The Bunker presents Demdike Stare, Andy Stott, Miles, Sean Canty, Peter Van Hoesen, and Eric Cloutier at Public Assembly
$20
Modern Love is a Manchester based imprint, run by the folks behind Boomkat. As longtime fans of the label, we are very pleased to see how much attention and praise they've received in the past couple years, due in large part to monster releases from Demdike Stare and Andy Stott. Tonight in the front room, we present a very special eight hour Modern Love showcase. We are leaving it up to Miles, Andy, and Sean to pace the night however they see fit, and are encouraging them to get as weird as they want to. At some point there will definitely be live sets from Demdike Stare, Andy Stott, and Miles. Miles and Sean will be digging into their jaw-dropping record collections to provide DJ sets before, during, and after the live sets. The Modern Love crew has also promised some surprise collaborations and presentation of other projects, known and unknown. In short, this is going to be a very special night for fans of Modern Love, and not something that you're going to see repeated anywhere anytime soon.
Demdike Stare is the Manchester, UK based duo of DJ Sean Canty (the dedicated digger behind the Haxan event series and a member of the hugely respected Finders Keepers crew) and dub producer Miles Whittaker (also known as Modern Love's MLZ or as 0.5 of Pendle Coven). They say their project "tracks the sonic ley lines of cult soundtracks, Arabesque dubs and psychometric ephemera with a proper Lancastrian twist." The name Demdike is taken from the alias of Elizabeth Southern who was the ringleader of the Pendle Witches. Accused of three murders, she died in prison in 1622 before coming to trial.
The duo almost instantly achieved acclaim worldwide with their stunning 2009 debut album "Symbiosis" on Modern Love. It's combination of bass music, dub, world music influences and minimal techno felt right at the cutting edge of sound in the moment but was merely the start of what has rapidly evolved into a sonic world and visual sensibility all their own. Over the course of 2010, visuals started to appear connected to the project, often taken from rare obscure British horror films, then the duo delivered three extended EPs - "Forest of Evil", "Liberation Through Hearing" and "Voices of Dust". These records expanded their sound palette including more elements of sound design, drones, Arabic and African influences and a concerted effort to create the sonic equivalent of magick rituals. The mysterious elements of these releases were enhanced by artwork from Andy Votel. Around this time in June 2010, the duo also made their first appearance in New York at The Bunker. At the start of 2011 all three were compiled together with bonus tracks to form the three CD sophomore album "Triptych".
Demdike Stare ended 2011 and started 2012 which four EPs - "Chrysanthe", "Violetta", "Rose" and "Iris". These have been compiled into the double CD release that is their third album, "Elemental", that has seen the duo further refine their sound palette. It could easily be argued that they are now at the peak of their powers as producers with a unique approach to music that crosses boundaries and genres. There's is the sound of something unusual emerging from the darkness, neither totally abstract, nor totally dance floor their music remains free of constraints and truly experimental in the best sense of the word. People have compared them to Coil, called them Pagan digi-dub and said that the ambience their live show evoked was a dank cave under a Lancashire moor. But despite this inherent darkness their sound also contains elements that are very beautiful. - (Demdike Stare bio by Gamall Awad for Backspin/Unsound)
Andy Stott has been one of the main artists on Modern Love since 2005. He has risen from an unknown artist to a celebrated figure in the electronic music world very quickly since his debut 12" was released. Unlike many of his peers, Andy's sound is not so easy to pin down. While much of his early work was exceptional dub techno, his ability to cover so many sonic territories with ease helps to explain why his "Merciless" and "Unknown Exception" albums became such classics. Things really seemed to gel for Andy in 2011 with two extended EPs that were eventually compiled onto an album: "We Stay Together" and "Passed Me By". Here, Stott presented an extremely narcotic, screwed take on his sound that no one really saw coming. This is a very unique music that speaks for itself, so we recommend following the links below to check it out for yourself. Do yourself a bigger favor, and pay for the vinyl, CD, or FLAC versions, as this is music that really should be heard in full quality. Tonight will be Andy's first performance in New York City since we presented his debut at our Mutek Preview back in 2009.
We are very excited to bring Peter Van Hoesen for his fourth appearance at The Bunker. Peter is one of the artists who really defined techno for us over the past few years, and it's doubtful that a single recent edition of The Bunker has gone by where at least one of his tracks wasn't played. Peter is pretty prolific with pumping out amazing tunes and podcasts, and in many ways his music really speaks for itself, so check out some of his sets in the links provided below. Peter is now considered a resident at the Labyrinth festival in Japan, where he will be appearing for the fifth time in row in September 2012. He also regularly appears at Berghain in Berlin and has a residency for his label, Time to Express, at the legendary Fuse club in his hometown of Brussels. Peter has a long past of making more abstract electronic music, has crushed The Bunker with his powerful techno sets three times already, and played amazing New Beat sets at both Kiss & Tell and 2011's Wierd/No Fun/The Bunker collaboration. His eight hour set at The Bunker Limited in February was quite simply one of the best DJ sets we've ever heard. We have good reason to keep inviting Peter back.