November 2010 Mixtape: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

So the dirty version of Kanye West's new album finally leaked and it's amazing! I know, everyone is shocked that I like Kanye, but why is that so strange? I love all kinds of music, after all, that's what this site is more or less based on. Anyway, what is really interesting about all this is that the Kanye online fanbase has been hogwild with a number theories about the album's initial leak at the beginning of the week. That initial leak was a clean edit of the album, and there was a lot of speculation that it wasn't the finished version of the album because one curse was still audible, although that happens in clean edits all the time. The other thing a lot of people are going to start saying is that the clean edit isn't final because the mix is slightly different from the dirty version of the album, but that's nothing shocking because a lot of clean edits are made from new mixes leaving those versions notably different and unique. The craziest thing people are saying is that Kanye leaked the clean version himself, supposedly explaining why he didn't freak out about it. Why should he freak out? Who buys clean edits? Will the leak really affect his sales? Do leaks REALLY affect sales? Why stream albums for free in good quality when it's not terribly difficult to rip those streams? Despite the general claim that leaks hurt record sales, which I'm certain holds some water, the leak of good music often boosts interest in the album and makes people want to pony up their hard earned money for the finished product, especially when the finished product features as many bonus tracks and ridiculous features as the Kanye album will, none of which are featured in any version of the album that has leaked. So why is a leak bad? If your album doesn't leak three or four months prior to release why worry? Most major releases leak a week or two ahead of release, that is unless they're self-released, so what's the big deal.

Anyway, in Kanye's defense, as much of a loose cannon as he seems to be sometimes, I still say the guy is mourning the loss of his mother and the end of his last meaningful relationship, a topic that comes up throughout the album. Sometimes I'm more convinced that the guy is a PR genius and much of his so-called craziness is simply crafty marketing. He may be out there, but I have to give the guy a lot of credit and I'm always fascinated to see what his next move is. The new album is, in my humble opinion, one of the best hip-hop albums in the last ten years. You could even call it progressive hip-hop. If you're remotely interested, it's totally worth checking out, but that's just my two cents.

Anyway, I started making this mixtape last week, wanting to make a goofy, seventies and eighties mix. Every version really sucked and felt wrong, so I stuck it on the back burner, but while looking for a CD with some rare remixes and b-sides (Ken Andrews' Soluble Words single as ON. Sorry, didn't find it yet.) I started looking through a pile of discs that I've had set aside for a while for potential posts. There was a lot of really good stuff in there I hadn't listened to in a while so I made a quick mix for myself. I liked it so much I adapted it and turned it into this month's mix. In fact, I had so many additional tracks left over that I couldn't fit in an eighty minute mix that I included some of them as an additional download for anyone interested. So, I hope you enjoy this month's mix, although there might be another one shared before the end of the month, although that one is special for different reasons.


November 2010 Mixtape: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

01 INTRO
This snippet is from a film named Hot Tomorrows. Props to MySpleen.

02 Meices - Wow
I heard this sometime in the mid-nineties and thought this rocked so hard! I bought the album but was sadly underwhelmed. This track still rocks though. Love the horns.

03 Meja - How Crazy Are You?
This is kind of me and my girlfriend's song. I found out about it by seeing the trailer for Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. I finally found a copy of the US release of Meja's album with this song, only to find that it was SO BRIGHT AND POPPY it was almost unbearable! It's not at all bad, but it's WAY TOO BRIGHT! Still though, this song is amazing! This is probably the theme song in the anime version of my life.

04 Dana Bryant - Wishing From The Top
I heard this while djing in college and was thoroughly transfixed. Dana Bryant is a stunning beauty with the voice of an old soul singer, but she doesn't sing, she's more or less a spoken word performance artist, and her sole album, for which this is title cut, is absolutely insane. I'm probably going to have to post it here eventually because I've never run into anyone who remembers it or has heard it. This track is co-written by Speech of Arrested Development fame.

05 S.A. Smash - The Harvest
From the unreleased, second S.A. Smash album, this El-P produced banger only saw release on a 2005 Def Jux comp meant to tease listeners about forthcoming releases. This makes me miss Camu Tao even more. R.I.P. Camu.

06 Howlin' Maggie - Alcohol
Howlin' Maggie were Harold Chichester's band. They're from Columbus, Ohio and Chichester was also a founding member of The Twilight Singers. This is from their 96 album, Honeysuckle Strange. Great, slept on rock from a crazy dude from Ohio.

07 Jill Jones - The Ground You Walk On
This was produced by Nile Rodgers and appeared on the Earth Girls Are Easy soundtrack, and yes, it is the same Jill Jones so many of you know and love from Prince's circle of ex-friends. Not nearly as incredible as anything she did with Prince, but still a great tune. So nice to hear Jill just singing beautifully.

08 Space Monkeys - Sugar Cane
I used to work as a customer service rep for May Company and later also as a fraud analyst for them too. I saw the video for this song on MTV and had to go running to buy it after one of my first paychecks. The album was a bit disappointing, but it's gotten better with age. This song is still bouncy as hell. I remember the video as being very cool, and while I don't know if it still lives up to it's hype, it's probably worth looking up on youtube.

09 Marley Marl - Marley Marl Scratch (feat. MC Shan)
Awesome track! I got this off egotrip's The Big Playback comp and it's been a favorite ever since. Shan's flow is classic old school. LOVIN' IT!

10 Esthero - Breath From Another (Orpheus Floating Mix by Charlie Clouser)
Esthero's first album, Breath From Another, is ridiculously good, but the two singles they released, the title cut and Heaven Sent, were my least two favorite tracks on the album. They never did much to Heaven Sent to improve it, at least in my opinion, but they got Charlie Clouser or White Zombie and Nine Inch Nails fame and DJ Krust from the Reprazent crew to provide great mixes for Breath. This mix is a stomper and it's a long one too. Clouser always turns in a good production. I've gotta check out his work with Snake River Conspiracy eventually.

11 Boom Boom Satellites - 4 A Moment Of Silence
BBS were hyped as the Japanese masters of drum n' bass, but hype was the operative word. Don't get me wrong, they're good at what they do, but they're more about bass heavy club tracks rather than jungle beats. This was a bonus track on their US album, Out Loud, along with another track that was better than just about anything else on the CD.

12 David Arnold - Nobody Does It Better (feat. Aimee Mann)
David Arnold produced a crazy compilation of James Bond song covers with a bunch of his famous friends including the Propellerheads (anyone remember them?), Iggy Pop, Pulp and a bunch of other folks including the wonderful Aimee Mann! She and Jon Brion both contribute to this psych-tinged cover and it's simply wonderful. I knew a guy who was furious that I said this was better than the Carly Simon version. Maybe I'm wrong, as the Carly version is great, but I adore this rendition.

13 STS9 - Better Day/Trinocular (STSDevine Remix by Richard Devine)
Richard Devine is getting married this weekend! Congratulations Richard! I don't know what you'll be playing at your reception, but I'm assuming it won't be this, although it's a beautiful remix. Again, this would be part of the soundtrack to the anime version of my life. This is music to relax and dream to.

14 Ingrid Chavez - Hippy Blood (Funky House Edit by Paisley Park)
Miss David Sylvian is also a member of Prince's circle of ex-friends, and this is from her thoroughly under-promoted album on Prince's old label, Paisley Park. This remix is credited to Paisley Park which is generally a euphemism for Prince, although I don't believe he was necessarily responsible for this mix. Keith Cohen maybe? I don't know, but listen to it and you'll know what I'm talking about. I'll have to post Ingrid's album eventually, although it's got a lot less to do with Prince than most might think.

15 Daphne & Celeste - U.G.L.Y.
This is a candidate for stupidest song ever. This was on the soundtrack for Bring It On, certainly a reason to expect anything other than greatness, but this is amazing for so many reasons, the most important being how incredibly stupid it is. SO STUPID!!!!!

16 Mousse T. vs. Hot 'N' Juicy - Horny
This is a runner up for stupidest song ever. I knew a girl who had spent the summer in the UK in the mid-nineties who insisted this song was a huge hit. Maybe? Probably? Whatever, it's insane.

17 Two Nice Girls - Cotton Crown
I don't know much about Two Nice Girls other than they were four lesbian women (as opposed to lesbian men?) that made country-twinged music. This is from an EP of theirs named Like A Version and five of it's six songs are covers. I will have to post it here eventually because it's a great record. This cover of Sonic Youth is absolutely wonderful!

18 Ultimate Force - I'm Not Playing
Another track from the amazing egotrip compilation mentioned earlier. Last night I wrote that I'd tell the story behind it later, and that's what I'm about to do, quoting directly from the liner notes to egotrip's The Big Playback, but first let me note that this track was also used in Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow's original Brainfreeze mix. And on with the quote:

"Comprised of vocalist Master Rob and DJ Diamond D, the Bronx duo Ultimate Force signed to Jazzy Jay's Strong City label and released it's only single, I'm Not Playing, in 1989. Though the track's blistering guitar licks (culled from Albert King's Cold Feet) provoked immediate headnodding responses upon its release, the group's debut did not arrive without some complication. Diamond's partner had adopted the emcee name Master Rob regardless of the fact that the better known Master Rob (of old school legends the Fantastic Five) was still very much on the scene in the Bronx and, in fact, signed to Strong City as well! A Jazzy Jay-mediated meeting of the Robs was set up and it was eventually somehow decided that the two would both remain Masters of their respective domains. For Ultimate Force, however, Strong City's failure to withstand some commercial bricks doomed its future. The pair split, but Diamond wound up shining when he began working more closely with some fellow Forest Projects-raised friends, Lord Finesse and Showbiz, and let his fingers do the Diggin' In The Crates."

All credit for those details goes to "Chairman" Jefferson Mao of egotrip!

19 OUTRO
This is the first minute or so of an insane video I saw the other day. If you wanna see it, go here. I'm assuming this guy is for real, although who the hell knows these days.


Stupid Bonus Tracks

01 Boom Boom Satellites - Oneness
I was so pumped about this track for a long time. IT'S SO FRICKIN' LOUD!

02 Jungle Brothers - 718 KIT
From the soundtrack to Livin' Large. Remember that movie? Neither do I. By the way, I got a funny e-mail the other day from a guy threatening to leak Crazy Wisdom Masters. The only thing I could say was "uh, I'm not in the band, but you probably shouldn't leak it".

03 Karyn White - Romantic (Single Mix)
Ms. White was married to Terry Lewis of Flyte Tyme productions and The Time. Sometimes it seems like I can never avoid a Prince connection.

04 Esthero - Breath From Another (DJ Krush Sitting On Chrome Mix)
Krush's mix is ten minutes long and incredibly dark. AWESOME!!!

05 Boom Boom Satellites - Dub Me Crazy Ver. 02
More BBS. This track is very heavy. Go ahead, play this in your card at loud volume. I DARE YOU!



By the way, the photo in this post is from my college photography days when I used an actual, non-digital camera! Every once in a while I find a pile of crappy photos in a box and am astounded by how totally awful or bizarre they are. I call this one, PORTRAIT OF THE BLOGGER AS A YOUNG AND NAIVE FRAUD ANALYST. That photo, and by that I mean the whole image, is about twelve or thirteen years old now. Everyone always said I looked so young. I hated it, but at least I had more hair on my head then.

Kashiwa Daisuke - 5 Dec.

I hate to say this, but I know practically nothing about the amazing Kashiwa Daisuke. His records aren't available in the US and may not be available anywhere else outside of Japan for all I know. I found a brief bio for him at TheSirensSound blog and he has his own beautiful website you should check out, but much else, at least in english, is hard to come by. My addition to this small assortment of data will be to describe his music like that of a classical Richard Devine or Autechre. Tracks like Red Moon are hauntingly beautiful and don't feature a lick of distorted electronics, whereas it's follow-up on the album, Requiem, is a masterpiece of noise, chopped-up audio, delays and rhythms. I can't help but think of some kind of ultra-violent mechanized warfare when I hear it and it doesn't relent. And the rest of 5 Dec. continues to shock, amaze and confuse without showing you it's cards. Simply incredible stuff!

As this album isn't readily available for purchase in the US or much of anywhere else as far as I am aware, I will be sharing it with you for download. That said, if you can purchase this album or anything else by the fabulous Mr. Daisuke, please do and support his endeavors. On top of that, on the rare chance Mr. Daisuke or someone from his party is reading this, if you would like me to delete the download from this post please drop me a line and I will be more than happy to do so. All I want to do is spread the word of Mr. Daisuke's work, not rip him off.


Kashiwa Daisuke - 5 Dec.

01 Red Moon
02 Requiem
03 Bogus Music
04 Taurus Prelude
05 Black Lie, White Lie
06 Silver Moon
07 Broken Device
08 About Moonlight
09 Aqua Regia
10 Beautiful Sunday

Richard Devine

I'm sure everyone has noticed my love for Schematic Records and it's roster of artists. The first things I heard that were released on Schematic was Richard Devine's self-titled EP and the Lily Of The Valley compilation, home to Richard's incredible track Anthracite T. Vari. So I thought it would be cool to ask Richard some questions about projects/releases that he is involved with that may or may not have seen the light of day. I sent him some questions via e-mail and he responded with the answers, all of which follow below.


Me: I got a copy of something labeled the Asect:Dsect EP from someone on soulseek. Two of the tracks are on the A:D LP but the rest of it seems to be unreleased. Rom (from Phoenecia/Schematic) didn't know about this but said I should definitely check with you about it.

Richard: Not sure what this could be. At the time that I was throwing around a few tracks to make up the Asect:Dsect record I know we had a large collection of stuff, and some of the earlier tracks might have leaked out somewhere. I made several versions before I decided on what the final record would be. For the Japanese release I did an extra track that wasn't on the US version. This track is now uploaded to my myspace page and is called Amber's Prelude.

Me: I remember and album labeled Lipswitch showing up a while before the finished version was released. It has a few tracks from the finished album, at least one of which is incomplete as it cuts off early. There is also a lot of ambient sounding stuff on it. You released a track or two from it on Native Instruments website back in the day and I think something else ended up on Cautella, but the rest of this is unlabeled and I don't believe was released.

Richard: Yea, there was a lot of tracks floating around during that time period. The original Lipswitch album was actually supposed to be more then the mini-album release. I originally intended it to be around 14 to 15 tracks. In the end, Warp decided to narrow it down to 8 tracks. I then took what Warp didn't use, and released them on other compilations/albums. There was some stuff that never was released. This was an interesting time for me as most of these tracks I wrote between 1998-2000 and I was in a transitional period from making music with hardware based machines to computers. Warp did a super limited run of 50 aqua clear colored vinyl copies of this release.



Me: There was also a collection of tracks labeled Lipservice floating around online prior to Lipswitch's release. It has three tracks, two of which were released on Lipswitch, and one which was an ambient piece. Apart from the mp3s, I've never seen any information about this release online.

Richard: Lipservice wasn't me =), I think this was something that someone must have misheard, or misread. Something that someone else came up with.

NOTE: Rom confirmed that Warp had mislabeled some early Lipswitch materials Lipservice. The content is definitely Richard, but the title is all wrong.

Me: A lot of people have been wondering about Sculpt/Audio Sculptures album. I have a decent quality rip of it but no one seems to know much about it.

Richard: Sculpt was a triple pack full album release I did for Woody McBride's Tape/Communique record label. This collection of works was some of my first recordings from 92-94. It was mostly music made entirely on hardware using only the Roland Drum machines, TR-808, 909, 707, 727, and TB-303. I was heavily influenced by early Detroit techno during this period. I remember hearing the music of Jeff Mills and his Purpose Maker series, Richie Hawtin, and Surgeon (Downwards Records).

Me: I've seen people wonder about the Polymorphic EP too since it, and Sculpt, sound so different from your later works.

Richard: The Polymorphic EP was my first release on the Drop Bass Network's "Six Sixty Six" Limited Record label from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I actually wrote these tracks before the Sculpt record, early 90-94 era. It was my first attempts at making music I really liked. Extremely crazy, mechanical violent machine music. It was heavily influenced by the early music of Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) and the legendary Rephlex Records label. I also loved Chris Jeff's (Cylob) first two Kinesthesia records. No one was making music like this in the states during this time, and I wanted to be able able to DJ a full set of music that was similar in this style. I didn't think that this release would do as well as it did. It sold out quickly, Drop Bass did a limited repressing of 300 copies in November 2002 to celebrate their 10th Year Anniversary. I was only 17 years old when I recorded these tracks, I remember recording these during my junior and senior years in high school, good memories this brings back."



Me: I know the Richard Coleman Devine EP came out on Schematic, but I've always wondered about it's mastering. I asked Rom and he told me it was mastered at the same facility as the other early Schematic vinyl releases, but I've always thought it sounded very tinny without much bass, especially when compared to the tracks you released on the Ischemic Folks compilation. Was it meant to sound this way?

Richard: I think this release was mastered by another mastering house we did business with in the beginning. If I remember correctly it was someone in Nashville, Tennessee. They never heard music like what I was creating and didn't know how to master it. Funny because it was so odd even I didn't know at that time how to go about mastering this type of music which was extremely heavy on the high end =). I don't think it was meant to sound this way. This was an interesting release for me. One of the first tracks on Side-A was my first track ever created with Cubase. The first track on side-B was the first track I ever wrote with Logic Audio. We did a short run limited clear colored vinyl (50 copies).



Me: I haven't met anyone who has heard the Digital Rawhide or Coefficients Of Friction EPs. Also, the Sort/Lave record didn't come out, did it? Can you give me any information on these and their availability? Oh yeah, whatever happened to the DVD?

Richard: The Digital Rawhide EP, was a release on Tommy Sunshine's record label, Xylophone Jones. It was a split EP with Chris Brann (Wamdue Productions ATL). I did the A-Side with two tracks, Burnt Toast and After Morning. Both produced and written in 1998, on just a Roland TR-909, Akai-S3200, and two Roland TB-303's. The sound of this record was purely acid. I was really into the late eighties acid. Big influences for me during this time was the sound of AFX, Kosmik Kommando (Mike Dread), and Universal Indicator. I was making hundreds of acid tracks, and still have tons of unreleased tracks that one day I will have to transfer from DAT tape to digital format.

The Coefficients Of Friction EP was a record I did with my friend Dan Kurzius of Sidereal Records. It was just two tracks on a B-Side with a heavy influence from the Basic Channel/M7/Chain Reaction dub sound. I was going for more static deep complexity for this release. It was only a white label, that never saw a proper release. I still have the original white label test pressings of this release.



NOTE: Richard didn’t talk about Sort/Lave in the original e-mail response so I wrote him another message about it. Here is his response:

Sort/Lave was to be a collection of tracks to be released after Asect:Dsect. Most of these tracks ended up on Cautella, although there were a few that didn't make it. I was going to release Sort/Lave as an EP, but never finished it completely, so most of those tracks ended up coming out on Detroit Underground, compilations and EPs. I was originally going to release them with Sublight, but when things went under I figured I would take the best of what was left over and release them on other labels.



Me: Last but not least, are you planning on releasing any more music or are you not really working in that field any longer? I know you're probably extremely busy with the new business and the sound designs, but I love your stuff and would love to see something new released.

Richard: I have been doing a lot of remixes for other artists (Ryuichi Sakamoto, BT, Kiyo, Mike Patton, and Telefon Tel Aviv), and have a new album of 5.1 material that I was planing on releasing. Unfortunately many of the labels that I was previously working with have all gone under within the last three years. Sublight Records closed its doors in 2007, and Asphodel went under soon afterwards. I was originally planning on releasing the DVD with Sublight. I was pretty bummed when I heard the news, so I have been sitting on this new 5.1 release trying to decide if I will just release it on my own, or somehow release it for free for all my fans to enjoy. I have gotten very busy more recently with working on sound design projects, and pushing my new boutique sound design company devinesound. I have been doing everything from doing music for TV/Film, Video Games, and music software/hardware. In 2007 I signed a deal with Sony Media to release my first two Sound Effects libraries, Pulse and The Electronic Manuscript which won 2009's Best Sample Library by Remix Technology Awards. In 2008 I was nominated the Cannes Lions Award for my sound design work on the Halo 3 Believe Site for Microsoft’s gaming division.



I'd like to thank Richard for taking time out of his schedule to answer these questions for me, it's truly appreciated! Also, while it would be cool if the 5.1 release came out for free, I'd certainly pay for a copy and I'm sure others would as well. Maybe you could take orders privately and press them in batches for mail order?

Make sure you visit devinesound and check out Richard's catalog as it will blow your mind! Lipswitch or Cautella are great starting points and are both available for purchase at Bleep.

I told Richard that I would like to upload some of the rarities that I've found floating around online and he was very cool with it, so cool in fact that he wrote some info for each track contained herein! Link and info below.


Richard Devine - Selections


01 Refractor
This is one of the tracks off the Drop Bass Network "Six Sixty Six" record.One of the first noise core recordings, pretty bad quality mp3 of this =). Funny to hear this again.

02 RSL-COM (Asect:Dsect Outtake 3)
This is actually track six, RSL-COM from Cautella. Although this track was written during the Asect Record, it actually didn't get chosen in the end to be put on this release, so it went to the Cautella record. Recorded this track late night at my old studio.

03 Ascisei
This is taken from the Scuplt record on Woody Mcbride's "Tape Record label" Side A2. created in 1995

04 Lipswitch Outtake 6
This is indeed an outtake of the track Route Increment, track 3 on Lipswitch. Don't know how this got out =).

05 Metval 72 (Asect:Dsect Outtake 2)
This is actually the track Metval 72 which was released on the Shitkatapult 50 - Special Musick For Special People compiliation DVD. This too was originally an Asect:Dsect track which didn't end up on the final release, so I released it on Shitkatapult.

06 Lipswitch Outtake 4
This is another DSP short processing outtake that I did in this software called "composer's desktop project". Short outtake here, from the Lipswitch file archive.

07 Necteric
This is taken from the Polymorphic EP on Six Sixty Six Records. It was taken of the B2 side. Another noisy Gabber Core track. This is another bad quality mp3 =).
(Sorry Richard, best quality version I could find!)

08 Chris De Luca - Two (Trapezoid Mix)
Richard did this remix that was released on the Chocolate Industries version of Chris De Luca's Unknown EP, Choc-04, released in 1999. Richard was nice enough to send me the proper track for me to post here.

09 Clear
Taken from the Sculpt 3xLP on Tape Records, TAPE 005, Side D1, 1995.

10 East Flatbush Project - Tried By 12 (Trapezoid Mix)
This was my Tried By 12 Remix that was released on Chocolate Industries/Ninja Tune. It was released in 1998. One of the most challenging remixes I had ever done. My first remix syncing vocals to beats, was a very interesting learning experience. I received praise from Sean from Autechre for this mix. I remember this being a wonderful moment for me =).

11 Amber's Prelude
This was an unreleased track that I released on the Japanese only version of Asect:Dsect. The Japanese version was released through P-vine records Tokyo, 2003-Schematic/Asphodel. Originally was just a little track I wrote for my girlfriend Amber, who I am still with. We will be getting married next year, it will 10 years we have been together. Nice little tune I wrote for her, back in 2003.
(Congratulations Richard and Amber!)

12 Horizontal Deflection Plate excerpt (Lipswitch Outtake 5)
This is actually the track Horizontal Deflection Plate, Track 11 on Aleamapper, Schematic Records 2001. Was originally a piece I wrote that didn't get used for Lipswitch and was later used for the release of Aleamapper. Strange experiment, trying to emulate the sound of Morton Subontick, but using completely digital computer synthesis. He was a huge inspiration to during the creation of this record.

Schematic Records

I first heard of Richard Devine when I purchased the WARP 10+3: Remixes compilation in 1999. He contributed a remix of Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy that barely resembled the original but contained all the ferocity of the source track. It wasn't the easiest track to absorb, but it grabbed my attention and I had to hear more. This led to LOTS of primitive searches online for anything Richard Devine related, which led me to find out all about Schematic Records. It all culminated in a long drive to Lakewood to visit a shop whose name will remain unspoken, at which I purchased the Ischemic Folks and Lily Of The Valley compilations and began a long love affair with Schematic Records. Through these comps I found out about Phoenecia, Push Button Objects and Delarosa & Asora, among others, which led me to hunt down as much material as possible from everyone on the label. I began chomping at the bit for Phoenecia's Brownout, playing Delarosa's Agony Part 1 constantly, exploring the untitled Richard Devine EP and eventually his Lipswitch album, bumping Push Button Objects' Dirty Dozen comp and wondering what came next. I wondered if this is what it felt like to discover WARP Records in the early nineties, as Schematic definitely felt like the American WARP.

Schematic kept putting out new releases, many on vinyl which was difficult to get so I often downloaded their releases via emusic with whom they had an early digital distribution contract. Their roster continued to grow and soon releases from Otto Von Schirach, O9, the Secret Frequency Crew, Din-St, Hearts Of Darknesses and others were in my collection, but around 2006 everything came to a halt. The label's site was updated infrequently and several long-awaited releases seemed to be on hiatus. A few of them showed up digitally via Bleep and other services, but nothing else was heard for a long time. Understandably, I feared the label may have bit the dust. I couldn't get e-mail to work and I tried to find contact information for Joshua Kay and Romulo Del Castillo, the label's founders and together working as Phoenecia, but I had no such luck.

Earlier this year, the Schematic site was updated with video from a Phoenecia scored film, Smother, and a link to Devine Sound, Richard Devine and Josh Kay's new company where they do sound design for everything from film and television to video games. I sent an e-mail and was thrilled to get responses from Josh, Rom and Richard, all of whom were extremely friendly and led to some great conversations with Rom all about the history of the label and what's happening now!

First off, it's important to understand why Schematic Records was started. Josh and Rom initially became known as Soul Oddity and had a contract with Astralwerks. Soul Oddity was rightfully considered the future of the American electronic scene, fusing techno with Miami bass and easily rocking a party. This was around the time of the big "electronica" push from the major labels, and being on the same label as the Chemical Brothers led to Josh and Rom being pressured to make more commercial records. That isn't what they did so they parted ways with Astralwerks, changed their name to Phoenecia and started Schematic in Miami. Initially they had a small distribution agreement with Star 67 but eventually moved to Forced Exposure through which they had great success. Most of the best known Schematic releases were available through this period which led to the Schema crew touring the world and their releases getting distribution with labels like WARP. Eventually there was a move to Asphodel for distribution, but they eventually shut down and Schematic was left in the lurch.

After touring forever and having so many issues with distribution, Josh and Rom decided to take a break. They worked on the long awaited second Phoenecia album, Lewd Archives, scored independent films and worked on a number of other projects. Other artists like Richard Devine and Otto Von Schirach continued to release material through other labels (Sublight and Ipecac) and continue to work to this day. As for Schematic, they’re back with new releases, several of which will be coming out later this year.

What's important to understand is that Schematic is still here and will continue to release new music. I had several great conversations with Rom where he wanted to make it completely clear that they hadn't quit, they were just playing it quiet. Rom also answered several questions about the label and it's roster that have been permeating for years.

Phoenecia are indeed still together and working on new music. For those wondering about the leak of their forthcoming Echelon Mall album, it won't stall it's physical release and there will be some cool additions to the final release including a detailed website. For the record, the versions of the tracks on Echelon Mall are significantly different from the versions in the films. Check Smother for an example. The versions with beats will remain exclusive to the films, while the beatless versions are exclusive to the album. Also, Echelon Mall IS NOT Lewd Archives. Lewd Archives is a completely separate album of new material. It's name may be changed before release, but it will see release in the near future, as well as a compilation of non-album tracks that will have a title most likely parodying Aphex Twin's 26 Mixes For Cash.

Richard Devine is hard at work with his company Devine Sound. There may be more music from him eventually, and there is tons unreleased, but for now his focus is the business.

Otto Von Schirach is crazy busy and working on a myriad of top-secret projects. Seriously, it would blow your mind if some of them were mentioned, but then they wouldn't be top-secret! Keep an eye on him because he's far from finished! Check his site here for more information.

Dino Felipe is, in Rom's words, moving from releasing music to working on art projects and installations. That doesn't mean there won't be more music, but he's in a different place right now. Check his site for details.

Aura is a pimp! Check out his mixes and see him live if you get the chance!

Hearts Of Darknesses, aka Frank Musarra, one half of Trey Told 'Em and pals with Girl Talk, is still kicking ass. Hearts are now a full band and have a 12" out on Deleted Art. Get it now and expect your mind to be blown!

Scott Herren, aka Delarosa & Asora, but best known as Prefuse 73, is cool as hell! There was an Agony Part 2 being planned and it would have featured remixes of tracks from Part 1 and potentially some new tracks, but Scott is very busy and the album never got finished. He’s still cool with the Schematic folks and is still working as Prefuse 73 regularly. Check on him here.

Edgar from Push Button Objects is, as far as Rom knows, no longer in the music making biz. He has TONS of unreleased stuff but it may never see the light of day. Apparently Boards Of Canada are huge fans of PBO and wrote him a very extensive thank you letter for his remix of An Eagle In Your Mind. Rom, Josh and Edgar sent them a number of still unreleased PBO test pressings at their request.

O9 is the coolest guy you’ve never heard of. Rom explained that O9's newest stuff is almost devoid of specific musical influences and is very beautiful minimal stuff. Rom described O9 as the type of guy who could be blown away by Aphex Twin and Aerosmith all in the same sitting. He loves all kinds of music but his influences are very difficult to pinpoint. Rom wants to release an album of O9's minimal stuff badly, and hopes it may happen in the near future.

There are several new releases coming soon on Schematic. Touane, whom I'm sure you will find on iTunes or BeatPort, has two EPs coming soon with tentative release dates in November. I've had the pleasure of hearing them and they are excellent! Also, new signing Jacque Polynice is dropping his first release in junction with Schematic and Circuitree. His style is similiar to that of Flying Lotus or early Prefuse, and I honestly think people will go crazy for it. You can check here for more details about it and go here to purchase it. Beautiful stuff! On top of that, Echelon Mall will finally see physical release hopefully in October so make sure you go pick it up!

Rom sent me so much content for this post that I wasn't sure where to start, so I'm going to be giving you a link to my flickr page so you can check out some of the awesome artwork produced for Schematic and Miami related releases and events to give you a feel for the scene. On top of that, he was kind enough to give me a copy of Aura's 2003 tour mix which was only available there and VERY BRIEFLY on Bleep. This is exclusive to this site so grab it now!

As of right now Rom is working with Andrew Strasser, another really cool guy, on the Bad Brilliance exhibition in Miami. Very cool stuff which you can check out here. Strasser has done design work for Schematic, Negativland, Girl Talk and many others, much of which can be seen at his official site.

Speaking of official sites, please check the official Schematic and Devine Sound sites. I’m sure you’ll find them very detailed and interesting. Also, below are the links to the flickr gallery and Aura’s fantastic mix. The flickr gallery is a must see! There will probably be two more updates to it in the next few weeks, so keep checking back. And grab Aura’s mix fast! It’s over an hour of Schematic goodness that should give you a good idea of their sound. Enjoy!


Aura - El Tour De Los Guapos: USA VIA RV 2003 Schematic Tour Mix

A Gallery of Schematic and Miami related flyers for releases and events