As some of you have heard, HD recording artist and longtime supporter John Walker has been involved in a very serious car accident. It is times like these that provide a sobering reminder of the impact of independent artists to our scene and the impact they make in our lives and in this case in our sound. John has a multi-year tenure of productions for the Harmonious Discord imprint and has been an integral part of the success of the label.
On March 26th, John Walker was returning from a studio session and was involved in a car collision that left him with multiple fractures. When authorities arrived John was unconscious and has been in a coma since.
We are asking all that are able to help in contributing to support for his family and medical bills. Many times being a musical artist is a thankless tasks with little benefits and security. We often trade these luxuries for the ability to contribute to the creative landscape. That’s why it is important that we pull together in this time and further enable these artists to cope with the many curve-balls that life can present.
We have set up a donation collection that will contribute directly to the Walker family.
Jamie Watts aka KiloWatts has a long tenure and impressive body of work contributed to the Harmonious Discord imprint. He has been an integral component to the shaping of our sound over the years and we have in turn watched him become a household name for deep, mind-altering compositions. KiloWatts first appeared on the HD label with a glitched out breaky contribution to our 5th release in early 2004. Since then he has been featured in 3 artist ep’s, 2 remixes, and 1 sampler contribution.
It was to our extreme delight when we heard in early 2012 that KiloWatts was planning on releasing a year long project album focused on a return to his roots as a piano virtuoso. The project first appeared in Kickstarter campaign with a teaser video (see below) and was titled “Acceptitude”. The fans amassed and not only helped Jamie reach his goal but shatter his projections. It is this type of organic fan connection that makes us love artists like KiloWatts.
To celebrate our love for the album we chose one of our favorite tracks. “Windsong” is a hypnotic dream sequence blown away by brisk winds of change. It mixes precise sonic definition with happy accidents in time and space. We enlisted a couple of great artists to present their spin on this selection. Ill76, Vital, and label boss PointBender all bring their unique style to the remix project and with the inclusion of an exclusive new KiloWatts tune this release is guaranteed to bring a fresh breathe to the tech landscape.
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2. Windsong (Vital Remix)
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3. Windsong (Ill76 Remix)
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4. End of Year (PointBender Remix)
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5. Three’s Threes
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The original over-arching theme to the “Acceptitude” album was to use a live piano to create musical compositions and marry them with electronic synthesis, effects, and technology manipulation. This created a colliding of analog and digital worlds to create a mosaic of emotions that can only be conveyed by partnering the unpredictability and warmth of analog instruments and the precision and control of a digital environment. These themes dance in and out of the album and regardless of what bpm or genre of music that you are currently on KiloWatts stays true to the methodology throughout. Nestled in the middle of the album is a track with gobs of organic dissonance while keeping a structure that is dance-floor friendly. Windsong mixes romantic piano melodies with middle eastern sounding digital synth manipulations. All are swept into a flurry of delay and reverb washes that increase in intensity and complexity. Our label resident half-step czar, Vital returns to the label with a deep 4/4 rendition of the original. Vital takes the original into late night jazz territory. The calm atmospheres and melodic stabs seem to have a hazey quality as they dance between slowly building percussive elements. This late night excursion intensifies with open hats and introductions of the original piano melody. Following the success of his recent contribution the yearly Discordian Dreaming Sampler, Ill76 is back to showcase a dubbed out warehouse techno tune. He takes a minimal approach keeping the late night attitude in focus with giant sounding dub sweeps and swung percussion that sounds like a mess of fall leaves being shuffled. The introduction of a sharp analog bass-line staples this pieces place in the deep underground. Label front-man PointBender in his infinite defiance decides to pick another hot selection from the “Acceptitude” album and provides a huge space techno revision of the song “End of Year”. PointBender’s take uses the melodic elements but in a techno friendly cadence with real club presence. Short mirrored glitches and big FM bass make this remix stand out among the house standards. We close this project with a very special exclusive contribution from KiloWatts in the form of a breaky/melodic song that you would be hard pressed to identify with any genre. This is what Jamie does best, bend the rules of historic genre classification, and this is why we look forward to many collaborations with him.
Every year out of the depths of a balmy winter comes a collection of sonic sensations exploring the outer reaches of the musical frontier. It has been the stage that has set the tone for a year of releases each winter and showcases arising talent on the HD radar. This years sampler ranges from downtempo to wharehouse techno with a cohesive feeling of the haunting stillness that winter brings. We welcome back label hero’s like Vegenaut, Signal Deluxe, Smight, and Wirik along with label freshman Ill76, Gians, El Natured, The Hermans, Joshua Kynd, and Christian Barbuto.
Brisk fall winds and the crackle of once green timber set the tone for a killer contribution to the HD imprint from Toronto based artist Driip. Driip was first featured a year ago on our Discordian Dreaming sampler and we have been excited about the potential extended play for some time. Driip has a unique flavor of techno/minimal that explores the stranger landscapes. Always thought provoking and never plain dancefloor fodder, less than lucid delivers mind stretching synthetic snacks for your Halloween season.
Harmonious Discord 032 Driip – Less than Lucid
1. Driip – Less than Lucid
2. Driip – Less than Lucid (Symbio’s Riparian Reflection Mix)
3. Driip – There Ain’t no Way
4. Driip – There Ain’t no Way (The Countach Remix)
Less than Lucid is a bouncy minimal number with loads of metallic percussion and heavy sub bass. The signature techno pitched vocal reminds us “it is all in your mind” while the individual parts go mental with heavy fx treatment. HD artist and 530Techno front-man returns to the imprint with a subvert banger. Symbio uses the dark undertones present in the original but places it in context of a low slung funk. His interpretation is best suited for big warehouse spaces with a full bodied “umph” ready to shake the walls. There aint no Way takes us down in tempo to terrifying trot of mis-pitched analog bell-ma-geddon. The elements swirl into a wash of creepy droplets of melody. We conclude with a remix from The Countach, which takes a more dark disco route with floor friendly structure and saw-wave influence.
