New Berlin/London based independent record label Small But Hard Recordings present their European Showcase finale at Berghain Kantine.
The label is a collaboration between Shigeru Ishihara (Dj Scotch Egg, Devilman, Scotch Bonnet), artist/print-maker Simon Fowler (co-founder of London based Cataract Press), Bryce Davesne (Electiic) and Daisuke Imamura (Dj Die Soon).
Sensational (formerly Torture) debuted in 1993 on Jungle Brothers’ J. Beez Wit The Remedy, then busted out a strong solo with 1997′s Loaded With Power, a maverick, lo-fi piece of speaker wrecking bass, chest-caving beats, and gruff, marble-mouthed selfaggrandizement.
Sensational | Smoke It Exact
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z36eBFXbbJE
Koyxeи is one of the many aliases of Kouhei Matsunaga, when in his Hip Hop/Breakbeat guise with vocalists & MCs. Born in Osaka, Matsunaga is a musician and drawing artist dividing his time between Osaka and Berlin.
He started drawing during his childhood under the influence of his grandfather. Growing up listening to hardcore-techno and hiphop, he first studied architecture, before beginning to make music in 1992. His first album “Upside Down” was released by Mille Plateaux (Germany) in 1998.
Koyxeи | 572_2
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=Hu_H8finnHM
This led to collaborations with Merzbow, Sensational, Autechre’s Sean Booth, Mika Vainio, Conrad Schnitzler, Anti Pop Consortium’s High Priest and more. By 2002, Matsunaga had started his own label, Flying Swimming. Under this moniker, he curates unique events for experimental contemporary music and art.
DJ Scotch Bonnet is the new solo project of Shigeru Ishihara, aka DJ Scotch Egg.A maverick, crazed with energy and excess creativity, Ishihara’s chance meeting with Matsunaga Kouhei spurred an isotopic explosion of activity and inspiration; the result was new dope style distorted bass and beats now championed by offshoot label, Small But Hard.
Dj Scotch Bonnet | Boodoo Boobee
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=s-vsIY3nZWY
Swapping GameBoys and 8-bit limitation for a hefty distortion unit, Ishihara delves deep into the world of bassdriven hip-hop breaks. DJ Scotch Bonnet melds dense distorted beats with his signature pop sensibility, referencing Scorn, NHK, and the dance music culture of new home-town, Berlin.
Ishihara is prolific in his output, and has collaborated with E-Da (ex Boredoms) in epic psychedelic outfit DRUM EYES; works with Bo Ningen’s Taigen Kawabe, and Dokkebi Q’s Gorgonn in dub distortion unit DEVILMAN, and also plays bass in newly reformed electronic pioneers, SEEFEEL.
Roly Porter | Tleilax
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=5qjFjC3h3tA
As one half of experimental production duo Vex’d, Roly Porter’s fierce dancefloor productions became synonymous with and crucial to the evolution of an emerging dubstep sound in its first primordial movements. After a hiatus of three years,Porter returned to music as a solo artist in late 2011 with a new album, ‘Aftertime’, which left the dance-floor and took in elements of drone, techno, modern classical and ambient.
Porter’s music is about questions he has no answers to, things beyond his range but that are recognised. The ghost; landfill, broken science, underneath edgelands. Bleak roots and old culture. It is after language and after structure.
c_c | Mixtape Release Party
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=kZe8ke2HauQ
After listening to a lot of jungle, dub and breakcore, Eduardo Ribuyo had his brains blown when he met NHK, aka Kouhei Matsunaga. The ensuing metamorphosis brought us C_C, master of handmade beats and analogue feedback loops.
Taking k7 tapes as his primary material, and sourcing sounds from anything and everything, C_C produces heavily textured music breathing, repetitious, and deep. Live performances envelop, soupy and treacly, moving incognito through his signature improvised flow.
Kawakawa | Blind Set at Schiphorst Festival
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=VUxTURgApgM
The lunatic who took over the asylum, Kawakawa merrily blends childish tomfoolery with mind mangling noise. Abrasive sound sculptures beat you into submission until you are sick on the carpet.
He spits in your eye and pisses on your face. For thus it is written in the great journal of musical endeavour that someone somewhere will achieve maximum joy from this unholy racket.
Dead Fader | Mud
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=-P8CBEtPy7o
Dead Fader construct savagely abrasive dance tracks from molten blocks of noise and distortion. Intelligently distressed synths and deteriorated samples tap into your innermost cerebral hemispheres.
Unapologetic dread noise blasting through your core and assassinating dance floors across the world.
Dj Die Soon | Live in London
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=oQwCryatSAo
Dj Die Soon (born Daisuke Imamura, Tokyo) is a Japanese DJ/Producer based in Berlin. Dj Die Soon landed in Berlin from London in 2010.
Since then he has made his presence known in the electronic music industry with hundreds of Live gigs, support slots for some of the World s ’ biggest artists and his own brand of Japanese horror and beat heavy music.
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Small But Hard Showcase
w/ Sensational Ft. Koyxeи and Dj Scotch Bonnet, Roly Porter, Dead Fader, Fujako, C_C, Kawakawa, Dj Die Soon, Wasteman LIVE
Tuesday, 30 October 2012 | 20:00 CET
Kantine am Berghain | Am Wriezener Bahnhof | 10243 Berlin/Friedrichshain
small-but-hard.com | berghain.de
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