“…Long Slow Heat Death cleverly explores two sides of electro. Fancy & Spook have gone down the traditional and clinical line of electro, sterile beats and haunting sounds. Ditone has looked into a different sphere, one where the isolated chill can be turned into an autumnal warmth…”
(October 2010) It seems like the natural progression, club night to record label. Lunar Disko in Dublin have been living this double life since 2008, Bleep43 in London have took their first steps as an imprint. In Scotland, Glasgow based club night, Slabs of the Tabernacle, have recently turned eyes (and ears) to output with Tabernacle Records. Hot on the heels of the debut 12″ comes their second record; Long Slow Heat Death. The record is a split affair of Glasgow talent, the a-side dedicated to the duo of Fancy & Spook while the flip hosts Ditone. So how has the fledgling imprint faced with its latest outing?
Long Slow Heat Death, perhaps a reference to Heatray Records of which these artists are veterans, opens with Fancy & Spook and “Cardboard Corridor.” This measured piece is in the vein of Dopplereffekt electro. The track, with its sparse stabs of clinical analogue looms in a sinister claustrophobia. There is a hint of Luke Eargoggle in here, but with more of a Winter in Michigan feel. “Trapped in a Tinsel Dimension” follows down similar lines. Stark and dark is the name of the game. Isolated chords poke holes in the dense fog of squalid reverberations, as do the sharp snares of an 808. Urban Tribe comes to mind with the piece, especially their Authorized Clinical Trials material. Ditone aka Craig Bell takes over for the b-side. The note changes, moving away from deprivation and crumbling industries. Ditone lowers the tempo, bringing the listener into his world of gelid space electronics. “Theme from Able Archer” is a subdued astral piece, building on thick chords to produce a subtle estrangement. The ultimate piece, “Infoporn”sounds as though it could be an out take from Dopplereffekt’s Gesamtkunstwerk; as it develops the track opens up to reveal a depth underlying the terse beats. Warmth lies parallel to the cold, with Ditone weaving electro with electronics in a seamless thread.
Techno and electro have always been a mainstay in Glasgow, maybe its the latitude or similar post-industrial affiliations with Detroit. Tabernacle Records are reflecting this, whilst staying true to their roots. Rather than immediately searching high and low for artists the newcomer has used existing connections, and talent, from their home base. But this is only one side of the story. Long Slow Heat Death cleverly explores two sides of electro. Fancy & Spook have gone down the traditional and clinical line of electro, sterile beats and haunting sounds. Ditone has looked into a different sphere, one where the isolated chill can be turned into an autumnal warmth. This divergence of style gives the record a depth that some similar 12″s may lack, whilst showcasing the electronic gifts from Scotland’s largest city.
Long Slow Heat Death is out now on Tabernacle.
