30/09/20 ap015 - Conder-Rhyptik As is always the case with Oberman Knocks (London based Nigel Truswell), his new twelve track album Conder-Rhyptik, is very much identifiable as his own unique sound, but this new outing (his eighth release for aperture), sees quite a different arc to both the tracks themselves and as an album overall. Where his 2018 album Trilate Shift was a move away from the hard, metallic and well defined ‘shapes’ of previous releases, Conder-Rhyptik gravitates back towards the more angular, defined, sometimes challenging constructs of his earlier works, but with a broader spectrum of sounds and tempos, ranging from the vigorous Hathmex Kalermatic Extraction through to the much more subdued Mighnonix. Conder-Rhyptik is the result of Knocks’ return to the studio following the work on his first theatre show, SHIT, (produced by Ireland’s international award winning thisispopbaby), which premiered in Dublin back in March 2020 (followed again in 2022, when it reopened following the lifting of COVID restrictions). Although predominantly produced during lockdown, this isn’t an album focused on dealing with the isolation and other subsequent issues experienced during this period, but more an explorative journey into constructs in which to escape to. From the expansive opening track Indrophell’s Nytraphorms, right through to the staccato elements of final track Appradynol Inter-Dyverr, Knocks has further developed his love of arhythmic, abstract sounds to produce an album that is sometimes unapologetically difficult in places, whilst elsewhere seemingly much more simple in mood and form. With a number of acclaimed releases under his belt, there’s still a sense of someone pushing themselves for the pure thrill of sound exploration and the production itself, rather than being focussed on the endpoint of releasing something that might strike a chord with whatever might be fashioanble at the time. This focus is what contributes towards forging his own unique sound. pre-order now |
18/01/20
Oberman Knocks & Comfort Zones Oberman Knocks performs his latest work, specially commissioned for The Lowry. watch now on youtube |
05/07/19
ap014 - Remhex Coyles EP The tail end of 2018 saw the release of Oberman Knocks’ third album on aperture records, Trilate Shift, which was included in The Moderns Vol.2 written by Kevin Press (a book dedicated to the world’s great, currently active, avant-garde artists). 2019 sees the release of Remhex Coyles EP – neither companion piece, nor follow-up to Trilate Shift, but a standalone set of tracks with a different collective energy to them. Knocks steps out from the experimental room and heads towards a different kind of space, one that's less claustrophobic and subterranean – a place that’s more structured and in places more melodic than his usual output, but one where he still brings his own distinctive sound. Before heading into the sound production for a new film, his first theatre piece and next album, this five track EP shows an electronic musician in total control of every last detail. The surprising shift of focus in these tracks displays an alternative approach to his output whilst retaining the usual attention to sampling and manipulating sounds, combining them with a more regimented logic and groove than is usually apparent. These undeniably enjoyable tracks show a desire to have a more playful immediacy, with a different sound palette and a drive to forge Oberman Knocks’ sounds into something that would be as likely to be played out as listened to at home. listen/buy |
14/06/19
ap013 - Aghori aperture records introduces Sâd Hu, a new project between Manuel Peraud (FZR Sethi) and Francis Ferguson (Rubbish T.C). Based in Brittany, France, they met via l'Ensemble d'improvisation Paula Berthe, a Rennes based collective that practices improvised music. After making music individually for a couple of decades, Peraud and Ferguson decided to collaborate for the first time, joined together by an instinctive desire to blur the boundaries between improvisation and composition. FZR Sethi is a visual artist, musician and composer who works in several mediums under the expression of draw/paint/volume/sound. His work, either canvas or sculpture, hinges on the fundamental principles of his art, as evidenced in his use of the geometric form. Ferguson created his alias Rubbish T.C (Rubbish Techno Consortium) in 2015, producing slow and heavy techno made with martial patterns of movement. A producer for 15 years, Rubbish T.C. has been prominent in the free party scene for years. Moving away from a dance-inflicted mode, Sâd Hu achieves more of a balance with skill and craft. A dense, textural approach hints at something more expansive and insidious. Diversity and richness unexpectedly coalesce into an eerie, percussive scapefest over sonorous layers of droning bass tones and raw power. listen/buy |
out now
ap012 - Trilate Shift Oberman Knocks makes a welcome return to aperture records since his last release Dilankex in 2014, which featured an outstanding 17 minute remix from autechre. Working on other projects during this time seems to have charged his creativity and Knocks now propels himself back into the fold for his third album Trilate Shift with cleaner, more polished production and a change of direction which should certainly see his appeal rise across a wider audience. Last year Knocks produced the soundtrack to The Red Tree, an award winning documentary film from Still films (New York/Dublin) and in 2016 he was commissioned by The Lowry in Salford to produce a sound installation, 30 Days of The Smiths, forming part of their Week 53 festival, a version of which was also performed live. Trilate Shift sees Knocks serve up fourteen lustrous tracks of proficiency and divergent ingenuity encompassing interjections of disembodied vocals, setting the scene for a distinctive musical trajectory. listen/buy |
26/10/18
ap011 - Clustered Non Symmetry aperture records has always been about discovering new artists and bringing them to the forefront and Italy is well-renowned for its electronic music, both former and current. So, from one Italian duo (t.e.s.o.) to another… introducing Diaster. Diaster aka Teo & G grew up in Treviso, listening to the most experimental music they could find in their small rural city near Venice. With Matteo inspired by metal and musique concrete and Gianluca a researcher of old electronic/instrumental music, they decided to experiment with their various experiences in house, techno and drum n bass, inserting strata of industry and noise into their material. After Enchantments, a debut EP on DVNTT which deserves more recognition and an accomplished follow up on Subsist records; Final Beginner, aperture records brings you their latest contribution; Clustered Non Symmetry. On first acquaintance, this 8 track album appears on the minimal spectrum; monolithic and indivisible. Tension builds slowly and influences, mostly of a similar vintage, come through. Arrhythmic incursions of stark and contorted electronics conjure up a hesitant, stealthily-undermined delineative framework. listen/buy |
19/10/18
ap010 - sheOne For the 10th release on aperture, andrea parker has marked the event by collaborating with world-renowned multi media artist sheOne to produce a run of 50 limited edition slipmats designed exclusively for aperture records. London born James ‘sheOne’ Choules began writing Graffiti in 1984 as part of the first wave of English spraycan artists and is recognised internationally for his uniquely expressive abstract approach to graffiti inspired output. He now works across various platforms ranging from large scale public murals and gallery exhibitions to handmade fashion pieces, bikes, football boots, cars and more. Choules and Parker are certainly no strangers to collaborating. Their histories have linked before. First in 1996 for the infamous cover for Parker’s first single on Mo Wax Melodious Thunk and again for the first Nobody’s Perfect album artwork on Touchin’ Bass. More recently the two have performed live together with Black. As Painted - A Statement of Vision and Sound. Choules as BLACKATELIER showcasing live his unique method of distinctive drawing guided by exclusive three turntable performances from Parker, in Madrid for the Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Le Camji in France and in London for Gamma Proforma. [ booking inquiries ] These strictly limited slipmats are sold individually and packaged in an aperture 12” record sleeve. order now |
23/03/18
ap009 - costruzione 04 After a period of hibernation, aperture records awakens with a bang and a compelling program in the pipeline. Following their first album released on aperture at the tail end of 2015 no.3.obliate, the Italian duo T.e.s.o. bring us their second full-length album costruzione 04. As the title suggests, the album centres around an underlying theme of construction, inspired by radical architecture, brutalism and collages from Superstudio. The concept and title evolved from the nature of the album and the process of building up tracks from a number of separate samples, much like the singular elemental materials used to assemble a structure. Alongside their music production, the duo have previously created a multimedia installation that investigated the geometric studies of Le Corbusier in parallel to the musical production of Erik Saite and Matteo Castiglioni continues to create impressive audiovisual installations such as the recent Freddo Flusso and neon(i), as well as a collaboration with Danilo Randazzo. T.e.s.o also continue to perform absorbing live sets of their own inimitable range of musical perspective and vision. Intense, visual and structured, costruzione 04 again showcases T.e.s.o.’s complex, obscure and dominant beats and their oblique and sometimes challenging style. igloo review listen/buy |
17/04/16
Broken Bone - Secret Thirteen mix Secret Thirteen Mix 181 - Broken Bone Broken Bone is offering listeners to take their ears on a 3-hour long journey that goes far beyond any musical limits, blowing your mind out the door from the very first minute. Dare to try their thoroughly assembled collage of sounds. listen/download |
01/11/15
ap008 - no.3. obliate t.e.s.o. are an electronic music duo based in Milan, formed in 2014 by Matteo Castiglioni and Jacopo Biffi. ‘No.3. Obliate’ is a towering tour de force of sonic architecture and the pairs second album. If the contemporary Brutalist architecture of Le Corbusier and Alison and Peter Smithson had a soundtrack, this surely, is it. Their sound research is inspired by contemporary music, early twentieth century artistic ideas, jazz and IDM but with a deep interest in developing a personal vision about soundscapes, rhythms and melodies. Born as a live act commissioned by the Conservatorio of Milano, the duo released their first track on FatCat Records followed by their first self-produced album ‘Over a Neutral Landscape’ and then the ‘Plato’ EP on Rxstnz Records. Alongside music production, the duo created a multimedia installation ‘neMachine’ earlier this summer that investigates the geometric studies of Le Corbusier in parallel to the musical production of Erik Satie. Always looking for new sound architectures, the duo manipulate their self programmed software and hardware machines to produce new sonic landscapes. ‘No.3. Obliate’ is a no holds barred vision of their beguiling and brutalist sound design. A future of twisted concrete and rusted steel shot through with warmth and humanism. listen/buy |
27/03/15
Broken Bone LIVE Gesamtkunstwerk Islington Mill, Salford, Lancashire M3 5HW 10pm - 6am Tickets £7 adv / £10 otd It has been all too quiet on the Gesamtkunstwerk front in recent times, but thankfully this month sees its triumphant return to Islington Mill for a night-long descent into the darkest deep of contemporary electronics. Broken Bone, hot on the trail of Willowbrook, their fearsome début for the Aperture Label, take the headline slot. A conceptual EP that sonically mirrors the atrocities committed at the infamous NYC medical institution, the duo of Daz Quayle and Tony ‘Bone’ Snowden hunt through an uncannily dreadful landscape of battered and drenched rhythms that constantly beat the listener on the chest, while at well-timed points revealing a desolate and bruised beauty of melody that elevate them above simple exercises in noise and beat antics. In fact, it is this disparity that makes the duo all the more attractive. Last seen at the Open Circuit festival, Peter Edwards’ Casper Electronics (pictured) will also be performing live and continues a theme of duality for the night. Rather than a rhythmic assault, Casper Electronics focuses is on synthetic textures generated by modular synthesis, both lush and hair-raising, Edward’s journey through sound shows shades of both classic-era John Carpenter and the more out-there workings of Keith Fullerton Whitman. As ever, the Gesamt residents will be manning the turntables all night, playing everything from sandblasted industrial techno, violent power-electronics and brain flossing future sounds. listen/buy |
11/08/14
ap007 - willowbrook Broken Bone are Yorkshire duo Daz Quayle and Tony 'Bone' Snowden. Most of you will know Daz already as one half of Scarletron, IL.EK.TRO and owner of scsi-av. Tony has certainly paid his dues to the industry too, performing in noise bands; Crumbling Spine and Yorkshire Bone, laden with distorted drum machines, guitar and effects with Tony on Vox. Infact it was after attending a gig that Daz got involved writing backing tracks for the band. Inspired by the boundaries of capability, potential and limit, they then went on to form their own band called Broken Bone. An amalgamation of Tony on noise/vocal improv and Daz on beats, relentless electronics, sounds and tech. Initial productions were industrial soundscapes of dense distortions and sonic terrain with disturbing lyrical content, being mirrored by the torrential pouring frequencies and cone ripping noise-based onslaught. This probably explains why they ended up supporting Whitehouse with their blood spattered audio assault! This 12 track 'Willowbrook' album focuses on instrumental, stripped back versions sitting heavy in the mix, drenched with feedback and sinister undertones, raw emotion and eloquent expressions of pain. This will put you in a sombre mood for sure. An album of brutal realism, intense and claustrophobic - it's as dark as the subject matter. One foot planted firmly in the noise genre, the other planted firmly in your face! The full album will be available as a digital download, with six tracks selected for a 12" vinyl release. listen/buy |
24/02/14
ap006 - dilankex ep Dilankex is a work of opposites – two versions of the same multiple events – a black and white release. Oberman Knocks' original version (white) is a laid-back affair housed within a glassy place of worship, echoing with monastic vocals, strings, wind instruments and field recordings, which are offset by synthetic beats, funk bass and entwined sleazy vocals. In contrast Autechre's remix (black), panning out at just over 17 minutes long, is everything that you'd expect from the duo – a frantic, fractured and detailed to within an inch of its life piece, that has no need to build, but instead unravels and mutates into what is an unmistakable Autechre crescendo. Whilst both versions play out at opposite ends of the tempo spectrum, what connects them is that they are both emotional machine music with guts and vigour. Released on February 24th, 2014 as a limited edition of 500 vinyl copies in special die-cut sleeves. listen/buy |
14/10/13
ap005 - wrecque byte quarters ep aperture records is excited to welcome back Oberman Knocks with a brand new four track EP: Wrecque Byte Quarters. Following on from two amazing albums to date, Oberman Knocks continues to grow and evolve as an artist, this time stepping it up a notch in the field of musical experimentation. "Images of dystopia, rust, abandoned factories, sorta the place where an underground rave might take place." "Deliciously murky but sharp as a fresh blade. Loving these. ‘Quephan’ is fine work indeed. Twisted. But fine work nonetheless. Top EP." "Great electro sounds, nice hard beats and good arrangements using sounds effects well blended into the tracks. Very exciting music, awesome tracks." "Great, involved and twisted soundscapes. Liking it." "Sound sculpting at its best. Intriguing work!" listen/buy |
06/08/12
ap004 - beatcroff slabs Beatcroff Slabs follows Knocks’ first release on the Aperture label, the widely acclaimed 2009 debut album 13th Smallest, and is comprised of 16 tracks that take his sounds down yet darker, more twisted corridors and into ever expanding sonic spaces. Beatcroff Slabs’ evolving sound has essentially been built around the same core elements as 13th Smallest — those of manipulated synthesised studio sounds, fused with field recordings of the everyday and Knocks’ travels. The vocals, both snatched in public and his own, are contorted into instrumentation, and conversely synthetic sounds mutated into those with a vocal resonance — human and beyond. The album is produced with the same rudimentary set-up and continues Knocks’ unabated and unique trajectory in sound. With Beatcroff Slabs, Oberman Knocks (Nigel Truswell) has produced a visceral album which further explores his trademark themes — densely claustrophobic cinematic pieces, as with the opening track Ak-himp Rise, the use of arhythmic beats such as in Leckren Verso and his love for bottom heavy sonics, found in Konshun Four. The tempo of the album veers from the thundering Scanlon’s Heaping Gore Pull and tripped-up beats of Degonnt Type Runners, through to the metallically spatial and delicate Tek-fir Blades, along with one of the album’s mellower moments Mighton Ogan Lode, where Knocks demonstrates that machine music can indeed be evocative and imbued with human emotion, as well as fully charged with mechanical vigour. With Beatcroff Slabs, Knocks has delivered an album which adds to the presence of aperture as a label, which has seen previous releases from artists including Mira Calix & Mark Clifford, Andrea Parker & Daz Quayle, Luke Vibert, Majestic 12 and Simon Pyke. “Sounds like a soundtrack for some brutal tech horror film — so dark. Makes our stuff sound like a posh garden party”. — Sean Booth (Autechre) listen/buy |
30/07/12
ap004ep - beatcroff slabs remix ep Eight remixes taken from his second album Beatcroff Slabs as a four track 12”, released 30 July 2012, plus a digital release of all eight tracks out now on aperture records. On hearing Oberman Knocks’ second album Beatcroff Slabs, Parker suggested to Knocks that they should think about an accompanying release of remixes, and so between them they drew up a wish-list of artists which they’d like to ask. This list has resulted in contributions from Plaid (Warp), Quinoline Yellow (Skam), Kero (Detroit Underground), Michna (Ghostly International), former Bitstream members as Uexkull and Adapta, international Irish artist Garrett Phelan and Knocks himself. Knocks wanted each artist to have the freedom to work with whichever track they wanted from the album – interestingly all of them came back with a different selection – the results are as varied as the tracks selected. Four of the tracks will be released on 12” vinyl, followed by all eight being available digitally at a later date. “Oberman Knocks synthetic atoms into energised, unfolding forms, packed full of evocative circuitry”. — Ed Handley (Plaid) “Oberman Knocks bringing some amazing experimental music to the table, something that has been missing for a long time!” — Kero (Detroit Underground) “Oberman Knocks has created something that shows you the cracks with his sounds”. — Uexkull (Dave Bitstream) listen/buy |
15/07/12
Oberman Knocks interview and podcast
How do you think your new album Beatcroff Slabs differs from your last album 13th Smallest?
Essentially I make tracks for myself, so for me it was important to just start venturing down other avenues and develeloping my sounds further, so I think that it’s defintiely more textured in regard to it’s scope sonically, but the biggest difference for me personally is that it has a confidence about it, which definintely came about by the response that the first album received.
I’ve been to your studio and was really amazed at your set-up and what little equipment there was. Is this a conscious decision that less is more?
My ‘studio’ seems to be something of a point of jest for most people, being that it’s basically a PC in the corner of the spare room. That’s never really been a conscious decision – more born out of neccessity. When I first started making tracks a mate flogged me his old PC with the first ever version of Cubase on it (it was already a good few years out of date at that point) and I just started trying out freeware that I could find on the net. Then I splashed out and bought a copy of Soundforge so that I could play around with my own sounds that I’d recorded on what was then a minidisc recorder. I’ve since upgraded to a digital recorder, so along with the PC and my amp and speakers that I bought fifteen years ago, that’s pretty much my set-up. I basically work with just three pieces of software and push things around between them. Working with the PC is certainly not a conscious decision at all, in fact I absolutely hate them if I’m honest. I use a Mac for work, so for me when I’m on a PC I feel like I’m in the remedial class. However it’s offered me an affordable way to make tracks, so I can’t complain. To be honest I think that it’s been a positive thing for me to stick with such a paired down set-up. You see so many people, particularly in the electronic field, get into the hardware / software porn vibe that they’re constantly jumping around with their gear and don’t really get to grips with anything – the technology becomes a distraction more than anything.
So we’ve been to a few cuts together now. Firstly why are you always out of faze... is this deliberate, and why is it when you’re near electronic equipment, things seem to go very wrong eg. when the lathe broke? Tell us more…
Well being out of faze certainly happened on a couple of the tracks from this album, but not on the first (are you trying to make me out to be totally incompetent?!), so I’m not sure what happened there, it certainly wasn’t intentional. Probably my basic set-up, coupled with my lack of technical nous. It’s indeed true that I seem to exert some strange energy that sends anything electronic haywire. I certainly tempted fate when I asked what would happen if the lathe broke whilst we were cutting the 12”, seeing as they haven’t been made since the 1970s and spare parts and expertise in repairs are sparse. All made for an exciting cut though. Seems like I also have this ability remotely too though if Losing Today’s review of 13th Smallest is anything to go by: ‘Strange things afoot have been happening in our gaff since the arrival of this the debut release for the latest Nigel Truswell incarnation Oberman Knocks. Swiftly placing it in our laptop to be read by i-Tunes the track recognition starting jumping around hopping to and fro as though dancing on hot coals all the time refusing to settle to play. Quickly relocating to the hi-fi within ten seconds of its entrance the lights blew (all four spots). Still, refusing to be deterred by the strange co-incidental happenings we hastened to the trusted CD player, with fingers and other bits about our personage crossed we solemnly soldiered on. Success. Two minutes of joyful though decidedly darkly foreboding sounds consumed our listening space until the fuse in the kettle blew plunging the surroundings in still sombre darkness. Better wait until daylight we thought.’ What can I say – is it a curse or a gift?!
You have a daytime job as a graphic designer, in fact the company is half owned by you. What would you say is your first love, music or design, or is it something that comes hand in hand?
Neither. My first love was for my toy zoo and farm animals. Anyone that knows me from being a kid is usually surprised that I didn’t end-up being a vet. I did have an obsession with drawing elephants though, and I remember asking for an organ for Christmas when I was about four and being incredibly disappointed that it was a battery operated little plastic number instead of the full-on deal.
Talking of jobs (oi oi!! ) you’ve had quite a few and they seem to have gone right across the board from Men’s Health and Zest magazines too... do tell us more.
I’ve not really had that much of a varied jobbing life. After graduating with an MA in graphics I went and worked in an independent cinema to pay the rent until I got my first job art directing magazines, which I stayed in for about eight years, working on everything from fashion titles to music and lifestyle stuff. In my first job I constantly gave out to the Editor about how bad their music reviews were, so I was basically told “well if you think you can do any better, get on so some mailing lists and let me see if you can do any better”. I was straight on the phone to all my favourite labels and started writing reviews and doing interviews, which I loved doing for a while, and it allowed me to meet some incredibly interesting artists who I really admired, and it also led to some good friendships. I did indeed work at Zest which was probably one of my favourite places I’ve ever worked. Not only were they such a great team of people, but I was the only man in the office, so I was treated more like everyone’s brother/surrogate boyfriend/agony uncle. Men’s Health was also another one too – in fact whilst I was there I also did the door ar 333 when it very first opened for six months, which nearly killed me. Then I ended up working at the BBC and I’d just met an incredibly talented designer by the name of Niall Sweeney, and we just floated the idea of getting a studio together. That was about eleven years ago now and we’ve been incredibly lucky to work with some great people on interesting projects mainly in the arts and cultural sector, but also for friends who run labels, theatre groups, work in film and run bars and clubs, so we get a nice mix of stuff.
You grew up in Sheffield – a great city for music. Do you think that that had an influence on your own music? What were you listening to at school there, and what clubs we’re you going to?
Sheffield was indeed an amazing city to grow up in. It had such a wealth of stuff going on in interesting venues and very much a sense of the DIY ethos, with a great energy. It was certainly much more diverse than most peole give it credit for. In terms of influence I’d say I’m almost a total cliché in that I love industrial sounds that are associated with cities like Sheffield and Detroit. However what most people see as the kind of seminal electronic music coming out of the city when I was growing up, such as Cabaret Voltaire, really wasn’t doing it for me at the time. When I was at school I was listening to funk and club stuff. I started going to clubs when I was fourteen and hanging around with people that were older because none of the lads at school were into the music I liked. And then I got into early hip-hop / electro which totally blew me away. Jive Turkey was one of the best clubs in Sheffield when all the early Warp stuff was going on (I’d moved to London by then but would go back to go out with mates), but prior to that there was this amazing night just down the road from it called The Hot House, which was in this tiny little club. Back then the electro scene was predominantly black, so myself and a mate from college were the only white kids there, apart from the forty year old blonde bunny girl serving drinks in a mini santa costume!
You got on a bus with a ghetto blaster a few times, you love electro and I know you like your trainers... would you say you were a b-boy? Did you get beaten up at school for listening to the smurf song?
I got on a bus a lot with my ten battery beatbox. Honestly – I was such a short arse it must’ve looked like I was emigrating. But I absolutely loved my blaster – it really was my pride and joy. So everytime I hear these kids being annoying listenig to their tinny phones on the bus I check myself. Most of the time. One of my mates did once say that I was like the Imelda Marcos of trainers, so I guess at one time I had what you might call a bit of a thing for them. But I have that under control now. So I’d say I was one of the original b-boys for sure if I had to identify with any particular ‘type’ at that time. I loved all of that shit that was going on. It was all so new and exciting. The sounds, the moves, the clothes – everything about it was so invigorating. I got beaten up a school for plenty of things, but the smurf song it wasn’t – Newcleus’ Jam on Revenge maybe.
I know you’re a big motown fan. What is it that you love about that era of music? The tight trousers or dancing? Did you bust some moves in some working men’s clubs up north?
Motown is kind of the first music that I was aware of as a genre outside of the mainstream stuff that was being played on the radio and tv when I was a kid. For me it just had this vitality and otherness that I found really captivating, and it just made you want to move your feet. So of course I busted plenty of moves in working men’s clubs. Super cheap pints when you were under age and great sounds – how couldn’t you. That era had great dance moves for sure, but I’m not so sure many fellas went on to conceive after wearing those tight trousers!
What do you think of the music industry at the moment? Are there any new artists you’re into that you could recommend? And what was the best night out you’ve had out recently?
The music industry has changed so much from when I was a kid. For me it’s a bit of a double edged sword to be honest. On the one hand the technology has allowed people like myself to produce music in an affordable way, and the ability to get it out into the world. So there’s now a wealth of material at people’s fingertips, but what I miss is the investment that went with music when I was younger. I don’t just mean financially, but also in terms of searching for things and more importantly sharing what you found, by say casette tape, which people put incredible time and effort into putting together. The physicality of music is something that I really relished – you’d get excited by the artwork, thickness of vinyl, where you bought stuff from and therefore tracks were much more rooted in time and space. New artists – I’ve no idea to be honest I’m so out of the loop. When I’m listening to the radio it’ll more likely be something like Shirley and Spinoza, so that I get a real mash-up of sounds and styles. I don’t like to get caught up in what’s hot and new – it’s one of the things about London I really don’t like. This drive to play everything that’s new all the time regardless of whether it’s any good or not. Good tracks are good tracks whether they were made last week or fifty years ago. Best night out recently would be in Dublin, where really all my closest friends are these days. There was also the addition of a couple of great friends over from NYC and Australia too, so we had a perfectly long mad session.
Name me some people who have inspired you, architects, artists, designers, chefs, etc.
Autechre because they’ve always been in a league of their own. Paul Thomas Anderson as a film director, Niall Sweeney as a designer, chef and all round good egg, people like Andy Maddocks who runs Skam that get off their arse and do their own thing, and lots of my friends who inspire me in many different ways.
And finally I was going to ask you about your influences but your podcast answers that...
To be honest the biggest influence on any track that I make is the very first sound that catches my imagination. It all grows from there.
Oberman Knocks interview and podcast
How do you think your new album Beatcroff Slabs differs from your last album 13th Smallest?
Essentially I make tracks for myself, so for me it was important to just start venturing down other avenues and develeloping my sounds further, so I think that it’s defintiely more textured in regard to it’s scope sonically, but the biggest difference for me personally is that it has a confidence about it, which definintely came about by the response that the first album received.
I’ve been to your studio and was really amazed at your set-up and what little equipment there was. Is this a conscious decision that less is more?
My ‘studio’ seems to be something of a point of jest for most people, being that it’s basically a PC in the corner of the spare room. That’s never really been a conscious decision – more born out of neccessity. When I first started making tracks a mate flogged me his old PC with the first ever version of Cubase on it (it was already a good few years out of date at that point) and I just started trying out freeware that I could find on the net. Then I splashed out and bought a copy of Soundforge so that I could play around with my own sounds that I’d recorded on what was then a minidisc recorder. I’ve since upgraded to a digital recorder, so along with the PC and my amp and speakers that I bought fifteen years ago, that’s pretty much my set-up. I basically work with just three pieces of software and push things around between them. Working with the PC is certainly not a conscious decision at all, in fact I absolutely hate them if I’m honest. I use a Mac for work, so for me when I’m on a PC I feel like I’m in the remedial class. However it’s offered me an affordable way to make tracks, so I can’t complain. To be honest I think that it’s been a positive thing for me to stick with such a paired down set-up. You see so many people, particularly in the electronic field, get into the hardware / software porn vibe that they’re constantly jumping around with their gear and don’t really get to grips with anything – the technology becomes a distraction more than anything.
So we’ve been to a few cuts together now. Firstly why are you always out of faze... is this deliberate, and why is it when you’re near electronic equipment, things seem to go very wrong eg. when the lathe broke? Tell us more…
Well being out of faze certainly happened on a couple of the tracks from this album, but not on the first (are you trying to make me out to be totally incompetent?!), so I’m not sure what happened there, it certainly wasn’t intentional. Probably my basic set-up, coupled with my lack of technical nous. It’s indeed true that I seem to exert some strange energy that sends anything electronic haywire. I certainly tempted fate when I asked what would happen if the lathe broke whilst we were cutting the 12”, seeing as they haven’t been made since the 1970s and spare parts and expertise in repairs are sparse. All made for an exciting cut though. Seems like I also have this ability remotely too though if Losing Today’s review of 13th Smallest is anything to go by: ‘Strange things afoot have been happening in our gaff since the arrival of this the debut release for the latest Nigel Truswell incarnation Oberman Knocks. Swiftly placing it in our laptop to be read by i-Tunes the track recognition starting jumping around hopping to and fro as though dancing on hot coals all the time refusing to settle to play. Quickly relocating to the hi-fi within ten seconds of its entrance the lights blew (all four spots). Still, refusing to be deterred by the strange co-incidental happenings we hastened to the trusted CD player, with fingers and other bits about our personage crossed we solemnly soldiered on. Success. Two minutes of joyful though decidedly darkly foreboding sounds consumed our listening space until the fuse in the kettle blew plunging the surroundings in still sombre darkness. Better wait until daylight we thought.’ What can I say – is it a curse or a gift?!
You have a daytime job as a graphic designer, in fact the company is half owned by you. What would you say is your first love, music or design, or is it something that comes hand in hand?
Neither. My first love was for my toy zoo and farm animals. Anyone that knows me from being a kid is usually surprised that I didn’t end-up being a vet. I did have an obsession with drawing elephants though, and I remember asking for an organ for Christmas when I was about four and being incredibly disappointed that it was a battery operated little plastic number instead of the full-on deal.
Talking of jobs (oi oi!! ) you’ve had quite a few and they seem to have gone right across the board from Men’s Health and Zest magazines too... do tell us more.
I’ve not really had that much of a varied jobbing life. After graduating with an MA in graphics I went and worked in an independent cinema to pay the rent until I got my first job art directing magazines, which I stayed in for about eight years, working on everything from fashion titles to music and lifestyle stuff. In my first job I constantly gave out to the Editor about how bad their music reviews were, so I was basically told “well if you think you can do any better, get on so some mailing lists and let me see if you can do any better”. I was straight on the phone to all my favourite labels and started writing reviews and doing interviews, which I loved doing for a while, and it allowed me to meet some incredibly interesting artists who I really admired, and it also led to some good friendships. I did indeed work at Zest which was probably one of my favourite places I’ve ever worked. Not only were they such a great team of people, but I was the only man in the office, so I was treated more like everyone’s brother/surrogate boyfriend/agony uncle. Men’s Health was also another one too – in fact whilst I was there I also did the door ar 333 when it very first opened for six months, which nearly killed me. Then I ended up working at the BBC and I’d just met an incredibly talented designer by the name of Niall Sweeney, and we just floated the idea of getting a studio together. That was about eleven years ago now and we’ve been incredibly lucky to work with some great people on interesting projects mainly in the arts and cultural sector, but also for friends who run labels, theatre groups, work in film and run bars and clubs, so we get a nice mix of stuff.
You grew up in Sheffield – a great city for music. Do you think that that had an influence on your own music? What were you listening to at school there, and what clubs we’re you going to?
Sheffield was indeed an amazing city to grow up in. It had such a wealth of stuff going on in interesting venues and very much a sense of the DIY ethos, with a great energy. It was certainly much more diverse than most peole give it credit for. In terms of influence I’d say I’m almost a total cliché in that I love industrial sounds that are associated with cities like Sheffield and Detroit. However what most people see as the kind of seminal electronic music coming out of the city when I was growing up, such as Cabaret Voltaire, really wasn’t doing it for me at the time. When I was at school I was listening to funk and club stuff. I started going to clubs when I was fourteen and hanging around with people that were older because none of the lads at school were into the music I liked. And then I got into early hip-hop / electro which totally blew me away. Jive Turkey was one of the best clubs in Sheffield when all the early Warp stuff was going on (I’d moved to London by then but would go back to go out with mates), but prior to that there was this amazing night just down the road from it called The Hot House, which was in this tiny little club. Back then the electro scene was predominantly black, so myself and a mate from college were the only white kids there, apart from the forty year old blonde bunny girl serving drinks in a mini santa costume!
You got on a bus with a ghetto blaster a few times, you love electro and I know you like your trainers... would you say you were a b-boy? Did you get beaten up at school for listening to the smurf song?
I got on a bus a lot with my ten battery beatbox. Honestly – I was such a short arse it must’ve looked like I was emigrating. But I absolutely loved my blaster – it really was my pride and joy. So everytime I hear these kids being annoying listenig to their tinny phones on the bus I check myself. Most of the time. One of my mates did once say that I was like the Imelda Marcos of trainers, so I guess at one time I had what you might call a bit of a thing for them. But I have that under control now. So I’d say I was one of the original b-boys for sure if I had to identify with any particular ‘type’ at that time. I loved all of that shit that was going on. It was all so new and exciting. The sounds, the moves, the clothes – everything about it was so invigorating. I got beaten up a school for plenty of things, but the smurf song it wasn’t – Newcleus’ Jam on Revenge maybe.
I know you’re a big motown fan. What is it that you love about that era of music? The tight trousers or dancing? Did you bust some moves in some working men’s clubs up north?
Motown is kind of the first music that I was aware of as a genre outside of the mainstream stuff that was being played on the radio and tv when I was a kid. For me it just had this vitality and otherness that I found really captivating, and it just made you want to move your feet. So of course I busted plenty of moves in working men’s clubs. Super cheap pints when you were under age and great sounds – how couldn’t you. That era had great dance moves for sure, but I’m not so sure many fellas went on to conceive after wearing those tight trousers!
What do you think of the music industry at the moment? Are there any new artists you’re into that you could recommend? And what was the best night out you’ve had out recently?
The music industry has changed so much from when I was a kid. For me it’s a bit of a double edged sword to be honest. On the one hand the technology has allowed people like myself to produce music in an affordable way, and the ability to get it out into the world. So there’s now a wealth of material at people’s fingertips, but what I miss is the investment that went with music when I was younger. I don’t just mean financially, but also in terms of searching for things and more importantly sharing what you found, by say casette tape, which people put incredible time and effort into putting together. The physicality of music is something that I really relished – you’d get excited by the artwork, thickness of vinyl, where you bought stuff from and therefore tracks were much more rooted in time and space. New artists – I’ve no idea to be honest I’m so out of the loop. When I’m listening to the radio it’ll more likely be something like Shirley and Spinoza, so that I get a real mash-up of sounds and styles. I don’t like to get caught up in what’s hot and new – it’s one of the things about London I really don’t like. This drive to play everything that’s new all the time regardless of whether it’s any good or not. Good tracks are good tracks whether they were made last week or fifty years ago. Best night out recently would be in Dublin, where really all my closest friends are these days. There was also the addition of a couple of great friends over from NYC and Australia too, so we had a perfectly long mad session.
Name me some people who have inspired you, architects, artists, designers, chefs, etc.
Autechre because they’ve always been in a league of their own. Paul Thomas Anderson as a film director, Niall Sweeney as a designer, chef and all round good egg, people like Andy Maddocks who runs Skam that get off their arse and do their own thing, and lots of my friends who inspire me in many different ways.
And finally I was going to ask you about your influences but your podcast answers that...
To be honest the biggest influence on any track that I make is the very first sound that catches my imagination. It all grows from there.
28/11/11
ap003 - private dreams and public nightmares Private Dreams and Public Nightmares is a unique concept album which re-works and re-interprets original, unheard sounds from the Daphne Oram archives to create completely new pieces of music. The album also includes two pieces which were written and performed live by Andrea Parker and Daz Quayle (owner of the scsi-av label) for 'Oramics: The Life and Works of Daphne Oram' at The Royal Festival Hall and also for the Short Circuit Festival at The Roundhouse, where they supported the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The story behind this album began in 2008, when Parker was called in to a meeting with Phil Howlett, who was putting together the 'Oramics' night at The Royal Festival Hall. He was looking for an artist who could write and produce an original piece of music incorporating some of Daphne Oram's sounds and then perform this piece live. As one of her idols and an inspiration to her throughout her career, Parker could scarcely believe the opportunity that she was being given. Shortly after this meeting, four CD's full of Daphne's original sounds dropped through her letterbox and for Parker this was a defining moment. Along with Daphne's numerous recordings of found sounds, there were some of the first examples of 'drawn' sounds - the concept of creating sounds by drawing waveforms traced from graph paper onto 35mm film. Ten separate loops of this film controlled different sound parameters like pitch, volume and intensity, triggering sounds through voltage control as these shapes, or waveforms, interrupted a constant stream of light shining onto sensors below as they were run through the Oramics machine simultaneously. This was an entirely new way of making sound, the pioneering concept that paved the way for electronic music as we know it today and the earliest form of the electronic synthesiser. These sounds, like Daphne's Oramics machine itself, are a part of British musical history and only now is this history and Daphne's legacy starting to be given the recognition it deserves, most recently with the installation of a replica of the Oramics machine at London's Science Museum. Where America had Robert Moog, Britain had Daphne Oram. Both of these pioneers were as important as each other to the future of music production, but it was Daphne's unique Britishness that led to her building The Oramics Machine into the empty shell of her own dressing table. |
Having used hundreds of samples and all 100 channels of their mixer for this one piece, Parker and Quayle knew that they could not stop there. They felt like they had only scratched the surface and now they wanted to dig deeper into the life and works of Daphne Oram to create an entire album, to unfold the story even more. As experienced producers and remixers they wanted the chance to re-work, re-interpret and manipulate these sounds to create a unique concept album as they hoped Daphne Oram may herself have done in a modern day environment. Parker arranged to meet with Dr. Mick Grierson, Director of the Daphne Oram Collection at Goldsmiths College and Secretary of the Daphne Oram Trust and, after hearing her ideas, Mick finally gave them that chance. In 2009, Parker became one of the first people to be given unrestricted access to the Daphne Oram Archives, containing photographs, diagrams and hundreds of reel-to-reel tapes of original, unheard sounds created by Daphne Oram. Needless to say, Parker and Quayle were like two kids in a sweet shop!
They soon discovered how descriptive Daphne had been with the titles of a lot of her own sounds; 'getting a cold', 'toothache' and 'rheumatism'. Sounds that literally throbbed and pulsated as their titles suggested. She described in an interview For Women's Hour on the BBC (sampled in the opening track on the album) how some of the sounds she created even made her feel like she wanted to hide behind the curtains. Parker certainly knew how she felt. Done purely as a labour of love in their spare time, driving between London and Leeds, Parker and Quayle spent hundreds of hours sampling these sounds and treating them through various noise reduction processors, all the while trying to strike the balance between making them audible in the mix without losing the individual characteristics of those original sounds. They set out to use some of the less-obvious, unnerving sounds they had found hidden in the archives to explore a different side of Daphne Oram, a darker side, incorporating them alongside sounds from Parker's own archives (made using analogue synthesizers like her beloved arp2600 as well as her 808) and relying on Quayle's modern day techniques and expertise to create the balance. What developed was a deeply personal album, an intense piece of work. Minimal, yet in some pieces over 100 individual sounds were used. Haunting, or itself perhaps... haunted? listen/buy "Highly Recommended" - Boomkat read the full review daphneoram.org |