Last week’s Surgeon sets got such good reception that we decided to throw up two more KILLER Surgeon sets for Week 2. The tracklistings alone should speak for themselves - and speaking of tracklistings, the first mix from this podcast features a remix from our good friend Kero in Detroit! Go Kero.
Podcast #1: Surgeon - This Is For You Shits (Warp Records promo mix)
‘This is For You Shits’ mixed by Surgeon is out on Warp Records on October 15th, 2007.
Taking its title from an onstage rant by Suicide, ‘This is For Your Shits’ is billed as a dynamic and fast cut selection of techno featuring Warp artists such as Autechre, Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, electronic noise bands Throbbing Gristle, Scorn and Whitehouse as well as Surgeon’s own uncompromising material. The mix was recorded in 2006.
The release is limited to 1,000 individually numbered and hand-finished CDs via mail order from Warp.
Fifteen years later and Surgeon finally releases his first official mix, the rudely titled ‘This Is For You Shits.’ It doesn’t disappoint. A satisfyingly eclectic blend of nostalgia for records past and brazen aesthetic nihilism, the mix is as bleeding-edge as it is throwback, somehow managing to reference everything from classic Warp-style IDM to dubstep to industrial strength tech-house to squalling noise rock – and pulling it off.
The mix begins on an ominous note with a smattering of deep bass hits and resonant chords courtesy of Scorn’s ‘Doors’ before quickly moving through a selection of tracks taken from the archives of the likes of Autechre, Aphex Twin and Surgeon’s own British Murder Boys project. The cuts simply rage forward in a relentless surge – a giant middle finger, if you will, in the collective face of the minimal and deep house producers that have overwhelmed the techno scene. No, this isn’t going to be about build-ups and subtle developments; instead This Is For You Shits is all about good ol’ fashioned banging beats and total sonic destruction. If you want to dance, great. If you don’t, bugger off.
An hour-long mix consisting of 31 tracks, the overall effect is of a careening tank truck: Dizzying breaks crash atop one another and clouds of short-circuited synth buzz drift across the hostile stereofield as unsettling voices slip through the cracks (most notably the snippet taken from the experimental noise group Whitehouse’s “Dumping The Fucking Rubbish,” which, quite frankly, makes me feel downright uncomfortable). Technically speaking, the mix is nearly flawless, with tight transitions binding the disparate tracklist into a singular mass of heaving rhythm and bass.
Stitched together in Ableton Live, ‘This is…’ treats its source material in a manner more Hawtin-esque than one might expect. Surgeon cuts up loops and samples at will, flitting from one track to the next and back again, all the while keeping the flow engaging and in constant forward motion. Of course, the impeccable track selection doesn’t hurt either – the mix boasts classic cuts from the heyday of Warp, a healthy dose from Surgeon’s Counterbalance catalog, as well as a choice assortment of picks including Monolake, Vex’d and Eight Frozen Modules.
With blatant disregard for techno’s latest micro-trends and a tracklist that seems too far-out to function, Surgeon has crafted a mix that was well worth the wait. Sure to please old school techno heads and green-around-the-gills fans of leftfield sounds alike, ‘This Is For You Shits’ is a walking tour of some of techno’s more sonically challenging realms.
Tracklist:
1. (intro) from tape archive
2. Scorn - Doors
3. DBit - Kero mix
4. Autechre - Laughing Quarter
5. British Murder Boys - Splinter
6. Aphex Twin - Vordhosbn
7. Paul Damage - Passing By
8. The Bug - Killer
9. Squarepusher - Red Hot Car
10. British Murder Boys - Anti Inferno
11. Throbbing Gristle - Persuasion (Motor remix)
12. Tony Rohr + Paul Birken - Lofishizzy
13. Cane - Fall
14. British Murder Boys
15. Aphex Twin - Ventolin
16. Scorn - Sleep When Home
17. Archae + Grovskopa - Elements (unreleased)
18. British Murder Boys - Father Loves Us
19. Curve - Falling Free - Aphex Twin Remix
20. Eight Frozen Modules - Datacasting
21. Brothomstates - Rktic
22. Monolake - Invisible
23. British Murder Boys - Don’t Give Way To Fear
24. Whitehouse – Dumping the Fucking Rubbish
25. Autechre - Second Bad Vilbel
26. Vex’d - Canyon
27. Scorn - Snow Hill
28. Surgeon - Klonk (part2)
29. British Murder Boys - Don’t Give Way To Fear
30. Monolake - Linear
31. Eight Frozen Modules - A Low Bite Riddim
Podcast #2: Neck-Face Promo Mix (2007)
Tracklist:
Musicology - Telefone
Jeroen Liebregts - Donau
Aaron Spectre - Say More Fire
Reeko - The Silent Citizen
(loop from) Planetary Assault Systems - Atomic
Arpadys - Monkey Star
Doctor Evil - Ritual
We Are 002
Inigo Kennedy - Trigonometry
Warlock - Stand Alone
DJ Funk - Booty Perk-U-Later
Luke Slater - Colonial Space
Jeroen Liebregts - Vloer
RD - Cherpa
Aaron Spectre - Music Is The Weapon
Scorn - The Palomar
Basic Channel - Octagon
Logreybeam - Formfollowsfunction
Complex - Dream World
Polygon Window - The Dice Man
NON - Arka
Whitehouse - Bia Mintatu
The Generation Game
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