http://www.igloomag.com Edgey :: Square Form Annihilations (Hands, CD)
"...This album is seriously rough, in every meaning of the word. Imagine
a rotten version of Enduser, corrupted by industrial distortions and
driven to the very edge of hard clipping..." Luca Maini, Contributing
Editor (07.30.06) This album is seriously rough, in every meaning of the
word. Imagine a rotten version of Enduser, corrupted by industrial
distortions and driven to the very edge of hard clipping. To get inside
such a brutality, you should have at least some familiarity with Ant-Zen
or Hands output. "Cavity" waits some minutes before unleashing its whole
power, don't be fooled by the intro that sounds a bit like atmospheric
jungle because when the beat starts, there will be no place to hide.
Drum'n'bass drum loops are the heaviest ever heard, there's no time for
micro-editing but only for raw cuts; samples are kept to the bare
minimum and there's always a wall of bass frequencies, very synthetic
and really wall-shattering. A nice example of this sick sonic anger is
"Spatial," a running beast built on clashing breaks and razor sharp
synths. Edgey often relies on some four-to-the-floor heavy kicks to add
some more fuel to the firing beats, this is the case of "Remorse,"
"Total Annihilation," "Fuck Your Format" that quickly becomes a hard
techno hammer, while "The Brute" is entirely focused on a steady
industrial beat, obsessive acid and a stereotypical gabba sample. Square
Form Annihilations is a step further from breakcore in terms of aural
violence, I emphasize this point because even a listener used to
Bong-Ra, Panacea or Evol Intent could find this record too extreme,
mainly because of the very raw production. It's indeed an interesting
album, but my opinion is that a better mastering would have enhanced the
overall quality; for a comparison, take Enduser's latest Form Without
Function with its crystalline sound and the difference will be evident.
I suggest to listen to Edgey if you're looking for the nastiest noisy
drum'n'bass derived music around, he's a wicked producer, and maybe for
the future we should expect more polished beats. Square Form
Annihilations is out now on Hands.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT - www.junglist.com
.Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm a New York based producer, and native. I've been producing
Experimental Jungle, Drum n Bass for a little over the 3 years, with
varying temperament, from distorted breakcore to sound sculptured
ambient Drum n Bass. On occasion I have been known to spin at local
clubs, playing anything from industrial and digital hardcore to EBM and
jungle. Professionally I am a web-based software applications developer,
currently on extended vacation to enjoy my musical dwellings and
development.
What was your first exposure or involvement with electronic music?
My earliest memory of exposure in any electronic music would be artists
like Annie Lennox, Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle, and slowly grew into a
love and lifestyle of industrial, following bands like Skinny Puppy,
Nitzer EBB, GodFlesh, Frontline Assembly, MeatBeat Manifesto, this list
could go on forever... As my tastes grew outward of the industrial
scene, I found myself where not only did I change what I listened to,
but what I wrote as well, and moved into the world of gabber and digital
hardcore. Artists like Mark N, and the Suicide Squad dropping sped up
hip-hop beats and jungle over hardcore, keeping that consistent head-nod
flow was pure genius. Which slowly but surely pointed the direction of
the combined genres of the past to bring me to dive into projects like
Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, which brings me to what I am producing as
of late.
Explain to us how you got into producing your own music. Who were your
early inspirations?
As an electronic musician, I've always found it odd that my background
stems from playing guitar. Growing up listening to metal and hardcore,
it seemed only natural to pick the instrument up. After playing with
neighborhood locals and not enjoying the general direction, I purchased
a Kawai XD-5, am Alesis MMT-8, and a controller, and started programming
my own beats to play along with... As I purchased more gear, and
developed my skills, the complexity of the music I wrote became more in
focus, and had more depth, and became more synthetic, and in effect
became electronic music. The challenge beyond that was to maintain the
human elements, so as to not alienate peoples appreciation of acoustic
music. Using acoustic drums and other instruments along side electronics
makes for a nice balance.
Do you feel that your music is a product of your environment? Does your
music ever convey your emotions or current situations in your life?
Constantly. More so the darker side of emotion, as it's easier to
express those emotions with an art-form rather than an outward
expression through conventional means. I do however find it difficult to
express emotion musically in a digital world, as the digital world is so
cold. But overall, the use of certain chord progressions, stabs, and
hits can bring out the emotional response that your looking for, and on
occasion possibly not looking for. Then again, sometimes you just want
to nod your head to something that's just beat oriented, and enjoy
yourself. Perhaps that's the antithesis of my former remarks concerning
the darker side of emotion?
How have you seen your own producing evolve over time, and what
influences have you recently had?
If it weren't for the evolution, I think we'd just stagnate in a pool of
our own boredom. Progression and experimentation is a big part of my
music. As of late I've noticed myself both toning down and amping up,
according to how I feel that particular day. But musical progression in
the long run has proven to be a vast and noticeable change. But I prefer
to concentrate my energies on what I'm producing currently, and not to
dwell in the past, this is not to say I denounce my roots in any way, I
would just rather push forward... As far as recent influences, on
programming and talent, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin, Hive,
Speedy J, Panacea, Autechre, just to name a few.
If you could choose anyone to work with on a track right now, who would
that person be and why?
Tom Jenkinson and Justin Broadrick (sorry couldn't push one over the
other) ... Tom Jenkinson for his programming style and genius, and
Justin Broadrick for his abrasiveness and disturbing temperament. Anyone
not familiar with either of these artists is missing out on some great
work.
What are some of your current goals?
As most goals go, there are short term and long term goals to be
accomplished. First and foremost, spreading my name in a positive
fashion and building a fan base consistent with what's required for a
distributor to take notice and want to spread my offerings to the rest
of the world, without compromising my musical integrity. Which I have
found is a delicate balance. But I've found if your true to yourself and
your art, you can only but succeed, even if it is just personally.
Longer term goals would include the likes of all musicians, to simply be
successful, and attain the appreciation of my peers, and of course,
enjoy myself along the way...
Tell us about your recent projects. Where can others listen online?
I have several projects currently in the works that can be found at
http://www.thoughtbludgeon.com. But most prominent is my solo project,
gaining speed and exposure, EDGEY... From the EDGEY site: "Over-caffinated
and dazed, awake without want, time brings a collection of schizophrenic
pieces crossing calm ambience to the extreme noise and static brought
about by the collaboration of man and machine... The programming
instruction set behind the creation of EDGEY is SIN BYTE, manipulation
of sound from the past, set in motion for the future.." I have over 30
tracks recorded in the studio over the past few years, and have dropped
them all online at http://www.mp3.com/edgey for your listening (dis)pleasure...
enjoy.
Where do you see the drum n bass movement as a whole moving towards the
future? What are your opinions on this?
As with most electronic genre's, I think the Drum n Bass movement will
fragment itself into dozens of sub-genre's, and break off to produce
even more musical stylings for the future... This scene like most other
forms of electronic music are in their birth states, and have a lot of
room for growth, I don't see Drum n Bass going anywhere but up...
What is your current top 10?
1.Squarepusher - Dimotane CO
2.Hive - Ultrasonic Sound
3.Aphex Twin - Come On You Slags
4.Panacea - Tron(untitled b side)
5.Venetian Snares - Intense Demonic Attacks
6.Speedy J - caligula
7.Technical Itch - Heavy Metal
8.BioFusion - Def Child Area
9.asq - Occifer Friendly
10.Antek - Soulpride2000
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Hmm... Open Mic to the world... All I can say is this: There is a lot of
talent out there, hiding in basements and project studios, on cassettes
and CD-R's, waiting for your ears to pick it up and push it along. It's
all a matter of exposure, thanks to peoples kind words, and love for
their music and scene, there is nothing but room for growth, open your
ears, open your minds, and spread the word... Support and Respect. Now
go get some tunes: http://www.mp3.com/edgey
photographs (c)2000 SteelKitten Imagery
Interview by: Heather Workman
ARTIST OF THE MONTH - www.dnbscene.com
Artist of the month for April is no fool - EDGEY has been causing a fuss
not only in the charts but in the forums too with his individual,
'non-conformist' style. One of the regular visitors to the 80-plus part
of the charts, he's been producing consistently brilliant work since
dnbscene's launch. Let's take a look at the man himself...
First we'll take a trip to the real world: what does EDGEY do when he's
not sitting in his studio and where is he doing it?
I spend most of my time within 4 walls, around the warm glow of my
monitor. I'm pretty isolated from society. When I do venture out, it's
primarily for basic needs: food or coffee. On occasion I hit the clubs,
just as a reminder to myself why I stay in - too much contact with the
public puts me off.
That 'train of thought' can be difficult to get away from, yeah. I want
to clear up your identity. Although most of us know you as the colourful
(yet sinister) 'EDGEY', you seem to be responsible for an epic-scale
production outfit. What other name would we find you using and what
artists do you work closely with most often?
I suppose many of the dnbscenester's might have noticed another projekt,
Deep Fried Clams. Along with Myk Amoia, we managed to put out a full
length, 'Hiding Behind A Smile' on Oxygen Music Works in '98, and have
since had part in a release on Ninja Tune, remixing 'Ultra Freaky
Orange', from Riz Malsen, of Neotropic/Small Fish with Spine. We also
released a tune on None of the Above records, a compilation titled,
'Blackout'. Currently most of my time is spent solo, with EDGEY, and I'm
looking forward to some potential appearances on the DSL(Dark Step List)
compilation, and Tribute CD for Einsturzende Neubauten, and Another
Method Productions. With hopes this will be just the beginning of many
more releases. Just to drop some names of the other projekts, current
and past, ROG HARDCORE, Dawndeath Incinerator, Dysfunctional Sound
Alliance, Sole Martyr, Carved Insane, Christ Cage, as well I've been
doing a lot of remix work, for some you may be familiar and some not,
Penetrator aka Johnny Global, Altered Perception, BioFusion, MAchete
CRunk, and Earthling. Also... I run a small site dedicated to the harder
sounds, the 'AANG', focusing primarily on gabber/hardcore with the
outskirts on drill n bass, breakcore sounds. I can hook you up with a
list of links, if you wanna check any of that out, but it's pretty easy
to grab all the info from www.thoughtbludgeon.com
Holy shit, that's quite a list. Well, we've been hearing your latest
releases as they happen for what seems like a while now and they all
possess a distinctive feel. How long have you actually been in this game
and can you give us an idea what was the old EDGEY sound like?
Hmm... Well I suppose it all started years ago, while I was in still in
high school sitting in my room with nothing more than 2 Casio sk-1's, a
guitar, boom box, and some shit to bang on - basically making repetitive
noise (which isn't a far cry from what we all do now). Repetitive noise.
That had to have been back in the late 80's, of course much has changed
sound wise, and began doing more productive, serious work around '93
with carved insane, and soon after began the years of deep fried clams,
some of the most enjoyable times of recording in my whole history. While
working on the DFC CD, I was also writing on the side, and thanks to the
instruction of a friend I found myself to be writing gabber/hardcore...
That blew up into ROG Produktionz, with live shows and free outlaws, and
just some general good times with some hard sounds. ...I'm off on a
tangent....
The old EDGEY actually started by taking the 4/4 out of ROG, leaving the
sped up breaks. The first attempt at release was with the DIRT303 CD,
which I finished I think in '98. I have a few tracks from that posted
here on dnbscene.com. I actually didn't get into the whole internet
hosting of tunes 'til this past November, but I managed to put the
entire discography of EDGEY online, I think there's about 50 tracks done
over the last 5 years or so.
So would you say the Internet music scene has been the making of you?
How much of your success and popularity do you owe the electronic world?
Well, although the Internet scene brought about some new ears, I was out
and about doing this for many years before hand... ...but the broader
audience is definitely a plus. Before utilizing the Internet as a source
to get my sound out there, I relied mainly on doing it live, booking
shows, and getting out there and doing it for real. Since I started
putting some attention to the online scene, I found a broader group of
people that are into it, and haven't been out doing live PA's in a
while, but I'm working on a change for that as we speak... I have a
couple dates lined up, and I'm preparing for doing it in full... All or
nothing I suppose, if your heart's in the right place, I don't think you
can fail at what you want to achieve.
I (and many other listeners out there I'm sure) have listened to a lot
of your work in detail and the intricacy of it blows me away sometimes.
you obviously make use of various bits of software in some very strange
ways. what are your most common audio tools and is there any particular
order you use them in to produce the sound you're known for?
First a quote - "As long as you're making your gear do something it's
not supposed to, you're doing something right". There's no format to the
structure or writing processes, I generally just go with feel, and use
whatever resources I have. A good general mix up of gear and software,
old and new, with all sorts of various sound sources, whatever it takes
to get whats needed or wanted. Alot of electronic music is so cold, it
has no emotion to it..., I want to change that. I'd rather make
something that inspires something in a listener, on a personal level,
I'd want to move someone's mind as well as their feet, I guess...
An interesting philosophy but one that clearly works very well. So
what's the average amount of time you spend on a track from the moment
you get the initial moment of inspiration to the clicking of the
'upload' button?
It really varies, sometimes I could have a track on my plate for 2-3
months, and at times 2-3 days... ...however my 'day' is a little
different than most; it's not uncommon for me to sleep only 3 hours a
night leaving the remainder of the day for writing. I do feel that the
amount of time definitely shows in the final produkt, though.
That's what I call dedication. I guess that's why you'd get so wound up
after getting a 'less than appreciative' review.
Well... Sometimes it's more than just beats and bass and sound,
sometimes, it has a feel or a message, and I think it's very personal,
there is a lot more to the sound than what is strictly face value. So if
someone doesn't 'get it', I get frustrated, not sure if I didn't carry
through my intent, or if the listener didn't understand my intent... if
that makes any sense...
Crystal. Away from production now, what are you playing on your walkman
at the moment and what sort of walkman is it?
I suppose my walkman would be an Athlon 900, with a mackie 1402, and a
pair of Sonys, it's a bitch to carry around, so I would usually use the
6 disc changer in the Civic (courtesy of my chauffer, :) )... Current
plays would be Beekcake, Xingu Hill, lots of Venetian Snares,
Squarepusher, Hive, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Speedy J, Panacea... I guess
you get the picture...
Heh, yeah - maybe I should have re-worded that question. I imagine you
would claim that music is your life (as many others here would) but how
close are you to being a genuine professional i.e. entirely
self-sufficient thanks to your music?
I haven't had a day job since November 2000... ...but of course I have
help from the state. I suppose a goal *would* be to be completely
self-sufficient on audio, could be attainable, but as for right now,
I'll be looking to get back into the 9-5 game soon... traded in music
for a career once, missed the IPO date, and now I'm just making tunes.
...but the love and life for it all, can't go away... I'll be doing this
even if I'm the only listener...
If the benefit was better than £40 per week over here, I might even
consider that. So how much money would you estimate you've invested thus
far in your studio?
The simplest answer would be.... my life. That's a big investment, but
if you were to put a monetary value on all I've spent.. I would have to
say close to $15,000.
That's what I call an investment. In fact, that's close to a salary in
some walks of life. Okay, one question I need to ask (because I don't
believe the answer could be "no"), do you, er... puff / sniff / swallow
for inspiration?
Everything in moderation, including moderation. Drink of choice: 44
ounces of Iced coffee with a couple Red Bulls on the side.
Haha, yeah, I'm down with you on that one. In terms of external
influences, what people in real life inspire you the most?
Well, without getting into the specific of individuals, I would have to
say, the underdog, the 'nobody' inspires me... anyone that shares in the
struggle, especially revolving around art, be it the sole musician in a
basement somewhere, or a visual artist just trying to get his work in
view of the public. It is the struggle that makes us strong.
EDGEY, thanks for your time - it's been special. Hopefully this
information will equip myself and your other fans with greater insight
into your tunage. Good luck with 'the goal'.
Interviewer: in-effect
Interviewee: EDGEY
GSP MAGAZINE - www.gspmagazine.com
The first question I'm dying to ask is about your chaotic sound. How
would you describe it?
Controlled. You have to be able to provide elements of sound that people
are comfortable with, while at the same time, provide something that's
different from what already available. An analogy; when you watch a
film, the director starts off by providing a comfortable atmosphere,
which is realistic and easy to settle into, and slowly provides elements
outside the scope of the norm, this allows you to complete anything that
is completely outside that norm. By initially giving what's wanted and
expected, you can mold the listeners' atmosphere to anything you want,
give them ease, and warm them into your world…whatever chaos or calm you
choose.
How did your sound evolve over time? What would you call it?
The bastard child of electronic music…I started off playing guitar,
needed a drum machine to play along too, sequencer to program the beats,
computers began to take over the studio, from slow dub beats, to
industrial, gabber, noise, idm, and every other genre I've written in,
slowly getting more complex it all just builds up to this cross-genre
collection of influences. I've never wanted to pigeon-whole myself into
a single musical genre, so I pull from the past, to try to make
something from it all. Genrification of music provides stale and
lifeless duplicates of its predecessors; crossing over puts some new
life in old sounds.
You've produced under the name Rog Hardcore Produktionz. How does the
style you produced then compare to now?
ROG was my transition from rough industrial to gabber/hardcore, even
still it had odd elements and wasn't your straight 4/4 rave pounder, but
mixed up with elements of death metal, hip-hop, breakbeat, industrial,
noise and whatever other bastardizations I could create, as long as it
was hard, noisy and violent... Once the 4/4 was removed you were left
with sped up hip hop breaks and metal guitar riffs, and vocals, sounding
more like rough mental-style jungle … digital hardcore, breakcore,
wreckstep, whatever you want to call it…
Explain the elements that go into your style you call "wreckstep"
It seems I've coined a term, amusing to see it used so freely, more just
a play on words, with this surge of techstep, artists just hashing out
the same tech beats with the same bass lines, I just wanted to destroy
something, add some noise and chaos to something that at one point in
time was so interesting but laid to waste by repetition and duplication.
I used to say "if you're making it do something it's not supposed to,
you're doing something right", and to take those techstep sounds and do
something different was just more interesting than running them over and
over again. By no means am I the originator of harsh dirty drum n bass,
but more so maybe someone willing to push it in the face of those
holding onto the traditional sounds of the music.
Would you say that hardcore is a big influence in your style?
Real hardcore (punk style) and electronic hardcore (noisecore,
speedcore) both have been an influence, although in an odd way…
Musically I started off as a guitar player, the simplistic 3 chord
anthematic, grindy, pickin' up change style riffs, the power held by
that music can be transformed electronically, and without use of guitar,
so it's applicable to writing electronic music without electronic music
being the background…gabber/hardcore as an influence… hmm.. well, here's
the story; I'm sitting in the studio, writing industrial with techno
elements, but harsh so, noisy techno, when a friend and later
collaborator of ROG, DSTRUKT comes in to say, "you know what your doing?
You're writing gabber…" I thought, and still do, that the name was
silly… so he turned me onto some hardcore projects and tunes, and I was
into it right away, distorted R-8 kicks turned into acquiring a TR-909,
and running it through distortion pedals, we weren't your normal gabber
act though, we went on stage with 2 keyboard players, 2 guitarists, and
we'd both do vocals, all to the backdrop of a pounding 909, causing
violence, and as we put it back then "amplification annihilation".
Many artists would say that the harsh bass drum kick is a must have in
any hardcore track. Do you agree with this? What makes a track
"hardcore?"
Not really, I mean, the sounds are important, but I think hardcore is
more a mental thing, anyone can distort a kick drum, hell you don't even
have to anymore, just go download one online, it's what you do with it
that's more important…
A lot of artists are throwing tracks out that can compare to the stuff
you find at the garbage dump.
Why do you think this is? How do you differ from these artists?
There is a big difference between duplicating what you hear and what is
being done. Production technique is just as important as every other
aspect of writing. Just because all you *hear* is a beat, bass and key
line, does not mean that that is all there is to the music. There's
mood, feel, tricks, flow, etc, etc; there's so many aspects to the music
more than just the beats and bass. There's no formula for writing a good
tune, there's just experience and experimentation. With the abundant
availability of music software, and ample space online, artists are
putting themselves out there before they've perfected their craft.
From all of the demented sound that your tracks bring out, there's got
to be some influences in there somewhere. Tell me, what are they?
Bring on the psychiatrists… just kidding… I think the mood of tunes best
expresses my mood as a person. I'm not so sure it's something to be
explained but something the listener has to appreciate on their own
terms. From the response I get from a lot of my listeners shows to me
that the mood and influence shines through, and it's more what *you* get
out of it, more so than what *I* put into it.
From what you've told me, "For You" is the only track that you've
produced that you're actually proud of. Why?
Something just turned out the way that I had planned, so often I start
off with one intention only to have it taken over by some other aspect
of myself. As an example, frustration in the writing process might turn
a complicated slow depressive track into a harsh run of noise and
violence… Surroundings are just as much an influence as anything else.
As an experiment once, I worked on 2 tracks at the same time, when I
felt the aggression moving in and taking over, I switched to the second
track, keeping the pure clean sounds in one, and the noise and roughness
in another, you can clearly hear the difference, and similarities in the
2 tracks, both edgey tracks, yet completely distinct in feel and mood.
Those two tracks would be "On the Outside" and "Calm Resolve," right?
Exactly, I think I spent more time with 'calm resolve', and it shows,
but the experiment wouldn't have worked out the way I wanted if I
would've continued to work on 'on the outside' without also working on
'calm resolve', one had to suffer, and get caught short.
You founded "Thoughtbludgeon." Tell me about how that got started.
They say, 'necessity is the mother of invention', and I needed somewhere
to collaborate, organize, and compile all this work from the past 10
years or so, it originally started with only my projects, and slowly
grew and always looking for more…The whole concept is to offer something
(musically) to the public that they haven't heard before, not
necessarily ground-breakingly new even, just comfortable formats pushed
a little harder or in different direction, more extreme, more diverse,
and more experimental. There's no need to define yourself by one single
type of music, when there is so much to actually appreciate from the
whole of all styles… so why not start a label that pushes metal to
techno kids, or drum n bass to rivet heads? It's not like we come out of
the womb predestined to listen to a single format. Although, a label's
success is not so much based on the quality of what it releases, but
it's consistency of format (a label would release a shit tech track
before it would release a quality intelligent ambient piece, if that's
its format and target audience), you can see the problem, so I spend
most of my time pushing the electronic aspects of it. I'd call it more a
collective than a label (just due to financial restraints). There are no
bounds if you don't set them for yourself…
What releases can we expect out soon? What kind of mind-bending sound
are these tracks going to bring to the dance floor?
Recently, TBNVA001 was released, joint release from New Vision America
(http://www.newvisionamerica.ws) and ThoughtBludgeon
(http://www.thoughtbludgeon.com), a 2 track 12" containing Mass Target
and Signal Processing, as well I appeared on the DHR (Digital Hardcore
Recordings) compilation 'Don't Fuck with Us' with 4 tracks of rough 'em
up style noise and breaks. Just recently I signed some of my older
hardcore material under the name ROG to Industrial Strength, and I'm
working with Black Monolith for another 12" due out this coming year,
and THAT will be some rough rough shit, Total Annihilation……plus some
other work is planned for Architecture Records (new founded label, run
by Brett Petersel(Double Threat Records), Paul Snowden, myself, and Mark
Kammerbauer(Fragment King/Nexialist)), Fear Records, and more TB on the
way, all in due time. Hopefully each release will have its own distinct
sound, but maintain consistency with the global feel of my production…so
fill the spectrum from harsh noise breaks, to ambient intelligent
pieces…
Most of the time, a producer will DJ from time to time. You say you
don't gig that much. Why?
Just not my style, I'd rather run a sequencer and have more control
playing my own tracks than spin others, however, when I do spin out, I
try to play the newest quality tunes I can find, what I spin and what I
write is sorta different, crossover sets, starting ambient IDM and
slowly growing rougher into gabber, noise, industrial.. (Start with BOC
or Autechre, and 30 minutes later dropping something from Deathchant or
Industrial Strength, then turn it all around by playing old school
industrial… filling in the time with as many unsigned or obscure artists
I could find)
When you perform live, what kind of setup do you use?
I used to bring out every piece of gear I own… now I keep it simple, I
streamlined it down to a laptop, oxygen8 controller, and one gear rack
containing my akai s2000, midiverb, zoom1201, dbx compressor, novation
bassstation, Mackie 1402vlz, and a large 44 ounce cup of iced coffee…
Of the places you have gigged, which was your favorite? Why?
That's to say I actually remember my gigs ;) Most of the memorable
experiences have always been small venue bar type atmosphere, where the
quality of people is present over quantity. I'd rather play an intimate
event with fewer people than some mega-rave style event with hundreds,
for the simple fact that the people that are there WANT to be there.
Most recent events of memorable caliber would be the Terminal Torture
series of events, recent show at the Pyramid NYC was interesting just to
see the mix-up of junglists, rivet heads, and old school gabber hardcore
freaks, an odd mix of people, all getting into the mix-up of sounds…NYC
shows are always key.
What's up next for you? Any future goals?
Just to continue on the path of experimentation, try to push it further,
and outdo myself, push the contrast of sound to whatever extreme I can
get it to. With all hope the next current trend will revolve around
controlled chaos, light meets dark, dubbed chill speed breaks, and
minimalist audible anarchy finitely secure and bound with personal yet
outward ambiguity, something that challenges what's expected and
retreats to what isn't. old meets new, dirt meets clean, and all that
jazz... more extreme, but not definably so, more so in the extremes of
multiple soundscapes breaking into each other, a virtual jackhammer
overcoming your verbed out synthetic piano... the roughest smooth you
can attain…
Interview done by Bryan Friedman (Sykophiend@gspmagazine.com)
RAW42 Gold Artist Spotlight - www.raw42.com
this is the first review in our new "experimental drum and bass" genre
at raw42 and to kick things off we have none other than mr experimental
dnb himself, the one and only edgey. this producer's work is
characterized by dense rhythmical violence, which is on his better days
married to some sublime ambience, and on his worse days, married to
almost nothing at all. to be fair to edgey, who has been waiting some
time for a review, i've replaced the relatively lackluster radial
persuasion with his more recent extravaganza ill emotion (solitude and
anger).
ill emotion (solitude and anger) is highly unusual in that it is
essentially a "progressive" dnb tune – textures and moods are
continually changing. some would say that the song therefore suffers
from the slight structural untidiness associated with such genres, but
as fans of acts like genesis and marillion will tell you, that's a small
price to pay for the possibilities inherent in this kind of music. the
track begins innocently enough, with some mangled vocal samples, sullied
unfortunately by a few untidy sample trigger clicks. we are then
introduced to a cascade of brilliantly conceived items – haunting pads,
an ethereal monk vocal, a deep bass to underpin the ambience, and - best
of all - ever changing and intricately programmed stuttering beats. the
tension gradually builds toward a minor climax at around 2:00, whereupon
the track proceeds in fairly pedestrian fashion for a couple of minutes.
but then at the 5 minute mark things are re-ignited in classic edgey
style, as the drums explode into a jungly inferno and a powerful
three-chord progression i have been in love with ever since i first
heard it in the early 80's howard jones classic "hunger for the flesh"
(god i must be old now) materializes to devastating effect to bring the
tune to its resounding conclusion. in my opinion a symphonic dnb
masterpiece, and well worthy of a slot in the top tracks listing.
and so to steadfast scan. again we are presented with edgey's trademark
accelerated jungle flavour beats, enhanced competently with rolls and
other subtle variations. this time, however, the accompaniment is
disappointing. a couple of unimpressive stabby synth chords repeat
themselves unnecessarily for almost the entire duration and some
ill-judged time-reversed ambience does not help matters.
ten foot squared suffers from the same drawbacks as the previous tune.
there are slightly fewer drums per square foot here than in the previous
offerings, i think, and they're arranged in a more simplistic 2-step
pattern, but again they have the usual edgey edge to them, for want of a
better term. the only non-rhythmical element here is an inappropriately
happy-sounding pad, which drifts rather aimlessly across the stereo
field. thumbs down again, except perhaps for hardcore fans of pure
percussion.
edgey is clearly a master of drum programming, but that sadly counts for
little in an era when any idiot can buy professionally produced sample
cd's over the internet. it is only when he chooses to augment his
brilliant percussive work with matching melodic structure that his true
genius is exposed.
reviewed by fourier on 2001-04-02
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