(April 2010) THE southwest of Britain has a bit of an electronic history, Aphex Twin and Baby Ford to name but two examples. 2010 sees the birth of a new label enter into these annals, Piece Communications. The label has come to life with a triumvirate of 12″s; the Blue Series. This fledgling imprint has looked at electronics and sought to release music which has “touched” their “lives.” Has the depth of their aim been recognized and transmitted to the listener?
The Blue Series opens with Quantec’s Synchotron EP. The first breaths of this label’s life are through Sven Schienhammer’s deep minimal techno movements. The 12″ starts with “Circles,” a spiraling fog of dense electronics. Split snares echo across one another as waves of elemental sounds are draped over bass reverberations. The title track follows. A slow and powerful piece of deep techno, the track lumbers like its predecessor along warbling bass and snare. “Poles Apart” the final track is not far from its forerunners, but ends the 12″ in a similar deep lo-fi tone.
Second in the series is the less known Djorvin Clain and The 1st Understanding. The tone changes for this EP. Warmth engulfs the headphones for “Word of Hope,” the track echoing some early IDM sounds. “Momentous 2” sees Clain border Detroit and Berlin, taking sounds from each city and gelling them into an analogue stream. Clain opens his dub techno box with “Dance of the Deep,” a track that grips the listener with dense beats and a aching undertone. Dubby tones bring The 1st Understanding to a close with the tentative chords of “Beyond the Dark.”
The Blue Series comes full circle with dutch artist Mohlao. The dubby grey haze of the title track, “Inhale,” greets the listener with a sheer screen of stark aural smoke. The sparseness is further pared back for the minimalised “Inhale (Version.)” The b-side is taken up by “Vacuum,” bringing the respiratory analogies to a close. The track is an epic piece of bare dub techno. Van Dijk’s sound is the most fundamental of the three, his productions having an almost twilight quality to them.
On listening to the Blue Series there can only be one outcome, a relaxed body and mind. This is not music for thumping out in a club, this is a respite from the crowds and craziness of life. Across the three tracks there is an almost aquatic element, a sub-marine softening of snares with gentle ripples of analogue waves washing over the listener. Collectively the Blue Series form a bubble, a hollow sonorous space to climb into and escape from the world; be it one side at a time.
For more information about Piece Communications, visit their website here.
