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A selection of DJ-style mixes built in Ableton Live between 2005 and 2010, under the aliases Paul Autonomic and Mr. Bump. Misunderstood liner notes from a earlier WARP Records compilation left me with the impression that people were making DJ mixes on computers. They weren’t (then), but I ran with it because it meant I could work with both vinyl and digital, and push the mix in ways that you couldn’t on turntables.
These sets are mainly focused on sounds coming from UK dancefloors and pirate radio during that time. (The outlier is Vibration Sympathique, a low-end drone and dark ambient set.) Two of these were included in the Blogariddims podcast, a series of 50 mixes produced by music bloggers around the world.
Vibration Sympathique
Paul Jasen
(2010)
A 40-minute, sub-centric mix produced to accompany a talk at the 2010 edition of Artengine’s Electric Fields / Champs Électriques festival. So much discussion about bass focuses on dancefloor material, so this mix goes the other direction, collecting a series of low-frequency investigations into industrial and earthly hum, pure tones, pipe organs, peculiarities of bodily resonance, and overlapping fictions of sound and signal. Listen loud.
Click for annotated track-listing.
Blogariddims 24/Moving South
Paul Autonomic
Blogariddims (2007)
My second Blogariddims contribution. Uptempo and wonky. D*bstep’s early core was by now becoming its experimental fringe and plotting exit routes. This set traces those new trajectories and tries to imagine where they’re headed.
This mix is about first steps into new territory and giving over to what may come. It pulls together a lot of the music and ideas that I’ve found most-exciting and least genre-bound in the last few months. Nine of the 22 tracks in this mix come from either Shackleton, kode9 or Mala, each of whom, I’ve often said, is more like a genre unto himself than a representative of any broader style or collectivity.
Includes surprise guest appearances and a fevered dream sequence.
Click for annotated track-listing.
Blogariddims 8/Rude Interlude
Mr. Bump
Blogariddims (2006)
An homage to DJ Slimzee and early-2000s London pirate radio, as filtered through low-bitrate mp3s. Also, a pointed break from self-seriousness emerging in other quarters at the time. This is a vinyl-based mix of UK garage, 2-step, 8-bar and early-grime, and what used to be called ‘FWD Sound.’ Rude basslines, slinky beats. Fun. The odd thing about this one is the inclusion of London pirate radio chatter – the back and forth between DJs, MCs and listeners – lifted from various radio rips and woven into the mix.
Click for annotated track-listing.
Autonomic Computing
Paul Autonomic
Gutterbreakz blog/Riddim.ca (2006)
Come meditate on bass weight. UK d*bstep and grime from the moment before things got big and when the latter was characterized, as much as anything, by its creative variety. First released by the always-supportive Nick Edwards (aka Ekoplekz) at Gutterbreakz blog. It starts heavy but adds dimensions and play as it goes on. This one benefited from a recent trip to London and the stream of promos that had begun to appear in my mailbox thanks to Riddim.ca. Includes then-unreleased music from Shackleton and early-Burial. Lots of custom edits.
Brilliant… I find this gripping and tense in a way that I used to find dubstep empty and uninvolving. – k-punk
Click for annotated track-listing.
This One is Computerised
Paul Autonomic
autonomicforthepeople blog (2005)
Named for a Bizzy B track from a dozen years earlier but purely a chance to experiment with early-grime and other UK garage permutations that hadn’t settled on names and were trickling in as mp3s. Proof of concept.
Offline.