weapons caché

On February 15th in the year 2008AD, the fifth in a series of abysmal laptop battles in Pittsburgh took place at Belvedere’s Bar. The downward evolution of these events is unmistakable: where the first battle took place in someone’s attic overlooking scenic 18th Street, this latest one was held at a bar which looks like someone’s basement.

18 acts threw their hats in the ring this time, up from last year’s 14. Hardcore, gabber, and breakcore were the dominant styles. However, from Anima Quiem’s EBM to Tusk Lord’s noise to Jason Bursley’s techno, all walks of electronic music sent at least one trooper to this dangerous warzone. Edgar Umm was enlisted to DJ at the end of the battle to eat up any remaining time, but in the end it would turn out that his services were not needed. This event was filled with the atrosities of war right up until the very last possible minute.

The rules were simple and have remained mostly unchanged since the first battle. Anyone could enter, but only a laptop or desktop computer could be used. No gear, no turntables, no cd mixers, and no traditional instruments were permitted. Everyone who entered the battle had 10 minutes to dazzle the judges in the opening round. The top 4 moved on to the 2nd round, then the top 2 from that round went on to the final round to duke it out. The winner won the highly prestigious Galactic Ass Dragon Classic trophy and a 7″ record release on No Room For Talent Records.

Detroit’s J-Stat won this year, edging out local supervillian Vasculator, who won nothing but scorn and contempt.

Greg Trash and myself were the judges and this was without question the hardest battle to judge to date. J-Stat, Vasculator, Selector Catalogue, and Split Horizon were the 4 combatants who moved on from the opening round, but it was difficult to cut some of the other combatants. In particular, Pittsburgh’s Cloned Beef Lukemia and Toledo’s Blaerg, both of whom brought their A games. And it was mentioned more than once after the event that Le Shakes was the standout performance and should have won. Feel free to email me and Greg and let us know how you think we fucked up.

Rob Dizazter stepped right up to the plate and not only entered the contest, but also recorded everyone’s set. His Herculean pain is your reward. The following are his recordings of this event, split into 3 parts. Unfortunately, Baron Knoxburry and Tusk Lord’s sets were not recorded and Erreur Fatale has asked that his set be removed from the recordings:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/te6ef9
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qlu13g
http://www.sendspace.com/file/fgsz6j

There is also no shortage of photographic evidence of this horrible crime:

Rachel’s pictures
Paul’s pictures

No recap of this event would be complete without commenting on the next level performances of the hosts, Mike n’ Ike Jones. They had shown their capacity to delight and astound in previous battles, but as hosts, they were nothing short of amazing. They kept what was an otherwise chaotic night going smoothly, including performing soon-to-be legendary skits between rounds. From here on out, any event in Pittsburgh that isn’t hosted by them is hollow and incomplete.

Look for J-Stat’s 7″ record release on No Room For Talent Records soon.

Broken Note are two London based producer/DJ’s - Lithium and Kidnappa - but known by there mummies as Tommy and Eddie. ’Dubversion/Mortal Bass’ is their debut 12″ record, and has been released on Peace-off’s sublabel for all things slow and bassy - Ruff. This is some serious work - undulating twisted basslines and dark atmospheres. Fans of Vex’d and the Combat Recordings label grab this one immediately! Pick up their full length release at http://brokennote.bigcartel.com/product/broken-note-cd

Listen Now:

 Broken Note - A1 Dubversion - Ruff 6 [5:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Broken Note - B1 Mortal Bass - Ruff 6 [3:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One of the few electronic musicians who truly defy comparison, Pittsburgh’s Xanopticon has been steadily and thoroughly annihilating dancefloors since around 2000AD. This fiendish bastard doesn’t hesitate to carve new and horrifying neurological pathways into his victim’s brains with razor-thin sonic shards of unknown alien origin. Will you dance? Or will you peel your obsolete flesh from your fragile, useless body? Reactions are as confounding and troubling as the catalyst. So, dear reader - who would dare toy with such madness? Madmen, of course. On “Alembic”, the latest 12″ pariah from Thac0 Records, 4 of the most talented electronic musicians from across this filthy planet each take a stab at righting the wrong that is a Xanopticon track. Enter first the brave DJ Hidden [Evol Intent, Outbreak, Hymen, Mokum] from the nether lands. He has unearthed Xanopticon’s monstrosity “Symptom” and dragged it back to his northern lair to torture and mutilate. What he has produced simply should not be: a violent, haunting slice of drum n bass with basslines that will collapse your lungs as you gasp for one last breathe. Abelcain [Low Res, Addict] is no stranger to the macabre. He has combined the meatiest morsels from “Stormtower” with grim, unearthly components in his foul cauldron. The resulting concoction is both wondrous and disturbing, crawling further under your skin with each listen. Next, coming up to bat is heavyhitter Duran Duran Duran [Planet Mu, Cock Rock Disco] with what could be the dance hit of the year. Spine-shattering beats light up the night sky with the tattered remains of “Tinw” in a marriage that will invariably end in a bitter divorce. Atomhead [Hangars Liquides, Dyslexic Response] has more aliases than a cold-war era Soviet spy. You may know him as Undacova. Or Erratic. Or 1/2 of Duncan Avoid. Or 1/Nth of xE Phalanx. Or that guy who plucked the last shred of sanity from your fevered grasp with his punishing, throbbing distortion of Xanopticon’s “4 Hit Points”. This tender slice of 12″ perversion is on red vinyl and wrapped in a full-color jacket illustrated by the diabolical Keith Thompson

Listen Now:

 Xanopticon - 4 Hit Points (Atomhead Remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Xanopticon - Tinw (Duran Duran remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Xanopticon - Stormthrower (Abelcain remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Xanopticon - Symptom (DJ Hidden remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A chorus of hazy white intensity builds as a leviathan snake of technoid rhythms slowly uncoils twisting out until unleashing heavy broken bass assaults. Virulence is raw, scraping broken industrial hardcore that builds jarring rhythms out of slow winding chaos. Diskore is a long time DJ, promoter and core member of the Darkmatter Soundsystem out of Los Angeles. Their steadfast vision of extreme electronics and splintered beats has been the formula for some of the best and most unique hard electronics nights in the US over the past several years. This record is a great introduction because it really shows the set of influences that make up the Darkmatter sound, from Lasse Stein’s distorted acid techno, rhythmic noise in the vein of Imminent or Synapscape, to the intense melodic broken styles of Somatic Responses, or equally so the amazing sounds from fellow Darkmatter producers Minion and Ressurrector.  After releasing a healthy back catalog of dj mixes, this is Diskore’s first vinyl release and the fifth offering from Detroit’s Void imprint. Heavy and inspiring sounds that aren’t like much coming out in the states or elsewhere.
Diskore - Up There - Void 5 A1 (ZShare)

Diskore - Virulence - Void 5 B1 (ZShare)

Filthy, popping gabber kicks, tweaked glitch and a tribal-dubstep exoskeleton. Definitely one of the more interesting hyperdub permutations that has hit the streets recently. Fits well with the darker more mutant strains of dubstep, sort of like vex’d and grim dubs got skull disco knocked up. Anstam is both the label and the artist on this 12″, and aside from it coming from Germany, there’s not much more info floating around. I’m just guessing that we might see something at http://anstam.com/ before long.

Anstam - Aeto - A1 (ZShare)

Anstam - Aeto - B1 (ZShare)

Since I haven’t done much writing for this page yet, I want to give a little foundational info on what’s going on in Pittsburgh. I feel that I need to preface this with the statement that I’m well aware of the personal biases I carry. Many or most of the things I write about are extremely incestuous - projects or events that I’m directly or tangentially involved with. That said, Pittsburgh really is a small city - the general wisdom is pop. 300,000 city, 1-2 million metro - and everybody is only one or two degrees of separation from each other. So when it comes down to it, I like the fact that I, or anybody who really wants to can be involved with things.

So what is going on in terms of shows? At the moment, not really a hell of a lot. These things go in cycles it would seem, and we’re sort of in a slightly dead period in terms of actual shows.

The last show of note was the 4th GALACTIC ASS DRAGON CLASSIC laptop battle, back in November. Three rounds of sonic pugilism, and Philly’s 215Noiseician STATAS (formerly known as Nodal Terror) emerged as the victor. There were some really awesome sets thoughout the night. I was especially impressed with J. Stat, Blaerg, Split Horizon and Vasculator’s stuff. The last couple In Broken Key tracks were phenominal. All in all I think there were 13 entrants which was really great to see. It’s too bad that this was the last show at the venue we used, ON GALLERY. It really was a great spot, especially for doing all ages shows that could have alcohol and be a bit more raucous than some other venues. Earlier in the fall we hooked up a series called SOUND BYTES at the Wood Street Gallery downtown thanks to Chris Korch, and was able to host Enduser for free, as well as do a few other free electronics shows. Thanks to the NYC airport, a scheduled Mathhead show fell through.

The situation with venues in Pittsburgh has been somewhat schitzophrenic lately. There have been a number of new venues that have opened and closed, as well as opportunities to use awesome spaces that have come about then gone away. Garfield Artworks is still booked by Manny, and he has indie shows of all stripes going on nightly, although not as many electronics shows as in the past. The Quiet Storm no longer books music. Modern Formations seems to be focusing more on art than music shows, although they do still do music now and again. On Gallery, in the same section of Penn Ave had a brief run of shows, then left as quickly as it came. Earlier in the year the Paint and Body space had a run of art and music shows, but is also now closed. As of the end of the year, the Upstage closed its doors perminantly. It housed a number of alternative dance nights and shows over the years. The saturday goth / industrial night has relocated to Wednesdays at Club Pegasus, which will unlikely be the same.
Currently there is an interesting opportunity to do events in Braddock of all places. Braddock is a suburb that is very close to the city that once thrived, but has lost tons of population since the days when the steel mills closed down. The main drag is now mostly filled with unused and empty buildings. The mayor of Braddock has offered derelict buildings to artists and musicians to use at no cost. Lori Mancuso and Ed Bucholtz put on an art/noise show there a few weeks back featuring locals Fuck Telecorps, Lord Bird Golden Cobra, Sun Tornado and guest Eloe Moe which showed the potential for doing some pretty extreme things with their spaces. To whit, on Jan 12th there will be a lazer crunk tastic rave there, LAZER FUZZ!, with Dieselboy, the Brigade, Xanopticon and more.

As far as other spots, there are a number of places that have been hosting dj nites of various levels of interest. The FUZZ! drum and bass weekly is going on it’s 7th year. It still goes down wednesdays at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern. I spin there as part of the resident 412DNB dj crew (Absolut, ABZ, Alaska, Depth, Jake, Ra and myself). We spread the love around and book good locals as well as guests. This year we’ve had a number of guests including Abel Gein, Catacomb, DJ Suv, Dieselboy, the Brigade, Doormouse & Anonymous, Klute, and Spor. On the southside, Z-Lounge (formerly Zythos), is the only venue dedicated to doing electronic music and djs. Most of their nights are house or techno, with occasional drum and bass. We did manage to do a few shows upstairs, which is a nice sized bar (holds maybe 100), including the THAC0 release party and a few other things earlier this year. The Beehive, a large and infamous coffeehouse has started an after hours run by Kelly of Milk records. It’s mostly breaks, but occasionally drum and bass, and runs from midnight until 4am every saturday. In the east end, the Brillobox is a bar/venue that has been open for nearly two years and has a number of different monthly dj nights on thursdays and usually friday or saturdays. The one most of note is PANDEMIC, which is a monthly night in thursdays and features a collection of djs spinning cutting edge dance music of different international flavors - from balkan brass, to baille funk, desi beats and things along those lines. Once a month Edgr Umm and I do a weekend event where we spin a mashed up variety of dance music. In Lawrenceville there are a few spaces that have been transformed in the past year. Belvederes is a former Polish club and is now a bar with a huge hall attached and has been doing shows and dj nites of many stripes. Back in November Girltalk played there along with The Modey Lemon, Centepede E’st and Ed Umm, and it was quite a banger.

bleak and spacious sounds

a mix of dubstep and tangents recorded by cutups dec 11, 2006

wolf eyes - the driller - sub pop 12″
armour - iron man - tectonic 4 10″
current value - the unspoken - spoothsayer 6 12″
vex’d + search & destroy - end of line - destructive “our sound” LP
fzv - leviathan - rag and bone 13 12″
drop the lime - brooklyn skank - ruff 1 12″
luke envoy - gamma - hot flush 12 12″
scuba - harpoon - hotflush 3 12″
skream - 0800 dub - “skreamism vol 2″ tempa 2LP
digital mystikz - earth a run red - soul jazz 135 12
skream - check it (instrumental) - tempa 6 “skream!” LP
ladybug - dem a bomb we - soul jazz 149 12″
boxcutter - brood - hotflush 10 12″
search & destroy - detox - storming 8 12″
mark one - stargate ‘92 rmx - storming 6
three thieves and a liar - audio fear - moonshine “speed limit 140bpm+” 2LP
milanese - mr bad news - planet mu 165 “extend” LP
somatic responses - motion sickness - black monolith 2 12″
vex’d - lion vip - planet mu 115 “degenerate” 2LP
spl - it won’t stop - technical itch 46 12″
voidloss and villan - feel nothing - singularity 1 12″

Listen Now:

 Doom Rock: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

so here it is - weapons cache - a new wordpress based site that i’m curating. i’d been thinking of morphing my site into a more active public and modern blog. the amount of functionality and plugins is just way way beyond what i have the time to code on my own. i’m also at the point where i’d rather be creating content than writing code that never gets used. seen?

the notion i have here is a high quality control collaborative blog about music, featuring some of the more thoughtful and informed people i know. i’m thinking reviews, interviews, articles and specifically mp3s of tracks and sets. there’s too much noise and not enough signal out there in online discourse, and i feel like there’s a place to inject some more thoughtful and informed opinions into the blog world. or at least it’ll be a time waster for some of the at work massive.
keep your eyes peeled