BLUE KING - Warp Magazine

22 Club / Electronic
BASS-DRIvEN FORCE
DJ ELITE FORCE RETURNS TO HOBART WITHOUT HIS CDS
AND EMBRACES NEW TECHNOLOGY WITH A HARD DRIVE
FULL OF A DECADE’S WORTH OF BEATS.
Going deep since 1990, DJ Elite Force can be
found behind decks anywhere from Glastonbury
to Burning Man, spinning the best of his
special blend of breaks, electro, dubstep and
techno.
Credited as the lynchpin in forming the techfunk
genre, he prefers to describe his output as
“Bass-Driven Warehouse Music” these days,
and with good reason.
“All I can do is try to perfect my chosen trade
and not outstay my welcome,”
Shackleton told Warp.
“MY AIM IS TO BECOME
LIkE A VINTAgE CLARET,
LOVINgLY NURTURED IN
SEEDY CELLARS OVER A
NUMBER Of YEARS AND
ExhUMED ONCE IN A
WhILE TO SMASh YOUR
ASS Off”
Last year DJ Elite Force released Revamped,
an innovative genre-traversing mix for a new
decade that showcases his ability to let us
experience so many genres in such a seamless
manner.
Elite Force’s new album This is Shockland is
out in late May through U&A Recordings, and
you might have heard a couple of the tracks
before, where you would perhaps least expect
them, such as last month’s Playstation release
Motorstorm: Apocalypse.
The album is based around extended versions
of some of the tracks written for the game, and
mONSTER mASH
Straight out of LA, the Skrillex sound is a mix
of electro house, fidget house, breakbeat and
dubstep; forging these elements to produce
a sound that is a step closer to a genre-less
electronic dance music platform.
Recently moving across to DeadMau5’s
mau5trap label, Skrillex’s Scary Monsters &
Nice Sprites has hit hard and fast, with tracks
riding up the Beatport Top 10 in the first week
of its release. And from a name that was
relatively unknown.
The track kill everybody starts with an innocent
but haunting robotic undercurrent, then erupts
with a roaring, snarling electronic demon that
claws and drags you down its hole. You may go
screaming, but you’ll likely go screaming
for more.
Production is tight; sounds meld quickly
resulting in powerful direction and force.
Skrillex’s predilection for remixing has led his
own music to be highly adaptable too. Bare
Noize - Scatta featuring Foreign Beggars is a
great example of likeminded artists broadening
their horizons.
His remixing skills have extended to the likes of
Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, Bruno Mars
and La Roux, and these musical connections
can only help strengthen and influence the
production of his work, leaving me to wonder
they showcase Elite Force working with Oscarwinning
classical composer, Klaus Badelt,
who both put to good use a 70-piece orchestra
recorded at Abbey Road.
The last five to ten years have seen many DJs
move to different platforms and media as
technology progresses, and Elite Force is no
exception, trading his CDs for Serato several
months back.
“I quite recently moved over to Serato and I’m
using the Novation Dicers at the moment. I love
the flexibility this set up gives me as tracks no
longer need to be seen as linear structures
when you’re DJing.
“The idea of moving over to this kind of rig was
as a first step towards a much more ‘livebased’
set up with integrated visuals, but for
the time being it’s just cool to have moved away
from straight up CDs.”
So, what can Tassie audiences expect from
Elite Force this time around?
“Loads and loads of special summer treats –
I’ve been dead busy in the Module over the last
few weeks carving out a series of little bombs
for the next few months, so believe me the
breaks will be well-repped in Tassie.”
CRAIg ANDERSON
Elite force
Saturday May 28 at PlanB
Supported by Adam Turner, Billy Green and
Lids and presented by Freshly Breaked and
Areacode events. Tickets are $20+BF
from Ruffcut Records or Moshtix, or $30 at
the door.
what kind of sounds and production techniques
will be put into play in his next release.
He sprung up from nowhere and his history
is unusual for an electronic dance music
producer, being better known in the alternative
rock scene as vocalist for post-hardcore band
First to Last, under his real name Sonny Moore.
The progression to his current solo career
has largely been born out of his home studio.
This no-strings-attached approach has given
him the freedom to do as he pleases with his
sound.
With two releases thus far as Skrillex, this
sound could evolve which ever way. Pretty
exciting stuff; his name is definitely looking
to be one of the most exciting new electronic
stars of 2011.
Skrillex recently toured Australia for
Creamfields and Canberra’s recent Warehouse
Festival 2011, so if you’re going to drop one of
his tracks, drop it with a powerful subwoofer.
CRAIg ANDERSON
Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites (tour edition) is
out now through Neon Records.
www.skrillex.com
TRUmpETING AROUND
ONE OF THE OLDEST MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AROUND,
THE HUMBLE HORN HAS BEEN DRAGGED FROM THE
BATTLEFIELD TO THE DANCEFLOOR BY TIMMY TRUMPET.
It has been used for centuries in war, pomp
and pageantry, and now the trumpet has found
its latest home - in one of the newest musical
environments. A new age of self-expression
and civil liberty we currently enjoy has paved
the way for a new breed of DJ.
Sydney producer, DJ and session artist Timmy
Trumpet is one of these mutants; hell-bent on
dominating the world by simply making people
lose themselves on the dance floor.
Most famous for his jazz-infused big-room
style DJ sets which incorporate his trademark
trumpeting, Timmy has just teamed up with
Rob Pix for the latest Ministry of Sound offering
electro house Sessions 4.
He’s got a million and one projects on the
go and spending the majority of each week
travelling from his home in Kings Cross,
Sydney, to gigs interstate or overseas.
“My dad was a trumpeter and so was my
dad’s dad so it runs in the family,” he tells
Warp. “Neither of them played alongside DJ’s
though.”
It is easy to see that brass runs deep in
Timmy’s veins, however it’s not just jazz and
dance that blow his horn. An eclectic take on
music and an ability to see past genres in order
to hear the musical beauty in a piece goes a
long way towards ensuring that any given set
is more than a push-button, beat-sync and
fist-pump affair.
“There are way too many [tracks] to narrow
it down to one,” he says. “Almost everything
you hear, whether it be on the radio or in an
elevator can influence you in some form or
way.
“The one theme that remains consistent
though is simplicity. Often the most beautiful
songs are the most simple.”
With a career that takes him around the world
and back with interrupted sleep and hardpartying
on the regular, one might struggle
with other professional ventures. Timmy
however, being one of the new breed mutant
DJs, has found the time to branch out into
clothing design, recently launching
www.wifebeaterz.com.au which features
animated caricatures of some of Australia’s
best DJs printed on singlets.
With all the jet-setting, music making, trumpet
blowing, clothes designing and elevator
listening, you might be beginning to ask what
kind of super-human additive is coursing
through Timmy’s system?
The real answer is a less of a comic book myth
and more of a refinement lent by years of
experience, with much trial and error.
The essential ingredient in any Timmy Trumpet
party? “One bottle of vodka, six coronas and a
cup of tea - best drink rider around,” he says.
GEARING Up WITH
TRAKTOR
Club / Electronic 23
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS LAUNCHED THE TRAKTOR 2 RANGE
IN APRIL, THE LATEST VERSION OF THE AWARD-WINNING
4-DECK DJ SOFTWARE PACKAGE.
At first glance. the Traktor Pro2 GUI looks
cleaner and sharper with its coloured waveforms
and improved interface, although still
retaining the Traktor feel users are familiar
with, but it all looks modern and somehow
cleaner.
There are more subtle tweaks to the overall
look including a higher contrast skin, which
should make use in dark clubs easier.
The new TruWave hi-res coloured waveforms
are a great visual aid and clearly show the
structure of the whole track enabling the DJ
to differentiate between kicks, hi-hats and
snares with greater ease.
Zoom levels enable cue points to be set more
precisely than ever before and indeed you’ll
probably find any sloppy beat gridding you did
beforehand on older versions of the software
may look a bit – well - sloppy when you see
your handiwork visually here.
Sample Decks is a new feature that enhances
live remixing and editing. If you’ve ever had
tracks you use exclusively for sample drops,
you’ll like the Sample Decks here. You can
basically have multiple samples ready for immediate
triggering, and adjust the volume and
filter on your samples.
Grab loops live out of a running deck, store
your favorites in the loop library, and develop
your own arsenal of beats and sounds.
Each of the four decks in Traktor can be
switched from track deck to sample deck
on-the-fly. Samples can be up to a minute
in length, and you can set them as either
one-shot or looping by right clicking them and
choosing your option.
The new Loop Recorder function can record
live loops from any channel (single or combination),
live input feeds or master output.
A keyboard shortcut, a DJ controller or a foot
pedal can trigger recording. It is possible to do
a real-time overdub on top of the running loop,
creating additional layers.
The Loop Recorder works like a fifth deck; the
layered loop can be quickly transferred to a
Sample Deck slot, thereby freeing up the Loop
Recorder.
Four new effects include Tape Delay, Ramp
Delay, Bouncer and Auto Bouncer taking the
total now to 32, all syncing to track or master
tempo. Nothing out of the ordinary here -
however, adding new effects in DJ software
that has the ability to allow you to easily chain
effects together in innovative combinations to
create your own sounds will appeal.
The emphasis here is ease of use, with Tru-
Wave hi-res coloured waveforms, slicker GUI
and full iTunes integration and iPod compatibility.
Tracks can be searched via Crate Flick
cover art browsing, just like flicking through a
crate of vinyl. Automatic track analysis, BPM
detection and beat gridding means that tracks
are instantly ready to use.
This is still Traktor as we know it - refined
rather than redesigned. The sample decks and
loop recorder represents the biggest leap for
Traktor software in this version. Overall, this a
mix of genuine innovation and some catching
up with the competition.
www.native-instruments.com
Price: AU$289
warpmagazine.com.au warpmagazine.com.au
BILLY gREEN
Timmy Trumpet plays alongside Rob Pix for
Ministry of Sound electro Sessions at Hotel
New York with local support from Joyce, Boaz
and PD, on Saturday May 14. Entry is $10
before midnight.
JAMES WhITEhEAD