Clone x Don’t Be Afraid @ Corsica Studios [LDN 1.2.13]

One for the London heads; happening the first of next month two of our favourite associates and kings of the scene are taking over for a heavyweight lineup at Corsica Studios. Clone Records led by Serge and Semtek’s Don’t Be Afraid fam are the chosen affiliates to launch a new night at Corsica which they’re calling ‘Tender Hooks’, guesting a room each and set to smash things apart (but only in a good way).

Supported by Gerd and label-boss Serge, the star of Room 1 is set to be Legowelt, going live, battering synths and using analogue gear to bring whatever vibes he damn well feels like. As a producer and musician Legowelt aka Daniel Wolfers is so consistently quality it’s scary. From the free album downloads that drop on to his website to the L.I.E.S. released Trackman Lafonte plate, to last year’s double pack on Clone, there’s nothing worth skipping over in the man’s catalogue, dating back to the mid-90s. As a person he’s our people too, a well known lover of classic gaming, a belief cemented with 2009’s release Amiga Railroad Adventures and more recently the competition he ran for vintage game designers to win a bespoke C64 soundtrack from Wolfers himself, check the details and the winning track here.

We’ve spoken about and praised the deck skills of DBA on here numerous times, the paring of Mr. Beatnik and Semtek always a pure fire combination. From a release point of view, DBA is about to bless us with their tenth wax plate from Alis, the new alias of London based Subeena, who’ll also be selecting on the night. We got a sneak peak on DBA010, complete with Marc D’Cantu remix, and it’s sounding stunning, more info on that closer to the drop date. DBA009 was that stunning piece from Manuel Gonzales, and the only reason I mention it now is because the one known as MGUN recently threw up this 30 min techno mix, and we’ve been hunting for an excuse to share it.

Flyer up the top, full press release below, and you can go here for tickets: http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?439689

via Resident Advisor
Corsica Studios is proud to introduce Tender Hooks – a new in-house night and imprint brought to you from the same stable of thorough-breds as Trouble Vision and Tief. Exploring the deeper echelons of house, techno, electro and bass the night launches on Friday February 1st with a line-up bursting at the seams with goodness. Stay tuned for further info on upcoming releases.

Room 1 sees Amsterdam based Clone records present three of their most renowned artists – Serge, Gerd and Legowelt – for a whole night of the highest quality Dutch house and techno. With his tireless work ethic and his impeccable taste, Serge started the Clone record label in 1994, with a small record store of the same name following 18 months later. Now, almost two decades later, and with his musical empire going stronger than ever, the man has defined a whole generation of record collections. Serge’s unquestionably keen ear, then, has always kept Clone ahead of the curve and Tender Hooks are delighted to welcome him to Corsica for the first time.

Dutch producer Gerd is a rare thing: after 22 years of making leftfield electronic music, he’s still as restless and relevant as ever. The man known as Gert-Jan Bijl has worked under a myriad of aliases, but Gerd is the one most revered, with releases on Clone, Compost, Ubiquity (and even majors like EMI and Virgin) all combining experimental ideas that touch on everything from liquid ambience to abstract techno via the deepest house.

Legowelt is an all-encompassing musical vision born from the mind of The Hague’s Danny Wolfers. Since his first productions in the early nineties – inspired variously by Detroit and Chicago pioneers including UR, Blake Baxter and Mr. Fingers – there have been tens of singles, EPs and remixes for the likes of Bunker, Clone, Creme, L.I.E.S. and Ghostly. Perennially fascinated by old and battered noise-making machines, his genre output is defined by analogue textures and classic values as well as an ever roaming sense of sonic investigation that veers from electroclash to techno via freaky deepness and old school acid. A producer with a rare and unique sense of humour, Legowelt’s productions – he is happy to admit – can either take off to the height of the charts (see 2002’s ‘Disco Rout’ for evidence), or can be ejected into distant space never to be heard again… but that’s the risks you take when experimenting as freely in the studio as does this man with obscure, forgotten sounds and twisted stuff a mile away from the dull dancefloor norm. With Danny’s Paranormal Soul LP topping many peoples’ “Best Of 2012” lists and an amazing DJ set here at ALFOS in December we’re delighted to welcome him back to Corsica for a long awaited hardware live set workout.

In Room 2 we hand over the reigns to Don’t Be Afraid, one of the UK’s finest leftfield House and Techno labels. Started by Benjamin Roth aka Semtek in 2009, the label has been responsible for two huge releases from Mr. Beatnick, Synthetes EP and Sun Goddess EP, the Photonz’ breakthrough Love Spectre EP, Detroit artist Manuel Gonzales’ first solo effort as MGUN since his initial release for Wild Oats and Semtek’s own critically acclaimed Pizza EP. DBA will be celebrating their Third birthday here with a showcase featuring label head honcho Semtek, beatsmith extraordinaire Mr. Beatnick himself and fast rising newcomer Alis – formerly Subeena – who’ll be playing out some of her new futuristic, vocal-led productions.

Tender Hooks residents will be taking care of warm-up duties and with some surprise guests dropping in along the way, you can be sure we’re in this one for the long-haul.