Andrez

Hey mates! Keep posting!!

As per Cupe's recommendation, thought I'd start up a separate thread for this and get the ball rolling with a hack mash-up I just put together: Andrez Bergen Hard Boiled Techno Oct 2010 A few bits and pieces of as-yet-unreleased stuff, recent beasties, and some older in the tooth numbers, most of it grubby, out-there and techy. Kind'a. Free d/load, and ta to the artists and labels for the bloody brilliant tunes. Fer the life of me, tho', I can work out how to insert the Soundcloud waveform (sorry, mates!), so here's the link: http://soundcloud.com/andrez_iffy/andrez-bergen-hard-boiled-techno-oct-2010 TRACK LIST 1. Ade Fenton ‘Falling Down’ (IF?) 2. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (Wyndell Long remix) (IF?) 3. Ade Fenton ‘Falling Down’ (Ben Mill remix) (IF?) 4. Ade Fenton ‘Alien Water’ (Ben Mill remix) (Gynoid) 5. Ade Fenton ‘Falling Down’ (DJ Hi-Shock remix) (IF?) 6. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (James Ruskin remix) (IF?/Gynoid) 7. Luke Slater ‘Head Converter’ (Bootleg remix) 8. Little Nobody ‘Get Away From It All’ (Bas Mooy remix) (IF?) 9. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira ‘Robota’ (Koda remix) (Elektrax) 10. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (IF?/Gynoid) 11. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (Kultrun remix) (IF?) 12. Little Nobody ‘Compulsion’ (DJ Wada remix) (Plaza In Crowd) 13. Cut Bit Motorz ‘Dry Fruit’ (DJ Wada remix) (IF?) 14. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira ‘Robota’ (Toshiyuki Yasuda remix) (IF?) 15. Little Nobody ‘Compulsion’ (DJ Wada remix) (Hypnotic Room) 16. Little Nobody ‘Linoleum Actress’ (Unreleased) 17. Ade Fenton ‘Falling Down’ (Sebastian Bayne remix) (IF?) 18. Cut Phobic ‘Advanced’ (Koda remix) (IF?) 19. Andrez Bergen ‘Disquo’ (Kultrun remix) (IF?) 20. Luke’s Anger ‘Project Perk’ (Donk Boys remix) (IF?) 21. Luke’s Anger ‘Several Sizes Too Big’ (Little Nobody remix) (IF?) 22. Dasha Rush ‘Comme La Neige’ (E383 remix) (IF?) 23. Andrez Bergen ‘Disquo’ (Cut Bit Motorz remix #2) (Hypnotic Room) 24. Funk Gadget ‘Blah Blah’ (Dave Tarrida remix) (Slidebar) 25. Ben Mill ‘Dancefloor Confessions Of A Stalker’ (Space DJz remix) (Gynoid) 26. Dick Drone ‘Engine Room’ (Hypnotic Room) 27. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira ‘Robota’ (Ben Mill’s Tin Man remix) (IF?) 28. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (Ben Mill remix) (IF?) 29. Ade Fenton ‘Falling Down’ (Kultrun remix) (IF?) 30. BCR Boys ‘The Flux’ (Alkan remix) (IF?) 31. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (Ben Mill remix) (IF?) 32. BCR Boys ‘The Flux’ (DJ Hi-Shock remix) (Gynoid) 33. Luke’s Anger ‘Project Perk’ (IF?) 34. DJ Hi-Shock ‘Asama Express’ (Ken Ishii remix) (Elektrax) 35. Ben Mill ‘Dance Floor Confessions Of A Stalker’ (Shin Nishimura remix) (Gynoid) 36. Little Nobody ‘Depth Charge’ (Bitch Shift remix) (Elektrax) 37. DJ Hi-Shock ‘Asama Express’ (Ken Ishii remix) (Elektrax) 38. Funk Gadget ‘Blah Blah’ (Dave Tarrida remix) (Slidebar) 39. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (Takashi Watanabe remix) (IF?) 40. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira ‘Robota’ (V1NZ remix) (IF?) 41. Little Nobody ‘The Condimental Op’ (K. Alexi Shelby remix) (IF?)

VARIOUS 'IFFY BIZNESS VOL. 3' feat. DASHA RUSH . LUKE'S ANGER . DONK BOYS . DJ WADA . BEN MILL . LITTLE NOBODY . KULTRUN . ALKAN . SEBASTIAN BAYNE . TAKASHI WATANABE . RYSH PAPROTA . ANDREZ BERGEN . BITCH SHIFT . TALL TREES This baby's out today via Elektrax - a kind of "Best of..." recent IF? stuff, which we're pretty darned chuffed about: Check out these tracks @ Beatport right here: http://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/273011/iffy_bizness_vol_3

Hey eggssell, ta for the nice comments! I'm in Jiyugaoka - about 12 mins from Shibuya. Great city, eh? And that's interesting about Juno on iPhone - cheers!

Front 242 - Tyranny (For You) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_%28For_You%29

Awesome comp - well done!

CUT BIT MOTORZ DRY FRUIT: MADE IN JAPAN MIXES IF? Records IF119 Japanese artist Tsuyoshi K bounces back for another delicious round, this time remixed by a who's who of way cool contemporary Japanese electronic brethren including DJ WADA, TAKASHI WATANABE (DJ Warp), TOSHIYUKI YASUDA (Roboo*Brazileira) and TOMI CHAIR. すごい。 TRACKLIST 1. Original Mix 2. DJ Wada remix 3. Toshiyuki Yasuda remix 4. Takashi Watanabe remix 5. Tomi Chair remix SAMPLE SOUNDS/BUY どうもありがとう。 http://www.junodownload.com/products/dry-fruit-made-in-japan-mixes/1613539-02/ SAMPLE FEEDBACK "Awesome as! Gonna chart it this month too, it's really good. That DJ Wada remix is off its tits!" Kultrun (Australia) "Nice package! Wicked DJ Wada remix!" Satoshi Fumi (Japan) "They're cool trax! I've enjoyed them. Maybe, I'll play some of them in my DJ time." Takeshi Oda (Japan) "Biggest track! This e.p makes my room 模様替え！And then I saw a U.F.O. in the sky!!" Shinji Tokida (Plaza Music, Japan)

Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira ROBOTA: ULTERIOR REMIX SELECTION [iF? Records - IF120] feat. remixes by INIGO KENNEDY . DAVE TARRIDA . PAUL BIRKEN . V1NZ . BEN MILL . TOSHIYUKI YASUDA . KULTRUN . DJ HI-SHOCK . LITTLE NOBODY . KODA OUT TODAY - CLICK HERE FOR SAMPLE SOUNDS OR PROFFER UP DOSH: http://www.junodownload.com/products/1615720-02.htm Remixes of the essential tune put together for us by Inigo Kennedy, Paul Birken, Toshiyuki Yasuda, Dave Tarrida, Ben Mill, V1NZ, Kultrun, Koda, Little Nobody and DJ Hi-Shock, plus the original mix by Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira that started it all – oh, and another cool cover by Marcin Markowski. Dedicated to the memory of Vinz Capuano (V1NZ). 1. Robota (Toshiyuki Yasuda remix) 2. Robota (Inigo Kennedy remix) 3. Robota (Dave Tarrida remix) 4. Robota (Ben Mill’s Tin Man remix) 5. Robota (Kultrun remix) 6. Robota (V1NZ remix) 7. Robota (DJ Hi-Shock vs Little Nobody remix) 8. Robota (Koda remix) 9. Robota (Paul Birken remix) 10. Robota (Original Mix) FEEDBACK FROM DJs/MUSICIANS + PEOPLE WE DIG: "Wow, wow, wow!!! As you may know I am a huge Inigo Kennedy fan... I really like the dark, textured ambience combined with the hard pumped bass grooves and complex crisp percussion. I love this one!!! I really do!!!" V1NZ (Elektrax/Proper N.Y.C, USA - thanks, Vinz) "Dave Tarrida's mix is lush as FUCK!!" Luke's Anger (Tigerbass/Don’t/Bonus Round, UK) "Killer, no filler [ben Mill's Tin Man Remix]. Dig the dub vibes, bro. Dave Tarrida's is a sick remix... got that dirty bass of dubstep with a bouncy techno edge, I reckon there'd be a few who'd dig that." Craig McWhinney ( Global Underground/Haul Music/Nightshade, Australia ) "Yeah I like Dave Tarrida's... heavy!!" Alec Storey / Al Tourettes (Phonica/Ostgut Ton/Bonus Round, UK) "The 'Robota' remixes are great. I'm particularly liking the Inigo Kennedy and Ben Mill remixes. Good stuff!" Anton Banks (The Vault radio show, USA) "Well, about this release I must say are all great tracks... a new way for music and I appreciate this! My favourite remix is absolutely Koda's one! Great dark, deep stuff! Electric and massive... cool stuff!" Claudio Masso (Elektrax/Hypnotic Room, Italy) "I am LOVIN’ that Little Nobody vs. DJ Hi-Shock remix – that is hench and it's totally flipping my wig around! And what a remix the Tarrida one is - OOOF!! You're a star for sending that...!" DJ Steve Found (Kick 106 Radio/Twisted Energy, UK) "This Inigo Kennedy remix is a killer!!" Koda (Elektrax/IF?, Australia) "Holy shit, this is fucking awesome. Epic work on getting [Dave] Tarrida to mix it!!! Real hop 'n' skip tune. I'm giving the hydraulics in my office chair a workout with the bounce. Damn straight this needs to be on vinyl. And everyone needs to own a copy!" Ehsan Gelsi (Bubble & Squeak/Smash Bang Records, Australia) "Yeah, Dave Tarrida's is a nice remix man!" Shin Nishimura (SCI+TEC/Plus Tokyo/Sleaze, Japan) "Loving the Dave Tarrida remix of 'Robota'... alien robotic techno!" Andrew Till (Psy-Harmonics, Australia) "Especially love Little Nobody vs. DJ Hi-Shock mix, and of course this massive one – DAVE TARRIDA. His remix is really awesome. This solid groove blows my mind!Thank you for sending me cool tracks!" Tatsuya Oe / Captain Funk (Sublime/AVEX, Japan) "Oh ho ho...Yep, Dave Tarrida's mix is good, mate - real club tune yeah and dynamic." Max Durante (Monotone/Hot Trax, Italy) "Little Nobody vs. DJ Hi-Shock... amazing!" DJ Ichitomi (TTAK, Japan) "Oh my!! This tune is going to be big! I love it, that sinister bassline sends shivers down my spine! Awesome, one of the best things Tarrida's done for a while imho. The Inigo Kennedy remix is a slammer! I'm a big fan of Surgeon, Regis, Female, DJ Boss, etc, so this was a nice surprise." DJ Mike Holmes (Bleep Radio/Recorded Delivery, UK) Tarrida's is ill man!! Love it!! Full support from me!" Roman Zawodny (F1 Recordings/Elektrax/Prozak, USA) "Very nice remix from Dave [Tarrida]!" Inigo Kennedy (Molecular/Missile/Asymmetric/Urban Substance, UK) "The Inigo Kennedy mix has nice glitchy sounds, reminding me of stuff similar to Apparat." Alkan (Android Muziq/Hypnotic Room, Australia) "Yeah, Dave's is sounding nice, and clubby too." Bill Youngman (Tresor/Scandinavia/Neue Heimat/Feinwerk, Germany) "What a nice baby! The Toshiyuki Yasuda remix is really a surprise egg, a little bit of all - fluffy, funky, jazzy, electric... 6:14 minutes of fun! Reminds me a little bit of some old Denki Groove tunes or something else. V1NZ's remix is typically Vinz: clear, metallic, infectious - not much more to say! The Paul Birken remix is great - nice old school acid flavour. I love that one! My favorite is the DJ Hi-Shock vs. Little Nobody remix - "here comes the robots" kickass bassline; straight, dark and evil!" Natascha van Dongen (Germany) "The Little Nobody & DJ Hi-Shock mix is so spacial and cavernous, like it should be dropped at a rave party for 10,000 people and make them crazy." Kana Masaki (TTAK/Hypnotic Room, Japan) "The Dave Tarrida remix is dope...!! That's exactly the kind’a sound I'm really into at the mo’!!" DJ Brewster B (3RRR FM, Australia) "Inigo Kennedy's is cool! Tuff! Love that percussion-like riff, and the effect on the original vox works a treat. Tarrida's is robofunk! Love it. Top quality mix. Love the energy and chaos of the Little Nobody vs. DJ Hi-Shock remix too; not sure what it is, probably the space, but something reminds me of Der Dritte Raum… obviously a bit tougher. Wunderbar!" Bitch Shift (Elektrax/IF?/Digiticed, Australia) Dave's remix is the BEST Robota remix I have heard, no kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW." DJ Hi-Shock (Elektrax/Central Station/Time Unlimited, Australia) "Little Nobody vs. DJ Hi-Shock mix is solid and banging." Hologram Hookers (Hypnotic Room/Afro Acid, UK) "Dave Tarrida's remix is a belter... one of the best I've heard yet!" E383 (Home Records/IF?/Hypnotic Room, UK) "This is awesome." Son Of Zev (Elektrax/EPTAS, Australia) "Inigo Kennedy mix drives me wild!" Akihiro Matsumoto (Jump Records, Japan) "The Dave Tarrida mix is really cool. VERY me! I was told that old school rave sounds and deep house are in vogue right now, and the Dave Tarrida remix is what I was picturing as an example of what I should be working on, great stuff!" Tony Irvine (Irvine Jump, 3PBS-FM, Australia) "That’s industrial with a physical feel!" Toshiyuki Yasuda (Pussyfoot/Megadolly/[PIAS] Recordings, Japan) "This Inigo Kennedy mix sounds really good! Thanks for sending this, the same with previous IF? stuff - this quality you send me is enough for me and there's no need to get better quality.” Marcin Markowski (Digital Sound Revolution, Poland) "The 'Robota' remixes are all pretty good, but by far my favourite is Toshiyuki Yasuda's... its so so cool! It goes absolutely mental - he-he!" Rysh Paprota Like the Little Nobody vs. DJ Hi-Shock one…" Alex Blanco (Thrive Records/Floorplay, UK) "Dave Tarrida remix - funktastic!" Dave Blakemore (Dead Channel, UK) "Little Nobody vs. DJ Hi-Shock mix is a good one! Sounds like The Terminator on a kill spree." s007ii / DJ subRoutine (Protonradio, Canada) "Yep. Dave Tarrida is good." Isnod (IF?, Australia)

Nice one, mateys!!

This baby is pressed up on VINYL and shipping this week: VARIOUS ARTISTS IF? LTD EDITION #1 feat. DAVE ANGEL / MIJK VAN DIJK / KULTRUN PRE-ORDER HERE THROUGH PRIME DIRECT (UK): http://www.primedirectdist.co.uk/product.php?productid=15596&cat=80&page=2 FEEDBACK/APPRAISAL: “Thanks for this quality package!” Ken Ishii (Japan) “Mijk Van Dijk can do no wrong – one of the finest producers in the business shows why hes a master with this funky/sexy remix.” Claude Young (USA/Japan) “Kultrun’s ‘Disquo’ remix is amazing – full support!” Wally Lopez (Spain) “Feeling this EP and will be supporting – best mix for me is Dave Angel's!” Trevor Rockcliffe (UK) “Mijk van Dijk's remix is a cool track, will immediately play on the weekend... I know I am repeating myself, but ‘Cocaine Speaking’ is mega: getting better with every time I listen to it.” Martin Landsky (Poker Flat, Berlin) “Loving Dave Angel's remix!” Shin Nishimura (Japan) “Mijk’s ’Cocaine Speaking’ has old school/new school vibes.” Nick Warren (UK) “I love the Dave Angel and Kultrun remixes. Massive techno sounds! Will play!” Satoshi Fumi (Japan) “This is great.” Paul Sidoli (Cosmonauts, UK) “I liked Dave Angel’s and Kultrun’s remixes very much. While both are pretty deep ones, the synth riffs are really used sophisticatedly. It's been a long while since I heard Dave Angel's production, but I'm glad to know he hasn't lost any creative delight.” Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk, Japan) “Dave Angel remix is sweet, nice one!” Craig McWhinney (Australia) “Most impressive – big, big release. Your label is on fire!” Kevin Collier (Audio Textures, UK) “I LOVE the Dave Angel remix of ‘Metropolis How’ and also I really like the ‘Cocaine Speaking’ remix – it has some nice Green Velvet-esque funk, and some classic percussions! Sweet.” V1NZ (USA) “That Dave Angel mix is great!” David Flores (Audio Injection, USA) “Great stuff – love the Dave Angel remix; I have his Rotation records here at home. Full support!” BCR Boys (UK) “Full support from me.” Luis Bonias (Spain) “Strong bassline, dark sound and good solid track, the Mijk van Dijk mix will work well in my sets.” DJ Monik (Costa Rica) “Dave's filter sound is nice and ‘Metropolis How?’ has a good atmosphere, but the Mijk van Dijk remix of ‘Cocaine Speaking’ is a FREAKY track! Awesome and great… I love it! Kultrun’s mix of ‘Disquo’ is a very groovy track based on the traditional house style, and I especially love the bass sound. The sampling from Loletta is very DJ-friendly; I can play it easy in my DJ sets!” Katsuhisa Toida (DJ Toida, Japan) “Superb remix collection this. The ‘Cocaine Speaking’ remix is top draw and consider this rinsed everywhere. Fine package. I am always honest and this EP really is good. 9/10.” Ed-Liner (UK) “The Dave Angel mix is mint!!!! Will be playing for sure. Mijk Van Dijk’s remix is cool for the clubs; the bassline hits you like a ton of bricks!!!!!” Roman Zawodny (USA) “I must say this is A GREAT ONE! Great sounds here! The remix of ‘Disquo’ by Kultrun and the remix of ‘Metropolis How?’ by Dave Angel are so simple and clean! Love the house imprint of these tracks (chords are my favourite always!) and the female voice in ‘Disquo’ with also this shakin' groove makes me dance right now, good job! These tracks will be played a lot for sure, mate, and charted on my upcoming July chart!” Claudio Masso (Italy) “Excellent stuff, the Dave Angel remix is ace!” Norman Chung “Fantastic all round release. Great vibes and spoons full of funk from all tracks. Mijk's ‘Cocaine Speaking’ remix with its elastic percussion and solo ditties gets me every time.” Ben Mill (Australia) “Wow, that’s fucking huge! All the remixes are sweet as, but Mijk’s remix of ‘Cocaine Speaking’ really really stands out for me, will be playing this for a while. Dave Angel as well… that’s an awesome package. Big congrats to Kultrun – well deserved IMO.” Rysh Paprota (Australia) “What a great great release – well done! Mijk Van Dijk's version of ‘Cocaine Speaking’ is the best to date.” Sebastian Bayne (Australia) “I like them all!! But my favorite is ‘Disquo’. I looove the Good Vibration sample! Thumbs up!” Natascha van Dongen (Germany) “Fucking lunacy, mate! Going with Kultrun’s remix of ‘Disquo’ here (a fave of mine anyway) – love how he has kept the pulse and flow, and his housey/atmospheric stabs and builds are superb.” Enclave (Australia) “I really like the feel of Dave Angel's mix.” Richard Maher (Australia) “[Cocaine Speaking is] ‘the single most infectious groove to land in our lap.” DJ Mag (UK) Also supported (and played) by DJ HI-SHOCK (Australia), KODA (Australia) and CUT BIT MOTORZ (Japan).

DEAD AGENDA. Chaos Theory. IF091 - RELEASE DATE 31 JULY 2010 The debut release by sterling British duo Mike Holmes and Dan Hultum. REMIXES BY PAUL BIRKEN * LITTLE NOBODY * ENCLAVE * CUT BIT MOTORZ * MARCIN MARKOWSKI * DEJECTED 1. Chaos Theory (Original Mix) 2. Chaos Theory (Paul Birken’s Surfin’ remix) 3. Chaos Theory (Enclave remix) 4. Chaos Theory (Little Nobody remix) 5. Chaos Theory (Cut Bit Motorz remix) 6. Chaos Theory (Dejected remix) 7. Chaos Theory (Krzysztof Jastrzębski & Marcin Markowski remix) Info + sounds here: http://www.junodownload.com/products/chaos-theory/1613538-02/ plus DEAD AGENDA INTERVIEW http://www.fun-in-the-murky.com/mt/2010/08/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-dead-agenda.html.

dictaphone? Plz explain >< Heh-heh... just one of these old babies: I used to use this for interviews with people over a decade ago, so I have lots of tapes of interesting music bods that I sample and rewind amidst sets. Keeps me amused, anyway.

Amen to that.

Woo-hoo!! Thanks, mates!!

Nobody reads properly - including me! Ahhh well.

I still play wax - along with CD-R, mp3s & dictaphone.

Unbelievable. Time for pirate DJing.

Lovely!

...doh! Sorry, matey! Noted.

]YES Tokyo DJ Set: Andrez Bergen 9 July 2010 "Andrez whirled the following songs together in a dizzy tizzy a few days ago. There are some unreleased sounds in there and some stuff that's already known and dug. I'll let you do the sorting." (FUN IN THE MURKY) TRACK-LIST 1. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira 'Robota' (Toshiyuki Yasuda remix) (IF?) 2. K. Alexi Shelby 'Jack the FN Track' (IF?) 3. Toshiyuki Yasuda 'Pink House' (Little Nobody remix) (Megadolly) 4. Luke's Anger 'Project Perk' (Donk Boys remix) (IF?) 5. Funk Gadget 'Blah Blah' (Patrick Pulsinger remix) (Slidebar) 6. Little Nobody 'Get Away From It All' (Dave Tarrida remix) (IF?) 7. Luke's Anger 'Sound Clash' (Dave Tarrida remix) (Elektrax) 8. Cut Bit Motorz 'Dry Fruit' (DJ Wada remix) (IF?) 9. Dead Agenda 'Chaos Theory' (Paul Birkin's Surfin' remix) (IF?) 10. Little Nobody 'Troll' (IF?) 11. Andrez Bergen 'Disquo' (Kultrun remix) (IF?) 12. Little Nobody 'Metropolis How?' (Gynoid Audio) 13. Dick Drone 'Wash' (IF?) 14. Luke's Anger 'Several Sizes Too Big' (Koda remix) IF? 15. Little Nobody 'Metropolis How?' (Ben Mill remix) IF? 16. Bitch Shift 'Evil From the Needle' (Alkan remix) IF? 17. Dead Agenda 'Chaos Theory' (Enclave remix) (IF?) 18. Andrez Bergen 'Nana Mouskouri's Spectacles' (Auricular) 19. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira 'Robota' (Inigo Kennedy remix) (IF?) 20. Little Nobody 'Compulsion' (Aux 88 remix) (KilleKill) 21. Little Nobody 'Compulsion' (Ben Pest remix) (IF?) 22. Luke's Anger 'Working Overtime' (Bonus Round) 23. Luke's Anger 'Bruce Wobbelaar' (Don't) Bit of a sozzled/hack mix last Friday @ YES in Setagaya... ye gods, what a crazy night! DOWNLOAD HERE http://www.fun-in-the-murky.com/mt/2010/07/yes-tokyo-dj-set-andrez-bergen.html

...done!

Oh wow - its own thread! Ta, C!

Ha Ha Ha - for sure, to bog down some brains: from dada to disco - a (brief) history of electronic music Originally published in Zebra magazine, Melbourne, in 1999. Too often lately I've read the simplifications, the blanket statements, the outrageously inaccurate assumptions -- that techno was started in Detroit, and that Kraftwerk are the godfathers of electronica. Sure, both that American city and the German band made vital inroads and helped to steer electronic-based music along a certain course, but the fact is that the foundations had already been laid decades before; a break from traditional instrumentation was engineered by the Dadaists as far back as 1916 and over the years since there's been an undercurrent determined to push the perimeters of sound iconoclasm and to invent new means through which to generate these sounds themselves. So there's always been an inexplicable link between electronic and experimental music, but the problem remains: how far back can we trace the ancestry of the machine-based sounds we take for granted towards the end of the 20th century? Let's flash-back here to the First World War, to Zurich in 1916, where a fledgling artistic group who got together at the Cabaret Voltaire formulated an ideal called 'dada' to identify their activities; the movement's spirit was best captured by Andre Breton who declared that 'Dada is a state of mind ... Dada is artistic free-thinking.' As such, the Dadaists set about turning 'normal' artistic conventions on their head and severed links with traditional concepts of art, including music, in order to create new and often anarchic forms. During the early 1920s in the USSR physicist Lev Sergeyevich Termen ñ a.k.a. Leon Theremin -- developed the synthetic music instrument that became known by his name, and in 1922 performed the world's first 'official' concert of electronic music at the Kremlin before an enthusiastic Lenin. The instrument Theremin developed has been called the first synthesiser -- it operated by using electrical fields which were tuned by the changes in distance between an antenna and the performer's hand -- but his own life was just as remarkable, reading like a trippy episode of "Melrose Place" intercut with "The Maltese Falcon". Over the next 15 years he taught Lenin how to use his instrument, he worked in the same studio with Einstein, and he reportedly spied on the Americans while living in New York City; after being abducted by the KGB and returned to his homeland, he spent time exiled in Siberia before returning for 'special duties' and developing the first wireless bug that was installed in the US embassy in Berlin during the Cold War. The Theremin instrument he originally developed so long ago has continued to be used here in the West, ingratiating itself with its eerie sound effects in B-grade horror and sci-fi films like "Forbidden Planet", in Hitchcock's "Spellbound" (1945), in television themes like "Dr Who" and "Dark Shadows", and in songs like "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". Rewind three decades. It's 1939, and the eve of the Second World War. While working with broadcast radio John Cage uses test records of pure frequency tones, which he plays on variable-speed turntables, in his early piece "Imaginary Landscape No. 1". In his subsequent effort, titled "Imaginary Landscape No. 2", Cage pioneers live electronic music by using among his sound sources an amplified coil of wire. But it was the arrival of the tape recorder, invented in 1935 yet not widely available until 1950, that transformed the practice of working with sounds in the studio. Tape presented the composer with a flexible, versatile means of recording and storing sounds; of changing them in pitch and rhythm by altering the play-back speed, of superimposing them, and of rearranging them in any order. Tape was, in effect, the first sampler. In 1948 Pierre Schaeffer, a sound technician working for Radio-diffusion-Television-Francais, extended earlier work with discs to produce several short studies in what he called 'musique concrete', and here tape came to the forefront. Each of his compositions was based upon sounds from a particular source, such as railway trains or the piano, and the recordings were transformed by playing them at different speeds, forwards or in reverse, isolating fragments and superimposing one sound over another, with the intention to free his material from its native associations. Concurrently, in Germany, Herbert Eimert established the leading European studio for electronic music in Koln and was soon joined by Karlheinz Stockhausen. In opposition to the principles of musique concrete, Eimert and Stockhausen set out to create what they called 'Elektronische Musik': music generated exclusively by electronic means, without using natural sources of sound. Stockhausen's "Studien" (1953-54), for example, was an attempt to mimic the sounds of an existing source, such as a piano, by superimposing the requisite pure frequencies obtained from oscillators, and alternatively by composing entirely new sounds by creating combinations different from those emitted by any natural instrument. Stockhausen's next venture was one of reconciliation. Composed in 1955-56, his "Gesang der Junglinge" sought to bring together Elektronische Musik and musique concrete by combining purely electronic sounds with natural ones -- those of a child's singing voice -- and the result was a fusion of electronic music with language. Meanwhile in the United States the film industry encouraged the new electronic music medium. Louis and Bebe Barron had set up a private electronic music studio in New York to provide suitably strange and eerie soundtracks for science fiction films like "Forbidden Planet" (1956), and it was in this studio that John Cage composed his "Williams Mix" (1952) that was a collage of all kinds of material, from purely electronic sounds to pre-existing music; from amplified 'small sounds' (Cage's own term for the barely audible) to city noises. From 1948 to 1954, therefore, the technical and aesthetic foundations of electronic music had been firmly established. In particular the advancing technology and experiments by people such as Cage, Schaeffer and Stockhausen had opened up four new approaches to musical composition: using natural and machine-made sounds, altering the sounds of traditional musical instruments, creating new sound material, and constructing overlaid collages. The concept of the collage harks back to the Dadaists, and it was only natural that electronic music coming from the experimental community would have a leaning towards similar theatrics and mixed-media orientations. This collage, or synthesis as it became known, was developed into the 1960s; mostly it was an attempt to bring together diverse styles within a single work, often using references -- or samples -- of music from the past to bring an ironic accentuation to the modern condition of abundant variety. It was also the means for some Dada-inspired experiments with sound. The recordings of Cage's "Variations IV" (1964) includes scraps of sampled music and speeches of different kinds, all willingly admitted in a free-for-all montage; Cage himself declared that the work was his own personification of the fact that 'nowadays everything happens at once'. Yet in spite of the technological and artistic advances of this time, by the first half of the 1960s it was apparent that electronic music had reach its limitations. Stockhausen's "Kontakte" (1958-60) -- which was composed for four-channel tape and generated a whole new world of sound from the simple basic material of electronic pulses -- was symptomatic of the restrictions being faced. It took two years to complete. Too many hours were necessarily spent in the studio, experimenting by trial and error with equipment never intended for musical composition. Many of these affected composers and electronic technicians therefore concerned themselves in the search for their own Holy Grail of the time: an effective electronic music synthesizer. The first such functional instrument was the RCA Synthesizer built by Harry Olsen and Herbert Belar -- a gargantuan assembly capable of producing and altering a wide variety of sounds -- but an invention of far wider significance came in 1964 when Robert Moog constructed the first sound devices responsive to control voltages. Moog developed the twin elements of a voltage-control oscillator and a voltage-control amplifier. Whereas previously it had been necessary for a composer to 'tune' his equipment by hand in order to obtain the desired pitch, volume, and so on, it was now possible for this to be done by electronic signals, thus increasing the speed and precision with which sounds could be created. This in turn paved the way for the development of an instrument for sound synthesis, and with the simultaneous miniaturization of electronics and the evolution of modular systems, a synthesizer could finally be produced. In 1966 synthesizers developed by Moog and Donald Buchla became commercially available, and in 1968 the release of Walter Carlos' "Switched On Bach" -- an album of music by Bach performed entirely on a Moog synthesizer -- brought the innovation to worldwide public attention. Carlos went on to produce the music for Stanley Kubrick's film "A Clockwork Orange" which, along with the electronic-inspired soundtrack to Kubrick's other film "2001: A Space Odyssey", confirmed the synthesizer's place and electronic music in general as an increasingly accessible and relevant medium. Until the mid 60s, however, electronic music experiments had been confined to the studio; as the decade drew to a close it began its fractious assimilation into popular culture and progressive music styles. Influenced by Stockhausen's work with his own ensemble on such compositions as "Kurzwellen" (1968) rock musicians like Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground and the Beatles began to make use of live electronic techniques and more experimental sound nuances, while with their album "Anthem Of The Sun" (1967-68) the Grateful Dead played on the development of electronic rock by drawing upon references of musique concrete in between songs. However in the first half of the 1970s there was a conscious shift away from the abstraction, discontinuity and non-harmoniousness that hallmarked the 60s. Assured, often sophisticated techniques of recording, and integrating electronic music into this process, was the hallmark of British bands like Yes, Roxy Music, the Matching Moles and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, yet in general the use of synthesizer was often relegated to instrumental imitation and nothing more definitive. Apart from the more adventurous offerings of Brian Eno and the German-based dabblings of Tangerine Dream, Neu, Can, and Kraftwerk, music in general had relegated machine-based sounds to a more subservient position. While punk's arrival in the mid '70s was a subversive way in which to combat the excesses of pomp rock, there was an equally defining and vital underground that surfaced in Britain under the moniker of industrial music. The principle protagonists in this movement were Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, bands as much influenced by Dada and the Beat generation writers as they were by Stockhausen, Schaeffer, Brian Eno, basic sound iconoclasm, the new electronic music technology coming through ... and James Brown. These bands had more in common with Germans like Kraftwerk, Can and Karlheinz Stockhausen than they did with anyone else in the UK, but they made an enormous impact upon the emerging 'hip' new British media cartel that included fledgling magazines like "The Face" and "NME". What made Cabaret Voltaire unique in their early records -- in particular "Mix Up" (1978) and "Voice Of America" (1979) -- was the way in which band members Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson created their own unique, sometimes obscure, soundscapes and grooves through the use of a collage of effected sound-sources and spliced-up tape loops; for their live shows the band integrated a multimedia approach that included slide-shows and political imagery, for an all-encompassing effect and an often deliberately heavy-handed message. There was a reason behind this apart from basic visual aesthetics: in 1983 Mallinder reflected that 'people react a lot more immediately to a visual image than to an audio one. Audio can be far more subconscious, more subliminal, but audio doesn't have the immediacy of the sense of sight.' Industrial music as an autonomous artistic putsch effectively sputtered to a halt around 1982, and bears very little resemblance to the music style calling itself 'industrial' that emerged later that decade and continues to be flogged like a dead horse. But the short-lived movement has had a phenomenal impact on the electronic music we take for granted twenty years later. Its impact on young British musicians, artists, designers and music journalists at the time was integral in the development of a better understanding and appreciation of experimental music and underground culture in general; its use of sampling techniques and a nontraditional approach to composition, along with the integration of new technology to do so, is a practice that has continued. You can hear its legacy in the soundscapes of artists like Coldcut, Jeff Mills, DJ Krush, Optical, Little Nobody, Steve Law, Aphex Twin, Black Lung, Atari Teenage Riot and Voiteck. Many of industrial's principle protagonists also helped to develop techno in its formative stages, and some still continue to make vital contributions. Although Throbbing Gristle split in 1981, founding member Genesis P-Orridge went on to form Psychic TV just as his cohorts Cosey Fanni Tutti and Peter Christopherson formed Chris & Cosey. Cabaret Voltaire, while still ostensibly together 25 years after they were formed, has seen Richard Kirk join up with Sheffield's Warp label to create some poignant electronic muzak albums and Stephen Mallinder now lives in Perth, moonlighting as a member of Sassi & Loco as well as the Ku-ling Brothers. Ollie Olsen, who was a member of pioneering local synthesizer outfit Whirlywirld in the late '70s then worked with experimental band Orchestra Of Skin & Bone in the first few years of the 1980s, went on to push the perimeters with No, found pop success with Max Q, and set himself up as one of Melbourne's first purist techno musicians as Third Eye; these days he still produces electronic sounds, he DJs around the traps, and he runs Psy-Harmonics. So what exactly is this music we call techno as the new millennium kicks into gear? It's a hybrid creature, a fusion of influences and interests, ideas and ideals, that has no specific original source; in its time it's drawn upon previous movements such as industrial, hip hop, house, funk, disco, soul, blues, punk, rock, salsa and Dada. It's been influenced not just by the cerebral experimental studio work crafted from the 1940s through to the 1960s, but also by B-grade 50s sci-fi film soundtracks. Meaningful monologues from "The Twilight Zone" sit comfortably beside news broadcasts appropriated from CNN; inane vocal samples are shaped to become just as pivotal a part of the music as the TB-303 bassline beneath. Contemporary electronic music is a realm in which culture, politics, history, entertainment, humour and technology can all sit alongside literally hundreds of diverse musical influences jammed together to create the whole; it takes stock from the world we live in and flashbacks to the past in order to create a new and ever-changing futurist entity. It's electronic music that derives its sounds from machines and its ideas from the environment, and it has the potential to restrict itself less than any other musical style in history. Amen to that.

Heh-heh... this got me motivated to track down this old article I did for Inpress mag in Melbourne back in 1999 on the same subject... It's up online (and laid-out really badly! Sorry!) on an old site of mine here: http://andrezbergen.tripod.com/id9.html