S&D: Basic Channel

BUY VINYL!!

The tracks were usually mastered specifically for vinyl, and many of the CD's contain edited versions of the vinyl tracks.

BASIC MOTHERFUCKING CHANNEL

LET'S
GET
REDUCED

what do you guys think of echospace

(sorry for mentioning this on basic channel thread you can burn me in effigy if necessary)

i still find it really hard to describe what it is about their sound that i find so special and endlessly listenable. it's some kind of audio heat signature or something, another species.

I guess the richness of the reverb effects is what really stands out to me, simultaneously quiet and small while evoking vast spaces. this might be my all time track

model 500 - starlight (Moritz mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1TwVLmOhiU

That whole Starlight remix album is fabulous

by far my fav deepchord related thing

xp the reverb is definitely a part of it. i know hardly anything about sound design or mixing but i think there's a lot more. high quality eq and delay for sure. all analog signal chains and expensive mixers, probably. honestly i still don't know how a lot of the pitched sounds they use are generated in the first place - synthesizers? samplers? it's like, dub as a platonic form that can't be simplified into disparate elements.

more than that it's a very alechmical transformation of og dub that really understands the spirit and vision of it imo.

Bullwackie’s-wise I feel like this Horace Andy track is a especially a crucial influence/signpost?something about the echoing high-freq percussion and guitar flicks... and the moment where everything breaks down and builds back up around 3:35, idk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-pTRShCBk8

the bass has that sharp fuzzy “zapped out” feel

zapped as in electricity not Zapp & Roger

Maurizio - M 7 - Untitled B


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iV4fKanfzM

kinda similar to the model 500 mix, conjuring the athmosphere and effects being spoken about here to great effect

Going to see Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force in Bristol tomorrow. Psyched, but really don't know what to expect.

I've been a casual follower of his work since ILM got me to check out some of the Basic Channel stuff back in the 2000s, although I admit I've always found his oeuvre a bit perplexing, mystified over the peculiarities of the Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound catalogue (I'm sure there are multiple versions of certain BC tracks that sound completely and utterly different from each other). I'd love someone who knows what they're doing to recommend a "Best of" Ernestus + Maurizio spanning their whole range

The Scion album, "Arrange and Process Basic Channel Tracks" might not be a bad listen to get the distillation of the early material. I really like the Moritz von Oswald trio album with Tony Allen. Those are my 'keepers' although I generally like all of it.

Rhythm & Sound is something else entirely, more of a purist dub thing. I had "Showcase" back in the day when it came out. I feel like it would be worth a re-listen.

Ndagga Rhythm Force is totally sick, but its more about the Senegalese musicians than his thing (I think he does front-of-house sound and dubs):

https://www.ursss.com/2023/03/mark-ernestus-ndagga-rhythm-force/

I came late to all this but went deep on BC and the Moritz von Oswald Trio at one point, I love a lot of those records. The recent one with Laurel Halo is really good.

Ndagga Rhythm Force defied all my expectations live. A six-piece drumming band. It was only until right at the end that I realised Ernestus was at the back of the room working the mixing desk. It was so great and so fun!