From Toronto, Canada, Fun the the Murky is a techno blog written by one Trevor "Isoprax" Wilkes. Constantly updated, this blog is a goldmine of mixes and live sets leaning towards, but not limited to, the wonkier side of techno. The long running series of "Bleep Radio" mixes and live sets are particularly well worth checking out.
Hours of fun. In the Murky.
In the first of several posts on Sugar Experiment Station, here we have for download an audio recording of their live set as performed at Monox on the Twentieth of January this year.
Tobias Schmidt and Neil Landstrumm, both long established recording artists in their own right, together are Sugar Experiment Station. They have a small back catalogue of releases under this guise predominantly released on Neil Landstrumm's Edinburgh based Scandinavia Records.
I've seen Sugar Experiment Station a couple of times now and they've never disappointed. Their live sets are pretty much improvised on drum machines and sequenced instruments in a way which is far more interesting to watch than a run-of-the-mill laptop live set. I don't know how much is rehearsed but they seem to work together pretty well to rock the place.
This file is kindly hosted by Fun In The Murky. Many thanks to Trevor Wilkes for his disk space and bandwidth.
Download Sugar Experiment Station Live at Monox, January 2007.
Next up is another rip from Ian's DVD, this time around thirty minutes of Adam X live at Monox, Glasgow, on the 15th April 2006.
A regular guest at Monox, Brooklyn NYC resident Adam X has been involved in the techno scene both in Europe and in the U.S. for many years. Starting out in the early 1990's, alongside his brother Frankie Bones, he helped nurture a thriving techno scene centred around their record shop and label operation, Sonic Groove and the Storm Rave series of warehouse parties.
His EBM-meets-techno stylings are completely in keeping with the music policy at Monox and Adam has a big following among the regulars.
In 2006 he released the "Excerpts From A Fate Unknown" ep for Dan Monox's MNX Recordings.
Audio quality on this video again isn't great, having been recorded from the mike on camera. Adam's throwing some nice shapes there behind the laptop but the people walking around the stage seem to be stressing him out a little. The audio jack from his computer is in danger of being pulled out on more than one occasion during this set. I think this was the same night Smartie made the mistake of deciding to put some effects over Adam's set and received a skelp with a plastic bottle for his trouble. The video unfortunately doesn't run long enough to capture this comedy moment.
Sonic Groove
djadamx.com
MNX Recordings
Adam X Live @ Monox from totally pixelated on Vimeo
Approximately seventeen minutes worth of the live set that Alden Tyrell played at Club 69, Paisley, in Scotland on the 31st of December 2004.
The video doesn't have great sound or picture quality but it gives you an idea of what was going on.
It was a pretty nice set. I don't think much of of it was played very "live" but the vocodered vocals from the (as yet anonymous) female vocalist really add a different twist to some tunes. After watching this video a couple of times again recently, the original recorded version of Hills of Honolulu sounds like it's missing the vocal to me.
Alden Tyrell at Discogs
Alden Tyrell at MurdochSpace
Rubadub Records, Glasgow
Alden Tyrell at Clone Records, Rotterdam
Alden Tyrell Live @ Club 69, Paisley from totally pixelated
A short video clip shot by Ian from the 2nd of March this year (my birthday!) of the Numbers vs. Monox night at The Sub Club, Glasgow, Scotland. T'was an excellent night.
All the guests played fantastic live sets. Sendex was the real standout for me. He played a hard - jacking Chicago style acid set that the crowd seemed to really get into. That guy really knows how to rock the old Roland kit. No computer involved. But I'm a sucker for that West Coast of Holland sound and the "Een Drumcomputer en een synthesiser" ethic.
Like a Tim and Mike Dred were great too. Tim has a very unique sound with his dry, shuffling 80's drum machines and tons of quirky little melodies. The Kosmik Kommando's take on acid is pretty much the opposite to Like a Tim's; a big, big full on aural assault compared to Tim's stark minimalism. I didn't get a chance to check out Mike Dred's gear but as far as I know he played his set with six (!) 303's. Just a shame he had some problems with the sound which broke up the flow slightly.
The Sub was packed almost right from the off. Much kudos must go to everyone involved in promoting Numbers and Monox in so far as they can fill a city centre club to capacity with a crowd who are there to see artists who are definitely not anywhere near approaching mainstream. Glasgow is such a great city. People are so open to new and underground music here.
Sendex
Mike Dred / Kosmik Kommando
Like a Tim
Numbers vs. Monox - Acid Prolapse from totally pixelated