Intrusion

Really torn about this one.  Truly one of my favorite artists of all time (and that's saying a lot), Steven Hitchell, under his Intrusion moniker (along with Variant, the elusive cv313 and his association with ES and DC), has released some of my favorite tracks of recent years.

Not only was his Seduction Of Silence one of the best releases of this century, his reworkings of other well known tracks from the above mentioned back catalogue is amazing.  Whereas Rod Modell brings the "Basic Channel" sound and, more recently, those deep atmospherics lurking in the background, Hitchell brings out the "soul" from the analogue.

Together, the two make amazing music.  But, when left to their own musings, the differences in their styles become clear.  Hitchell brings the "dub" element in its essence and has a way of making the music get deep and, dare I say it, emotional.

This is a sampling of some of the output graced with his deft touch.  As much as I hate to give his stuff away, I also know that once you get your ears around these you'll get it and understand just how good and diverse he really is at his craft.  However, the reality is that in order for artists like him to continue we need to put our money where our ears are and show true support (check out my collection on my discogs page and you'll see I practice what I preach). 

Echospace has a slew of releases dropping recently (including an upcoming announcement regarding DEMF) and this is hopefully a sign of a productive 2013.  They keep evolving and changing the game where others are often content to play it safe and follow.

I really wanted to do a continuous mix of the tracks below, an ultra deep set, but don't have the software or, more importantly, the time.  

Get your headphones out (make sure there is a good bass response) and go swimming.  Deep, deep stuff.

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Spectral Network - Defragment (2006)

For fans of Rod Modell's Incense & Blacklight (and the whole DeepChord sound, for that matter), you will find yourself swimming in familiar terrain.

The tracks "Aloeswood" and "Ultraviolet World" were previously released as "Part 8" and "Part 9", respectively, on Spectral Network's Defragment: Part 7-10.  "Aloeswood" is an edited version of "Part 8".

A bit of background information on these releases:

Featuring 10 tracks and over 75 minutes of new material on 3 vinyl releases, this is the first new official Deepchord production in four years.

The concept for these releases began after Sickinger wrote some tracks and sent them over to Ruxpin for collaboration on a new Spectral Network album.

After Ruxpin did some remixing and reconstruction, Sickinger sent them over to Rod Modell, founder of Deepchord, for further processing. Rod went in the studio and manipulated the tracks to the extreme and gave them the infamous Deepchord treatment that he is so widely known for.

Defragment was the result and it is now being released as a Spectral Network project.

OCTAL 04 - Defragment: Part 1-3: Part1//Part2

OCTAL 05 - Defragment: Part 4-6: Part1//Part2

OCTAL 06 - Defragment: Part 7-10: Part1//Part2

For the realization of this project, Spectral Network was:

Rod Modell: Sequencing, processing, recording, atmospheres, treatments.

Sickinger: Atmospheres, samples, treatments, MPC.

Ruxpin: Atmospheres, samples, treatments.

An interesting album, if you listen to each part consecutively you can almost sense the development from straight up bouncing techno and its evolution into Rod's fascination with what is happening behind, beneath and around the beats.

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Soultek - Talking Shopcast 02 (2009)

Right up there with the RA.153 mix from Intrusion (aka Steven Hitchell), this is a podcast under Hitchell's Soultek moniker right around the time their archives would burst. 

Soultek was Hitchell's working monitor but this would take a back seat to the echospace [detroit] label and Hitchell's other projects.

The essence of the RA.153 mix can be found here but this one has some pleasant surprises.

A welcome addition to anyone's collection.

Try

An interview with Steven and the tracklisting can be found here:

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P.S.  In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan and loyal supporter.

The one artist/label who genuinely revived in me a passion for music that had been lying dormant for years.

Intrusion ‎– RA.153 (320 kbps) (2009)

About a year or so ago, right in the midst of a slew of releases from the echospace [detroit] label  (on which I invested silly amounts of cash) that were driven by demand from folks on a discogs dub techno forum this upgrade was dropped, also shared by the label.

If you haven't heard this mix, it's one of the standouts in the series and is perhaps the best introduction to the dub techno sound.

Originally issued at 128 kbps, here's the scoop (from the label) on this rip:

"I took it right from [the] hard drive...and converted it from an AIFF to a 320 MP3 using Pro Tools, I don't think there is a better way."

May just be dub techno's Goa Mix, this style of music at its peak as it veered off into new directions leaving imitators in the dust.

Here

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Variant - The Setting Sun (2008)

Steven Hitchell (aka Intrusion aka Soultek aka Phase90 aka 1/2 of Echospace and cv313) veers a logical progression from his usual dub tech sound and wanders more into ambient space.

Written and produced by Steven Hitchell. Recording of a late night storm captured in the early months of winter in Berlin, Germany and during a train ride to Narita Airport, Japan. All music recorded using a various range of Microphone's, Portable Beta Recorder's, Emu, Linn and sequential samplers and vintage analog equipment. All recorded onto reel to reel base tape. No computer involved.

Maintaining his trademark style of working and reworking using analog equipment and mixing in field recordings, the listener is taken on a journey deeper and deeper into space where the sound slowly builds and becomes the listener's silence.

Simply amazing. One to listen to on repeat.

This is the original EP which was released as an mp3 only file containing three tracks, one of which clocks in at over 50 minutes. It is now unavailable.

This was replaced on the CD edition by several other tracks for a different exploration of this style of sound.

Even the mp3 version available now chops the track "Falling Stars" to a little over 40 minutes.

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