DUMB-UNIT Public Works mixed by Jeremy P Caulfield

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If/when you (occasionally) wish Kompakt would (almost literally) rock, check out the Kompakt-distributed DUMB-UNIT Public Works compilation mixed by Jeremy P Caulfield.

I think I may have just discovered the mix of 2004.

― nader (nader), Saturday, 31 July 2004 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I just listened to samples on a site (can't find it on slsk), and it is indeed extremely good.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 31 July 2004 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

This sounds really cool ... I think Caulfield is one of the only Toronto techno natives still living in T.O., although I may be wrong about that ... people seem to move to Montreal or Berlin all the time.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 31 July 2004 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

so this isnt on slsk? cuz i want it

― astroblaster (astroblaster), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)

mine comes in the snail mail on tuesday, can't wait...

― tricky disco, Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i got it already, and one hlf is shit, the other half is decent. It has been specifically divided into two halves as well, on the tracklisting and in the feel of the songs. unfoprtunately, our correspondent here has distilled exactly what makes the first half shit:
If/when you (occasionally) wish Kompakt would (almost literally) rock
so my advice is to skip to track 13, to avoid the sub-ersatz audio type chugging electro rock snorefest

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 2 August 2004 08:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Adjectival expletive = the true measure of literacy.

I don't see how this counters my argument. IF/WHEN you don't wish Kompakt would (almost literally) rock, don't check this out.

Very simple.

― nader (nader), Monday, 2 August 2004 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW: The correct contrapositive of my argument is:

Don't check this out, if/when you don't wish Kompakt would (almost literally) rock.

― nader (nader), Monday, 2 August 2004 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"if/" was meant to be a html tag!
that was meant to be a ditrect quote.
btw i think you summed up exactly what th ecd is like, very well, all im saying is the idea of kompakt rocking is like, my worst nightmare.

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 2 August 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

i like jeremy caulfield's beats. they sound like funky dinosaurs chugging through the tar pits.

― tricky disco, Monday, 2 August 2004 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

The ultimate point being that the disc isn't shit (at least as far as you seem to be conceding now...), but rather something you'd rather not add to your iPod. That I can hang with. Dismissing more than 50% of it as shit, however, I cannot.

― nader (nader), Monday, 2 August 2004 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd like to resurrect the postive vibe of this thread...

Basically what I love about the music this mix features is that it incorporates elements of New Order and Superpitcher (and others) without featuring any one of them specifically.

Not unlike the elements of Suede, U2, Archers of Loaf, et al one hears in Interpol's first album.

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)

incorporates elements of New Order and Superpitcher

this is actually one of my favorite elements in a lot of recent techno. melodic heaviness or really contradictory impulses like positive moroseness if that makes sense.

― tricky disco, Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Having bought a lot of the dumb unit 12s, and really been impressed by Jeremy P Caulfield on all his productions, I am kinda annoyed that this whole thread is full of weirdness about kompakt rocking, not rocking or whatever.

Dinosaurs in tar-pits I like though.

― ___ (___), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

He's playing a live set at Audio on August 28th if anyone is interested.

Haven't checked out his mix yet, I'll be firing up slsk tonight.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Er, Audio is in Brighton for those who can't read my mind. It used to be The Escape Club.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread wasn't meant to be whether or not Kompakt "rocked" in the descriptive sense but the literal sense (e.g. strumming guitars a la New Order, etc.) and for whatever reason that seems to have been (and continues to be) lost in translation.

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

But no, I don't like the weirdness quotient either. How'd it happen? Why'd it happen?

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Is Caulfield doing a full live set, just DJing or what? I would be tempted to travel the length of the country if it was a full live thing - though his Trapez stuff is by far better than him dumb-unit.

As for the weirdness, I have no idea. I think with Fairley and himself, Caulfield can really push Dumb Unit forward from the icky earlier singles they put out. The recent few have been absolutely storming.

― ___ (___), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

According to the liner notes the set was recorded live in Berlin (2004) and the first half of the mix consists of Dumb-Unit tracks from DU-009 through DU-013 and the latter half of the mix grabs a few early and a few later Dumb-Unit 12s.

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

So I guess what I'm saying is it's a disc of Caulfield just DJing yet recorded live? But no, not a full-on live set of Caulfield being Caulfield.

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Any particular Caulfield tracks on Trapez I should "seek" out in particular?

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Bloody hell - the Cities EP. Absolute corker - both sides are excellent (can't remember off hand - it is the green cented one, ripped backsides and hollow sky? Early-ish mid twenties Trapez). Miles better than New Memory I would say, but that is good as well.

As I say, I have a lot of time for Caulfield's production. He has this great sound he throws over pretty much everything he has done.

― ___ (___), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I got the full mix and am really enjoying it. The bassline on the first track is lifted directly from Joy Division's "24 Hours".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

ok so i preferred the "heavy" "rock" thing when i saw jake fairley live. but on disc it just sounds lumpen. btw i feel the same way about alter ego.

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

ambrose - I guess what you are saying is that alter-ego, Fairley and Caulfield are designed for clubs, and Kompakt is (quite often) designed for headphones.

Or is that putting works into your mouth?!

― ___ (___), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

no, just that like, ost descriptions ive read of alter ego (and my own perception of it, both on headphones and in a club) include something about "rock", or a reference to "8 bit" or something. like its got this sort of guitar-y sound. well, i find many (not all) of the tracks on the dumb unit cd (1st half) similar in tone/feel, and i just dont like it. its not a very edifying thing to say, especially if just expressed through "its shit", but there you go. I apologise. Fairley seems to alternate between more standard minimal tech and this sort of 8-bit rocker/electro thing. The latter sounded curiously good (bar his singing) in the club, but i def. dont like it on record.

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Having just rocked out to this disc (again) in my car, I feel it's really rather unfortunate this thread's become more about what Ambrose likes/dislikes than the disc itself.

As I haven't yet had the privilege of witnessing Fairley (much less Caulfield) live, my favorite venues for listening to this disc so far have been both my wife's car and my own. Both feature better-than-your-average-yet-stock sound systems and while cruising the mean streets of Boston I can't think of a better soundtrack than these "funky dinosaurs chugging through the tar pits."

Truly, few mixed compilations have left such an immediate, deep impression on me (and others). I'm sure some of that has to do with the misery that goes with being a Bostonian (Red Sox futility, anyone?) and the gravitational pull that draws me/us closer to the "melodic heaviness and/or really contradictory impulses like positive moroseness."

But that's only some of the equation. The Dumb-Unit tracks of this compilation are warm yet distant, fuzzy yet crisp - synthetically analog and chugging and as a result much more tech-house nearing minimal than anything electro I've known (unless my electro reference points of Adult, Miss Kittin, Felix, et al are off and we're talking about a sub-genre of electro with which I'm hitherto unfamiliar).

― nader (nader), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

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