saturday @ abbey pub: NIGHTMARES on WAX,
CAURAL w/KRUZ and CHRIS WIDMAN + LUKE STOKES
abstract science is excited to welcome electronic music pioneer NIGHTMARES ON WAX—since 1988, the longest serving member of the Warp records roster—alongside chicago's own CAURAL and resident DJs CHRIS WIDMAN and LUKE STOKES to celebrate the radio show's 12th anniversary.
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>NIGHTMARES ON WAX [Warp Records, UK ]
The combined project of George Evelyn and Robin Taylor-Firth, Nightmares on Wax became one of the brightest spots on the post-rave British techno map of the early '90s. NOW's debut album, A Word of Science, was -- along with early tracks by LFO, Tuff Little Unit, and Tricky Disco -- a crucial bridge between the competing influences of New York house and electro, Detroit techno and soul, London rave and acid, and the burgeoning eclecticism of the years to come. Forming in the late '80s in West Yorkshire as an extension of Evelyn and company's b-boy crew the Soul City Rockers, NOW's first singles, "Dextrous" and "Aftermath," were both highly regarded, and the latter shot into the pop singles Top 40. The subsequent album laid a good deal of the groundwork for the downtempo experimental hip-hop/electro-funk worked over by Mike Paradinas, Luke Vibert, Spacer, and others, and earned the group a secure spot among techno's select crew of next-step innovators.
The group nonetheless disbanded following Science's release, with early contributor Kevin Harper leaving to pursue a DJ career and Evelyn turning out a smattering of house tracks on Warp's Nucleus subsidiary before settling into bedroom woodshed mode. Following a four-year hiatus, Evelyn resurfaced with a track on the Mo' Wax Headz compilation and, soon after, Smoker's Delight, basically an instrumental hip-hop album with a distinctively British eclecticism. Still involved with the same sorts of genre-spanning sampler-and-sequencer experiments, Smoker's Delight is also less obvious, suited more to repeat listenings than previous material. The same was also true for 1999's Carboot Soul, Evelyn's first album as part of a deal with American indie label Matador for domestic distribution. In 2000, NOW produced the first new material by De La Soul in several years, included on an EP (The Sound of N.O.W) featuring the rap pioneers. Following hot on its heels was a volume in the Studio !K7 mix series DJ Kicks. Two years later, Evelyn delivered his fourth LP, Mind Elevation. A longer gap preceded the release of his next proper LP for Warp, but In a Space Outta Sound finally appeared in March 2006 and Thought So... just over two years later. -Sean Cooper, AMG.com
www.nightmaresonwax.com
www.myspace.com/nightmaresonwax
>CAURAL w/ K-KRUZ [live PA, Mush, Chocolate Industries labels]
Better known as Caural, Chicago bred musician Zachary Mastoon has established production voice that bridges cutting edge electronics with left-field hip-hop. His releases for Chocolate Industries and expert remix work for a number of cutting edge indie labels bend beat-based Eastern, Western, live, and electronic music to his own rules. His elaborate compositions are built from the drums up, adding tiny samples of disjointed sounds and live instruments to create compositions that are both structured and organic. An accomplished performer, Caural utilizes drum and music triggers, turntables, samplers, and a sea of effects to recreate his compositions live. The tight beats, deliberate sequencing, heavy bass, and subtle jazz touches that are instrumental to his work are similar to those of Four Tet, Prefuse 73, and Daedelus, but distinct enough to have established Caural as a producer with a signature sound. For this performance he will be collaborating with chicago producer K-KRUZ.
www.caural.net
www.myspace.com/caural
www.mushrecords.com/artist/Caural.php
