Just to let you know that, under the guise of Echaskech Presents… I’ll be manning the  DJ controls at Bar Concrete, Hayward Gallery, South Bank Center from 8pm till late. Expect a mixture of cutting edge downtempo, electronica, deep house, tech house, techno, electro, juke, footwork, garage and dubstep… so just the usual bag of tricks.

Following on from the Send in the Drones mix, here’s the video that inspired the last track in that mix

The BT Tower has always been a symbol of the future, of technology and progress; it’s a unique and outstanding feature on the London Skyline and even as a kid I always wanted to visit the top, especially the revolving restaurant. However, due to threats of terrorism in the 80′s, it got shut down and I thought that opportunity was closed to me, until (thanks to my employer, the NSPCC) Late last year I was given the chance to work on a Charity event at the BT Tower, an opportunity I jumped at.

The film is of two revolutions , one during the day and one at night. Each revolution takes about 20 minutes and so the footage has been sped up about 10 times. The initial edit was done without music and then passed to Echaskech who the constructed the soundtrack to match my edits, I then did some fine tuning and the result is what you see. The title of the piece, “626″ is the height of the BT Tower in feet.

p.s. there will be a you tube version, but later and when I can be arsed, cos You tube really does look pony compared to vimeo

p.p.s here it is

Tracklisting (links to the free downloadable ones)
00:00 Mark McGuire – Alma (reprise)
01:00 Echaskech – Tundra (from Future Sequence – SEQUENCE2 )
05:27 Jonsi & Alex – Boy 1906
08:22 Future Sound of London – Max
11:06 Mara Carlyle – Pianni (From Accidental Records)
13:07 Maps & Diagrams – Domane (from Future Sequence – SEQUENCE2 )
15:41 Mountains – Blue Lanterns On East Oxford
19:17 Panda Bear – Drone
22:39 Widesky – _____ is Also Movement (from Future Sequence – SEQUENCE2 )
26:20 Ex Confusion – Before We Begin (Forthcoming release on Asip Places)
30:10 Digitonal – Polaris (From Leaves – Leaving 11)
32:54 Verülf – Iroko (From Verulf -Territorial)
35:00 Hammock – Longest Year
37:20 Vangelis – Love Theme
41:00 Umber – I Wasn’t Aiming For The Ocean (Asip exclusive)
46:50 The Bird and the Bee – Spark
50:30 Parks – Song for Autumn
59:15 Biosphere – Monju-2
1:02:55 Jon Hopkins – Journey
1:05:11 Another Fine Day – Spring Song
1:07:37 Echaskech – 626 (Forthcoming release from Asip Places)
 Send In The Drones by machv

Tracklisting

Woofer:
Negativeland – Hiccups
Intense – Careless Minds
The Invisible Man – Spiritual Awareness
New Balance – Reflections
The Invisible Man – Stormfields
Blu Mar Ten – Future Proof
P.F.M. – The Mystics

Tweeter
Rozi Size Reprazent – Brown Paper Bag
Zephyrus – Dubgnostics
P.F.M. – The Eleventh Hour
Flytronik – Overcast Swing
Blu Mar Ten – Myriad
Dave Wallace – Waves
Aphrodite – Spice (of the gods remix)

Hi-Fidelity: Atmospheric Drum and Bass set from 1997 by machv

this next one’s from a year later but still originally recorded and distributed on wonderful TDK cassettes.

Tracklisting

Klaatu:
Blu Mar Ten: Slipstream
Blame: Centuries
Seba: Remedy
Artemis: Alysian Fields
Artemis: Sun Voyage
Motive One: Loop Progression
Hieroglphix: Rhythm is Back

R2D2:
Guardians of Dalliance: Blue Green
Carlito: Second Coming
Big Bud: Mystique
TQ1: Tunnel Vision
Voyager: Apollo
Odyssey: Object*
Blu Mar Ten: Fall
KMC: Alpha Centuri

*Oh, by the way THIS IS THE BEST ATMOSPHERIC DRUM AND BASS TUNE EVER!

Robotic Transform Cassette: Atmospheric Drum and Bass set 1998 by machv

It’s that time of the month again. Join me for another 5 hour DJ set at the wonderful Concrete  Bar, next to the Hayward Gallery, on the SBC.

Saturday 12th March, 8pm – 1am, Free Entry.

Track listing

Scuba – Ignition Key
Jack Dixon/Rick Grant – Muted
Mikix the Cat – Connected
Martin Buttrich – I Lost My Wallet
Martin Buttrich – Again
Enjoyed – Teeth
Disclosure – Flow
Jack Dixon – Coconuts (Disclosure remix)
Braille – Leaving Without You
Christophe – The Force (Julio Bashmore piano mix)
Locked Groove – Rooted
Gui Boratto – Opus 17
Max Cooper – Darkroom
Ramadanman – Don’t Change For Me
West Norwood Cassette Library – Say What?
Vandera & Lostlojic – Volt
MJ Cole – Sincere (Nero remix)
Echo Park – Fibre Optic (12th Planet & Finch remix)
Salva – Keys Open Doors (Machinedrum remix)

The Seven Dials restaurant itself is a very welcoming and warm space, with lashings of dark rosy varnished woods, beautiful light fixtures & surprising low ceilings (it being in a basement). The staff are friendly and casually dressed, making it a relaxing place to hang out. We started with the cocktail menu which is well structured and innovative, and the drinks were served to match, presented in perfectly matching glasses for each cocktail. I plumped for an Anti-Fogmatic in the form of a “Shakey Pete’s Ginger Brew”: Gin, homemade Ginger Syrup & Lemon Juice, topped with London Pride, which was presented in a glass tankard, matching the drink’s brash bold flavours, Miko (a teetotaler) had an “Apple & Mint swizzle” which, despite being tucked at the back pages of the drinks menu, came in a cut crystal beaker with a beautifully prepared apple and mint garnish (see photo).

Lunch was a three course affair with me choosing the “crab on toast” to start, toasted brown bread with half the slice being laden with an excellent crab mousse and the other half with shredded crab, accompanied with a delightfully light, creamy mayonnaise. Miko had the half lobster which was a bit of a disappointment, lacking real punch, the lobster flavour being slightly drowned in the hazelnut butter. The steak tatare was amazing, being sharp and zesty and showing the diversity and strength of beef in its raw form. However the star (I’m reliably informed) was the spare ribs ordered by tso which sadly, due to my pork intolerance I can’t feedback on.

Hawksmoor allow you to order steak by the weight, so that you can order various cuts of beef for your table to share (as well as the serving staff ensuring that you order enough for your table, but not too much). The six steakers chose some  porterhouse and prime rib cuts to divvy up between us, with a variety of sides including two types of chips (the dripping chips are practically roast potatoes) carrots, mushrooms, buttered greens and mac & cheese (Miko went for the Bacon Chop as her main). This sharing option does turn some people rather competitive in ensuring that they get a “fair share” (I include myself in this description) but also does make it a more convivial meal time experience and its a good way to get to taste the various cuts and I (like most of Hawksmoor custom) wasn’t disappointed. Though at the same time, not completely wowed, either. Beef is amazing when well prepared & cared for like this, but, to be honest, I’ve actually had better tasting beef  meals because of their seasonings. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation. This is beef perfection, but not beef augmentation.  However there are some superb sauces on offer, such as the sublime blue cheese hollandaise, the spicy and traditional horseradish and the salty but well balanced anchovy butter which do mean that you can enrich the beefy wonderment as you desire. In the non bovine corner, Miko found her Bacon Chop was a bit O.T.T., very smoky and salty like biting into a whole pack of bacon. The sides were great, with warming and homely mac and cheese being an unsung hero.

My desert I chose something  simple, just a some lemon sorbet to accompany a very fine glass of Tawny Port (Quinta de la Rosa LBV), Miko had a selection of macaroons which were most enjoyable. Henry’s order of Sticky Toffee Pudding was also very well received as was wayward girls pear and almont bakewell tart getting an honorable mention. Tso wasn’t too happy with her cornflake sundae, but to me it tasted exactly as it should have: milky and breakfasty with a light crunch.

The whole meal lasted about 3 and half hours and came to £576 (including service) for 7 people and that included starting cocktails, three bottles of wine (a very drinkable Tempranillo at £24 a pop) and three courses each. No it’s not a cheap lunch, but it was an excellent one.

Tracklisting

Takeshi Nishimoto – Coming Home
The Accidental – Birthday
James Murphy – Birthday Song
Beak – Teach Texas Manners
Jonnie Common – Summer is for Going Places
Mike Dumovich – Wasps of Rain
Dave Rawlings Machine – Method Acting/Cortez The Killer
Paul Reddick – Villanelle
Snowblink – When Pushed From A High Branch
First Aid Kit – In The Hearts of Men
Sarah Jaffe – The Way Sound Leaves a Room
Jess Bryant – Wicked Game
Peter Gabriel/Bon Iver – Flume
Josh T Pearson – Drive Her Out
Dosh – Airlift
Vondelpark – Backflip (in the Sauna)
Hammock – Black Metallic
aKido – Kiss of Death
Apparat – Your House Is My World

Canadian ambient artist Tim Hecker specialises in creating distant & ethereal sound scapes through affecting traditional keyboards, notably the piano – in his LP “Dropped Pianos” – and, in his latest LP “Ravedeath 1972″ the Church Organ. I’d just got familiar and been enjoying Dropped Pianos when Andy from Echaskech texted me that he had a spare ticket to see Tim perform at St Giles in the Fields  (an historic 18th Century Anglican Chapel and the last standing building of London’s Lawless “Seven Dials” district and still an active church)  I jumped at the chance. If anything just to hear a church organ being played, without a man in a dress droning on about that chap on the cross, all the time. There were to be two performances – one at 6:30 and another at 9pm, both were sold out; Andy and I were attended the first performance.

Noting that John Mulvey had already written a review for it on Uncut’s webzine, this next paragraph is based on my comment on his review (just to give you context):

On arrival, I was disappointed to see the stage full of speakers as I, in my mind I’d imagined it to be a more “organ-ic” affair with the ambient space playing a major role;  after all, church organs live in symbiosis with the space they occupy, the sound being coloured by the room’s acoustics . Just before the start of the set the all lights were extinquished (people even hid their illuminating and omnipresent mobile phones) and Tim, hidden from view from us in the pews on the ground floor began the recital of “Ravedeath 1972″ and we sat, in the darkness, in silence, in this freezing cold church on hard, wooden benches. As the sound of the wind moving through the pipes began to move through the speakers I immediately got a very odd headache  which passed as quickly as it arrived;  ethereal noises washed and distorted at increasing volumes to a deafening level and then washed away to endless reverberations and echoes of the sounds played. It’s a difficult sound to describe as the notes, the tune and melody is mostly hidden within the effects and what you’re listening to isn’t really the church’s organ, but the effected  echo of the multitude of notes, all blending and cascading into a waterfall of sounds.

So was it any good? Well… yes. Mostly. It It was about the effect: the wall of sound being played out within the space. Sure I missed hearing the actual organ, and seeing Tim Hecker himself (as well as some visual accompaniment – but then I would say that, being a VJ), but as an audible experience in a unique space it still worked. The sound moved from utter beauty to threatening menace with ease and expertise and my mind and emotional state was massaged along with it. At points I wanted to see angels, and at others I thought he would wake the dead. At one point the frequencies changed so dramatically that you could feel the air pressure change in the church. Admittely there were also points of boredom and FREEZING COLD (!) but they were rare and part of the experience, respectively. So I still feel the space played an important role, maybe not in the way I was expecting, but it was still a unique experience (both audibly and situationally). At the end I felt my brain had been expertly and vigorously scrubbed clean; I’m very glad I went; but I still  feel that I was slight robbed of a kick ass organ recital.

The new aKido album is called Undark.

For your listening pleasure, download it for free at http://fburls.com/77-v00u5R7N/t/s/txt/cid/810177/sid/145007236

Please spread this music as far and wide as possible. Thank you for being supportive of aKido …

aKido’s last lp, “Gamechanger” was one of my lps of the year, in 2009, and considering it was free that’s high praise indeed, so I’m hoping for more of the same.

Dig in!