The Air Texture series returns, this time inviting Rrose and Silent Servant to curate the seventh release. The Air Texture compilation series, the core project of label, asks two producers to collaborate on a combined release. Typically the two are connected in some way through past projects. The only rules are no rules – focus on finding music that isn’t just straight ahead club music. Within this approach, the series has presented a diverse array of music on the edges of experimental and dance – and always unreleased new music.
Rrose is the latest incarnation of Seth Horvitz, an interdisciplinary artist from California (now residing in London) whose 20+ year history weaves in and out of both dance music culture and academic circles.
The work of Seth Horvitz focuses on the limits of perception and the idiosyncrasies of machines, and the Rrose project focuses these ideas into an immersive and noisy, yet highly detailed form of techno meant to move the mind and body in equal measures. On stage, Rrose often stands in the shadows, going by he and she interchangeably (Rrose’s name and image allude to Duchamp’s female alter-ego) – an implied interrogation of gender norms and artistry in techno circles.
Currently residing in Los Angeles, Silent Servant, Juan Mendez, was instrumental in the reboot of the legendary Sandwell District label and the Jealous God label with Regis and James Ruskin.
His DJ and live sets are another matter of inventiveness. The superfluous eliminated, Silent Servant has, for years, been rewiring the minds and moving the bodies of those seeking the most meaningful and potent energies that electronic music has to offer.
Both individuals are old friends and collaborators going back to the 1990s. Juan’s early label Cytrax released one of Seth’s first records under his Sutekh moniker. In 1998, they went on their first tour of Germany together with other artists from California. When asking the artists on their process of selection, Rrose states: “I selected a group of artists that would reflect both the dancefloor and experimental/avant-garde side of my influences. I wanted to see if I could make a compilation that sounded as cohesive as an album, but with contributions from a diverse range of artists. I asked the artists to focus on “sound, space, and drones” over easily identifiable “beats” and “songs” – with the intention of pushing the techno/dancefloor artists out of their comfort zones.”
Silent Servant conveys “The choices on this compilation were based on people that I respect on all levels. It’s a very mixed bag and I have a personal connection to each one of these people, and they are all people I knew would have something interesting to say. I feel grateful for the opportunity to have brought all of these people’s art together for this project.”
Featuring unreleased tracks from underground talent including Anthony Child (Surgeon), Ron Morelli, Laurel Halo, Octo Octa, Phase Fatale, Luke Slater, Function, as well as Rrose and Silent Servant and legends Laetitia Sonami and Charlemagne Palestine.
“Art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time” Alan Clay Hutchings
Electronic music is an important part of the contemporary art conversation, in many ways different: pure, non visible, outside the gallery format. Each Air Texture release is paired with a known contemporary artist to draw parallels – to make the connections. For Air Texture VII they chose Charlotte Posenenske (1930–1985), a German artist associated with the minimalist movement who predominantly worked in sculpture. Posenenske created a series of sculptures that explored systems and structures derived from mass production and standardization.
Release Date: 15th February 2020
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Track List:
CD1: Rrose
01. Anthony Child – Forced Compliance Behavior, Decision-Making And Effort
02. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe – 8th Continent in 5 Dimensions
03. Maggi Payne- In the Night Sky
04. Lucrecia Dalt – Raw Pyrit
05. Rrose and James Fei – For Bass Clarinet 8.97 (Rrose Version)
06. Ron Morelli – Psychic Harms of Economic Deprivation
07. Laurel Halo – Dies Ist Ein
08. Octo Octa – Hallway Visions
09. Abul Mogard- Stumbling Oscillations
10. AGF – HUM-iliTY
11. Laetitia Sonami – Migration 1978 (excerpt)
12. Charlemagne Palestine – drruuhhnnn innn duhh mooooohhnnn
CD2: Silent Servant
01. Nen – 4R3
02. Luke Slater – When It Twists
03. Maŕa – Rebellion
04. Not Waving – Human Disfunction
05. Pod Blotz – Volatile Stillness
06. Silent Servant – New World
07. JS Aurelius – Complex Spectral Necr0scillator
08. Id Meridian – Guilty and Pure
09. DVA DAMAS – Dance Song (This Is Not A)
10. Collin Gorman Weiland -Cathodic Heart
11. Phase Fatale – Nightmare in LA
12. Hive Mind – Golden Digest
13. June and An-i – Afterlife
14. Function – Zahlensender (ssb)
Cover photo: (Charlotte Posenenske, Vierkantrohre Serie DW, 1967-2016)
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