c/d: CLEAR records (IDM)

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is this the best IDM label ever??

seminal early microhouse from: herbert (as dr. rockit), morgan geist and daniel ibbotson.

arguably kickstarted the electro revival (along with dave clarke's "electroboogie" mix, with early releases from the jedi knights, plaid, mu-ziq (as jake slazenger and tusken raiders).

and they leave a legacy of utterly unclassifiable jazzy micro-downtempo tracks from clatterbox, acen(!), metamatics (first album), reflection, as one, gescom and the gregory fleckner quintet.

their hit-to-miss ratio is approximately 9:1, i think.

― vahid (vahid), Monday, 10 May 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't expect much love for this thread but i've gone a long time without posting it and couldn't wait anymore ... i need to know i'm not the only person who still cares about Clear!

― vahid (vahid), Monday, 10 May 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

was just listening to the 95 releases this weekend...

― newnumbertwo, Monday, 10 May 2004 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

THANK YOU.

i've heard 95 cited as the real popular year. i'm more into the metamatics - as one - reflection - m. geist era.

― vahid (vahid), Monday, 10 May 2004 01:18 (twenty-one years ago)

"jazzy asymmetry" = weird genre tag, but i like it.

― vahid (vahid), Monday, 10 May 2004 01:18 (twenty-one years ago)

That first Jake Slazenger album is about the best thing Paradinas ever did (and about a zillion times better than the JS album on Warp, ye gods that was a dog).

― Sean Thomas (sgthomas), Monday, 10 May 2004 01:23 (twenty-one years ago)

They definitely kickstarted the electro revival, but I always thought the rep they gained for doing so was out of proportion with the quality of the music.
I can't find fault with stuff like Herbert, but I couldn't get excited about the electro material (and it's not that I dislike electro, I loved the Dave Clarke mix CD for instance).

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Monday, 10 May 2004 01:30 (twenty-one years ago)

fuckin A - i for one am glad you started this thread, i often bang on about the "late, lamented Clear records" i wish i had everything but currently only have just over half of the releases. Jedi Knights, WOO check! That Plaid ep: best thing they ever released. Gregory Fleckner: fantastic, especially Juicy Jazz Girls. Gosheep: the best track Gescom OR autechre ever made; Clatterbox, "easy does it" i was listening to just a few days ago, its great, still holds up after 10 years and the Clatterbeats ep's are good too. The Reflection Lp is pretty good but the remix Lp is phenomenal, morgan geists cube loop mix of reflection is pure proto-schuffletech, a thing of immense beauty. The Morgan Geist LP is nearly there but not quite, for me - at least 4 good tracks on it though. Tusken Raiders? hmmm not so sure, ill have to listen to it again but i remember finding it the weakest of the bunch of "big name" artsists who released EP's on the label (jedi, spacepimp, plaid, tusken, Gescom) - i'll definaley go back to it if i can find it (i may have sold it in a poverty induced purge at some point). Metamatics i was never wild about apart from "dope for the robot" which is great. the only thing i actively disliked was the Jake Slazanger LP.

There was also a short lived House offshoot called reel which, as far as i can tell, only released 2 things; a Daniel Ibbotson album and a 12 by... hm, cant remember but i have it somewhere....

sorry all that is so garbled - i just got excited when i saw this thread!

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 10 May 2004 01:36 (twenty-one years ago)

there were a few other releases on Reel - a Norken 12", an Ibbotson 12", 10"s by CSM and Cartel Productions (both Clatterbox related) - not much, but it was enough for P-Vine to cherry-pick a "best of" retrospective CD for the JP market.

Clair has impeccable taste - as she continues to demonstrate with DeFocus - and is unconcerned with following or starting trends. she releases what she loves, and it shows. Clair has heart, so Clear had heart. if only that trend had caught on. Clear = Classic. it's that simple.

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Monday, 10 May 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

great label - 90 percent of it good. great artwork, too.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 10 May 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

someone should rescue the definitive It's All Becoming... from OOPness for posterity's sake. Clear in a nutshell - in a funky/quirky package. one of the best label comps ever.

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Monday, 10 May 2004 12:29 (twenty-one years ago)

rough guide to clear:

jedi knights - intergalactic funk transmission
gescom - puzl
gescom - go sheep
plaid - android
plaid - angry dolphin
jake slazenger - megaphonk
clatterbox - bad means good
daniel ibbotson - split into fractions
spacepimp - k-9 law
gregory fleckner quarter - juicy jazz girls (plaid remix)
morgan geist - linking tunnel

― trouble t rae, Monday, 10 May 2004 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)

how can you have a Rough Guide to Clear without Doctor Rockit, Reflection, Metamatics and As One?

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Monday, 10 May 2004 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

was this the same label who released Metamatics and CiM? Or was that Focus? Used to hang around on the Neoouija messageboard but it was a little hard to follow. It always seemed to me that this lot were the uberlords of IDM who must not be spoken to.

That said, I'd love to start a small electronica label. I know two or three excellent acts who must be released very soon.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 10 May 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Metamatics, yes; Clear released Lee's first three 12"s and the CD collection of same (reissued as Dope for the Robot on Hydrogen Dukebox).

CiM, no. Simon's first 12"s came out on Delsin and Headspace, deFocus (post-name change) did the first CD and "Warm Data" 12". both well after the Clear era.

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Monday, 10 May 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)

that plaid ep really is fantastic. did they have stateside distribution? i remember having gotten the jake slazenger album and one or two other things and just becoming aware of this label when they seemed to vanish.

― .rob (rgeary), Monday, 10 May 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

early boards of canada also fits really well with their aesthetic

― .rob (rgeary), Monday, 10 May 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i've been thinking that 94-97 was the greatest time ever for music. skam, clear, warp, metalheadz. sigh...

― trouble t rae, Monday, 10 May 2004 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, the driving memoirs, YES

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 10 May 2004 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

also that clatterbox disc has that track with the sample "check it out now...the funk soul brother" which, i dunno, people might recognise.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Monday, 10 May 2004 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Morgan put the Driving Memoirs on iTunes in it's japanese edition, which has some slight difference, which, I do no know.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 01:13 (twenty-one years ago)

what?

― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 01:23 (twenty-one years ago)

ahh, i see it on itunes now.

― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Clear is total classic, but there are a few clangers on the 'It's all becoming clear' comp aren't there?

― Debord (Debord), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 13:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Shit, no - I meant the old Tom Middleton comp - that's got some clangers on it. What's that LP called? The one with the Chameleon Ferris Buller track that LTJ Bukem stuck on his first Logical Progression mix album?

― Debord (Debord), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

the theory of evolution?

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

GFQ's "monkey boots" sounds pretty classic now.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

only thing i haven't heard is "reflected beats".

must be fucking awesome.

reflection's "errornormous world" is still as mindblowing as the day it came out.

― HUNTA-V (vahid), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 19:03 (eighteen years ago)

i totally loved errornormous world, but i don't think i've heard it in at least a few years. should dig it up.

did they ever do anything else?

― arjun (arjun), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 19:25 (eighteen years ago)

i think i'll listen to the reflection LP tonight. i didn't know about reflected beats!

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

i often see Daniel Ibbotson in my local supermarket & keep wanting to speak to him.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 19:36 (eighteen years ago)

arjun: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Reflection

go there and explore

― HUNTA-V (vahid), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 19:50 (eighteen years ago)

"reflectd beats" was indeed awesome- more stripped down, if i remember it correctly, a bit toolish (as per the title). but great.

i missed the first releases (and have never been a huge electro fan in any case), was a little "meh" about the metamatics stuff (mehtamatics?). but the as ones are all totally classic in my book, and reflection and geist remain some of my favorite records ever.

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 19:51 (eighteen years ago)

go there and explore

so it looks like the short answer is no.

― arjun (arjun), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 20:07 (eighteen years ago)

the Taniguchi brothers teamed up with Lee Norris as Tone Language, but their one album was a pretty tepid proto-microhouse affair. i think Norris has done much better on his own as Nacht Plank. Reflection solo/side projects used to crop up on small Japanese labels, but i haven't seen a Cube Loop or Circus Lab track in ages.

those DJ tools 12"s, Reflected Beats and the Clatterbeats series, were the only Clear items i could live comfortably without.

how do people feel about Norris' Neo Ouija label as spirit-heir to Clear?

next time you see Ibbotson, beg him politely to do what he can to get New Stories and the "Souped Up" tracks reissued! it's sick and criminal how unattainable that album has become.

― Ghost Bear Junior High Attendance Party (Ghost Bear Junior High Attenda), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 21:06 (eighteen years ago)

aside from the neo ouija album, not so much.

even clatterbox + metamatics' "project unison" = meh

― HUNTA-V (vahid), Thursday, 5 October 2006 01:46 (eighteen years ago)

norris' stuff has left me increasingly cold, but introducing the world to xela and deru was certainly a worthy cause.

― arjun (arjun), Thursday, 5 October 2006 01:57 (eighteen years ago)

regarding spirit-heir...clear had a sense of whimsy from the rephlex connection and all the pseudonyms which i think neo ouija lacks, but this is all getting a little personal and subjective, isn't it?

but to keep going, i think all the little electronic labels at that time were perceived in relation to warp and rephlex (and ninjatune for some). whereas now, there is no center and everyone has to stand on their own which makes it harder for something like clear to happen again.

― arjun (arjun), Thursday, 5 October 2006 02:09 (eighteen years ago)

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