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Noah Pred is the consummate professional behind many exciting projects coming from USA’s west coast and his native Canada in the realm of electronic music. We are very fortunate to host Noah in three of his guises this weekend: as himself the DJ, as a certified Ableton instructor and a live-set as Shen. The Shen project began in 2004 as an outlet for Noah’s creative non 4/4 sonic painting and we will be pleased to host him for the Sunday event as we all bask in another successful year. Shen is about to drop a new EP on Muti music (out of SF) and we’re all eager to hear how the sound has developed. Having said that, for a taste of his broad palette in his Shen project mode, we suggest his 2006 full length: Outlines. Before we catch the Shen Project, we will hear him as a DJ on Thursday March 18, 2010. That night he will showcase why he’s been an in demand techno and house DJ for over ten years. With gigs across the globe and numerous releases via his Thoughtless Music digital imprint, we are very pleased to catch this rising star in between his busy touring schedule and constant search for new talent. We caught up with Noah, amid his typical flurry of activity, in anticipation of his Thursday March 18, 2010 performance for Forward Festival. You can scoop your tickets right now

88: We looked up Shen and found several definitions in wikipedia which may or may not have been why you picked the name. Could you go through how Shen refers to your IDM/downtempo project?

NP: Well, Mandarin Chinese is a highly interpretive language, susceptible to all kinds of inflection and tonal variance – so one word as it appears in romanized English may have several meanings to go with each of its contextual pronunciations. I took Shen from a study of Taoist texts that used it to refer to highly refined energy. In the studio I’m trying to harness my creative energy and refine it as much as I can, so the name was intended to reflect that process.

88: Many consider the chill out room to be a passing fad from 90s raves. Tell me about your ideal Shen listener. Is he/she really chilling out so to speak or do you want an attentive listener? When you are booked as Shen what is the context of your performance?

NP: Everything I do is influenced, to some degree, by the dancefloor – and even though I aim to make this music completely engaging for a solo headphone type of experience, I also believe it should sound really good loud. Personally, I don’t relate to “chill-out” culture at all, but I’m not focused so much on what room the music is going to get played in. I just want to make quality music that means something to people at the end of the day.

88: Your Shen performance for our festival will be on a Sunday with (we hope) many smiling people. Tell me about what those listeners can expect and how you will vibe off their energy.

NP: I’ll definitely be dropping some business from the new EP on Muti, Lost Hopes, along with some secret collaborations I’ve been working on – and some brand new material as well. It’ll be my first time playing a lot of this stuff out, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes down amongst the open minds at Forward.

This year we are presenting five very unique nights. March 18 will feature your brand of forward-thinking tech-house before a typically high energy, knowledgeable crowd. Will you play any new productions?

NP: Absolutely – I’ve got a few new remixes up my sleeve and lots of fresh unreleased stuff scheduled for release this year on Thoughtless.

88: You are one of only a few certified Ableton instructors. On Saturday March 20th, you will be hosting a Ableton session as part of the festival. What should attendees expect?

NP: We’ll be looking under the hood at some of the hidden features in Live that can really make the software do some heavy lifting for you – from non-destructive sound design methods to creating generative instruments and sequences.

88: You had a very busy 2009 with Thoughtless and touring. Tell us where you see 2010? Any more releases from Limacon?

Funny you should ask – Limaçon’s next release on Thoughtless will be a remix of 88 favorite KiloWatts, due out late spring/early summer. We’ve got lots of amazing music lined up for the label this year, and we’ll definitely be taking things to the next level with it. I hope to get some time in the studio myself by the second half of this year to work on a number of new techno releases, and some fresh IDM projects I look forward to unveiling as I phase out the Shen project.

88: How do you determine what Thoughtless releases? I’m sure there are multiple factors, but when you hear a new artist do your ears say “Yes, Noah this music could go in your set” or do you think more how an audience would react?

NP: That’s a tough question. A big aim for Thoughtless was to adhere to an aesthetic continuity without being bound by stylistic restrictions – in other words, I’m less concerned about genre-types and more about over all quality: production-wise, groove-wise, feeling-wise. So we’ve released all-out techno party tracks, deeper non-dancefloor stuff, luscious tech-house, intricate dubstep, a really wide swath – all the while, I believe, remaining true to the Thoughtless sound. I think it’s easy for labels these days to fall into the trap of marketability, basing their signings on whether or not it’ll chart on Beatport that week – but I think that ultimately, if you’re trying to create a memorable identity, it’s important to look beyond what’s hot right this moment and stay true to a bigger vision. We get a pile of demos every week, and while there are certain qualities I look for, there’s nothing close to a formula. If I love it, I love it – that’s the bottom line choosing music for Thoughtless.

88: You are centered in Toronto, grew up in Vancouver, and are a fixture at Mutek, having lived in Montreal as well. Tell us about Canada and why you still call it home.

NP: Despite being big, cold and for the most part empty – it’s quite easy to live up here. It’s easy to focus on doing what you love, and find like minds with supportive interests. Toronto in particular is a very multi-cultural city with quite a lot going on. The huge electronic music scene here boasts deep roots in Detroit and Chicago, steeped in decades of midwest techno history. People really know their music here and it’s pretty friendly too. Regardless of where I might end up, Canada will always feel like home.

the mix

Tracklist:
01. Haze – Purple Haze [Blaq]
02. Cassino & Laben – From Which The Future [Particles]
03. Haze – The Met [Blaq]
04. Mild Bang – My Favorite Part Of The House [Blaq]
05. Ludovic Vendi – Enviendo (Pablo Bolivar Remix) [Sonat]
06. Joshua Iz – Deep Space Pressure [Vizual]
07. Cassino & Laben – Come Back To Mar Del Plata [Particles]
08. Cio D’Or – Mohair (True Blue) [Prologue]
09. Limaçon – Sans Rip [Thoughtless]
10. Alexi Delano & Cari Lekebusch – Revelation [H-Productions]
11. Tim Xavier & Camea – Beaded Sweat [Clink]
12. Todd Bodine – Annual Rings [Highgrade]
13. Marc Antona – Hawah [Micro-Fibres]
14. Untold – Sweat [Hotflush]
15. FaltyDL – Encompass [Planet Mu]

You will never forget where you were the night of June 25, 2010. The news of MJ’s passing struck a raw nerve and part of you felt suddenly alone. Then you looked down in your pocket to discover a folded up sheet of paper. It was a ticket to the Minus Showcase put on by 88 that night. A coy grin rose on your face, and you realized there is another reason why you danced. As you arrived at MUSE you noticed a floppy, dark haired twenty something headbanging as he geared up the room for Richie’s descent. He played an elegant and thoughtful set though you gave him little thought in light of the minus label founder to follow.

Well we will always remember that night and every performance by the Minus crew.  To note, that floppy haired guy was Argentinian native Barem and we want you to know more about him. We asked him a series of questions he really liked and we are excited to share with you. Before hand we suggest you take a listen to his set from Robert Johnson from summer of last year. Yeah he is going on last and we hope you will agree that he should play for a long time.

the mix

The interview.

88: Tell us a bit about how you mentally stayed with becoming a DJ. Did you know from an early age while still in rock bands or was there a moment at which you said “yes, i was born for this purpose”?

Barem: I didn’t know at an early age. In fact, I don’t think I had any idea of what I wanted to do with my life until I was 18 or so. I was playing guitar back then, and I had a few band projects with friends, but nothing serious. The idea of becoming a DJ started around that time, after I did my first steps in electronic music production. Another friend of mine taught me how to mix and eventually we started playing together in small home parties. Finally he decided to become a film director and I kept Djing and producing by myself.
There was never a moment where I said ”yes, I was born for this”… In fact, I’m still not sure about that hahaha!

88: You could consider yourself a trained musician. Tell us what might separate a trained musician from Argentina from musicians developing in other areas of the world. Are there certain musicians ingrained in you by music professors or fellow artists?

Barem: I don’t consider myself a trained musician. I only studied music for 3 years and that’s not a lot of time. I even forced myself to stop thinking musically as an electronic music producer, ’cause my knowledge was pretty basic and therefore my ideas were rather predictable and boring. Working in a more intuitive way gave me a lot better results than thinking in structures I knew. I might have some kind of sense of harmony from those years though, but that’s it.

The difference I see, is that in South America is very hard to make a living out of being a musician. It’s a bit tricky, ’cause that helps to have more passion, work harder and sometimes even come out with amazing ideas, but it also makes a lot of talented people quit, find a more secure path and keep music only as a hobby.

88: Tell us about your first contact with Richie. In interviews during this time frame he was very excited to travel to that part of the world. Did you have a role in that excitement because of your already well received production work?

Barem: Yeah, he was very excited to play and open new minds in South America. It was also a time where the scene in Argentina was huge but all progressive and trance, which was also an interesting challenge for him. Most techno orientated DJs here owe him a lot, ’cause he opened a lot of doors for everybody after promoters saw that it could work.
When we met the first time, he was already playing my tracks and he didn’t know I was from Buenos Aires. So I guess he was excited not because of me in particular, but because of realizing that he was also inspiring people here and getting something back that he could use to keep doing what he does.

88: What were your thoughts as a local DJ, that Richie would come to that part of the world?

Barem: It was awesome! It was around the time where I was really hoping somebody to start bringing techno / minimal artists. So when they announced he was coming, the little techno scene here got super happy and after he killed it at that festival, everything changed. It’s amazing to think on how many artists from Argentina started releasing music all over the place around a year or two after that.

88: Minus seems to be a label which creates a career for its musicians. Do you agree or not agree?

Barem: It definitely does. In my case I kind of had a career already but minus gave a lot of shape to it. It makes sense too, ’cause people like Hawtin or Villalobos are opinion leaders, and when they point at any newcomer, the general crowd automatically pays attention to them.
Minus also has a very nice structure with people at the office helping artists develop their careers since the beginning, plus a lot of showcases around the world that help all new artists to be part of big things at an early stage, and if you can deal with the pressure, it saves you a lot of time and makes you learn very fast.

88: Do you see DJing as your career or more as a musician who DJs to pay the bills?

Barem: I am a DJ, no question. I enjoy playing music a lot more than making music. I also enjoy making music but it’s not something I can do all the time. I sometimes spend half a year without even making a single loop. Some people think of me as a producer, ’cause when I started touring I was only playing LIVE. But I did it ’cause if promoters were booking me for the music I was releasing, then it was fair to play that music at their parties.
I switched back to only DJing after two years, when promoters started booking me not only for the music I was making, but because they trusted already on me and anything I would do.

88: Since 2005 and becoming a minus artist you have taken on a furious schedule. Tell us about how this hectic schedule affects your production.

Barem: It’s pretty tough to sit down and make music with this kind of schedule, even more for people like me, who like to make music, but is not an addiction. I sometimes force myself to do it, but the more I think about it, the more I believe it happens when it happens, and that if I’m playing a lot now and not making a lot of music, is also for a reason.

88: There are many analog sounds in your production. Do you have a preference for your sound?

Barem: Thanks for the compliment, but I actually never ever owned a piece of hardware. I’m 100% digital producer. I do use samples taken from analog instruments and machines, but that’s it. Since over a year I started using more and more analog sounds, but it also has to do with my own sound, that changed into a more organic direction.

88: Your style is very languid, percussive and rich in nuances. Do you see this sound as a result of years on the road or something you have desired all along?

Barem: I always try not to think about it, and just do what I feel at a certain moment. I have a lot more experience now and of course it helps, but I just try to keep that knowledge somewhere at the back of my brain and hope it to come out naturally without calculating or analyzing too much.

88: Do you ever see yourself taking your music in an entirely new direction?

Barem: It might happen. But as I said before, I’m trying not to think about it and let things happen when I feel they should happen. For example, in my last minus ep (Kolimar) I included a deep house track. It was my first deep house track ever and I just made it ’cause I felt like making a deep house track, not thinking on minus or anything else. It was interesting to see how in the end minus supported me on that change and to see that the general crowd also liked it, specially DJs who were not playing any minus tracks and were sort of against the label.

88: Tell us about your favorite track you’ve created and why? Do others share this sentiment or is the track personal?

Barem: I think Suki is my favorite. It’s super simple. I made it with a very slow desktop PC and a bad home stereo, it only has around 8 or 9 sounds, and it’s just a loop. It’s hard to believe today how something that simple started the great career I have today. I was nobody back then and it became a hit. Tons of Djs were playing it, it was my first track Richie played, and the most important, it was named after a person who helped me and supported me a lot in my personal and professional life. Today I’m not surprised at all that it was her track the one who made everything else happen. Musically I would maybe pick another one, but for me, Suki will always be the most important.

88: Finally, you played a wonderful set for us in July 2009. Anything new as you headline Forward Festival?

Barem: I’ve been on holidays for a few months now, so I’m full of energy and excited to go back on tour! Musically there are no big changes, techno, tech house, minimal, house. I always go around those styles. But I’m very happy to be back in DC. I got amazing feedback last time and I hope to Dj a lot better this time. I think I will, ’cause last time the set was short and I was very tired from flying all the way from Berlin that same day, plus 2hs at queues at the airport after I landed and almost 2hs stuck in traffic. You guys gotta do something about customs and traffic… Both of them are very annoying! hahaha!

But don’t worry. I come by train from NYC to avoid those things this time, so I’ll be in a great mood!

If you missed last year’s kick-off to FORWARD, the This Is How We Do party, then you undoubtedly heard about it. Two sound systems, deco, late night antics, crazy space, Killer music. Expect the same for ROUND TWO this year at Aqua where, in conjunction with our friends at District Ignition, we will be featuring the sound that swept DC by storm this year – Techno. You’ve probably heard of the infamous warehouse parties Richie Hawtin threw back in the day in Detroit. Well, try to imagine that circa 2010 with Hawtin’s Minus label protege Barem (Argentina) paired with the currently blowing up label director for Thoughtless Noah Pred (Toronto), TEC residents Measax + Docindo and District Ignition’s DJ 2rip vs Ramz ; with Second sound acid lounge sounds provided with Detroit transplants and Baltimore based label owners/collective More-or-Less and DI’s Christauff. We’re coming correct with 2 Proper Sound Systems and Killer Lighting/Decor/Visual Projections. The night will be long, come prepared, no training wheels allowed. Expect the unexpected…that’s what will be delivered – This Is How We Do Techno!

You meet Dan and Mike (the duo of Aligning Minds) and you love them as genuine and kind people. You hear their music and you are suddenly in the presence of a new, exciting talent we are lucky to have in this area. These guys have been on countless of our bills so we are sold as to their talents. Unbeknownst to many of you, these guys keep a steady intercontinental touring schedule and work furiously from their woodsheds in suburban VA. The interview and mix below is again from the great people at FWD.

They grace us with their presence Friday, March 19, 2010 for the Forward Festival Kickoff.

Tickets for the whole festival are available here

Here is the interview

Here is the mix

Settle in there friends.  Two weeks of near seamless promotion is on its way.  Up first is an introduction to Jamie [Kilo]Watts.  If you were in earshot of any “X” party over the last few years this name should ring a bell. When not a performer, his mark was all over the event as his free spirited style of electronic music interpretation was very well connected to the theme of “X”. Some projects took on techno shapes like his well respected Voodeux guise, others are an interpretation we happily associate with his name. We could add more words but the fine folks at FWD entertainment do a fine job for us.

here is FWD’s introduction to KiloWatts

Interested? Yeah we were too. Wonder what he sounds like? Here is a mix for those lucky ones at FWD. Enjoy and remember you can experience KiloWatts for yourself on March 17, 2010 at Day One of Forward Fest 3.

Tickets are on sale here

So you thought you had St. Patty’s day plans. You were going to go drink beer then watch it come back out about the same color several hours later after you decide Jameson is the new water. Does that still appeal to you? If so, more power to ya. We at the 88 have a different and a more sober agenda. Specifically we implore you to take a long look at yourself and decide what type of music fan you really are. See, that Dropkick Murphys song lost its appeal now didn’t it………….didn’t it.

We digress and say simply that the Forward Fest jumped one day forward this year and with the full weekend pass a paltry 45 dollars for nearly 72 hours of music, events, and media for you to palette, you have little say in the matter.

You will have to attend.

We enlisted some of our favorites this year to help kick off the festival right. And kicking it off are three dear friends to us since 88’s inception. The Great Mundane, Kilowatts and City Rain. Since we held the last X party back in Twenty Aught Nine, these three have been furiously touring and prepping new music to drop on your St. Patty’s Day celebration. The visual entertainment will be on par if not superior to those of the X parties as a fine group of artists including local favorite David London. As for the venue it is quickly becoming one of our new faves. If you joined us for the Untold party you will know the atmosphere is unlike anywhere else in the DC area.

So really you can choose the column A, the night of amazing music, great friends and stunning visuals or column B, talking over the un-elegantly wasted, listening to a CDR folk mix on repeat, and pay at least seven or eight times the cost of our party (nine times if you include the cab ride from Clinton, MD in the morning). Yeah it’s time to play the artsy card this year. We promise an awesome night and great start to the newly expanded Forward Festival 2010!

For those of you out and about this past weekend you may have found one of these around the bar area or if near Graham Jackson it appeared inside your trousers. To review that is Theo Parrish in the upper left hand corner. We have many other artists to promote the heck out of before what we call March Madness begins. So get out a magnifying glass and read the names. It’s not the last flyer, nor the pre flyer. Introductory flier? Yep that works. Forward Festival 2010 go!

mnml ssgs did it again as so many times before. The masked techno producer/crusader offers up an eclectic mix of Thom Yorke, handclaps, Detroit, and many sounds in between. Good for repeat listens. This reviewer is on his second and its 8:17 AM.

It takes less than a glance through a San Francisco LoveFest photo album to realize the city and its EDM scene have a different vibe than other scenes. To the East Coast/Midwest observer it may involve more freedom based on liberal self expression and a collective emotive response rather than the rough edged, DIY East Coast Loft Party feel. Perhaps not a torchbearer for the SF dayglo love “parade”, Christopher Lee, aka Limacon, has a sound which carries that freedom of expression and emotion not always evident in this area. Christopher’s ardent love of EDM began in 1995 during the San Francisco stop of the Orb on their Orbus Terrarum tour. From then until now he followed in the good Doctor Patterson’s footsteps with analog instruments to bring his kitchen sink mentality for sounds traveling in his ears.

By 2003, Christopher took his diverse sonic palette headlong into production. His well developed ear served him well as he began releasing tracks through labels up and down the left coast. These records fell into the right hands, notably, Steve Bug who released several of Limacon’s now most popular tracks. In the last four years, Limacon has groomed his sound to the Poker Flat label and most will readily call him a member of the well established German minimal tech house crowd. Whether this label is a blessing or burden remains to be seen. The only certain matter which remains is his talent. A talent which shines heavily on his debut full length for Thoughtless records.

At 10 songs and 75 minutes, Tarry Not is at first blush a collection of dance tracks conveniently placed onto one “album”. Upon actual listen, however, Limacon’s well developed water tight groove makes the album an excellent listen in the club or at home. In particular, these tracks reveal themselves not as “jigsaw puzzle pieces” but rather the work of a master of subtlety. To that end tracks build and release, catered to big rooms and expensive sounds systems which will exploit all the interesting tiny facets of these songs.

Take for example “Nudge”. Set as equal parts pulsing stomp and flickering light groove these two parts each interplay over the course of nine minutes. The flickering light becomes a vibrant staccato trading glistens and crescendoes as the pulsing stomp remains. The effect of these various flourishes challenges much of Trentemoeller’s early tech house output.

What Limacon captures best about the minimal tradition is the cold accuracy of the “less is more beat”. 6/10ths of the album has the type of reverb laden groove shared with other poker flat and minus cohorts. Namely Mr. Marc Houle. But whereas Marc will the head tweaking curve in his rhythm (see generally “Bay of Figs”) Limacon keeps his focus on the groove. For example, “Which One” keeps the weighted snares quick around the minimal thump which features a nice almost 70 bpm breakdown, particularly relevant in this techno-dubstep age.

The common thread to this album is its dark, minimal tech house groove. Within this common thread are many highlights, in particular, Shaken, Aye Wolf and Labels. These peak time tracks act like many of its German counterparts, namely tweaking and jarring the listener whether sitting comfortably at home or still wandering through the club at daylight. To that end, Limacon’s well hewned sound is something the DC area if not this side of the country anxiously wait to hear. With a great focused sound, we welcome Christopher and his talents this coming Thursday January 14, 2010.

Thoughtless Music presents…

beatport

beatport add’l link

The kind folks at minimal sausages decided to start the business part of 2010 with a hearty chunk of the new NY House. Who better than Mr. Levon Vincent to carry the mixing duties.

Enjoy it here