End of the Tunnel Mix for Technoir, 02.08.24

 

"We are extremely honoured to welcome back Codex Europa as our guest dj for episode 97 of Technoir. Codex Europa was our first ever guest back in 2019 and he's returned with an utterly thrilling 2 hour mix of genre pillaging, doom laden, industrial, double hard techno that's really not to be missed!"

The 41 track End of the Tunnel mix is a voyage through his electronic music collection, blending techno, gabber, schranz, doomcore, Frenchtek, industrial and a range of other extreme sub-genres to create a rough-edged and raw onslaught that breaks every rule in the book. Taking in everything from forgotten cash-in compilations to anonymous white labels, it features many tracks not previously used, plus one or two old favourites and a few "wild cards" to keep things varied. Tracks are pitched down, pitched up, reversed, sliced, distorted and forced into ill-advised combinations well beyond their safe operating limits. You have been warned.

Listen live at https://outerrim.tv/listen on 2nd August 2024 at 19:00 GMT / 20.00 CET.

Codex Europa Soundscape at Pure Industrial 29.06.24

Flyer for Pure Industrial

I've recorded an (im)Pure Industrial one-hour soundscape for this great London event on 29th June. It's a great line-up featuring old London allies I played alongside in the past. 

On Saturday, 29th June 2024, Pure Industrial is back after 24 years in exile.

Here is the full line-up:

The venue is open from 12.30pm and Pure Industrial kicks off at 3pm with exclusive DJ mixes played in the bar area, sent to us by (in alphabetical order):

Anxt! (Am Not) 

Blackdeath 1334 (Slimelight) 

Codex Europa (Klub V.E.B.) 

Edweirdo (Wireless FM) 

X.one3 (Malombra) 

Young, talented DJ Frank Van Cleef  will also be spinning industrial / ebm / electro at the bar.

The bar is well stocked, the kitchen serves great pizzas, including vegan pizzas.

Live room opens at 6pm, the DJ mixes will continue there followed by Jose Macabra live set, after which he will bring in his special guest Joss Carter ‘Your Worst Nightmare’ for an exclusive, first time collaboration “The Body is a Tomb”. 

Riotmiloo's live set will follow 

At 11pm the live room will close and the party will continue in the bar area, with DJ Panic.

Event ends at 1am.

TICKETS (£10 no fee) 

 

At The Edge of The Furnace: Supporting Test Dept. in Maubourguet

 

I had the honour of playing before Test Dept.'s "Furnace" show at The Foundry in Maubourguet, France on September 23rd. Not such an unusual assignment for me, except I was playing outdoors as darkness descended and guests enjoyed a meal around the fire. The description I was given was "dinner industrial". I'm not sure how well this fitted the bill, but I enjoyed playing in this unique setting greatly and it was also interesting to be playing at another venue called The Foundry after many years. It was meant as an atmospheric prelude rather than a full-on assault, even if there were a few sharp and rusty edges. Thanks to a/political and Test Dept. for the invitation.

Test Dept. and Radio Tirana soundtracking a twilight feast

Cabaret Voltaire - The Voice of America (The Grey Area/Mute)

Wendy Carlos - Title Music from A Clockwork Orange (Warner Brothers)

Throbbing Gristle - The World is a War Film (Industrial Records)

Daphne Oram - Light music (Young Americans)

Haus Arana - Feierhalle (Galakthorrö)

She Spread Sorrow - Inside (Cold Spring)

Epoch - March of the revolution (XKeyscore Mix) (Carbon 12 Records)

AM Not - Bioluminescensce (Unrest Productions)

Einstürzende Neubauten - Armenia (Rough Trade)

Laibach - Krst (Sub Rosa / Walter Ulbricht)

Test Dept - Comrade Enver Hoxha (Ministry of Power)

Epoch - False hope, False victory (Carbon 12 Records)

Maria Zerfall - Wer schlägt mich Tot? (Vinyl on Demand)

Die Form - Long Term Survivor (Bain Total)

D.A.F. - Alles ist gut (Mute)

Gerechtigkeits Liga - End of time (Zyklus Records)

Skinny Puppy - Fritter (Stella’s Home) (Nettwerk)

Hermann Nitsch Das Orgien Mysterien Theater 122. Aktion, 19. November 2005, Burgtheater Wien (Part 2) (Edition Kröthenhayn)

Pessimist - Progression (UVB-76)

Vanishing -  01 - 55° North, 5° East (Outer Reaches Records)

Dopplereffekt - Biometric ID (Clone) 

Umwelt - Gate of Nothingness (Midnight Shift)

CLOCKDVA - Dark attractor (Contempo Records)

John Barry - Space Lazer Battle (United Artists)

Philip Glass - Heroes (Point Music)

Krzysztof Penderecki - Sicut Locutus Est (EMI Classics)

A new mix produced in the dying days of full lockdown and the first days of post-lockdown.

Codex Europa · Codex Europa - Plaguemix 1

An atmospheric, exorcistic mix featuring music released under, acquired under or thematically relevant to the shadow of the pandemic. From industrial to Italian library music, from sound art to electronica, from techno to Gaelic psalm singing. From here to eternity. In the hope of better times.

Ethical Governor: An (un)timely payload

There’s always a lag between the completion of an album and its release. Sometimes this can lead to uncanny resonances with events. Ethical Governor’s “payload” dropped just as the Coronavirus crisis escalated and the resultant shockwave began to hit the “global economy”. Even if the release itself weren’t knowingly dystopian, the context in which it is appeared certainly was. Listeners to darker strands of techno and other genres with a bleak worldview will know that sonic dystopias can sometimes be oddly uplifting. Whether this effect holds true throughout 2020 is an open question and how much appetite there’ll be for darkness in the aftermath of what’s to come is an open question.

Meanwhile, Ethical Governor (Tony McMurray) has aimed to to transmit “a story of dystopian mayhem” that’s already becoming overshadowed by real stories of dystopian mayhem. I’d assumed the name was sarcastic but it had a precedent several years ago in this video which ironically argued for government by drone:

Interestingly, this album doesn’t feel like a cartoonish doom fest or an unreflective wallowing in others’ misery (bearing in mind of course the difference between being able to make or dance to techno about such grim scenarios and being at their mercy). The artwork features a military drone of the type constantly in the air over conflict zones. Of course, drone warfare is hardly “news” now, it’s a banal, routine part of 21st century life. Work like this can no longer function as a warning. It might function as an awareness raiser, but only as a brief explosion on the grainy screen of our infosphere.  Sound artists have already documented the sounds of military drones and made compositions from them so incorporating such dystopian military-political reality into techno is not so provocative. It’s a path Vatican Shadow and others been following for some time and which Black Lung has followed faithfully for more than a quarter of a century. 

This is a moment when the virus is presented as a side-effect of a proxy war between America and China and governments openly debate what proportions of their populations “should” be allowed to become infected or to die. Catastrophe is (literally) in the air now in a way that makes the supposedly clinical techniques of drone warfare seem quaint. All of which means that right now, a dystopian-themed release is unlikely to be able to match reality as we gaze into the abyss on our phones. 

Having said that, Unmanned Autonomous Force is - to coin a phrase - well-targeted and slightly clinical, rather than gratuitously spectacular. “Ethical Governor” sets the scene with an edgy, nervous soundscape that feels both like a nagging reminder and an ominous promise. “Active Shooter” next escalates into a dance floor track with a strong trace of Belgian hardcore techno. The overall effect is to suggest dancing on the edge of an abyss, which is precisely what thousands did week in, week out (until the clubs began to close due to the coronavirus).

Slower tracks such as “Decomp Floater” are the most menacing and memorable here. It takes its time in building an atmosphere of mechanical menace, haunted by strange cries. From here there’s an abrupt acceleration to “Invasive Species” - a lean, mean dance floor track populated with machinic/alien chatter. 

Sometimes the scenarios the tracks may be depicting are hinted at obliquely but in other cases the intention is clearer. Either way, the tracks are effective springboards for the dystopian imagination (for those who still wish to indulge this tendency even now). The sinisterly looping “Do You See” is evocative and menacing, yet oddly pensive, almost an invitation to reflect.

While this might have seemed like a natural ominous closer, the album actually concludes jarringly with “Final Age”. This is a much tenser and faster dance floor payload delivered on target. The message (if there is one) could almost be taken as keep on partying while the world burns (if you can find a club that’s open). There are worse ways to go.

Playing a Laibach set at Iklectik, London, 3. Oktober 2018.

I'll be playing a selection of rare, live and obscure Laibach plus a few classics at this special book launch event at Iklectik. 

Last stand on the Stubnitz

I had the honour of closing the first night of Primal Uproar III on the MS Stubnitz. Playing to the last band of survivors of a long, hot night, following a storming Skat Injector set, I began with acidic and hard techno before veering into old favourites.



Setlist

The Party Machine Trawled (Unreleased)

J-T Kyrke Caustic (Applied Rhythmic Technology)

New Frames We Go Public by Way of the Net (Hands)

AnD Transit (AnD)

Myztical Shifted Realities (Downfall Theory)

Another Alias Heave (White of My Eyes)

Tommy Holohan Burnin Bins (Civil Disobedience)

Hans Bouffmyhre Being Harassed (EDGE OF MOTION REMIX) (Sleaze Records)

Ayarcana Conflict

Anthony Rother ‎– Biomechanik (Chris Zander Mix) (Psi49net)

Laibach Bruderschaft (Mute)

LFO LFO (Warp)

Cabaret Voltaire Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself) (Mute/The Grey Area)

I-f ‎– Portrait Of A Dead Girl 1: The Cause(Disko B)

Milch Europa (Scheinselbständig)

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft ‎– Als Wär's Das Letzte Mal

The Party Machine A-SED HAUS (VEB89)

Kraftwerk - Franz Schubert/Europa Endlos (EMI/Mute)