Weapons Cache

Divtech is the alias of David Flashner, a young producer from Orange County, California. He came to my attention after hearing hype for his upcoming appearance at a DarkMatter Soundsystem event, and I pretty much know I’m going to want to check out anything they’re hyping.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/7167397"]

After checking some of his net-label releases and soundcloud offerings, I was really blown away. His sounds range from detailed, chip-tune infused speedcore with intense atmospheric breakdowns, to ultra-fast digi-metal, in the mold of Drumcorps or Eustachian, to absurd pop-breakcore refixes. It’s all got a really fresh, “I don’t give a fuck” streak to it as well.

You can grab his full length album on Marionette Records:

http://marionette-records.co.uk/downloads/Divtech_-_We_Want_Your_Soul.rar

As well as a split EP with Ladyscraper.

Leaving you with this excellent refix he did for an http://www.ihatebreakcore.com contest:
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/3406224"]

Although he has been making noise and electronic music for over a decade, A Vision’s Voice is Dimentia’s first full length release, and was put out by Detroit’s Void imprint.
Currently based in Oakland California, Dimentia has been involved with various West Coast soundsystem projects, such as SPAZ, Katabatik and the Autonomous Mutant Fest.  My first and only live exposure to his sounds was at the Massive Support release show in Detroit back in May 2008, and his slow, massively intense broken sound instantly made me a fan.  Obtuse, alien synth workcreates a backdrop for shredded head-banger noise and bass.   For fans of Somatic Responses, Winterkalte or Resurrector.

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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

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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)

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.