Stalker by Swarm Intelligence

the Darkfloor Stalker 4

Welcome to another episode of the Darkfloor stalker. Deep, moody vibes this time round to suit the coming darkness. A journey through haunted ambience, glitch-step, krunk, techno-breaks and post (apocalyptic) dubstep.

Producers! Send me tracks via my soundcloud or email them to me.

Scroll down for the playlist + timings.

Tiruset – Onwards and Upwards
Opening up this month with an ethereal piece by Dutch artist Tiruset. CTX Aur, is part of series of ambient tracks available on his SoundCloud. A synthesised journey into the heart of a barren, mechanical land, travelling through sparse bursts of beats and waves of harmony. Tiruset is from Rotterdam, Holland. He uses minimal means for making tracks, producing with a computer and old pci-card, claiming that “the idea of using regular consumer crap in stead of expensive flashy equipment keeps on motivating me, paradoxically.” His sound certainly doesn’t suffer.

Check out releases on Fusion Netlabel, Sectioned 27 and Alkalinear Recordings and wander over to his SoundCloud for more info.

Hands Up Who Wants to Die – Stopwatch (Sunken Foal remix)
There are few albums that I can listen to again and again without getting tired of them. Sunken Foal’s Fallen Arches on Planet Mu is one. Full of odd real instruments, intricate programming and a quirky field recordings, its been the soundtrack to many a rainy commute, flight home and morning after. So, with ears perked, I continued to pursue Dunk Murphy’s ever-impressive output.

This remix is available as a free download on his site, countersunk.org. When he received the stems from Hands Up Who Wants to Die, rather than cut and paste the component parts, Sunken Foal transcribed all of the performed instruments into a midi sequencer and arranged the parts for synthesizers. The result? I guess you could call it super-swung-jazz-step-krunk… or something like that- but its never been easy to label this artist.

Skimming along the division between his obsession with gnarly electronic sound and his childhood love of all things stringy and plucked, Dunk integrates more compositional elements, instruments and lyrics to pursue “his arcane vision of what the song means to him”. It may be haunting strings or uncompromising broken beats but its always distinctly Sunken Foal.

Be sure and check the Mother of God EP on Acroplane.

Woulg – Lurch Apart
Woulg aka Greg Debicki is a Calgary-based composer and artist. His music stems from errors and glitches (much like the name, which was originally a typo) and is based around the idea of “things falling apart in beautiful ways”, and beautiful it certainly is. Lurch Apart may have  its roots in dubstep, but it’s from an entirely different planet. Flying fragments of sound collide and shatter overhead. Beautiful melodies are stretched, slammed through reverb and reversed so they come sweeping out of the murky depths and then fade back to grey. And as the gliding melodies absorb you, a razor sharp half-step vibrates all the shit off your desk… nice!

Greg studied at the Dartington College of Arts and Alberta College of Art and Design. He currently works with production partner Derek Demassi from Wrong Electron at La Caravan Dance Company. There, he is involved programming movement and sound responsive projections and creating generative music for their upcoming performance at Central United Church in Calgary.

Lurch Apart is available as part of Woulg’s wonderful Hinchliffe Shuffle album on Enig’matik Records on a name-your-price basis.

Clerk – Cnoryxs
Next up is German dubstep and dnb producer Clerk. Cnoryxs is no-frills hard, stepper stuff. Over-driven drumkit samples, snarling bass and sweeping synths cut with noise and bleeps. Clerk started producing abstract hiphop back in 1998 moving from there to techno, drum and bass, dubstep and whatever else he found interesting. In early 2003, he built up a local crew called STK with a handful of fanatics and soon began rinsing out various dnb parties across nothern Bavaria.

Cnoryxs is part of Shadowdub‘s (Shadow Forces sister label) first assault. Its dancefloor-busting material. Check it.

Scanone – Gangsta Rdm
Heavy grime up next courtesy of Scanone. Intelligent sharp beats, clanging FM bass and splashes of acid abound. This equally talented DJ and producer has been making tracks for over a decade. In that time he has managed to develop a sound that mashes up a myriad of underground genres, from bass-heavy electro and techno to glitched-up IDM and dark, brooding dubstep. He draws influences from his musical history, hardcore and early techno, to create pure dance-floor punishment of the highest calibre.

Gandsta Rdm is due out soon on Outside Recordings. In the meantime, check releases on Digital Distortions, Yellow Machines and Combat Recordings.

Dead Sound & Videohead – Slide
Clanging broken techno up next from Acroplane‘s latest signing, Dead Sound & Videohead aka DVF. Pench is one of Acroplane‘s strongest releases to date. Techno and broken-beats collide with dubstep and glitch as the two very capable producers go head to head, pushing their machines to their limits and far beyond. Slide has all the hall-marks of a live jam, cutting between tightly-programmed patterns, wonky effect tricks and that relentless energy from start to finish. This is true to their production technique, record long jams to fully flex circuits and then edit and sequence. Maybe that’s why their stuff always wrecks the place!

Be sure to check their releases on Perc Trax and Mantis Radio session.

Bluefood – Open Up
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any wonkier… Bluefood’s Open Up is a superbly messy affair, bursting with swingy breaks, snare rushes, bleeps and bizzare vocal snippets. Like most of his productions, it was cut from an hour-long jam “with compressors bouncing and generators struggling – mistakes and all”. The result is raw, demented breaks- the kind that you’ll find lurking in only the grimiest basements.

“I call my shit wonky-wendy house but I’m too close to know what I’m doing really. One day its redik happy another its illfest. Fuck the genre”

Paul has been experimenting with tapes and Yamaha/Casio keyboards from the age of 12. “I always knew I could drum and beat box but never like the idea of making music with a band. Other People suck.” A bunch of handout CDs later and Paul found himself hurried into the fold of the Dublin Electronica scene with signings on Alphabetset, FES and Spitroast.

Armed with FLStudio, a mixing-desk desk, outboard effects and a few hardware synths like the MOFO and MS2000, he records his tracks in one long live take. “I’m not really happy to let a track out unless the livesetup pops in the recording and I’ve incorporated some new compositional device into the workings. New to me anyway.”

Next release will be in a few months with the wonderful scottish lads Black Lantern Music. When not mashing out beats, he writes for Rabble magazine, makes odd CG stuff (Bloofism, Porn Without The People) and is the graphic design end of Ghettoquietly records (4th vinyl release out this year). He also makes dark abstract ambient soundscapes as SF6.

Datacrashrobot – Evanescent Wave
Washing you out with waves of paranoia next is Datacrashrobot. Buried underneath the menacing atmopsheres is a distorted electro beat that subtly evolves throughout the track. Weirdly wonderful electronics from Romania. Datacrashrobot strives to create “A particularly abundant sonic trip that takes it’s listener to a wild ride into a multi-tonal world made of very detailed, carefully crafted ensembles.” To do this, he churns old school beats, and vocal cuts through heavy processing, creating futuristic sounding glitches and menacing arrangements of complex beats.

Be sure and grab his awesome EP on Crazy Language and check out his alter-ego, Randomform

Lakker – Spider Silk
Featured in the first Stalker, Lakker are Ian McDonnell and Dara Smith from Ireland. The duo have a long history working together, beginning in 2003, in a band called :undermine:. They formed Lakker around the same time and began a long journey through harsh electronics, breakcore and noise. I vividly remember a gig a few years back in McGruders, a grotty Dublin pub with the paint falling off the walls. Lakker delivered a punishing set that will stick with me for a long, long time!

Fast forward to 2011 and the Lakker sound has been pushed further and further into the unknown, from hauntingly beautifuly melodies to elastic hip-hop breaks. This latest signing, (due out on a stunning white vinyl, complete with Ian’s screen-prints) is to Berlin’s much-respected Killekill label. It is a solid release, affirmed by early festival airplay from no less than Aphex Twin himself. This one’s gonna be big. Get your pre-orders in!

Those of you in Berlin in December, you can catch Eomac (Ian McDonnell’s solo project) at Skank on the 10th and Lakker’s release party at Killekill, the weekend after on the 16th.

Check out their soundcloud for fresh tunes and beats of the day.

Ritual – Halcyon
Beautiful piano cuts and rolling sub to finish up. Ritual is Dan Gaffey, a 16-year-old producer from Manchester. This kid’s got some serious talent. Keep a watchful eye on his SoundCloud and for releases that will undoubtedly be appearing in the near future.

Thats all for this month, until next time.

The Darkfloor Stalker 4
DownloadListen

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00:00 Tiruset – CTX Aur [free DL via Soundcloud]
01:25 Hands Up Who Wants To Die – Stopwatch (Sunken Foal Remix) [Countersunk]
05:38 Woulg – Lurch Apart [Enig’matik Recordings]
08:16 Clerk – Cnoryxs [Subforces]
11:10 Scanone – Gangsta Rdm [Outside Records] forthcoming
14:55 Deadsound & Videohead – Slope [Acroplane]
20:39 Bluefood – Open Up [dub]
24:06 Datacrashrobot – Evanescent Wave [dub]
26:52 Lakker – Spider Silk [Killekill]
31:42 Ritual – Halcyon [free DL via Soundcloud]

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