STEPHEN QUIRKE

Firstly, it’s a real honor to be asked to contribute to the Modyfier series again. I was lucky enough to be in the first 100 guests and watching and listening to the series over the years, I’ve been increasingly more proud to be involved as the years go by. This series is a unique insight into the mechanics of artists that are invited to participate. The project should be put in a time capsule for future generations. It’s an inspiration and I’m delighted to add my name again to the roster of people that I genuinely admire.

My first Modyfier mix is one I still get asked about. I made it five years ago and just like I did then, I loved going through my record collection for this mix and picking out gems that mean something to me and me alone. This is the most personal mix I’ve done in a while. One thing I’ve always been known for is playing music for the way I feel at the moment. That doesn’t always translate well in a club setting, seeing as I’m such a moody fucker but it is nice when it comes off. I sat on the invitation for a couple of months until I had the right headspace to contribute in the manner I thought fitting. Since the last mix, five years ago, I’ve tried my hand at editing and creating tunes using Ableton etc. If anything all it did was kill my hunger for the music I have loved all my adult life. The process of creating music on a laptop or computer is, to me, as redundant as painting on an iPad. Where is the love? I sound like such a grumpy old man but mostly, nowadays, a large percentage of music doesn’t have the soul that I require to enjoy it.

I have followed the labels and artists that speak to me, that do have the soul, the love and the same understanding and outlook that I do. You’ll find that most, if not all, the tracks on this mix (and every mix I try to put together) have something to say, a vibe that sets it apart from the preceding or subsequent tune while keeping the overall impact relative. If you look back at my track lists over the years, it’s safe to say that even though there is a little variation, there is a similar vein and a homogenous sound. I haven’t been swayed too much by the popular charts or fads. Dubstep passed me by completely!

In the most recent years, my life has gone through more change than most would see in a lifetime. Music has slipped down the pecking order behind children, a new career, and a wonderful wife. As a consequence of this and the atrocious / pretentious scene where I live and partly because the general trends of the music I adore, I have lost all passion for playing out live. I just don’t have the energy to pretend and to promote myself like a realtor. I’d love for that to change and to play again but I don’t see it happening. My last heartfelt gig was in Russia where the hunger and passion for the music was actually visible. The energy, enthusiasm and love were a reminder of everything that isn’t present in the scene here. I made friends through the music even though I couldn’t speak the language. Music is important to me. It has always been important to me, but in the future it will remain the stress reliever it has always been. Just with baby screams instead of crowd screams.

My radio show has been running on Proton since 2007. Guests on the Eclectro show have included Ewan Pearson, Efdemin, Crowdpleaser, Roland Appel and Will Saul.

Modyfier#2 was recorded in Oregon at Portland State University’s KPSU radio station using old, worn, limited edition vinyl, CDJs, MP3s and love.

01. Strange Affair Quirky Intro
02. Fila Brazillia – Subtle Body
03. BlackIsBeautiful – Pergamon
04. Martin Denny – Singing Bamboos
05. Velimir – Radio Of The Future
06. Nicolas Jaar – Come N Get It
07. James Bong – Hang Zen
08. Nu – Man O To
09. Daniel Bortz – By Ya Side
10. Zwicker – Dragonfly
11. Steve Reich – Nagoya Marimba (edit)
12. James Mason – Nightgruv (Unreleased Mix)
13. Projections & Woolfy – Set Me Loose (The Drifter Mix)
14. Projections & Woolfy – Set Me Loose (El_Txef_A Mix)
15. Larse – Karoo
16. Isolee – Allowance
17. Neotnas – Atlantika
18. Ry Cuming & Ame – Howling
19. Apparat – 44

G. MARCELL

Tune Simulation

Art: The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic medium.

Sound has many meanings. One I like is when it creates a specific impression.

Now, it’s clear to me this all works hand-in-hand. When we look at art from a pictorial stand point, there’s an arrangement of colors, shapes, and forms – a collage.

Collage (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Art Terms): Any work, such as a piece of music, created by combining unrelated styles. This is why you may listen to some of my material or mixes and wonder, “What is he playing?” or say, “Interesting.” Music comes in many colors (people), and forms (young and small or old and tall). I get motivation from the diversity of life. It’s the very thing that make producers listen to jazz, blues, funk, disco, rock, r&b, and house. All these variants make artists imagine, “What would it sound like if I did this?” All these tools assist people in the creative flight through out life’s experience. Enjoy the art.

01. Bob James – Nautilus
02. Chakka Khan – Earth to Mickey (12” Mix)
03. Prince – I Feel for You
04. Ben Westbeech – Something for The Weekend (Gerry Read Mix)
05. Glenn Underground – Future Shock (Mad Zone)
06. Ricardo Miranda – Black Acid
07. Theo Parrish – When I’m Gone
08. Kyle Hall – Kay Chunk
09. Sting & the Police – Voice’s Inside My Head
10. Royksopp – Royksopp’s Night Out
11. Daft Punk – Revolution 909
12. Paul Johnson – Doo Doo Wop
13. G.Marcell – Renagade Rampage (Modyfier Tune Stimulation Mix)

IMUGEM ORIHASAM

My music doesn’t come from dance – I don’t dance and never did it – although I understand there are diverse ways to interpret it. I’ve heard that some people dance to my music and this is great thing. I’m happy with that and, of course, appreciate it.

When I make music, I try to do things that I don’t like or am uncomfortable with – it lets me learn and expand what I believe in. The aim is to find a wide range.

This compilation is some of my favorite vinyls put together – things I have been influenced by. Don’t expect a DJ mix or club stuff. I hope you just relax and enjoy life with this.

BALDO

I have followed Modyfier for a long time, especially as many friends have also contributed. So, when Rayna contacted me, I was really happy to participate in the Process Series. I told her I wanted to do something special – not just a simple Dj mix – but something more personal and different.

After many days of thinking about it, I had some ideas, but nothing clear in mind. Some weeks later, I travelled to visit my mother. When I got to her house, I found piles of my old records and CD’s. While searching for some to bring to Barcelona, I found this set on a CD and thought it was the perfect concept I was looking for.

This is my first Dj mix ever recorded!

I did it at a friend’s house as I didn’t yet have turntables at the time. It was the year 2000 and things were different from how they are today, especially with electronic music.

There is something that most people don’t know about southern Spain (where I come from). In the late 90′s, there was a surprisingly big breakbeat music scene. There were a lot of clubs in smaller towns and it suddenly became popular amongst my friends to DJ. So we started buying vinyl and DJing at our homes, making parties for friends, and I began to introduce myself to the electronic music scene. Gradually, I started learning about producing music, releasing on labels, getting into House music and other styles.

About the tracklist, I can say most are from UK labels like TCR, Botchit Breaks, Distinctive Breaks and producers like Rennie Pilgrem, Koma & Bones or Plump Dj’s, my favorites at that time.

I’m sure many people who know me as a House music producer will be surprised, but after listening to this set, perhaps you’ll know me better and understand my productions a little bit more.

Also I have to apologize about the mixing, there are lots of mistakes. Please understand that I was just starting out and only 17 years old!

MANU C.

The inspiration to produce a song is often found in what surrounds us in our daily lives. It comes from the need to express something that is created within ourselves and that we cannot express by traditional ways. So, music intervenes: a form of expression that allows you to remove every barrier from your soul and from your mind that allows you to express any sensation that you feel in that moment. Creating a song is like opening our soul to the people that are listening to us by giving them the possibility to feel the sensation that we intend to transmit to them.

ESCAPE ART

“And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually”

Working with electronic music is like sculpting with sand, where a digital sea constantly forms, samples, and reforms works in a selfless, oxidizing rust. I was happy to be able to make this mix in London and Berlin in February 2013, and experience firstly the sea of modern hybrid forms loosely gathered around a snare or kick.

Analogue camps drew lines with gigs and white labels – digital broke those barriers and then took the derivative. A beautiful, moral, and organic vastness of countless sound, forever regrowing, degrading, regenerating, refracting – like the milky way or a nautilus shell. I think it makes electronic music a pure art form – one most closely resembling nature in it’s aesthetics and movements. And to dive and swim in that deep end…it’s pure love.



01. Dro Carey “Much Coke” (Cedaa Remix) (Templar Sound)
02. Urban Tribe “Defraction Pattern” (Trust)
03. Symbiotic Sounds “You Know What It Is” (Sequel One Records)
04. Ital Tek “Hyper Real” (Deft Remix) (Civil Music)
05. Fred P “Where I Want to Be” (Soul People Music)
06. Jacob’s Optical Stairway “The Fusion Formula (the Metamorphosis) feat. Juan Atkins” (Reinforced Records)
07. Machine Drum “U Know the Deal 4 Real” (Planet Mu)
08. Symbiotic Sounds “Feeling” (Sequel One Records)
09. Reso “Coronium” (Doshy Remix) (Civil Music)
10. DJ Footmerc “We In Da Mood” (Self Released/ Creative Commons)
11. Slava “I’ve Got Feelings Too” (Software Recording Co.)
12. Douglas Pagan “Malcolm X Park” (Aybee’s Dream Pass) (Voltage Music)
13. Junglord “Mythical Juke (Sun Ra)” (Unreleased)
14. Galus & DJ Krug “Remember Days” (Symbiotic Sounds Remix) (Solar Energy Music)
15. DJ Manny “EBM” (Ghettophiles)
16. DJ Earl “Valentra” (Ghettophiles)
17. Falty DL “Stay I’m Changed” (Ninja Tune)
18. Mini “Walking” (Jauzas the Shining Remix) (Space Factory)

DRØP

We take this occasion to focus our intents on a careful and respectful consideration for the object itself – the Music – and its potential.

Music is the most powerful instrument that humanity has ever owned. It affects our perception of time and space, disclosing different dimensions, deeper orders and hidden perspectives of the Existence. It drives our curtailed realities into one harmonic consciousness.

SLYDEX vs. KONDAKTOR

For this challenging process, I decided to introduce myself for the first time as both producer (Kondaktor) and DJ (Slydex). Same person, different skills, similar aesthetic.

The two Kondaktor tracks I produced, ‘Trance’ and ‘Kozak’, are dedicated to my friend Nick from Crete for his wonderful hospitality last summer. Both were written at his country house and inspired by the transport company he owns there. Contrasting the mechanics and industrialism of his job with the beautiful nature on the island gave me the opportunity to make this unit mixture in my head.

For the Slydex DJ mix, I stayed away from the dancefloor and blended some of my favorite tunes of the last few months with classic electronic tracks that have been stuck in my head for quite a long time. Several hours after finishing the recording and listening to it a few times through, I ended up in the hospital with vertigo for almost one week. There is not much more I can tell about it. Enjoy.

JOHN CONNELL

I don’t want to really explain the mix to the listener this time. I hope that if it resonates, people will understand. Essentially, it is about passing into dream-state, experiencing the laws of that space, encountering something that needs to be faced, and returning.

The process:
The whole mix is comprised of loops, parts and some basic re-edits – in 5 parts – which I’ve titled:

1.) THRESHOLD 0:00-5:52
Admx-71 – Future Expansion
RQ – Greater Geometry
Ryoji Ikeda – Luxus 1-3
Rainforest Spiritual Alliance – Homes Built Over the Sea
ASC & Sam Kdc – Vapour Lock
Object – Symbolic
Sigha – Aokigahara
Lunatik Soundsystem – November Sky

2.) FREEFALL 06:52-09:00
Object – Symbolic
Bee Mask – The Story of Keys & Locks
Lee Gamble – Emu
Emptyset – Tangent
Yves De Mey – Combining Forms
Emptyset – Departure

3.) NORTH COAST 09:00-19:50
Emptyset – Tangent
Pillowtalk – Twink Peaks
Echochord – Wind Farm
Deadbeat – Plateau Quarter
Emptyset – Departure
Samuel Kerridge – Auditory System
Conforce – Timelapse

4.) TRACES 19:50-23:57
Haxan Cloak – Hounfour (Temple)
Powell – Search
Mindspan – Dying Embers
Emptyset – Tangent
Billow Observatory – Helsinki Radio

5.) LONG TAIL 23:57-27:48
Steve Hauschildt – Arche
Mind Over Midi – Connector
Sample: Aldous Huxley, source unknown
Haxan Cloak – Hounfour (Temple)
Ultravisitor: First Lesson

JOHN DALY

Recorded 20-September to 2-October, 2010. Salthill, Galway.

1. Set limitations: force creative ways to overcome them.
2. Avoid overworking anything: preserve the moment at all costs.
3. Forget genres: just jam.

Equipment List:

Akai MPC2000XL.
Dave Smith Instruments Tetra.
Lexicon MX200 fx.
Revox B77 MKII. Edited on Ableton Live.
Occasional use of Ableton fx in the editing stage, only when necessary to blend.

Being stuck with something forces you to think creatively about it in order to get it to do what you want. This is a good thing.

About the process: First I chose the equipment, a deliberate small selection. I put a selection of drum hits and bass sounds onto the MPC, and used that same program for all the tracks to achieve a consistent sound. The Tetra was sequenced with the MPC, with the Lexicon for fx on the Tetra. No computer was used until the editing process.

I only had 6-7 minutes of tape on the revox, so I limited each track to one jam live down to tape, then recorded that onto the computer for later editing in Ableton, freeing up the tape for the next one: compose, record, move on, repeat. The tracks are deliberately quite short, part catering to the modern attention span and part because to make them longer could potentially mean having to add unnecessary new parts. Some of these tracks might be shit, but that’s not the point. Whatever they are, they are themselves.