Karman Line

 John Heckle could easily be perceived as part of a new, young crop of producers but with just a single listen to his music, one is instantly transported into the past; a time when looking to the future was synonymous with the house and techno of yore. With continued listening it becomes apparent that Mr. Heckle is in a different league than his young counterparts. Perhaps it's his affliction for old-school Chicago house and jack tracks or his nurtured deejay lessons that have allowed him to release along side of label mates: Adonis, Steve Poindexter and Lil' Louis for Jamal Moss' Chicago imprint, Mathematics. Or maybe there is something else more innate. We find out as we cross the line with John now...

Karman Line: From a musical standpoint, would you please dive into your history and relationship with your brother Bill, who is also a deejay with a passion for Chicago & Detroit house and techno, a place where you have now found yourself with your multiple releases and forthcoming album for Mathematics?

John Heckle: We are very close and always have been, like best friends. He always had an influence on the music I would get into when I was growing up and house and techno is a part of that. He was always a great DJ and taught me how to mix when I was about 12. I guess he has let DJing fall by the wayside a little now, but he still likes to put on some records every now and then. He took me to my first techno rave when I was 13 - it was pretty straight forward four-to-the-floor techno, but I had never heard anything like it at the time and I loved it - it suited me then as I had all that energy that goes with being a young teenager.

 It wasn't long after that we started to look for more adventurous incarnations of dance music. I guess after that initial buzz of hearing something so unfamiliar and exciting that I wanted to keep chasing that feeling of discovery by finding more new and different sounds (I don't understand how people can listen to the same stuff all the time without it getting tedious). This eventually led - due to the lack of interesting new electronic music that I could find throughout the 2000s - to travelling further and further back in musical genres and getting a hold of older and older records. Bill did the same thing to an extent, buying older and older records, becoming more interested in music's roots as appose to its current states. He bought the first classic Chicago records that I heard, such as old Mr. Fingers, Lil’ Louis and the like, and that got me hooked.

 As a point of interest, it’s funny how music seems more innovative the further back you look. You would think with all the technological innovations over the past two decades that music would have become more interesting and inspiring, but I think the opposite has happened for the most part. It was when I discovered Mathematics Recordings (as well as labels such as Jack-FM, Eargasmic & Nation) that I really got interested in new music again. It showed me that there were still artists trying to be innovative with their music, whilst still being influenced by innovators of the past. This eventually led to where I find myself today.

 Nowadays I'll go to my brother more often than not to get his opinion on a track and such, and he is quick to praise or critique something when it’s needed. I think he is proud and happy with what I'm doing.

KL: At 22, you are still young by many standards yet your music harks back to different time and place. Your releases thus far could easily be mistaken for true, old school house and less like the ilk of current retro trends taking place in electronic music. How is it that you are able to obtain and channel that original vibe and what is your intention when you get into the studio?

JH: For the most part I don't have a real intention when it comes to beginning a track. I mean, I'll think 'I want to get a least one jam down today' or something like that, but there's never any idea of how it's going to sound at the end. It always starts as jamming out some sounds (as I guess it does with everyone), playing with some sliders and key variations and chord progressions and effects and beats, etc. Eventually one element will start to sound right and I will build the rest of a track around that one element. I guess that is the most exciting part of the production process; when you get that one element down and you can begin to imagine what will compliment it and what the rest the track should sound like and how it might sound at the end. Once all the elements are down and I know how it I want it to sound, it’s just a case of hitting a record button and doing a few play-throughs until I am happy with it.

 I guess the Chicago influence is down to a love of the music that has come from the city. It’s very flattering to get comparisons with early Chicago work, as I don't think personally that much of the city's output has been matched or surpassed since the early days of house music. Dance music has never really sounded as raw and uncompromising since those early days, with only a few exceptions.

KL: You currently reside in Wirral, England not far from Liverpool, a large metropolitan city renowned for its rich musical heritage. Wirral on the other hand is mostly known for its maritime history and quaint daily life. Do you find the juxtaposition between country life and the big city to be conducive to your musical career right now or are there plans to relocate in your foreseeable future, possibly allowing you access to more late nights, larger crowds, record shops, major airports, et cetera?

JH: Well I spent a lot of my childhood and teenage years growing up in Liverpool, and that is where I first became serious about music. The city itself is a melting pot of different cultures, so there is a lot of different musical styles and such on offer aside from the rich musical history that the city holds already. So it is a very inspirational place live, music-wise. At the moment I am happy where I am though on the Wirral, it is quieter here and I can get more accomplished over this way. I still work in Liverpool and have most of my friends over there, but it is nice to be able to come back to some peace and quiet once work or the weekend is over.

KL: Mathematics A&R is run by Jamal Moss - aka Hieroglyphic Being - who has an uncanny knack for finding raw and relatively unknown talent. Yet he has been criticized, at least from fans within the underground community, for releasing material too frequently on the label. Is there any concern that your debut album won't maintain the attention you would naturally hope for with the possibility of new material from the label on the horizon? And, what is in the pipeline for the rest of 2011 after your release for Jamal's label?

JH: I'm not worrying about the release clashing with other Mathematics releases. I think that if people like it they will want to get hold of it. There is a big cult following for the Mathematics output and I guess doing frequent releases fuels that following. After all, there are not many labels that put out music with the same ethos as Mathematics, and so I guess - if you look at things on a wider scale - that there is not enough music coming out of that ilk. So Jamal knows what he is doing, and I don't think the label would have reached such a worldwide cult status otherwise.

 I will be keeping busy throughout 2011, with a CD version of The Second Son due later in the year packed full of brand new tracks. An EP on Tabernacle records is due on the 4th of July entitled The Extrovert/Introvert EP, and I am constantly working towards completing various other exciting projects which should see the light of day come late 2011/2012. Aside from that I will be continuing to do Live Shows and DJ Gigs. All in all an exciting time.

As with all interviews on the Karman Line, artists are asked to contribute some form of media to act as a companion piece to the interview. It can be anything, big or small, it just has to be personal. For Crossing The Line 003 John offered to handcraft a mix for his contribution as well as lay down an impromptu live jam nearing the end of said mix. As such, the Karman Line  announces, with great honor, the first submission to our own mix series, THE VOID.

 The Void series will be infrequent and random so as to remain memeroable and uncommon. Attached you will find a short explanation of the mix from John and the option to stream or download at the highest bit rate possible. With that said... enjoy.

VOID 001 by John Heckle

 In the near future, English artist John Heckle will be releasing his first long player for Jamal Moss' Chicago imprint, Mathematics Recordings. In order to showcase this release, Karman Line will be conducting an interview with Sir Heckle.  Coinciding with the interview, Karman Line will also be igniting a podcast series featuring John Heckle on deejay duty and he promises something very special for this launch, exclusive to this site.

 Until then, one can listen to John's album preview here and expect Crossing The Line 003 to follow soon, so keep your guidance systems on.

 Shortwave002 is now available for listening and download. This 'wave' was recorded under dense rain clouds over Brooklyn, New York on Thursday April 28, 2011. All windows and doors were left wide open in order breath in the wind and rain.

 As the weekend of April 30, 2011 approaches, notable space notes include: the final scheduled launch of NASA space shuttle Endeavor, postponed til Monday, May 2, 2011 due to a malfunctioning heat circut; and the duo Voyager spacecrafts nearing the edge of our solar system. Both Voyager crafts will soon breach the heliosphere into interstellar space, each carrying the Golden Record, "...literally, a gold-coated copper phonograph record. It contains 118 photographs of Earth; 90 minutes of the world's greatest music; an audio essay entitled Sounds of Earth (featuring everything from burbling mud pots to barking dogs to a roaring Saturn 5 liftoff); greetings in 55 human languages and one whale language; the brain waves of a young woman in love; and salutations from the Secretary General of the United Nations." 

 Please enjoy Shortwave002 as you ponder the final voyage of Endeavor and the twin Voyagers as they cross the most distant threshold to date.

Quote from NASA

 Shortwaves is the new in-house mix series by 134340. There will be no constraints or formula regarding the mixes and a tracklisting will always be provided so as to give credit where real credit is due, back to the artists and labels. Each 'wave' will stream at 320kps and will also be available for download.

 The initial launch for Shortwaves is one part ambient, one part dub and one part Mancuso. No long blends here, just plenty of breathing room for each individual track. Particular gratitude goes out to Area for his vinyl contribution in the form of tracks 1 & 8 in this mix. Enjoy at your own leisure.

Listen to Shortwave001

Area is the production moniker of Chicago’s m50. m50 (whose birth name will not be divulged in this particular interview) is a DJ with a consistently busy yet humble tour schedule and a solid home base at Chicago’s commercial-free WNUR radio station. Area on the other hand has been at the production helm for the better part of a decade and has featured work on labels such as: Mathematics, Wave, Ethereal Sound and Echospace. Area’s new label, Kimochi is set for 2011. We cross the line with Area now…

Karman Line: Kimochi Sound is your new label. The first release, Tenderness EP, features your work on all 3 tracks sans remixes or material from additional artists; a sight rarely seen in your back catalog as most of your releases are shared with other artists in the typical form of a split EP. Will Kimochi eventually see contributions from other producers in the future or is the label a platform for your productions exclusively?
 
Area: I am not sure what the future holds for Kimochi Sound. As far as it being a purely solo outlet, Kimochi has already been the result of many hands. My collaborators have been very patient with me: Aaron Shinn with his unique design and insights into fabrication technique, Volthair in forming abstract aesthetics into tangible visualizations, Tom Cox with his relentless advocacy for the vinyl format, and the Kickstarter donors and pre-orderers, for faithfully tolerating delays and uncertainty in favour of supporting our work.

KL: You successfully utilized Kickstarter to fund the start of Kimochi, a rather unique solution. (It should be noted that at this time there are various musical artists and labels using Kickstarter for their own inaugural releases but at this point none could be categorized as underground electronic music). Please explain your experience with Kickstarter and the start up of Kimochi as it relates to releasing a physical product such as vinyl in 2011.
 
A: Kickstarter was a big help in raising enough money to get the vinyl pressed. It is inherently a gambit; I would either gather enough donations or start the release as a flop before it got off the ground (as projects only receive funds from donations if the project's income exceeds its funding goal.) The more positive way to look at that experiment, though, would be to say that it was an early chance for me to gauge interest in the project. In that respect, the result was remarkably encouraging.
 

KL: Artists tend to have a way of fitting in to their localized sound or scene for better or worse. Now, you are originally a Canadian National and currently a Chicago transplant with strong ties in Japan as well as the Pacific Northwest. Have you found inspiration in your travels and geographically speaking, do you find that your sound resonates more or less with one of the aforementioned regions?
 
A: While the response to my set at Electric Tea Garden in Seattle in 2010 was positive, I also got the impression that it was a novel sound for the audience. Similarly, I felt a receptive but surprised response to my recent set at Loop Aoyama in Tokyo, as there was some expectation of a "Chicago" sound. In this case, that was taken to mean a jazzier, vocal house style. I played a Chicago-influenced set for that show, but one that may have sidestepped their archetype. That said, many Chicago techno & house artists have also been developing a distinctive texture and a stripped-down, cross-pollinated sound as seen through labels like Mathematics, Momentsound, Beautiful Granville, Antenna, Nation and so on.
 
  Particularly with electronic music being so thoroughly international & networked, I think that what characterizes the sound of a place is less a unique local genre or technique, and more a quality of the type of audiences and forums the place attracts, and the physical environment. My feeling is that these commonalities form certain threads that leak into different genres within a region. When I heard house music last summer in Berlin, the basslines were highlighted in a certain way. Industrial-tinged techno seems more at home in places that experience cold weather than in the tropics. Dubstep takes on a different aura when played in a dusty desert party in the American South West as opposed to in rainy London. I guess most simply, you can play a song most anywhere, but its meaning seems to change from place to place and from one audience to another and the way that each place "hears" seems to be what creates that particular resonance of locale that you ask about.

 
KL: Chicago is arguably one of the more musically inclined cities in America, and more specifically with its rich history in house music and current partnership with Sonar Festival. Being the third largest city in the U.S. does that equate to a lot of support for what you are doing there or are you removed from the local hype be it Chicago or the Midwest?
 
A: I agree that Chicago is a busy center for exporting music and the arts. There are a plethora of distinctively Chicago genres and hybrids, and a range of artistic communities. As for support, it often seems like Chicago the city offers as much inspiration through its resistance as it does through its patronage.
 
  You mention the Sonar Festival, which I think actually highlighted some points of friction in Chicago. The lineup was predictably a subject of criticism: for not featuring enough local artists, for not highlighting distinctively Chicago developments, and for falling short of the massive, long-term, international undertaking represented by the tradition in Barcelona. See this. These questions offer insights into the issues facing Chicago electronic music at large.
 
  With the recent widespread resurgent interest and influence of Chicago music, it's all the more striking that many of the artists seen abroad as widely representing the forefront of the "Chicago sound" are hard to find performing locally.
 
  As for the issue of scale, it seems like outlets and promoters are constantly facing an up-hill battle from the city. Even this latest effort of the Sonar Festival threatens to be cut short by defunding and layoffs at the Chicago Cultural Center, which played host to the inaugural Chicago edition in 2010. See this as well. It should hardly be a surprise that local Chicago electronic music events have a kind of stunted development in contrast with the city's flourishing artistic base.

 
 
KL: At one point in 2010 you had mentioned (perhaps tongue in cheek) that you were wondering if it was worth it or not to continue producing under the Area moniker. With your new label on the horizon, multiple 12" releases set for 2011 and an ever updated Soundcloud page, giving up is obviously not something you seem serious about. Without undermining past accomplishments, do you find that your productions have been picking up steam in 2010 compared to the last 7 years that you have been producing under the Area moniker? And at the risk of possibly sounding overzealous, do you believe 2011 has the potential to be a so called 'breakout' year for you as a recording artist?
 
A: Breakout, all year long? With all the travelling in the wintertime, the changes in humidity are pretty hard to adjust to, but I hope my skin's not THAT bad...

Video: Cheap Warmth by Area

Directed by: Volthair

From: Tenderness EP Kimochi 1

“Komtur was one of cruelest Knights that lived in Germany in the 13th Century. One year, he forced the local farm-workers to build him a great castle using whips and extreme torture to persuade them. One year later the castle was finished & the farmers were starving. Then Komtur informed them that they had one month to plant 100 fully mature Beech trees around the Castle. And if they failed this impossible task their wives and children would be fed to his dogs. This arose such a Paganism that one woman arranged a deal with Satan. He would plant the trees if she supplied a newly born human. Satan kept his part of the bargain but the Church heard of this and began to bless everything in sight. After many failures the woman was cursed and an enormous Black Spider burst out of her face. The Black Plague had arrived!”

Text by Jeremias Gotthelf  

Woodcut by Michael Wolgemut

Perhaps you may have heard of Oliver Ho (aka Raudive), perhaps not. If not, please be urged to review his lengthy discog for a 2-dimensional look at his musical résumé. First, know that this is not so much a piece on Mr. Ho and his back catalog,  as it is about his new label, Wires and his inspiration from art, literature and design as it relates to said label. We cross the line with Oliver now… 

Karman Line: Your one-sheet for Wires001 makes reference to J.G. Ballard material. What if any, are more examples of art or literature that influences the direction the label and its aesthetic?

Oliver Ho: JG Ballard has a unique vision of technology, human nature and dystopian futures. In particular his book Crash, explores technology and its relation to human desire. It’s a very 'techno' book, very intense and dark.

 I would also say that a lot of video installation art has had an impact on me, the very sparse and ritualistic aesthetics of Bruce Nauman's work. I love the way he uses language, and deconstructs words and meaning. I think the use of vocal samples in my music has some relation to this, it’s the process of abstracting very familiar things, things that are human and warping them into something more alien and animalistic.

KL: Wires002 sees the inception of Atlas, a product of you and Tommy Gillard, who has an 8 year gap in production material. What was the motivation to work with Tommy after all this time and what results are liable to be recognized from the collaboration?

OH: Tommy is a very good old friend, we make a lot of music together, and a lot of it is unreleased experimental stuff. The Atlas project is a part of an ongoing lifelong creative relationship we have, we have hours and hours of material we have recorded as Zov Zov, which we will also release. Atlas is a mixture of ideas exploring techno, house and disco, but also fusing that with more abstract elements, that’s also what the label is about.

 The club tracks we did came out great, one of them is a heavy tech-house thing, and the other is more rolling and techno in style. They are very reduced in style; I am always trying to distill the elements in the tracks down to the minimum, like an economy of sound.

KL: With the two current Wires releases, it is obvious that there is an affinity for more than the typical EP aimed at the dance floor. Would you go into detail on the reasoning for this and can it be expected for future releases on the label?

OH: Wires is a reflection of my personality, and what inspires me. I am into a lot of different types of music, I especially love music that is hard to classify, stuff that surprises me, stuff that has personality to it. There's a lot of really conservative techno music which does nothing but the bare minimum, just keeping peoples feet moving on the dance floor, I want to be taken somewhere by music. I am always looking for something with a unique personality to it, there are great producers that have the guts to push themselves, people like Matthew Dear, Ricardo Villalobos, these are people that keep surprising me, and also redefining the genre.

 My plans for Wires are to bring together different things like dub, post-punk and industrial music, for me there's a common thread running through this music, I guess it’s a kind of minimalism. Something that has an edge to it... the next few releases will feature more Raudive, Matanuki (dark dub) and Zov Zov, which is a noise industrial project I do with Tommy.

KL: What is the reason for the fact that you felt compelled to release material separately from parent label, Meta when Meta records is described as, “…symbolic of Oliver's musical vision, a fusion of influences, striving to take music into new areas”?

OH: For a period of time Meta was symbolic for me, but after putting a halt to the label, I took a break from producing for a while. When I resumed making techno, I wanted to surprise myself and work on ideas that weren’t right for Meta, so I worked with labels like: Klang, Pokerflat and Macro.

 Now when I decided to start releasing on my label, it felt right to signify that with a brand new label. Wires represents where I am right now, for me Meta was the past, in the future I will be in yet a new phase. It’s about giving myself new creative challenges, rather than repeating the same thing over and over again.

KL: Please take a moment to explain your vision for Wires and why you believe it is important to include vinyl releases as well as digital, when it is widely known that a physical product this day in age will often not make a complete monetary return and possibly stand as a loss.

OH: As I said before, Wires is a label that’s about a certain attitude, to push some boundaries and mix things up, that’s inspiring and fun for me. I still think there’s a market for vinyl, I don’t think it’s especially DJs that are buying it, it’s more general music lovers and collectors. It’s not going to make anyone rich, but it’s still relevant.

Please set your coordinates to Planet Ho for more on Raudive’s upcoming album on Macro and expect Wires003 by Raudive to be transmitted shortly.

Photo provided by Oliver Ho.

The loss of what was once a discovery will always linger more when one begins to realize what was so fascinating in the first place. As time passes, general conceptions will gradually change and with them outcasts are created. These outcasts are the direct descendants of forward progress, whether the progress be technological or philosophical in nature. They are the inevitable children of evolution as we continue to redefine our own perceptions of the past. We as a people will surely continue to shed what we at one time considered fact or truth, only to bastardize it in the name of said "forward progress".

Heavenly body "134340" takes a period of 248 Earth years to orbit around our sun. It was definitively considered a planet for 76 Earth years or approximately 1/3 of it's own solar year. Alas, 134340 could not even make one full cycle before becoming an outcast of our once, nine planet system. The textbooks will be rewritten and old copies banished, most likely along with the thoughts and hopes that there is indeed more out there. When you can without doubt, say that something "is not", you are also saying that it "never was". To "never be" strikes at the heart of past discoveries and the fascination within them.

Pluto 1930 - 2006

Heavenly body 134340 2006 - ???

Dedicated to the memory of Percival L. Lowell. A man who searched for "Planet X" until his death in 1916. We found it...

Photo by Clyde Tombaugh

The Kármán Line is only a mere 100 km above the Earth’s sea level. But it is this invisible line that separates what we know from the infinite void and vacuum of space. Kaleidoscopes of colors are lost by the wavelength, all except one; giving the impression of our blue home. Our atmosphere becomes thin, making way for the blackness of space. It is this space we will explore. It is this line that we will cross together.

Kármán Line image courtesy of NASA