDJs with the Model One as the mixer, the modular as an effects send, and a Moog delay pedal as the other send, allowed me to shape and control the music in ways that create new ideas that accent the concepts more fluidly. 

A real vivid example of this is when I played DJ Nobu and layered Tina Turner from the then recent documentary “Tina” where she was demonstrating a few Buddhist chants she would do to calm herself down in her tumultuous relationship with Ike, looping those, reversing them with the CDJs and processing them with the modular to make a whole new floating hypnotic piece containing so much deep emotion and thought on such a higher level.

Doing the streams allowed for a really liberating take on the flow of a set, having more time to play a wider array of stuff, and no pressure to keep it all dance floor, allowing for the ability to tell a longer story. Our community is so strong and so thriving on the stream, it felt so special to be able to show so much more of ourselves. 

I can’t wait to bring this energy and perspective to our first in person No Way Back since 2019.  Until then, I’m glad to share this moment of catharsis and transition with all of you, I hope you enjoy and that it helps your brain and spirit soar. 

— BMG

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQln0gouI2Q

IT.podcast.s11e08: BMG at No Way Back Streaming From Beyond 2021

Erika has always explored the eerier corners of her native Detroit. She captures the empty space and late-night mood of the city in music that is deep and dark. For many years she has been a key behind-the-scenes figure who runs the well-regarded Interdimensional Transmissions label and has hosted plenty of her own parties. Her productions - either solo or with Brendan M. Gillen as Ectomorph - are rooted in techno and electro but explore everything from hard-edged grooves to spaced-out soundscapes. Erika also runs an educational platform for workshops, masterclasses and courses that help bring on the next generation. 

This week's mix draws on all that experience across 75 blistering minutes. It's electro from the off with haunting spaces, booming bass and elastic rhythms setting the scene for what becomes a storied selection. There are gritty and grimy warehouse sounds as well as slippery sci-fi workouts and plenty in between, all threaded together with the control of DJ who knows exactly where she wants to take you.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 407 - Erika

Sometime after dawn, in my favorite warehouse in Detroit – the Tangent – I got to play my favorite party filled with all my favorite DJs – No Way Back. It felt like the time for the party to take a deep breath and refill its lungs. Playing directly after Patrick Russell and right before Erika, I took the moment to give the party what I felt it needed. First, rays of light, and then expansions and contractions in the sound. 

For the technique, I played on a Model One mixer with a Moog MF Delay pedal and 4 CDJs. Much of the music is upcoming on Interdimensional Transmissions, or things I have recorded in and remastered for DJing, especially to be played on the giant Jim Gibbons rig in this room, a process I call “quick masters” or “QM” for short. Some are very rare, some have never been playable in this context, or lost gems by my heroes, like CH BB. Some are new jams being played for the first time, like “Another Planet” where I jammed with Neel in his studio in Rome this spring on my 608 (modified 606) and 303. My favorite approach to NWB is to compose new music for it and test it there, it is such a special room. 

Recorded at 6am to 7:30am sometime in the wormhole of May 28, 2023 at No Way Back, day 2 of Return to the Source. 

Mastered for podcast by Jim Gibbons of AVS. 

Tina Turner - Buddhist Chant 2 
Tina Turner - Buddhist Chant 1 
Janet Jackson - Interlude: Pledge 
Gemini Sounds - R U Afraid
Heaven & Earth - Prescription Every Night
Quince - Ghost In The Machines
Jump Chico Slamm - Feelfree
Infiniti - Techno Por Favor (BMG Edit)
aNaloG 87 - aNaloG 87 (feat. DJ M-TraXXX)
Neel - Deep Quarantine [forthcoming on IT 53]
New Order - Video 586 (BMG QM)
Jaquarius - Love is Happiness 
Distant Echoes - Parallel Binary
Kerrie - Find Your Tribe
D'Marc Cantu - Some Fantasies Are Good (DVS1 Remix)
Decius - Delicate SF (BMG QM)
Love Letters - Falling Star (BMG QM) [forthcoming on IT 54]
Dopplereffekt - Master Organism
CHBB - Keine Elektronik (BMG QM)
Love Letters - Let the Bass Go (Mike Servito Remix) (BMG QM) [forthcoming on IT 54]
Electric Soul - X2 (BMG QM)
Liquid - Liquid is Liquid
BMG & Neel - Another Planet (BMG QM)
Psyk & Orbe - OSI Model
Luigi Tozzi - Spiral (Rrose Remix)

IT.podcast.s12e08: BMG at No Way Back 2023

“This is a special one. On December 9, 2023 in a secret warehouse in Madison, Wisconsin, Interdimensional Transmissions teamed up with two titans of the Midwest, Remain in Night and Intellephunk, for 12 hour party called, appropriately, Midwest Freaks. Together, we curated the environment and the music, in the Cleanest Warehouse Of All Time (!!). I played after Aza and directly before @_bbmmgg_, it was like a special family reunion. I felt so comfortable playing there, so I wanted to share this set with everyone. Pictured here in front of Amber Gillen’s ‘Holy Parachute’, photo by BMG. ParachuteCon 23!” 
— @erikadotnet

Playlist –
1. Cycle_2 - cy2.4
2. Kerrie - Glitch The System
3. Oscean - ChronoRebel
4. Reeko - Reach a Climax
5. Linear System - Ikebana
6. Inigo Kennedy - Contortion
7. Izan Cramer - Sacred Jungle
8. JXTPS - Interzone
9. Peter Van Hoesen - Subjects From The Past
10. Merino - Synchronizing Mind and Body
11. Tammo Hesselink - Former Tool
12. Oscean - Blaster Imploder
13. Anthony Rother - Dark Plantation
14. Fracture & Sam Binga - Cold Edge
15. Haruka - Kakusei
16. Anna Kost - Rotar
17. Mike Parker - High-Pass Dissection
18. Fossil Archive - The Red Demon
19. PRG/M - Superfluido
20. Peter Van Hoesen - Block By Block
21. Michal Wolski - Tail
22. Wata Igarashi - Haziest Just Before The Dawn
23. Octavio - Ghost
24. Marco Bailey & Sigvard - In Motion
25. Kitkatone - Ode
26. Marco Shuttle - The Vox Attitude
27. Reeko - He's Coming
28. Erika - Wandering Mountain (Wata Igarashi remix)
29. Acid Musik Department - Make A Choice
30. Linear System - Eigenstates
31. Haruka - Ishinoko
32. Mike Parker - The Burning Roundtable
33. Quelza - Aragaran (Dj Boss remix)
34. Oscean - Spiral
35. Dustmite - Warpath
36. Pessimist - The Crawlers
37. Bluematter - Remorseless

IT.podcast.s13e01: Erika at Midwest Freaks, Dec 9 2023

Erika - Eerawai Ambient Series #28 @Zhaodai 2024/04/24

隧道 Tunnel #43 Pt.3 Erika 2024/04/26 @Zhaodai BJ

🌐 Refuge Worldwide is a radio station and community space based in Berlin-Neukölln.
➡️ More info, more music: www.refugeworldwide.com

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Tresor Records - Ectomorph - 29 Jul 2024

Erika (@erikadotnet) is an American DJ, live act, producer and part of the triumvirate that runs the Interdimensional Transmissions (@ithqdetroit) platform that produces legendary events such as No Way Back, Samhain and Return to the Source, as well as over 50 exceptional releases on the ITHQ record label. 
 
Erika will be closing the main stage Saturday night at Monument Festival 2024, so if you’re lucky enough to be attending - this will provide you with the perfect soundtrack for your journey there. Get excited, we certainly are. If you’re not attending then be sure to tune in to hear Erika seamlessly fusing high fidelity electro cuts with deep techno hypnotism. 

Follow:
https://soundcloud.com/erikadotnet
https://www.instagram.com/erikadotnet
https://erika.bandcamp.com/
https://interdimensionaltransmissions.com/artists/erika

MNMT 431 : Erika

There’s nothing like playing No Way Back. It’s such a unique environment. All the DJs look forward to their set all year, but then low key freak out before they play. Will they live up to expectations? Will they surpass their previous sets? You ask yourself, is this what feels like to throw lightning? You can sense the room expand and contract. Connecting to the audience and taking them on our journey is what it is all about. For this adventure I played on 4x CDJ-3000’s, a Pioneer V10 using 2 internal delays and a Strymon El Capistan pedal. I played some new tunes I had remastered, as well as a remix from Love Letters I had just completed on my new mixer, along with an edit of an unreleased version of Jordan Zawideh’s “Magellanic Cloud”, also mastered through my new mixer. What an amazing space to test these new tones. This was quite a sonic journey for me, and put me on an amazing trajectory where I feel like I’m constantly growing and improving and adding newly remastered music to every set. Looking forward to playing this coming weekend at No Way Back in NYC with the Bunker at the Chocolate Factory. 

Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (BMG dub) 
CHBB – Disconanz
Terence Fixmer – Paroxysm
Matrixxman – Opium Den (Mike Parker Remix) 
Stanislav Tolkachev – Now We Are Talking 
Analog Solutions – Oxygen Tank Failure
ASEC – Reconnaissance
Kyntral – Yuco 
Neel – Afro Aliena
Cabaret Voltaire – Silent Command (Function Edit)
Marcel Dettmann – Throb
Silent Servant – Invocation of Lust (12” Mix)
Freddy Fresh & Tim Taylor – 5 Mouths
Architectural – Rare Ceremony Tapes
Lory D – John Carpenter
Architectural – Bad-Tempered Drumming
Robert Hood – Unix
Phuture – Rise From Your Grave
Mood II Swing Productions – 8 Ways To Knock Down A Wall
Jordan Zawideh – Magellanic Cloud (2024 BMG V2 Edit)
The Fantasy – Strong Dub
Love Letters – Morse (BMG Mix)
DJ Who – Give A Little More (MIke Parker Remix)
The Maghreban – Patterns
Ratsnake – Hole 
Mike Dred – Macrocosm
Jamie Jupitor – Computer Power


IT.podcast.s13e04: BMG at No Way Back 2024

On Thursday the 21st of November 2024, come celebrate the pulsating heritage of Rotterdam’s Reclaim Your City at Saüle. Part of a new event series focussed on styles skirting what is widely embraced as ’techno music’, this first airdrop of the RYC squad promises to be a satisfying moment for all lovers of bold, boundary-pushing electronics. Clad in the austere industrial atmosphere of Berghain’s experimental-oriented subdivision, Saüle, the event gathers voices from distinct geographies and segments of the electronic music scene. From British master and seminal ‘Lost’ nights founder Steve Bicknell, who will blow the winds of dubstep across Saüle’s monster sound system, to Detroit-based deck whiz Erika who will get the heart of the Motown throbbing at the pace of its legendary electro scene, to London jockey and producer Cressida, representing the more alternative confines of the techno-adjacent sonics, from proper UK sound - understand jungle and grime, to techno itself, beware the torrential cascade of roaring machines and sine waves-spoken thunder firing on all cylinders. 

Thursday 21.11.2024 | Start 22:00
Am Wriezener Bahnhof - 10234 Berlin
www.berghain.berlin/en/events/78258/

Reclaim Your City x Säule | Erika

The Bunker and Interdimensional Transmissions present No Way Back with Ectomorph (BMG x Erika), Carlos Souffront, Derek Plaslaiko.

http://www.instagram.com/thebunkerny

@thebunkerny

The Bunker x No Way Back: Derek Plaslaiko, BMG, Erika @ The Lot Radio 11-09-2024

Erika, a fixture in Detroit’s underground scene, brings her distinctive, analog-driven sound. Known for combining dark, ambient textures with deep techno, she crafts an atmospheric experience that’s intense and immersive. This mix captures her signature style—raw, layered, and rooted in Detroit’s unique electronic landscape.

She joins us this Saturday 23rd November at fabric.

Tickets: https://ra.co/events/2012026

049 - Erika - fabric podcast

Samhain XXIV at Tangent, Oct 26 in Detroit. Erika did a captivating under 120 bpm techno set to launch the night, Wata Igarashi was on directly after me, with Mike Servito following Wata and ultimately Scott Zacharias closing the 12 hour party. In the other room the Luv NRG Soundsystem raged as T4T did their thing. 

For this set I took the approach that at this time of year, in the Halloween time period, that feelings morph and change, how we feel about music on these nights is different, the context is altered. What is stern, scary, and stark can be very exciting at this time. What is warm and funky also takes a new shape and can be oh so freaky. I felt an impeding doom in the air and I wanted to channel that into solid sound system experience that was transformative and immersive. A sonic description of another world, the true power of techno. I am extremely excited about the shifting of eras happening within techno right now, and there was so much fresh music that fit the No Way Back concepts, but within a more pure techno language. I was also thinking of Mike Huckaby, who I worked with in the Record Time Dance Room, and his theories that a few amount of sounds makes a record the most powerful. There’s so many thrilling jams with only 4 sounds right now, this set gave me a special chance to explore that. 

Technically I used 4 CDJ-3000s and a Pioneer V10 and its internal effects with lots of layering with a new approach to mixing. If I’m doing something historic, it has to fit perfectly within the sonic context of what I’m playing, and for an older cut that can be very hard with today’s sonics, so I spend time remastering the older songs through my mixer and outboard equipment to give them a way to be played and allow them to glow within this new and living context. It’s all experimental at this point, a work in progress. The ones called QM are an older “quick master” technique that I did with software. Enjoy this journey to the other side. 

Podcast mastered by BMG.

Monks of the Drukpa Kagyu Order–Doungchen And Gyaling
Architectural — Rare Ceremony Tapes
Edit Select — Translate - Backward Signal
Terrence Dixon — Unconditional Love
The Vision — Detroit: One Circle (BMG Remaster)
Psyk — Disconnected
Mod21 — Childlike Wonder (Rrose Remix)
Feral — Flare
Orbe — Bronze
Feral — Chez Driss
Neel — Riflesso
Yan Cook — Cipher
Gene Hunt — Wildside Danny Dubb (BMG Remaster)
Shlomi Aber & Kashpitzky — Bazement
Troy — Awakening
Innersha — Emeralds
Dialog — Better Way (Feat. Benji)
Helena Hauff — Humanoid Fruit
Mod21 — Will You Ever Stop
Sexual Harrassment — I Need A Freak (BMG edit)
Psyk — Fear Of Sleep (Edit)
Allana Letm — Temois Multiplos (Centrific Remix)
Wata Igarashi — Collision
Erika — Wandering Mountain (Mike Parker Remix)
Mike Parker — Heat Inducer
Perfo — Muse
Luigi Tozzi — Spiral (Rrose Remix)
Kerrie — Replicants 
Andy Toth — Sycorax ver.1 [forthcoming IT]
Acid Junkies — Design The Future (BMG Remaster)
808 State — Flow Coma (BMG Remaster)
Aphex Twin — Isopropophlex (BMG Remaster)
CHBB — NBKE (BMG QM)

BMG at Samhain XXIV

BMG’s mix from the Eye Teeth launch party, directly after Erika’s spaced out opening set, before Israel Vines and Karl Meier’s propulsive sets. What begins with building the vibe ultimately transforms the room allowing a portal to the visions and theorems of Eye Teeth to open, where BMG showcases those ideas in a Detroit warehouse party context.

IT.podcast.s04e02: BMG Eye Teeth Launch

From BLACK OUT, Interdimensional Transmissions' NYE party 2012 -> 2013. BMG closed the show, playing after Mason's bizarre boogie from beyond vinyl set, Erika's insane acid vinyl set, Moon Pool and Dead Band's raw live analog show, and Shake's total turntablism, BMG was faced with perhaps the most handmade IT party yet. So what did he do? He improvised, and I think you can really feel that in the mix. Here are the genre bending results…

http://interdimensionaltransmissions.com/podcast

IT.podcast.s02e01: BMG live mix @ BLACK OUT, NYE 2012

BMG on NWB:

"Even without the possibility of getting physically together, they couldn't stop No Way Back. No Way Back is a state of mind, a yearly ritual that takes us back to the source, and the DJs reconvene with that source and allow it to take different shapes in their hands, from their minds to yours. To perform without the crowd, how is that possible? To perform without the ritual space created by the art and intentions of Amber and crew, how is that possible? To have the music connect without Jim Gibbons massive sounds system holding you steady, enveloping you, being expertly dialed in with each new tune, how is that possible? Well, this year's impromptu NWB stream proved that the impossible is possible, that this type of connection can happen virtually if care is taken at every step, like mastering the audio and processing the visuals into a psychedelic space that can free the mind. 

This set was a sort of rebirth for me, after great personal tragedy and losing so much, while I did draw inspiration from the history of NWB, I did not feel limited by it. This set is more about where I want to see things go, my hopes for the future. It was also huge for me as it was my first time performing at No Way Back on CDJs, without Ableton, and this was both incredibly liberating and helped me hone my vision."

video: https://youtu.be/ilD37o7zbKI

IT.podcast.s09e03: BMG at No Way Back Streaming From Beyond 2020

Today we launch our Samhain XX weekly podcast series, with archives of all the sets performed during the streaming event. We begin the series with a set from BMG.

video: https://youtu.be/gxDV5W7C9hI
 
BMG on Samhain:
"It's the Celtic holiday that Halloween spawns from. It was the loop point, the new year. Ancient people dealt with grey areas in strange ways, the change between years caused this loose period existing between the end and beginning. This is where it gets interesting: they believed dimensions were colliding in a sort of interdimensional crosstalk, where the planes of the living and the dead were touching, so the dead could walk the earth. A way to convene with your ancestors, and a great reason to burn fires and scare your friends and neighbors. There's way more to it, most of it can't be written, it can only be felt, which is usually elusive but somehow easy at this time of year."
 
The original recurring party for Interdimensional Transmissions is Samhain, celebrating the ancient Celtic holiday that acknowledges the loop point of time, and the origin of IT. Had there not been Covid-19 the plan killer, we would have had the 20th anniversary of this party in Detroit, with Eris Drew headlining. As it stood, we celebrated Samhain XX with an over the top stream celebrating so many facets that we find fascinating, a place for total immersion into interesting music and cutting edge thoughts for a whole weekend at our favorite time of year. This was broadcast continuously for over 30 hours on October 31 — November 1, 2020. 
 
If the world is going to burn, this is what we want to hear, who we want to be surrounded by. Thank you so much to every artist for sharing your art and musical vision. And thank you to Jim Gibbons (AVS) for mastering all the audio, Andrew Charles Edman for the psychedelic visuals and all the art layers from Amber Gillen. And thank you to @thebunkerny for hosting the stream.

Ectomorph

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