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Click here to listen to high quality audio loops Sutekh's own label www.context.fm |
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Auckland DATE: Sat 18th Oct VENUE: Moth, 5 O'Connell St, Above Honey, Downtown SUPPORT: Emma-jean, Melody, kndnsr, Um, Mike Gemmell
Limited tickets available soon from Crucial Records, Play Beautiful Music
Wellington DATE: Fri 17th Oct VENUE: Bar Bodega SUPPORT: Signer + others
Sutekh’s
cutting edge live grooves are renowned in both artistic and clubbing
circles worldwide. Having recorded for several of the worlds most
respected labels Sutekh has become a key scene leader in this evolutionary
style of music. His latest release on the legendary Souljazz Records
(UK) and his recent live album prove this to all those who weren't
already his fans; this is the next level in dance floor entertainment.
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Sutekh
has gone from an unhealthy obsession with the artist formerly known
as Prince to playing bad guitar in punk bands to DJ-ing. But for
most of his adult life the man, who's been described as a moody
minimal techno master, has been at the vanguard of this new musical
movement he calls "laptop techno". And he's played his
laptop - and DJed - everywhere from Belgrade to Barcelona, from
Zurich to Detroit. When he's playing in art galleries and festivals
(Sonar, Mutek), Sutekh performs textural sound experiments constructed
with otherworldly mixtures of synthetic and found sounds. And when
he's playing in clubs you can expect minimal dubbed out abstract
techno with plenty of deeply funky basslines and percussion grooves.
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As well as recording for several of the world’s most respected labels Sutekh’s tracks have also appeared on the ground breaking compilations: Groove Technology (K7) • DE9: Closer to the Edit - Ritchie Hawtin (Nova Mute) • Met@music (Force Inc) • Clicks and Cuts (Mille Plateaux) • Cocoon Club Ibiza (Cocoon) • Opensource.code (Source)
“After getting down and dirty with this, you'll never believe how boringly repetitive most 4/4 techno records really are.“
BBC
The boundaries of electronic music have blurred due to recent advances in technology and a new genre of music has developed over the past couple of years. Some fans call it "microsound", others call it "glitch", "lowercase", or "post digital". When it’s applied to the dancefloor it’s called “micro-house”, “click-techno”, “abstract-dub-tech-funk” or “minimal tek”.
Sutekh - aka Mr Seth Horvitz from San Francisco - is at the forefront of this new wave of music. Sutekh seeks to prove that techno music is about exploring new sounds and rhythms, experimenting with form and function beyond predictable, thumping beats - pure sonic experimentation with dancefloor structures.
Hot on the heels of his phenomenal Mille Plateaux LP, Sutekh drops another four tracks of taut, springy techno on Belief-Systems imprint Context. Nimble beats rebound while orbs of reverb weave wobbly tracers through the darkened space. "Filch," a lock-groove-like churner based on source material by Twerk, is the most experimental track here; the other three carve deep grooves of bass-heavy, beat-driven atmospherics. Yep, you need this.
Philip Sherburne XLR8R
This latest offering is what is commonly known as a "live mix" album. However, Horvitz being Horvitz, this isn't just some lousy back room club field recording of pre-programmed laptop beats with a few bits of crowd noise mixed in. This concept album was pieced together between "several real-time studio sessions" as he traveled back and forth between Barcelona and San Francisco. Rather than simply commit everything to hard disk and return to re-edit, save and repeat, Horvitz set up his row of synths and powerbooks and simply let rip. The results, as you might imagine, are pretty fantastic.
Acting very much as a mix DJ would when playing a blistering set in front of several thousand people (Horvitz, sadly performed with only his presumably bemused cat in attendance), he flips back and forth between texture after texure, building loops of sonic detritus up and then crashing them down without skipping a beat. And what beats. Powerful 4/4 kicks accentuate deeply funky basslines that will have your head nodding in no time.
Modalities change, tones and key signatures are flung around with reckless abandon, but the beats remain pinsharp and precise throughout...you might even recognize one of his old 12"s buried deep in there. However, while the rhythm textures here are impressive enough, the most interesting elements are lying underneath the surface. Mixing several elements live, one on top of another, Horvitz creates an electric soup that constantly changes shape, colour and depth, yet never gets so frothy that it spills out of the bowl.
Superb.
Reviewer: Olli Siebelt - BBC
Sutekh - Hands On Feet EP (Soul Jazz Records)
New release on the extraordinarily eclectic Soul Jazz label is from San Francisco native Sutekh. And anyone familiar with his releases on the likes of Force Inc, Mile Plateaux and Source will know what to expect - the unexpected!
'Mouth Party' is top shelf glitchy house music (or micro-house as I believe the kids are calling it). While there may be similarities with the likes of Akufen, this track owes more to the Soundhack/Soundstream releases with the vocal cut-ups, tight bass and groovy drums making this a supremely funky tune. However the second track, 'Scraping Nails', didn't really work for me, seeming like it was trying just a bit too hard to be different. On the flip, 'Boulez Toes' gets the groove going once again with crisp drum production, deep sub-bass sounds and some weird effects being the main components. A fine track to drop as the crowd starts to warm up. The EP's rounded off with the warm and dreamy 'Is There A Place'. A minimal track consisting of floating chords coupled with high-pitched lead sounds and a simple bassline, this track rounds a good EP off in fine style.
Sean Keltie - miscreat
Periods Make Sense (Mille Plateaux)
At first listen you get the feeling its experimental electronic music...very atmospheric and ambient, but youre soon introduced to driving techno 4.4 beats and ticks that suggest there is more than meets the ear. There is! If you like detail, Sutekh goes out of his way to pay attention to the smallest parts and portions of his tracks almost to an ideal sense that each sound has its own life. While some tracks may hint towards a Detroit influence, there is no shortage of inventiveness and creativity...even dementia at times. A very satisfying listen which (to me) defies any textual categorization outside of electronic. Unlike other electronic artists, which you can usually let lie in the background while you do something else, periods.makes.sense will oddly devour your attention and trouble your subconscious.
4dance-music.com
presents
“Sutekh has quickly become one
of the key scene leaders in the
world of experimental techno”
BBC
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Since
1997, Sutekh has released consistently inconsistent electronic music
on local and international labels Force Inc./Mille Plateaux, Source,
Background, Plug Research, Cytrax/Delay, Tektite, and his own Context.
Manipulating computers, samplers, synthesizers, ping pong tables,
Scrabble pieces, and found sounds, he has created everything from
minimal house and techno to dense, dissonant noise collage.
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