HELLO
welcome
to Electronic Sound
SEPTEMBER 2015
As the summer festival season reaches its climax, we thought we’d turn over a chunk
of this issue to looking at how musicians armed with machines that make interesting
noises approach the prospect of playing live.
We have certainly moved on since Kraftwerk took to a stage with their knitting
needles drum machine. One of the most ambitious live electronic music projects is
Amon Tobin’s stunning ‘ISAM’ show and we talk exclusively to Amon in the wake
of his last ever ‘ISAM’ show in San Francisco just a couple of weeks ago. Elsewhere,
we meet LoneLady during her recent stint as artist-in-residence at the Barbican in
London and get the lowdown on her tight, hypnotic, locked-down grooves. We also
grab a word with Benge from Wrangler while we’re there, before helping Luke’s Anger
pack his bags as he heads off to perform his one-man wonky techno show in Poland.
We had hoped to chat to The Orb’s Alex Paterson about how playing live has changed
over the years too, but Alex being Alex, we managed to talk about everything but.
It’s very entertaining stuff, mind. We return to the theme of the issue with two other
interviews, one with Jamie Harley, the go-to sound engineer for artists such as Aphex
Twin, Autechre, Flying Lotus and Plaid, and the other with visual artist Dan Tombs,
who has worked with Factory Floor, Blanck Mass, Jon Hopkins and East India Youth.
Who knew that cornflour and water is this year’s must-have visual effect?
If all that’s not enough, we’ve also got BEF/Heaven 17 man Martyn Ware, acid pioneer
A Guy Called Gerald, a fabulous tale about digging reel-to-reel tapes out of a hole
under a house from Jack Dangers, and Kris Needs recalling some fine times in the
company of the late Scott Hardkiss. After an 18-year break, Kris has also resurrected
his legendarily off-the-wall Needs Must column specially for Electronic Sound, so get
ready for references to trance trousers and bath flatulence.
You want even more? Just as well we’ve got a jam-packed tech section and more
album reviews than you can shake a soldering iron at, then. This month’s albums
include Gary Numan, The Black Dog, Helena Hauff, Nicolas Godin, Pere Ubu, Hannah
Peel and Empress Of, plus anniversary compilations from Planet Mu and Skint.
You’d best swipe the page and get started.
Electronically yours,
Push & Mark