SCION
Pete Kuschnereit and Rene Lowe made their names respectively as Substance and Vainquer on Berlin's Chain Reaction label in the mid 90s. Lowe released what many cite as one of the label and genre's highpoints with Vainquer's Elevation album. The aesthetic of the (largely Berlin-based) scene is basically an ultra-deep take on techno, anchored kick pads and sublime textures working through a disorientating mist of digital atmospheres. Typically, core loops shift imperceptibly yet quake dizzyingly beneath the feet in a forest of digitally processed skyscrapers. A love for dub and dancehall sees these elements bent to the Berliners requirements. The sound is always structurally minimalist yet texturally expansive, pounding four-to-the-floor roots allowing the mind to be taken away on a reverb-soaked magic carpet ride.
2002 saw the release of Scion Arrange and Process Basic Channel Tracks (Tresor). Here Kuschnereit and Lowe take the genre classics of fellow Berliners Basic Channel and the Ableton Live software developed by Monolake's Robert Henke to produce not so much a mix as one huge sonic definition of the scene. Fans and newcomers were so knocked over by the album that Scion now perform a live version, and this is what they'll be doing for us in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Pete and Rene, following in the path of their mentors, worked together for the very first release of the label ‘Scion – Emerge’, a fantastic three track record with a hypnotic bassline. The original sound is there but different from Basic Channel. At the time Pete Kuschnereit worked at Hardwax, as well he DJ’d in and around Berlin and so, brought their sound to the dance floor.
Their duo Scion also performed live in festivals and clubs along with Tikiman (aka Paul St Hilaire, dub/reggae singer already working with Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus on their new project Rhythm and Sound.) Performances that marry the better of Chain Reaction sounds and ambiences with the dub & deep voice of Paul St Hilaire resulting in something that merged their old sound with completely new sounds.
Dimitri Hegemann from Tresor, knew and loved the Basic Channel sound from the beginning. His wish for years was to release a compilation of their best tracks, a challenging task since Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, always searching for something unique, didn’t want to simply compile their works like any other commercial CD.
The recently created software ‘Ableton’ offered them the solution! Allowng them to mix and interact with the tracks extracted from the nine Basic Channel releases and obtain something that no one could have expected. A CD that allows you to hear all the sounds from Basic Channel’s material but with a completely new perspective, Pete and Rene ‘arranged and processed’ this mix for Tresor and it was released as Tresor’s 200th release.
The fall of 2006 saw Pete and Rene going again deeper by starting a new label ‘Scion Versions’with a two track record that is certainly one of the best releases of the year. Surface and Immersion just sound right, an evolution from their previous work on Chain Reaction.
scion.de
TIKIMAN
Tikiman, an important man in the Berlin reggae and dub scene, is born in Grandbay on the Caribbean Island of Dominica. He begins to make music in his early childhood and becomes an excellent vocalist and musician. In 1993 he produces in Martinique the CD 'Angels Of Music' with his band 'Golden Squad'. The band opens concerts of artists like Prince Ital Joe, Bunny Wailer, Third World, Yelloman, Tiger, and many more in the Caribbean.
Eight years ago, Tikiman sets up his base in Berlin during a tour through Europe. In Germany's capital of innovative music developments he enters into a very productive period including live concerts, cooperations with different musicians, studio work and own releases. The association with the reggae band 'Livin' Spirits' as a singer and their packed concert schedule makes Tikiman known all over Germany. He records the CD 'Promotion' and the Maxi 'Rain' with 'Livin' Spirits'.
At the same time Tikiman advances, due to his singular 'broken' voice, to a highly demanded artist in Europe's dub and electronic music scene. He collaborates and performs regularely with avantgarde musicians. A very narrow relationship links Tikiman to the 'Rhythm & Sound' team of Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, the founders of the worldwide reknown cult lables 'Basic Channel' and 'Chain Reaction'. Their famous minimalistic soundscapes and Tikiman‘s flowing roots-reggae vocals melt to a fascinating futuristic aesthetic in the CD-productions 'Showcase' and 'Round One To Round Five' on Basic Channel's sublabels 'Burial Mix' and 'Main Street Records'.
In 2000 Tikiman sets up his own label 'False Tuned' within the sublable family of 'Basic Channel'. So far two 33'' reached the constantly growing group of fans of the well edited energetic tracks and listeners to the sometimes poetic sometimes political lyrics: 'Dub It Wittattitude' and 'Drifting along'.
If he isn't on stage or touring, Tikiman sits back in his studio working with other artists or on his own tunes. For Tikiman there is only one thing: music.
tikiman.org
enjoy!
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