Spacerock #2 (postrock, math rock, krautrock, psychedelic electronica, etc)

"Machine funk kraut-a-delia - it's rather lovely!" Andrew Weatherall

You’d be hard pressed to disagree with the seminal DJ and producer listening to  ‘Keep Warm… with the Warm Digits’ (Distraction Records), an album that comes as though arriving from a distant time, where music still only saw limitless horizons and endless sonic possibilities. Warm Digits’ duo Andrew Hodson and Steve Jefferis’ bewitching debut LP is undoubtedly steeped in the lineage of the 1970s experimentalism of the likes of Neu!’s hypnotic repetition and the open-minded philosophies of Brian Eno, but it’s testament to the pair’s own broad visions that in 2012 these touch stones have been sculpted into a sound that retains a refreshing sense of modern vitality.

Hodson and Jefferis are a trans-Pennines collaborative project – something referenced by the title of the track ‘Trans-Pennine Express’ - with both having history as mainstays of Newcastle and the North East of England’s intimate but ever evolving music community. Though Andrew has since moved to the more traditional cultural powerhouse of Manchester, he retains close links with the region, recently collaborating with old friends, Sunderland’s Field Music, to help them record the unique ‘One Copy’ in the North West’s Lauriston Gallery. It’s an album whose sole copy is owned by the creators as a statement against the free streaming and sharing culture becoming dominant in music and Field Music’s David Brewis returned the favour to his old pal appearing here on bass. Hodson also runs Seed Studios in Trafford and has worked as a producer with the likes of Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and modern folk duo Cath and Phil Tyler among others.

Jefferis for his part comes from a more glitch-electronica background, something that remains evident within the vortex of Warm Digits enveloping sound; previous releases from him have come under the name Cathode for the likes of Expanding Records, Static Caravan and Distraction Records. Combined the pair have taken their previous wanderings to a new level; forming whilst both still living in Newcastle, they developed from a techno-influenced laptop duo into a more panoramic, texturally aware couple after trying their hand at live score work for Canadian film maker Norman McLaren. Rehearsals for this saw the opening developments of what is now a thrilling semi-improvised brew of metronomic rhythms, snowstorm guitar and radiophonic electronics, dual-laptop electro, swathes of no-wave guitar and frantic free jazz drumming. It says much for their openness and mastery of such dexterity that their debut LP easily manages to contain these myriad influences, working them into a cohesive whole.

With previous remix work for Unkle and Maximo Park, existing fans including BBC Radio 6music’s Marc Riley and a newly blossoming live show that’s seen the pair support Goblin and Modeselektor to name just two - their 21st century krautrock hybrid is more than capable of crossing over to the dance floor.  Warm Digits look set to take the centre stage themselves in 2012, with ‘Keep Warm... with the Warm Digits’ set to make them hot property in the months to come.


Trans-Pennine Express

A Warm Front, Coming from the North

Weapons Destruction

Ancient Echoes- Eternal Tapestry

Plain (Open)

Spacemen, Can You Hear Me?

"The Connected Coast" is taken from "Interchange", a Warm Digits album and series of films made for the project Half Memory. The work is based on images drawn from Tyne & Wear Archives of the 1970s construction programme for the Tyneside Metro system.

"Interchange" will be released as a CD + DVD set released on Distraction Records, with a live premiere at Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, on 27 April 2013. 

More info about Half Memory here:
www.twmuseums.org.uk/halfmemory
A project by Tyne and Wear Archives, Tusk Music (www.tuskmusic.co.uk) and basic.fm

Warm Digits - warmdigits.co.uk
Distraction Records - distractionrecords.com

The Connected Coast

With the deep love of early electronic music, Muhamad Fahri a.k.a Gonzo chooses to take a step closer to what Terry Riley, Ash Ra Temple, Klaus Schulze, Popol Vuh and other experimental music pioneers had experienced in the 20th century; the power of handling sound machines that is capable of creating limitless possibilities of sonic experimentation. 

Very much inspired by the beauty of the underwater world, Duck Dive organize a mixture of analog keyboard synthesizers, sequencer, and effects, to create live compositions of electronic music with a full layer of melodies, rhythm, and sound, mimicking a unique meditative atmosphere given by the life of the deep, blue ocean.

Duck Dive - Inner Projections

Taken from new album "Tiden" which is available at the Bureau B online shop:
http://shop.tapeterecords.com/records/bureaub/roedelius-schneider-tiden.html

-------------------------

ROEDELIUS SCHNEIDER - TIDEN (release date: June 28th 2013)

Not long after Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) and Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot, Kreidler, Mapstation) had released their first album "Stunden", accompanied by a few live shows in 2011, Eric Satie and Brian Eno were quoted as the great inspiration for their musical collaboration. Fine references no doubt, one having invented musique d'ameublement, and the other having refined it into ambient music 80 years later. Yet "Tiden" does not sit easily in either camp. This is neither tasteful decor (à la Satie), nor is it electronic-auditory space filler (à la Eno), gazing towards infinity. The short duration of the 13 pieces is enough to discount either genre. Better to consider these as concentrated, inspired études, carefully thought through and in no way random or sketchy.

With cheerful gravitas, the two artists create absolute music – music which desires only to be itself, without ulterior effects and with the declared intent of involving the listener in his emotional, inventive game. Perhaps Franz Schubert's moments musicaux would be a more suitable citation. The lightness and atmospheric intimacy of this music reveal Roedelius (grand piano, synthesizer) and the decades younger Schneider (Elektronik) as musicians who understand how to listen to one another and improvise on each other's ideas immediately. The result is a lively, relentless interplay of great composure, more surprising than any tide could be, as precise calendars exist for tidal flows.

Roedelius can already look back on a adventuresome career in music. Schneider has also prospered through exciting decades in contemporary pop. This is the second time their paths have crossed. "Tiden" keeps the promise which their first album made, genial contemporary music from two artists who are as one in heart and soul. And when Roedelius steps on the pedal of his grand piano, well it squeaks a little. (Asmus Tietchens)


About the musicians:

The electronic pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius lives in Baden near Wien (Austria) and is a legendary figure in popular music. He founded the seminal bands Cluster and Harmonia, which also included Dieter Moebius and Michael Rother. He produced the albums "Zuckerzeit" (1974) and "Deluxe" (1975), which are considered blueprints for today's electronica and were recently successfully reissued. And in the late 70s he worked with the great Brian Eno – the albums "Cluster & Eno" (1977), "After The Heat" (1978) and "Tracks & Traces" (1997) document the cooperation between the Bowie and U2 producer and the sound researcher who was then living in a creative commune in Forst.

Roedelius began releasing solo albums in 1978. He was already exploring the interplay between piano and electronics on his second LP, "Jardin au Fou" (1979). This synthesis is also the core of "Stunden". The Düsseldorf based Stefan Schneider was a founding member of Kreidler (1994â€“99) and is part of the trio To Rococo Rot. He has released several albums under the name Mapstation.

http://bureau-b.de/roedeliusschneider.php

Roedelius Schneider - Hohner Omen

"Machine funk kraut-a-delia - it's rather lovely!" Andrew Weatherall

You’d be hard pressed to disagree with the seminal DJ and producer listening to ‘Keep Warm… with the Warm Digits’ (Distraction Records), an album that comes as though arriving from a distant time, where music still only saw limitless horizons and endless sonic possibilities. Warm Digits’ duo Andrew Hodson and Steve Jefferis’ bewitching debut LP is undoubtedly steeped in the lineage of the 1970s experimentalism of the likes of Neu!’s hypnotic repetition and the open-minded philosophies of Brian Eno, but it’s testament to the pair’s own broad visions that in 2012 these touch stones have been sculpted into a sound that retains a refreshing sense of modern vitality.

Hodson and Jefferis are a trans-Pennines collaborative project – something referenced by the title of the track ‘Trans-Pennine Express’ - with both having history as mainstays of Newcastle and the North East of England’s intimate but ever evolving music community. Though Andrew has since moved to the more traditional cultural powerhouse of Manchester, he retains close links with the region, recently collaborating with old friends, Sunderland’s Field Music, to help them record the unique ‘One Copy’ in the North West’s Lauriston Gallery. It’s an album whose sole copy is owned by the creators as a statement against the free streaming and sharing culture becoming dominant in music and Field Music’s David Brewis returned the favour to his old pal appearing here on bass. Hodson also runs Seed Studios in Trafford and has worked as a producer with the likes of Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and modern folk duo Cath and Phil Tyler among others.

Jefferis for his part comes from a more glitch-electronica background, something that remains evident within the vortex of Warm Digits enveloping sound; previous releases from him have come under the name Cathode for the likes of Expanding Records, Static Caravan and Distraction Records. Combined the pair have taken their previous wanderings to a new level; forming whilst both still living in Newcastle, they developed from a techno-influenced laptop duo into a more panoramic, texturally aware couple after trying their hand at live score work for Canadian film maker Norman McLaren. Rehearsals for this saw the opening developments of what is now a thrilling semi-improvised brew of metronomic rhythms, snowstorm guitar and radiophonic electronics, dual-laptop electro, swathes of no-wave guitar and frantic free jazz drumming. It says much for their openness and mastery of such dexterity that their debut LP easily manages to contain these myriad influences, working them into a cohesive whole.

With previous remix work for Unkle and Maximo Park, existing fans including BBC Radio 6music’s Marc Riley and a newly blossoming live show that’s seen the pair support Goblin and Modeselektor to name just two - their 21st century krautrock hybrid is more than capable of crossing over to the dance floor.  Warm Digits look set to take the centre stage themselves in 2012, with ‘Keep Warm With … The Warm Digits’ set to make them hot property in the months to come.


Been blogging, music sharing, etc. for a while now (see blog under this name) & DJing since 1982. I like all kinds of music.

Most of my playlists are not organized & just hold songs I'm interested in, many of which I haven't listened to yet. The "freeform current listening" playlist is as it says & will be updated regularly. Many of my reposts were unintentional, they were just random tracks I was trying to add to a playlist using my phone & I've got clumsy fingers.

The Connected Coast

Warm Digits

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