Over the last weeks of ongoing horrors, I’ve channeled some of my unbridled rage into designing some posters for anyone to print, put on your socials, or whatever you like.
The choice of the word Decolonise stems from the underlying problem of all these recent conflicts, not just in Gaza but also in Yemen, Congo, Ukraine, and beyond. We must call this beast by its proper name: The colonialist mindset.
It has been an interesting design challenge of doing “non-design” — as I found that “clever” designs would only steal energy from the message onto the messenger . A subject such as this relies on communicating the substance with as little in the way as possible. Yet color and personality must remain, that which we are protecting.
Some of these have been printed, and can be picked up in Bergen while stocks last.
Right now we all need some good escapism. So I went digging through my collection for all the 90’s epic optimism that was promptly killed by the age of ironic distance that followed it. The 2020s will be all about a return to earnestness, and the most earnest sounds of all lies in the monumentally indulgent arpeggiated chords of early trance.
I found minidiscs ripped from TV programs, shady whitelabels, bootlegs, and worse. But all amazing. And we are playing on the internet, so I don’t have to be as particular about sound engieneering as I would at a club. To keep it authentic to a club setting though, we kept all the mistakes and bad mixed in there, I want to keep taking risks so that one third of the time I mess it up. This makes the other two thirds so much better.
I wanted to focus in on a special collection of ambient acid and trance, the stuff you listen to while coming down from a marathon dancing session, lying in a field as the sun rises. This means I included a long chillout section on the end, pushing the peak energy to the middle of the mix. I’m into it!
So get on your living room dancefloor, get a spray bottle of water to simulate other peoples sweat, and join in!
Holy smokes! Come on Jacob, is it the 80’s? You might be surprised to hear that cassettes are pretty big these days (even sales-wise), as we all yearn for that unmistakeable physical attachment to music.
Sound quality is actually astounding as well, contrary to popular belief. When the cassette technology had gotten really, really good in the late 90’s, the CD had already taken over! But now we can reap the fruits of all that Taiwanese labor.
More than anything, I appreciate the lesser availability of the medium, as it allows me to produce something that would not be functional on streaming services, but works wonders on C-60 tape. So the tapes that come out of God Mother (our label) will include strange, previously unreleased materials that will surprise and astound those that brave their parent’s attics to find a working tape deck. Sounds that are simply too hot for streaming. And wholly ignoring the copyright rules.
I have a lot of tracks that I’m really happy about, but can’t get an official digital release because clearing the samples would cost a fortune and a leg, unless I somehow meet Nina Simone at an afterparty and get her to sign some papers.
We have some rather lofty plans to release a lot of experimental things, but the first two are really rather ordinary in comparison: The first tapes we made are my Assemble EP from a couple years ago, as well as the mix Am-Talis did for DOT. Go take a look in the shop to find it!
Over the last few months I have been developing the identity system of DOT; perhaps the most badass music collective in the Norwegian electronic music scene. I adopted a fairly streamlined methodology in this project, so let’s talk about it!
DOT is continuing their complete takeover of the city, and we’re thrilled to continue exploring the visual landscape we have established for them.
Saturday November 10th marks the launch of the next edition of Bergen Techno Fanzine, and will be celebrated with a house full of DJs, live acts and art from the local electronic music scene. If all goes well and I somehow manage to get some sleep between now and then, I will be debuting an art piece on the night as well!
But for now, let’s geek out on the posters together. Facebook seems to be a leaking ship these days, and promotion work in physical space is gaining momentum again. We even cooked up some flyers, almost as much as a throwback to the days of the classic rave flyer, than for its more concrete uses.
Make sure to give both Bergen Techno Fanzine and myself a follow on Instagram, as we’ll be posting lots of work in progress and new projects there!
