B2B: Secret Circuit and Tim Sweeney

It may come as a surprise to many that Eddie Ruscha has made music for decades. The Los Angeles native has led a quietly prolific career since the early 1990s; he’s worked with legends like John Cale and DJ Harvey, he’s toured with the Flaming Lips, and he’s released a bevy of experimental music on major labels as well as homemade cassettes. But his latest record, a full-length solo album released under his Secret Circuit moniker via Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space label, feels like the most polished piece in his sprawling catalog. Having made his Beats in Space debut when he provided a mix for Sweeney’s WNYU radio show in 2010, Ruscha is responsible for two of the imprint’s 12″s, both of which are included on Tactile Galactics, the label’s recently issued first LP. Although it’s been a long road for Ruscha, the terrain has hardly been mapped, so we sat down with both Sweeney and Ruscha just prior to the album’s release date to get the untold full story behind Secret Circuit and his many guises.

Eddie Ruscha: Is this the party line?

Tim Sweeney: Yeah, this is our party line tonight. So, how are things with you?

ER: Pretty good, man. Just gearing up for this record. What about you?

TS: I’m getting geared up for this record, too. I’m nervous!

XLR8R: What are you nervous about?

TS: I’m nervous because it’s the first album. I love this album so much, and I’m trying to get that across to people. I want people to understand that this record’s awesome, and they need to go get it.

XLR8R: What about you, Eddie?

ER: I’m nervous, too, but I feel pretty good. I think the people that are meant to understand it will get it.

“Heigher Heights” from Tactile Galactics

XLR8R: Right on. You know, I was doing a bunch of research about your past work, and although there seems to be a lot of it, it’s hard to find a coherent timeline that maps out your career. I’m wondering if you might be able to give me the history of Eddie Ruscha’s music. Start in the ’80s.

ER: I was in high school bands, noise bands—I was into anti-music. I think I played bass, noise, tapes… stuff like that. After that, when I was in art school, I joined this band Medicine, and we got signed.

TS: To Creation Records, which is a big deal. Did they fly you out to the UK for the signing of it or anything like that?

ER: Yeah, we did go to the UK. We got to meet up with My Bloody Valentine. We toured with the Flaming Lips in ’91. That was pretty amazing.

TS: Yeah, that must have been crazy. OK, so, what happened then? How long was Medicine [around] for?

ER: I left that band after a year and a half, something like that. Then I started another band called Maids of Gravity, and we got signed to a label called Vernon Yard, which was a smaller label under Virgin Records. That was short lived, but we made a record with John Cale, who produced it. And then after that, I got much more into electronics.

TS: How did that happen? Were you listening to some records that made you want to do that progression into electronics?

ER: I was always into that stuff, I was way more into experimental music my whole life. After dealing with labels and things like that, I was like, “I just want to do something that’s completely alien to anyone’s mode.” I decided to make bizarre electronic music—I had this project named Dada Munchamonkey, which was basically mysterious electronic music. My friends had this label called Exist Dance, and they were like, “Man, people should hear this.” So they decided to put out a record of my stuff.

TS: What year?

ER: By the time the record came out, it was, like, 2000. Then, they were like, “We should do a remix companion to this record,” and brought this pile of different remix ideas over. My friend Tom Chasteen played all this stuff for me, and I was like, “Eh, this is boring, this is boring.” Then he put on one by someone named The Mammal, and I was like, “Okay, now we’re talking.” It ended up that The Mammal was Thomas [Bullock] from Rub N Tug. He did this remix, and he loved the record that I made.

TS: What was the connection with him? That guy from the record label knew Thomas?

ER: Yeah, Tom Chasteen [from Exist Dance] decided to bring all these different remixer ideas over. He played, like, five things, and then he put The Mammal on, and I was like, “This is the guy.” It ended up that Thomas [Bullock] really started getting into the records that I had made for [Exist Dance]. He thought, “I have to make some music with this guy,” so he contacted Tom [Chasteen] and said, “I’m coming to LA. I want to meet Eddie.” We all hooked up at my studio and made this track—it had all these African samples on it. It was done with an 808 machine, and it was really cool. Me and Thomas were just vibing right then, but we sat on that track for a long time. Every time he came to LA we hooked up and recorded and hung out. Then all of a sudden, he says, “Hey, I have this friend of mine and he’s starting a label, and he wants me and you to make a record.”

TS: Ah. And that was Laughing Light of Plenty.

ER: Yeah.

TS: Okay—but that track that you originally made, you guys sat on it?

ER: That track never saw the light of day, but it ended up actually turning into “The Rose.” There was nothing left of the original by the time “The Rose” became what it was. There was nothing left of that first track, except some strange percussion things going on and a couple drum sounds, but everything else was wiped away.

TS: I would love to hear that original, seriously. Did Thomas ever do that remix of your old stuff?

ER: Yeah. It came out on the 12″, and it also came out on a CD. That was 2000 or 2001.

TS: Ah, I gotta hear that too. I haven’t heard that before. So then you hooked up with Thomas [Bullock] and you guys did the Laughing Light of Plenty album. Then what happened?

ER: We did that [album]. Meanwhile, I had been doing Secret Circuit stuff. That was my way of constantly making music, which is something that I just had to do. So, I was making little things, CD-Rs and tapes and things like that. But it was basically just, like, me experimenting. It’s what I always did.

TS: How long did it take you to make the Laughing Light of Plenty album?

ER: It’s kind of a blur. It went through so many different phases for its completion. We went through this whole phase of mixing it, which turned into this other creative process on it. It took two or three years before the record even came out. The final version of “The Rose” was finished around 2004 or 2005.

TS: You guys did that track in 2005, but the album didn’t come out till 2010, right? Or 2009?

ER: The 12″ of “The Rose” came out in 2008.

TS: Yeah, “The Rose” came out in 2008, but the album basically came out in 2010, sort of. 100 copies went to Japan.

ER: Yeah, that’s what I heard.

TS: I have two copies at home, though. When I retire I’m gonna sell those, and that’s how I’m gonna afford everything in my life.

ER: We did some other stuff, too. I started working on that second Map of Africa record, which never came out.

TS: The original Map of Africa record, were you doing anything on that one?

ER: I didn’t do anything on the original one.

TS: But the second album you were a part of.

ER: Yeah. I played bass on a couple tracks.

TS: What did that album sound like?

ER: There was some amazing stuff on there. There was this one country song on there that was just completely berserk. Carlos from the label was like, “Let’s put together a supergroup of all the people we want, and make this record.” Then we did that Food of the Gods thing, with [DJ] Harvey on drums. I got my friend Tim Koh, who plays in Ariel Pink’s band now, to play guitar on it. We made a whole record, but that record never came out.

TS: There was a 12″ from that. But [you ‘re saying] there’s a whole album? There’s an album from Food of the Gods and an album from Map of Africa that are just sitting somewhere.

ER: Yeah.

TS: Were you getting frustrated that those albums weren’t coming out? Or [were you just moving] on to the next thing?

ER: I’m always on to the next thing. I was waiting to see how it played out. It was bizarre that the records never came out, but I always figured there was some strange force at hand that was making things the way they are.

XLR8R: When do you come into the picture Tim?

TS: I don’t know!

ER: I think you entered the picture because you contacted me to make a mix for Beats in Space.

TS: Ah, I did. Good. I’m glad I did that. You also do these cassette-tape mixes as well. Cosmic Tapes, right?

ER: Yeah, those are things that I make in my studio that never really see the light of day. When I heard Daniele Baldelli, I was like, “Wow, this is the most important thing that I’ve heard since first hearing Can. This sums up what I want to do musically.” So basically, that was my homage to Daniele Baldelli; I made these tapes, the Cosmic Tapes, but of my own music. There have been three so far, but I have some more.

I started throwing my stuff up on the internet to see what happens, and some guy named Thomas Kågström hit me up and said, “Hey, do you want to make some more aggressive electronic music for this label I’m starting?” I was like, “Man, actually, I have two tracks that would be killer for that.” I sent them to him and he was like, “Yeah, these are amazing.” And then all of a sudden he said that his label wouldn’t be happening. But, oddly enough, he gave the songs to Tim Sweeney.

TS: Oh really? Thanks, Thomas.

XLR8R: So, then, are we close to the first 12″ coming out on Beats in Space?

TS: Yeah. Then we put out that first 12″, and from there, it was just like, “Let’s do more.” It was awesome. Then we did the second 12″—is that all we did? We just did a second 12″, right?

ER: I think we had the record in mind first, and then it was like, “This is sick.”

TS: Yeah. “Afterlife” was a single preceding the album.

XLR8R: You’ve had a really prolific career, but in a way, it’s been pretty quiet. This seems like a polished and almost your most official release.

ER: I would say so, for sure. Definitely.

TS: This is gonna be fun. I can’t wait til this comes out, you know. I hope people get it. I want people to get it. But I dunno, I’m psyched all the time. I’ve been listening to it for so long, and I’m still not bored of it. That, for me, is the whole idea with the record label. I want to put out these records that I could still listen to 10 years from now and not feel bored of it. When I can listen to something over and over again, and it doesn’t get boring to me, that’s when I know it’s something I’ll still listen to in 10 years and feel good about.

James Blake “Life Round Here (MANIK Ghost Pines Rework)”**

New York City-raised funky-house wizard MANIK has a not-so-subtle passion for hazy, doe-eyed hipster R&B. Having done edits in the past of tracks by Frank Ocean, Toro Y Moi, and another James Blake treatment prior to this, MANIK has dipped into the well again, this time delivering a smooth makeover of James Blake’s slowburner “Life Round Here,” taken from the recent Overgrown LP. MANIK’s take fakes the listener out at the jump, starting off like a mid-’90s slow jam before introducing a silky, disco-tinged house groove which anchors James Blake’s chopped vocal refrain. Really, MANIK could’ve called it quits right there, and it would’ve been worth a listen, but the producer keeps holding down the fort, slowly sweetening the groove with a funkier bassline, more percussion, and wormhole-channeled fuzz. This edit comes as MANIK is gearing up for an eventful 2013, with his sophomore album, a collaborative 12″ with beat alchemist Burnski called Yellow Jacket Girl (out May 22 via Culprit), and more in the works.

Life Round Here (MANIK Ghost Pines Rework)

Adult. The Way Things Fall

It’s easy to forget that when Adult. started out, the Detroit outfit was lumped in with turn-of-the-millenium electroclash acts. Though husband-and-wife duo Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus shared the genre’s new wave-meets-art-punk aesthetic on paper, the couple was always more obtuse and insular than its unwitting peers. The group didn’t cultivate a glitter-flecked stage presence like Fischerspooner, or practice theatrical aggression like Chicks on Speed, and instead saturated its sterile music with a skeptic’s paranoia and a sense of uncompromising mayhem. Often, the band’s mixture of post-punk, coldwave, and chilly techno was used like a scalpel to make the listener feel supremely uneasy. (The title for the band’s second LP, Anxiety Always, still reads like a mission statement.) Now, six years after Adult.’s Why Bother? LP, its new record is finally seeing a release. And though Miller and Kuperus may have been absent for a while, their extended hiatus doesn’t appear to have changed their bleak worldview. The Way Things Fall may represent a more streamlined version of the band, but Adult.’s commitment to churlish electro-punk is as staunch as ever.

That said, there’s a reason why Miller says The Way Things Fall is the closest Adult. has ever come to writing “traditional pop songs.” “Idle (Second Thoughts),” for instance, harnesses spiky synths and drum machines for a track that’s more fun than most would’ve expected. Dark phrases like “I fear because you can’t sleep through the violence” are balanced by Miller’s glossy new-wave production. Even Kuperus’ voice, while still staccato and sneering, is more melodic than ever before. The band edges even closer toward actual pop with “Love Lies,” an icy quasi-ballad that marks a mid-album highlight. Mixing bitterness and nostalgia, the track hangs in the air like stale cigarette smoke. “Love love love love lies lies lies lies love lies/It’s no surprise,” sings Kuperus, as the hypnotic chorus becomes her mantra. Emotional dread seems to be the couple’s new boogeyman.

2007’s Why Bother? saw Adult.’s songwriting move toward less frenetic arrangements, but The Way Things Fall takes things one step further, as it’s truly content to let songs patiently slip into their own grooves. Apparently, the band had only intended to return to the studio to record a 12″, but found itself with more ideas than just two songs could hold. The resulting tracks seem united by a consolidated central vision perhaps found during that recording process; there’s a remarkable consistency to the LP. One key aspect of this cohesion is the use of rhythm and space throughout the record. Adult. has always used Krautrock elements as touchstones, but The Way Things Fall features some of the pair’s most motorik drum programming to date. Synth stabs seem to rip through a vacuum, and each new element hits like precision clockwork. “New Frustration” has echoes of Neu! in its tightly wound construction. The droning “A Day Like Forever” unfurls slowly, its pulsating dread wrapping around the listener like a velvet blanket covered in disturbing, high-pitched notes. “An hour is like a day/A day like forever,” Kuperus sings while sludgy synths bolster her statement. Another success is “Nothing Lasts,” an overtly New Order-recalling track that’s about as colorful as a ’90s Nickelodeon game show—only devoid of the laughs and levity.

If the Detroit group’s past efforts were meant to provoke and disquiet audiences at all costs, perhaps The Way Things Fall could be seen as having a spoonful of sugar to ease the bitter medicine’s taste. The angst and abrasiveness inherent to Adult. is still present in some form (even a quick look at track names like “Nothing Lasts,” “At the End of It All,” and “Heartbreak” reveals that much), but the band has undoubtedly smoothed things over and pushed its sound closer to the dancefloor. And yet, despite having calmed the spastic energy it was so indebted to for the past decade, Adult. still exudes danger with every bleak, atonal verse and rigid drum-machine pattern.

Lewis James “Powerchild (EAN Remix)”*Original Cultures*

London-based producer EAN makes tough, skittering tunes with just the right amount of punch and a mess of hyperactive synthwork. Indebted to the warm snarl of Rustie and Chicago footwork in equal measure, his take on Lewis James‘ “Powerchild” packs as much wallop as it does surprise; EAN simply does not sit still on this one. Beginning with a pastoral synthline, EAN gradually warps the tune from the inside out with speedy turns on the hi-hat and playfully pitch-shifted speech that bounces off a distant vocal—there’s even a wailing guitar surgically spliced in midway through. At just over four minutes, the rework manages to spread itself over a lot of territory, including an eye-opening finish too good to give away. EAN’s remix is included on Lewis James’ recently releasedKrakatoa EP.

Powerchild (EAN Remix)

Julio Bashmore & Kowton Mirror Song EP

In an exciting move for the irrepressibly active Bristol music scene, two of its chief proponents are bringing their distinct styles into one whole. Matt Walker (a.k.a. Julio Bashmore) has been one of the leading lights of the UK club scene’s mass embrace of house music, rising to a level that verges on the mainstream while maintaining the integrity and quality of his music. Kowton (a.k.a. Joe Cowton), on the other hand, has been working steadily within more underground—though still conspicuous—routes, releasing his own pioneering techno-grime crossovers on a variety of labels and collaborating with Peverelist on Hessle Audio and Livity Sound. Pulling Walker’s and Cowton’s ideas together seems like a feat in itself, but on “Mirror Song,” the pair’s first collaborative tune, each producer deposits his clearly identifiable cargo in simple and effective ways.

The song finds Julio Bashmore’s stepping bass and brightly lit, big-room embellishments being given a craftier slant by Kowton’s flickering, repetitive percussion. All of these elements sound as though they were programmed with a specific roughness, which is perhaps why the end product comes off sounding like a homemade bootleg—something that works in their favor. Still, there’s more on the Mirror Song EP than it’s title track. For the tune’s so-called “Techno Mix,” Kowton recalibrates the original parts with subtlety and skill. This minimal version pushes factory-floor drum clatter and hot subs, although the end product does feel a bit stifled, even with the track’s newfound spaciousness.

Cowton takes total control of the studio for “And What,” his most out-and-out grime track to date—the “East St Riddim” banger he produced with The Kelly Twins notwithstanding. The tune’s patter of wooden percussion and rapid-fire electro claps levitates over the top of a speaker-blowing low frequency, all of it wrestling against the constant electromagnetic pull. It’s devious, inspired, and powerful, rounding off an EP that’s as much of a fortuitous collaboration as it is a step forward for the two producers involved.

The Lowdown – This Week’s XLR8R Top 10 with Omar-S, Nosaj Thing, Four Tet, Maya Jane Coles, and More

Throughout the week, a whole lot of material gets posted here on XLR8R. And while we know—and love—that some hardcore readers will eagerly pour over every single news story, interview, podcast, video, and MP3 download that appears on the site, we also realize that for most people, it’s impossible to see everything, which means that some quality XLR8R content is likely to get missed in the hustle and bustle of everyone’s daily lives. In the interest of making it easier for everyone to catch up, every Friday we present The Lowdown, a weekly wrap-up of the top 10 tidbits from our site.

1. The most popular post on XLR8R this week was a free download we premiered of the nocturnal and mysterious remix which Nosaj Thing did for Jon Hopkins’ “Open Eye Signal” single.

2. Kicking off our month-long series of podcasts celebrating XLR8R‘s 20th anniversary, Detroit icon Omar-S hooked up an exclusive mix which delves into vintage house and electro.

3. Another mix that was pretty big on XLR8R this week was a DJ set by Maya Jane Coles which appeared as her Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1, and can now be downloaded for free.

4. UK DJ/producer Jorge Takei offered us the premiere of his Aretha Franklin-sampling tune, aptly called “Aretha,” so we gave it away as a free download.

5. B-Ju’s remix of Kill Frenzy & Sacha Robotti’s “I Like It” single was a pretty big hit on XLR8R this week.

6. We reviewed the consistently intriguing and challenging techno sounds put forth on Detroit wunderkind Kyle Hall’s debut album, The Boat Party.

7. Before he took over Webster Hall for his RBMA showcase, Four Tet went on Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space radio show to deliver some fresh sounds and chat with the host. The broadcast was subsequently posted for all to stream and download for free.

8. Our latest gear review appeared this week, and found us taking an in-depth look at Elektron’s latest machine, the Analog Four.

9. Edinbrugh’s DFRNT gave us a track from his upcoming Nobody Stop Me EP, the stark, piano-driven house of “The Way You Look at Me.”

10. XLR8R‘s contest this week comes from audio technology brand NuForce, who is giving away its latest in-ear headphones, the NE-650 Ms, to four lucky readers. Enter here while you still can.

An expanded version of the The Lowdown is also available via a weekly email newsletter. Those interested in an even more in-depth round-up of XLR8R content, including a complete listing of all the free downloads we’ve offered in the past seven days, should sign up by entering their email address below.

Subscribe to the XLR8R Lowdown

Jimmy Edgar Remixes Jesse Perez on Upcoming EP

Enterprising Berlin producer Jimmy Edgar (pictured above) has been tapped to deliver a remix for the next episode in BBC Radio jock Heidi‘s Jackathon Jams series, featuring original productions by Miami producer Jesse Perez. The forthcoming EP, the third in the series since its launch in 2012, will see a release on June 11 with three original tunes from Perez accounting for the bulk of the tracklist while Edgar’s remix of “Interracial Booty Calls” will close out the effort. The EP’s tracklist and artwork are included below.

01 We Get Fucked Up
02 Make You Scream
03 Interracial Booty Calls
04 Interracial Booty Calls (Jimmy Edgar Remix)

DJ Haus Launches UTTU Sub-Label, Preps Mini-Album

Unknown to the Unknown boss DJ Haus has announced the launch of a new sub-label, Hot Haus, which will drop the London producer’s own Thug Houz Anthems Vol. 1 mini-album as its inaugural release next month. Though its accompanying press release portrays the forthcoming record as a “mixtape,” Thug Houz Anthems Vol. 1 will serve as home to ten new DJ Haus productions said to have been accumulated during the man’s travels over the past 12 months and including collaborations with Matrixxman, Drop the Lime, and others. Thug Houz Anthems Vol. 1 is set to drop on June 17; before then, the album’s tracklist and artwork can be found below. DJ Haus’ “Thug Houz Anthem,” an apparent bonus track for the forthcoming collection, can still be downloaded for free from XLR8R, here.

01 Trumpet & Badman
02 Cold As Ice
03 Wipe Out
04 Feel It (feat. Matrixxman)
05 Thug Luv
06 Game Of Thrones (Feat. Riton)
07 Monster Grave Yard
08 Slip N Slide (Feat. Detboi)
09 Hurt U Baby (feat. Drop The Lime)
10 What Am I Doin’
Bonus: Thug Houz Anthem (not on official release)

Arthur Russell “Kiss Me Again (Japanese Phonetic Translation)”**

To coincide with Detroit’s fast approaching Movement Festival, Ibiza party Circoloco will be making the trek from the Spanish island out to the American Midwest to help throw a party in honor of the late disco and dance-music pioneer Arthur Russell. Taking place on Movement’s opening night, May 25, the party will include sets from Carl Craig, Lee Curtiss, and others, while a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit local charities Youthville Detroit and the Detroit Techno Foundation. (A promo video detailing the upcoming night’s performers and location can be found here.) To help spread the word, the parties involved have passed along an unreleased Russell cut, a version of Dinosaur’s 1978 single “Kiss Me Again” which was originally written and produced by Russell. Here, the pioneering musician also attempts to phonetically translate the lyrics into Japanese (yes, you read that correctly), subsequently singing them himself.

Kiss Me Again (Japanese Phonetic Translation)

Listen to Deadbeat’s ‘Primordia’ Reissue

Berlin-based DJ/producer, and recent XLR8R podcast contributor Deadbeat (a.k.a. Scott Montieth) has released seven albums since the now-defunct Intr_version label released his debut album, Primordia, way back in 2001. Recently, Montieth’s own BLKRTZ label reissued the dub-techno stalwart’s first project on vinyl, and has opted to stream it in full today. With even just a cursory listen, it’s clear that Deadbeat’s crafty mix of intricate synth patterns and pulsing beats still holds up over a decade after its creation. Primordia can be heard in full via the player below.

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