MMW: Silent Servant

Sunday, February 16th, 2014 // Blogs,MMW

Silent Servant‘s sound is a reinterpretation of early ’80s post-punk electronics, paired with the deep, metallic sounds of Basic Channel and Downwards. Real name: Juan Mendez.

MMW: Surgeon

Sunday, February 16th, 2014 // Blogs,MMW

Surgeon is the pseudonym of Anthony Child, an English electronic musician and DJ. Surgeon’s musical style is characterized by his incorporation of the more cinematic and left field aspects of his musical background into his club-based material. His production, remix, and DJ repertoire are inspired by krautrock and industrial music bands such as Faust, Coil, and Whitehouse. Child also draws influence from Chicago house, Techno, Dub music, and Electro, and also from non-musical works by Mike Leigh, David Lynch, William S. Burroughs, Bret Easton Ellis, and Cindy Sherman.

As Resident Advisor put it in their review of Breaking the Frame: “Listening to [Surgeon’s] Breaking the Frame is not unlike going to an exhibit at which each of the displayed works occupies an entire wall. Each of these nine tracks is stark and enormous. Straight off, they announce themselves, and while each has a good amount of detail that you don’t even have to listen very closely to notice, what’s striking about them all is that those strong first impressions remain true the entire time each track plays.”

What makes Surgeon special is his blatant disregard for techno’s latest micro-trends and ability to incorporate a wide variety of sounds and textures into the dogmatic genre of techno. His music is sure to please old school techno heads and fans of leftfield sounds alike.

MMW: Shackleton

Saturday, February 15th, 2014 // Blogs,MMW

Shackleton > any other musician working in electronic music right now. Bold statement? Sure, but I can’t think of one artist who is able to exist outside of the hyperbolic pendulum of modern electronic music as well as Shackleton is. There also isn’t a better artist to listen to while watching the TV.

“Shackleton was the most apt soundtrack for any time I had the TV on. (In fact, do yourself a favor, chuck on a Shackleton recording while you read the following, if you wish to read the following… ) The US squandered their hegemonic decade (perhaps their last one, but who knows really?) on two ruinous military misadventures and the succession of bubbles that burst like boils full of empty numbers and empty wallets and houses and blossomed into a full-blown chronic crisis (can crises be chronic?), and now, still, in spite of or because of that or who knows really, millions of Americans prefer to tune in to Fox News to hear some shrill nutjob scream about how Obama ought to restore America’s pride. Governments around Europe have saved the banks and socked it to the people, and Goldman Sachs are paying bigger bonuses than ever.” (mnml ssgs)

As described in a Resident Advisor review, “Shackleton’s loopy drum programming and ink-stained bass…are pushed to psychedelic extremes. Rather than seeking a way out for his music, he found new ways to burrow deeper.”