Separate _ Interview With Stormfield [Combat Recordings / Fausten]
What about your label, Combat Recordings.. And Stormfield? Have things been a bit quite lately, or just busy?
Yeah the quietness has been down to cash and time, both of which have been tight this year. There’s a few EPs and a full album due next year, from Ingen & Boris Noiz, Nonima, Kuoyah… 2014 is also the 10th anniversary for Combat so yeah, there will be something special 🙂
In regards to Stormfield.. There’s a few bits half-done which need work. I haven’t been that productive on my stuff this year to be honest. I started drumming lessons last week, hopefully that will give a different kind of input. The teacher says she normally deals with wannabe rockers so it’s a new challenge teaching someone from the electronic side of things. A friend has lent a Korg Wavedrum which will be interesting when fed into distortion.
Well.. enjoy the lessons Derek.
Just before we end things, would you mind taking us through some tracks from Combat or that you’ve been particularly proud to be involved with?
Sure..
ScanOne – Every 7th Bullet
This tune was good enough to make me go, “fuck it, let’s throw money and start a label!” Thus Combat was born. I’d known Jude from a few electro(nic) nights in London, he comes from an old hardcore background while I was into jungle and drum’n’bass, and we were both into electronica like 90’s Warp / Skam Records so we had a similar take on electro with preference for chunky drumbreaks, dark atmospherics and glitchy edits.
Cursor Miner – Carnivore (Milanese remix)
I was working in a psychiatric hospital at the time and sneaked out this promo to Mary Anne Hobbs, who made it tune of the week twice in a row, which is rare. Later getting Milanese, one of my production heroes to remix it, was icing on the cake.
Stormfield – Sea Ice (original)
One of the less known tracks off the Collapsing System EP this year, it’s a dub techno track but very slow at 113 (?) BPM. Not many DJs ended up playing it but Lucy from Stroboscopic Artefacts is one of them. It’s the combination of icy textures and atmospheres over the 10 mile deep sub bass. I rarely like straight-kick techno but this one was interesting enough to make into a finished track. There is a Nonima remix of this on the way.
Yeah.. Really love that one. Was definitely a favourite from that release.
Scorn – Gravel Bed
Mick Harris is one of my all time musical heroes, so I was very very happy when he said he was making some Scorn tracks for Combat. A couple of days later this landed in my inbox. There’s some unreleased remixes of Scorn which you’ll likely get to hear in 2014 😉
Anodyne – Empire of Dust
I got in contact with Colin after hearing Rob Hall include “Corrosion” in one of his legendary DJ mixes. A year later there were 3 of his releases on Combat. It was this track, and Empire of Glass, those majestic, epic mournful strings and rushing electro beats, which drove me to release the first EP.
Thanks for those! Ok.. We’re going to have to wrap it up.. so a few short questions to finish it off:
If you could go back in time, visit a person, place, situation or culture, what, when or who would it be & why?
Where do you get these questions from? 😀
My Head 😀
Saying that, I’d much like to see my nan again. I missed out her final years because I was chasing music and trying to hold on to an existence in England. Missed her by just an hour in 2004, she was still warm.
Favourite TV, or Radio show?
Haven’t had a TV for over 10 years, but Breaking Bad is really good – especially the final season. I’m avoiding all other shows in case of time suckage.
Radio, just bits here and there. Lots of mates do interesting shows but it’s difficult to listen in, as there’s not enough time spent making music as it is. Surgeon’s started a slot on Rinse, the tunes are quite good for biking.
What was your worst job ever?
Call centre, selling crap to pensioners who later got screwed by the company via standing order. Got the sack fairly quickly.
Describe your textbook perfect day:
A good routine day would involve training / music / biking.
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
Blimey. I don’t plan such things, who cares? Monty Python maybe. Or the Benny Hill theme? Funerals are only for those left behind, to reach some sort of consensus.
Who would win in a fight? The Real Ale Twats, or the Modular Twats?
Haha. Tough one. I’m pretty close to the London Modular guys and they’re really nice. I’m sure you will eventually come across twats in any area of specialty. Ale will outlast music gear though. After the apocalypse, someone somewhere will still be out there fermenting alcohol.
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Stormfield – Collapsing System EP
Music production and history are my biggest passions in life.
Though people often say that Techno is faceless and should be about the music blah, blah, blah.. I believe in the need to document the people and stories behind it. Techno is a very small world in reality and I think it needs a proper resource.
I hope that everyone who is interested in Techno finds this blog accessible in terms of the way that it is written. I personally prefer to hear the artists voice as loud as the music and never enjoy synopsised and pasteurised versions of old conversation; the sort that's peppered with the occasional quote here and there.
