After being rather quiet for a while there’s been a glut of releases on the Avionix site. Get over there for a new netlabel mix from Patrick Walker, a 3Carbine mp3 EP and the 3Carbine remix of Jakeone’s “Shake”.
Finally this compilation of tracks written between the release of Genetically Modified and early 2004 gets an airing. This time the formula is less rigid with tracks veering from electro to tech-house and then of course back to the trademark BSE techno. All tracks written and produced by Martin Brown.
The debut BSE album released at the end of 2000. This is techno without a doubt and varies from the uplifting to the purely brutal. Written and produced by Martin Brown and Daz Azemoon.
Barking Spider Electronics (BSE) was originally a collaboration between myself, MartinBSE, and fellow technohead and drinking buddy Daz Azemoon. We first met sometime towards the end of 1993 whilst studying electronics at Glasgow University but it wasn’t until a couple of years later that we discovered a mutual preference for machine generated repetitive beats. The next 3 years was spent going to techno nights and talking drunkenly about how we should start making our own tunes. A distinct lack of money with which to purchase even the most basic of kit meant our plans were put on hold until 1999 when a friend sold me his MC303 groovebox and Deep Bass 9 monosynth. Within a week we had written and recorded a 5 track demo and outgrown the capabilities of the MC303. And so the realisation that being involved in electronic music involves a continuous cycle of spending money on technotoys slowly dawned…
Over the next year we collaborated on several tracks as well as working on individual material which the other would then remix – there wasn’t much in the way of creative differences since we were finally doing what we had talked about for over half a decade – making banging techno! The combined result of our efforts was our debut album “Genetically Modifiedâ€. This first self released CD was compiled in the latter half of 2000 and featured 12 tracks of hard, gritty and at time acidic techno that didn’t drop below 140bpm until the final track – an ambient remix of a friends track that we stuck on there for reasons unknown. During the year we had a few tracks released on a friends CD-R label – these and the album were well received amongst our peers and we managed to shift a few copies through internet sites such as Peoplesound and mp3.com so we were happy – we hadn’t quite reached superstar status but at least a few people were enjoying our music – some of whom we didn’t even know!
By this stage I had relocated to Aberdeen and spent most of my free time working on new material, honing my production skills and occasionally trying my hand at styles other than straight techno. By the beginning of 2002 I was ready to take the BSE sound out live – fortunately this coincided with computers finally having the power to allow real time performance and the release of the first decent affordable Apple iBooks. Playing live had been a goal from the start since my djing abilities are dubious at best and, at the time, there wasn’t particularly many techno acts playing live on the Scottish scene. (Of course within a year or so every pill munching chump with a sample cd and a copy of Ableton Live was calling himself a live act but that’s progress for you!) In the interim period Daz’s involvement in the project had tailed off partially due to geography and partially due to more important matters such as finishing his PhD and keeping a roof over his head.
Over the next couple of years I gigged fairly regularly – usually at least 2 gigs a month – mostly in Glasgow which meant rushing down on the train with a rucksack of kit after a full weeks work. The fact that I insisted on writing a new set for each gig didn’t exactly make things easier either. As a consequence the workload from playing out meant that my studio output dropped to virtually nil. During this period the BSE track “Shing Twy (Where’s The Beef)” was featured on the cover CD of Computer Music Magazine. This lead to some work providing samples for a subsequent cover cd and some sound design work for CM/Muon Software.
In 2003 I also started playing out under my SCART Thug alter ego – a cross genre project encompassing breaks, down-tempo and junglist styles – basically all my output that didn’t fall into the dance floor techno remit of BSE. As 2004 progressed I starting gigging less and less due to a variety of reasons.
The follow-up to Genetically Modified finally appeared in 2005 under the title “Sleep Is For The Weekâ€. Being a compilation of tracks from over a four year period it was a more varied collection of tracks encompassing electro and even (shock horror) a bit of house music alongside the trademark BSE bass heavy 145bpm techno tracks. Both these albums are now available for free download from the BSE web site.
In 2006 I finally achieved something I had been wanting to do for a while by co-founding a label (Intonations) and releasing a compilation album featuring some of the many talented people on the Scottish techno scene that the wider populous may not be aware of. ‘Tilt’ as the CD was named featured the BSE track ‘Property’ which I regard as one of my best and it certainly does the damage on the dancefloor.
So what does 2007 hold for BSE? Well I’m not entirely sure but after a bit of a break I’m back writing new techno. I’m also hoping that Daz will find the time to contribute to a couple of tracks which is actually looking quite hopeful at the moment. I also have a couple of other collaborations and projects in the pipeline. In addition I’m involved in the running of electronic music web site/forum Miscreat which is needing a bit of work done to bring it up to date so I’m certainly not going to find myself with nothing to do!
I’ve finally got myself a blog which I’m going to try not leave to gather dust. I’ve also signed up for an a flickr account and a del.icio.us account to get a feel for all these fancy new web apps - maybe even finally get myself semi-organised…
I’ve also downloaded the new Flock web browser. It’s built on Firefox technology but is designed to integrate with all these new tools such as flickr, wordpress etc.
Links:-
Wordpress (blogging tool)
del.icio.us (online bookmarks)
Flock (web browser)
flickr (photo album)
I don’t tend to get too excited about clubs/gigs these days but this one has got me going. I’ve never made it to see Squarepusher before and last time I heard Luke Vibert playing out was 9 years ago so I’m definitely going to make it to this one. I heard the new Cassetteboy album at the weekend and whilst I wasn’t entirely concentrating on it, it sounded good. A top top line up!
Squarepusher (Warp) LIVE
Luke Vibert (Ninja Tune, Rephlex, Warp)
DJ Rephlex Records
Cassetteboy (Barrys Bootlegs, Antidote)
Bavin
Why-Fi
Eskrima & Numbers DJs in the Vic Bar.
Friday 25th November
Glasgow School of Art Students Association
10 till 3am
Advance tickets £14 plus booking fee.
Tickets available online from www.northsouthdivide.co.uk
or from Rubadub, Fopp, Monorail, Vic Bar .
You can hear a few of the new Cassette Boy tracks on the excellent audio blog The Pipe.
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