This morning electronic producer and instrument builder, Crewdson, chooses three tracks for MailTape that slowly lift him from his Sunday morning slumber.
He creates sound from machinery, found items, manipulated vocals, saxophone, traditional concertina and his self-designed ‘concertronica’, which he samples and manipulates through his idiosyncratic electronic set up, controlling sounds with game controllers and MIDI motorcycle handlebars.
Crewdson's second album on Slowfoot Records, [Toys](http://slowfootrecords.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/crewdson-out-now-toys-lp.html), was built using these instruments and ends a five-year gap between his full-length releases. If you're in Brighton, he'll be playing with Bambooman and Ilk at the [Green Door Store](http://thegreendoorstore.co.uk/events/bambooman-27-09-17/) on 27th September.
Crewdson’s selection
Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians (Section 1)
Crewdson: ” Music for 18 musicians is in my mind an almost perfect piece of music. It both shifts, grows and evolves over the full 60 mins whilst also feeling like a single moment in time put under the microscope an magnified over and over getting ever closer and closer towards a point with no end. I think I could listen to it forever. “
Lau - Far From Portland
Crewdson: ” Lau are my absolute favourite band in the world right now. They are three of the most incredibly gifted musicians on a technical level but when they get together something pretty magic happens, their music sounds both totally new and ancient at the same time. I love the bits of electronics blended in with the traditional folk. If you ever get a chance to see them live it is an incredible experience, you would not be disappointed. “
Bambooman - Sun (Eckoclick Remix)
Crewdson: ” This is a bit cheeky of me to choose as I did the production on it but its definitely one of those Sunday morning electronic tunes. It is also a collaboration with two of my favourite musicians that I work closely with being Bambooman and Femme, the mixture of the former’s production style coupled with the latter’s vocals is a real treat. “
MailTape’s selection
Crewdson - Dwarf Star
Sanjay: ” You won’t find this on either of Crewdson’s albums, but if you’re familiar with his work you’ll definitely recognise the choppy drums, tight basslines, mellow synths, incidental noises and layers of plinky, metallic, high-frequency content – as if he’s sampled absolutely everything. Far from feeling unsettled, Crewdson straddles the borders of rhythm, melody and noise nicely on this track. “
Cassie Kinoshi — 8-Bit: I. “Tetris”
Sanjay: ” As well as performing in and leading numerous jazz ensembles, Cassie Kinoshi has also written for short films and videogames. Primarily known for her work with jazz septet NÉRIJA, Afrobeat band KOKOROKO and her own large ensemble SEED, this is a great piece for mallet trio and piano inspired by the beloved 8-bit game, Tetris. “
Suphala — Eight And A Half Birds
Sanjay: ” A student of both Ustad Zakir Hussain and Ustad Alla Rakha, I first saw Suphala perform at Rich Mix in London for Soumik Datta’s ‘Sonic Boom’ series in 2015. And I’ve been waiting patiently to hear her in London since! On this track Suphala fuses beats, field recordings, piano samples, electronics, and her own tabla bols into a beautifully conflated sonic texture. “
E.M.M.A. – Cobalt
Sanjay: ” ‘Cobalt’ is taken from E.M.M.A.’s most recent EP, LA Mermaid. The entire EP shimmers with textural montages of etheral synth sounds and iridescent chiming bells. If you’re interested and in a position to learn more about melodies, drum patterns, arrangements and EQing, keep an eye out for her Producer Girls workshops in the UK. ”
That’s all for today. Thanks for listening and love to Crewdson for being our guest this morning, and to Anaïs Caura for this episode’s brilliant illustration!
