Josiah Fontenot - Unseen Forces (Harmonious Discord)

Harmonious Discord staple Josiah Fontenot (AKA El Natured, JB Fontenot) has a knack for creating wide reaching projects that display a precision for the foundational aspects of dance music with a propensity for boundary pushing. Recently Josiah has been busy with projects on imprints like Denied Music and Colour and Pitch. His productions have the city of Houston, TX, clamoring to find out more about this talented and mysterious artist. On remix duties are Signal Deluxe, who bring a seasoned tenure to the project, and multi-faceted Dallas, TX, artist Wanza Dover (Blixaboy, Black Dots, and Jack Dover). Wanz features his rough and rumble alias Jack Dover, giving listeners a comprehensive variety.

“Unseen Forces” starts with dulcet chimes and disorienting effects. Growing steadily, synthesizer elements begin to collide with dusty drum machine patterns. The track progresses into abject calamity, with distorted acid lines and circuit bent squeals. Signal Deluxe muddies the waters keeping subtlety at the forefront. Their remix widens the sonic landscape and plays tricks in the ears of the listener, instilling a bit of confused delight amid a playful mixture of elements.

“New Paranoia” rattles nerves with expertly executed musical framing. Wrought with tension and growing in complexity this tune introduces a fever to the dance floor that can only be followed with more well-tempered weirdness.

Picking up the pace, “Distant Ally” sits squarely between a techno banger and an electro spectacle. Synthesizer placement and construction are remnant of early electro recordings, but the drum progression is all techno. As with the rest of the project a hint of acid permeates, giving the desired fluidity that only a TB-303 can provide. For the remix, Jack Dover brings a Detroit discipline with big drums, looped-crescendos, and playful percussion.

This fall the Harmonious Discord camp is falling for the weirdness with upcoming features that continue to challenge ears and excite the senses.

Spettro (Get Physical Music) – “I get goose bumps listening to Unseen Forces. The chord progressions and groove are amazing!”
Nick Warren (The Soundgarden) – “Unseen Forces is dope!”
Salah Sadeq (The Crate Radioshow) – “I like the release, and nice work by Signal Deluxe.”
Steve ‘Griffo’ Griffiths (Freak Da Funk radio show) – “Brutal stuff! ‘New Paranoia’ is my fave so far … dirty acid workout! ‘Distant Ally’ brings to mind Dave Clarke’s Reese inspired Red series.”
Snooba (Radio Panik) – “Yeah Acid!”
Henderick AKA Thelonious Funk (Thelonious Funk Sessions) – “Liking the original productions and the Jack Dover mix.”
James Kidd (Thoughtless Music) – “Gorgeous synth tone on Unseen Forces. Both mixes are good.”
Lunacybot (FNOOB Techno Radio) – “New Paranoia is saucy as hell.”
Lcaise (Tanztone Records) – “Signal Deluxe mix for me. Nice minimal house trip.”
Taigo Onez (Bang Le’ Dex Radio Show) – “This is lovely. Signal Deluxe Remix is a sure fire cut for me. Great body of work on the whole EP.”

Available Now From: Beatport, Traxsource, iTunes, And Spotify.

Gilligan Moss - What Happened? (AMF Records)

What Happened? That’s the name of Gilligan Moss’s new EP and it’s also a question that’s worth answering. In the three years since the release of their debut Ceremonial – which was followed up with a delectable buffet of remixes for Tegan and Sara, Glass Animals, and other notables – original songwriter and producer Evan has been joined by Ben, a childhood friend and musician who has brought a new dimension into the electronic outfit.

The two share a similar Venn diagram of music: one that moves from early forays into the likes of Outkast and UGK, through to Radiohead and back out the other end into electronic luminaries Daft Punk, Four Tet, and DJ Koze, with groups like Animal Collective and Caribou somewhere in the middle. On paper, those selections sound like – and they are – a diverse mix. But they’re also a good representation of the Gilligan Moss sound: a smorgasbord of propulsive club music, experimental pop songwriting, and trippy ambience, all spread across a foundation of electronic music.

Carrying on in the grand tradition of electronic music, What Happened? features guest vocalists and samples pulled from years of crate-digging. For the guest vocalists, British singer Betsy features on “Heartbeats”, with her vocals pitched down, giving the track a gloriously Cher-like effect.  Meanwhile a mystery British band were involved with “Want U So Bad” while a friend – Ross, who is doing a PHD in ethnomusicology in London and is part of a group called Burhou – joined in on closing track “Movement”.

As a collection of songs, What Happened? brilliantly showcases Evan and Ben’s ability to move between sounds, tapping into the synapses of many a different brain and drawing an inclusive circle upon which anyone can enter. They make music for the club, the house parties, the long-drives in cars and the solo listens in headphones on early commutes or late night sojourns on a metropolitan transport system. The place where the music is played doesn’t strictly matter. What makes this new record from Gilligan Moss such an interesting, special prospect is the way it moves between those scenarios and the experiences people have within them.

Gilligan Moss have just been tapped to support Chromeo on selected upcoming tour dates, so be on the look-out for an opportunity to hear What Happened? live.

Rory Hoy (Howlin’ Records) – “Really cool release with some great tunes.”
Daz-I-Kue (Future Soul Records) – “I really like Want U So Bad.”
Double-D (Funky Fresh Radio Show) – “Fever is outstanding.”
Tony H (Viva Recordings) – “What Happened? Is for me. I love the vibes on that one.”
DJ Mark Cooper (Bedford Falls Players) – “Fabulous!”
Chris Udoh (Tigerhook) – “These tracks are dope!”
Dr. Best (Radio Z 95.8 Nuremberg) – “All in all a solid release from Gilligan Moss. My favorites: "Heartbeats" (feat. Betsy), "What Happened" and "Movement" (feat. Ross).”
Cherokee (Cherry Global Radio Show, Australia) – “This EP is awesome! All tracks are spectacular.”
Hober Mallow (Mighty Reel, Sydney) – “Cool and varies EP, realling liking Fever and Movement.”
Jon Fugler (XLNT radio show / Fluke) – “Some lovely moments here. Outstanding production on some wonderfully memorable tunes.”

Available Now From: Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, And Deezer.

Interview: Gone Beyond on the Creation of 'Notes From The Underground'

Seasoned hip hop producers Gone Beyond and Mumbles have issued an album for their ten-years-in-the-making project, Notes From The Underground. Borne out of their participation in a 2007 concert series titled The Pravda, the project saw the producers incorporating the works of Stalin-era Russian composers into their beats. An artistic commentary on the ability of the human spirit to overcome oppression, the album was recently released by Los Angeles imprint The Content Label, with listeners entranced — and made introspective — by the seamless fusion of old and new.

Curious about the process and inspirations behind this release, we sent some questions to Gone Beyond and he graciously provided us with much detail on the project. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.

Had you heard any of this Russian music before this project? What were your first impressions?

Gone Beyond: My first encounter with Russian classical music as an artist began in the ‘90s when I sampled Charles Mingus’s “All the Things You C#” for a record I produced in 1998 called Dabadawikidumdum. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it had borrowed the main theme of Rachmaninov’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C#”. But the real education came through the research we embarked upon for Notes From The Underground. We spent an extensive period seeking out and sifting through the majority of works from Stalin-era Russian composers, including the lesser-known pieces and variations. During this process, I feel I was a bit more musically capable of understanding and appreciating the brilliance, deep emotive expression, and general musical genius that went into each of these expressive compositions, not to mention a better appreciation for the conductors and musicians playing these complex, heart wrenching, and fluid compositions.

Was the idea of the project — working with these classical pieces — intimidating at all?

Gone Beyond: We embarked upon the project from an artistic and historical angle. Our goal was to take a snapshot of the emotional state, expressed in the music, which directly related to the social distress and political ruin of the Soviet Union under Stalin. We wanted to paint that picture in an accessible way for a modern audience, that may otherwise have little connection with Russian classical music, and weave samples and motifs together in a way that classical aficionados would also understand and appreciate the points of reference. There is an intensity to the majority of the original compositions, which if listened to on repeat for hours upon hours, for months and years, seats you vicariously in the emotional state the composers were experiencing. In that respect, it was very challenging being a medium to that channel this.

What I do find intimidating is the potential for history to repeat itself. The life circumstances of these composers, ruled by an authoritarian dictator who called dissenting press “the enemy of the people,” who controlled the unchecked propaganda of The Pravda, and the genocide that took place didn’t happen overnight. It was never our intention for this music to have any current socio-political relevance, and the fact that it does is intimidating and alarming to me. The heartbreaking sense of turmoil, disparity, and the strength it takes to overcome such social hardships through endurance, art, and expression was a major impetus for the composers who lived under the shadow of Stalin, and that fortitude is seemingly becoming more relevant.

Working so intimately with the compositions stirred up an internal process, similar to how an actor may become affected by a particular role they play off-screen. I connected with the composers and the music in a way I would have likely never connected with if we hadn’t approached this project the way we did. Overall, the foreboding and ominous grit with subtle hints towards hope and resolve feels more relevant now than it did ten years ago.

Did you approach Notes From The Underground differently from your previous joint releases?

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Gone Beyond: Yes. Originally, the majority of the music was created specifically for a live performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for a week-long event titled The Pravda: The Shadow Of Stalin in 2007. The theme was centered around the music Of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and the impact Stalin had on the composers' lives and music. We included Rachmaninov on the album because although he had left the Soviet Union for America, he was never able to return to Russia due to war and chaos. There was a limited time frame to create tracks for the performance, and the theme was clearly defined. We tailored the music for the performance, to be accompanied by visuals, imagery and political references pointing towards events endured under The Shadow Of Stalin. The process was a little different than a traditional collaboration where you lock down in the studio and create a record.

The other unique and unusual aspect to Notes from the Underground was that most of the music was revisited and finished ten years after we had started it. When we finalized the concept for a commercial release with Dday One and The Content Label we picked up on where we left off. We spent much of 2017 completing the album, creating several new tracks and breathing new life into older mixes. It was a fun challenge keeping everything consistent while trying to incorporate a more modern mixing and mastering palette.

It’s been an educational, gratifying and healthy challenge bringing this project to light, and we feel it is a valuable release for our times.

What is the meaning behind the title Notes From The Underground?

Gone Beyond: The project was named after the famous Russian existential novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky — considered to be one of the first existential novels and a famous piece of Russian literature. It marked the beginning of the modernist movement, up there with Nietzsche, Freud’s Three Theories of Neurosis, and Kafka’s Metamorphosis. The entire novel revolves around a narcissistic, self-inflated and self-loathing bereft man, struggling with his toxic past as a bureaucrat, unable to stop humiliating himself and embarrassing others. He realizes he’s trapped in a prison of his own design.

Did you learn any new or unexpected methods or techniques by working with classical compositions? Is there anything from the experience you now apply to your work?

Gone Beyond: Any project with this approach takes an unusual amount of groundwork, finding passages and motifs that are naturally in the same key, scale, and tempo. For Notes from the Underground, we worked loosely in slip mode while editing the breaks, rather than having the timing rigidly quantized within a grid. A lot of the drum patterns were edited manually with subtle changes in timing over a 16-32 bar sequence, to keep them feeling more lively and less static. I also used trigger software on the drum breaks to layer subharmonics and transient accents. Most notably, we started a PDF word file with samples and compositions that were in the same key. Our approach has always been to find samples that fit together naturally with little alterations to the original musical expression and layer them to create a new tapestry/composition. Notes from the Underground has many many samples from various compositions and records woven together on each song, and we hope that beat diggers and classical aficionados alike will be able to appreciate and recognize when a particular motif appears. I feel this is the hidden alchemy on the album. We also had a friend, classically trained violinist Ben Beames, overdub subtle layers as well towards the end of the arrangements.

Beyond techniques, I feel every genre continues to enrich my understanding of music and composition. As artists we inherently emulate and integrate that which touches us, to some degree. I have found a deeper understanding of harmonic structure, dynamics, and tempo through observing classical form, working with it in a hands-on way. Rachmaninov was a master at delicately utilizing deceptive cadence, balanced with refrain in his harmonic progressions, particularly in his piano and cello sonatas. Shostakovich was unapologetically raw and visceral. There aren’t many composers who can hold a bold state of tension like he could and still keep a symphonic piece tangible. Prokofiev was a master of motifs and was able to convey storytelling through his compositions as on Romeo and Juliet, Alexander Nevsky, and his beautiful sonatas. I believe I will always be influenced to some degree by the honest and unveiled expression exemplified by these composers.

What was the audience like at the performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall? Were there beat-heads, or classical music enthusiasts, or an even mix of both? If both, how did each react to the music? Did they have different attitudes to it?

Gone Beyond: The audience, as I recall, was a mixture of both groups but felt more like an audience one might expect at a world-class concert hall than a dance party. The L.A. Philharmonic hosted the event, so I think a lot of classical aficionados were present out of both support and curiosity. Most people were wearing dress attire, but the stage lights were so bright I honestly could n’t see how people were reacting. It was a bit intimidating knowing some very prolific musicians and artists were present. The Walt Disney Concert hall is a premier classical music venue, so I am thankful that Cut Chemist gave us the opportunity to be there. We didn’t get hit with any tomatoes and received extended applause after our performance, so I’m assuming the music was well received well enough by many. I was able to catch the other performers Cut Chemist, Amon Tobin, DJ Spooky, J-Rocc, and Peanut Butter Wolf from the audience perspective, and it was good vibes. I’ve played a lot of shows in the past, and It undoubtedly remains one of the most surreal.

Has this project made you want to tackle any other composers or styles of music that you might not have considered before? In light of this project, what ‘out of left field’ style of music, artist, or composer would you love to remix?

Gone Beyond: Having been a record collector for several decades, my musical taste is always morphing, growing and changing. Often one obscure style of music leads me into another exploration, carried forward by some common narrative.

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The last 12 years or so, during the inception of Notes from the Underground, we were digging for jazz-fusion/psych and prog rock. Most of the drum breaks and additional samples on Notes from the Underground came from '70s fusion/ rock records, which give the album its rhythmic character. Russian classical music opened my ears up to dynamics, space, and subtlety, which eventually drew me towards more minimal psychedelic space music. Groups like Popol Vuh, Imaginations of Light, The Cosmic Jokers, and Sensations Fix come to mind while reflecting on the early discoveries. These groups led me to explore even more exotic experimental electronic tape obscurities from the '70s and '80s New Age era.

I’ve now been exploring both tapes and vinyl in this loosely defined genre for the past eight years or so. Much of what I find is previously undiscovered, so that is always exciting! I do feel that each in-depth musical exploration, whether it's Russian classical, the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane, or Strata East releases, or dense, heady progressive rock like Dun-Eros, all leave an imprint that becomes a part of my compositional grab bag.

For the last 11 years I have continued to digitize and organize my entire vinyl and tape collection as a loop library, a process that started with Notes From The Underground In 2006. I now have 6000 records broken down into potential loops, organizing the loops within folders on drives arranged by tonic key and relative BPM. The source material is now so vast, and readily accessible that the sky is the limit as to what sounds can be explored.

Russian Classical compositions opened my ears up to the potential and power in classical music as a form, and also, how the space between notes and their delivery can be as meaningful and profound as the note itself, similar to how a painter or photographer uses negative space. Western classical music is a powerful tool for self-inquiry and poignant, emotive expression. While I can’t define or pinpoint what exact fusion I will deliver in the future, I can say for sure there will be a subtle imprint of every artist/genre that has made an impression on me along the way. Or, perhaps I will end up remixing John Cage's "4′33"" for my next project, that would also be a logical progression after these past years of exploring minimal music (hahaha). Time will tell.

Notes From The Underground is out now on The Content Label.

Various Artists - fortunea 10 (forTunea)

Austrian underground electronic imprint fortunea celebrates four years and ten releases with fortunea 10, a double 12” release featuring an octet of rising producers from the label family. fortunea has been pushing the deeper side of electronic dance music from Viennese and Upper Austrian talent and — as this compilation attests — this scene is thriving and deserving of dance floor attention.

Jon Gravy (Step Back Trax) opens the release with Prescription-influenced “Soul Groove,” followed by Peletronic’s deep, stabby, and appropriately named “Raw Culture.” Klaus Benedek (Piston, TNZBR) hypnotically ramps things up with “The Power Of Sweat” and HANZO (Club Celeste) presents “Veni Vide,” a chuggy late night wonder. The second half begins with “Do It Over” by Alex Kolodziej (Soul Shift, Czak Recordings) which is a funky bass and sax-led number, and is followed by Roman Rauch & Precious K. together as Twinpeaks (Secret Crunch Records, Janefondas) with “Here To Stay”, a track that will delightfully transport the nightclub back in time. LP & Johann Destroy are next with the acidy “Wax Mining,” and Lee Stevens (Luv Shack Records) closes out this top notch compilation with a sunny and chilled deep house tune titled “Magharibi.”

fortunea 10 was mastered by Patrick Pulsinger and the vinyl is limited to 300 copies.

Dutchican Soul (Strictly Rhythm) – “Here To Stay and Magharibi are my favorites here.”
Rise Ashen (Balanced Records) – “Very nice sounds here. Looking forward to absorbing this and spreading to the dancefloor.”
Edground (Grooveland Music) – “Very nice release, great tracks here.”
Black Mighty Wax (Irma Records) – “There’s a lot to play here. I’ll be a fan of forTunea from now on.”
Fernando (Redux Records) – “Raw Culture sound very good.”
Pat Lezizmo (Conya Records) – “Great package with real house cuts. I’m digging the Peletronic track a lot.”
Sean-Michael Yoder (Ibiza Voice) – “Nice compilation, cool label.”
Daryl Dee (The Chewb Radio Station) – “Top work guys! What a selection, full support.”
Hober Mallow (Might Reel, Sydney) – “Classy sounds right through. There's a soul and energy to these I really like, and it's hard to find. Thanks for the beautiful music.”
DJ Osric (Black and Blue Show) – “Oh this is just wonderful. Must have been tough narrowing the field down to 8 but what a selection! A job well done and more reason why the fortunea imprint will continue to make big strides.”

Available Now From: Beatport, Traxsource, Spotify, And Apple Music.

Limited edition 2x12” Vinyl available from: Bandcamp.