LOWFISH: Recent Episodes
LOWFISH
Lowfish is battle-scarred Canadian electro and analog IDM producer Gregory De Rocher.
Founder of the Suction Records label (with like-minded Robot Jason Amm, AKA Solvent) in 1997 – Lowfish's extensive 20+ year discography spans releases and remixes on some of the world's most respected electronic music labels.
-- "Lowfish's music is deceptively simple, enormously catchy modern electro, eschewing currently fashionable digital trickery for good old analog skills" XLR8R
"Forget the watered-down schlock that passes for electro these days - this is pure, unadulterated synth music, and it rules" VICE
Previously unreleased extended version of the track "8_op".
The original version appears on the full-length album "Burn The Lights Out" released by Satamile records.
From the 2019 remastered archival double vinyl release of "Test(e)" on Suction Records (originally released a cassette in 1996).
You can buy a copy here:
https://lowfish.bandcamp.com/album/test-e
From the (very) limited/epic 2013 "Time Capsule" - 808 Box Set on Spain's Fundamental Records.
The box was limited to 88 copies and included: 8 x 12" Vinyl 2 x TR-808 Shirt 1 x Poster
More info here: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Time-Capsule-808-Box/release/5242038
Unreleased track from fall of 2004
I was working on the album "1000 Corrections Per Second" (Suction Records) and did my version of a 242 /16th-note bassline track every few days to cleanse the palate....this is one of those...
This is my 2005 remix of Kero's track "Drop", for his Detroit Underground label. This is a newly remastered version.
The record featured this remix along with tracks by Jimmy Edgar, Funkarma, Kero and locked grooves by Otto Von Schirach.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Detroit-Underground-Part-5/master/197296
A favourite Lowfish remix - this is my remix of Alpha Aesar's "Synthetic Sun" from their 2008 self-titled release.
Most of the drum sounds are from the Boss DR-110, the lead is from the Roland Jupiter-6, other sounds are from NI FM7 and the bassline is from my beloved Dave Smith Evolver.
More info here: https://www.discogs.com/Alpha-Aesar-Alpha-Aesar/release/1427670
"Arp 294ms" is from my 2018 release "Hypersensitivity" on Suction Records (Suction046).
You can buy a vinyl or digital copy here: https://lowfish.bandcamp.com/album/hypersensitivity
"The Chandelier In The Studio" is the last track from my 2000 album "Eliminator" on Suction Records (suction008).
Lil B, aka The BasedGod, borrowed a hand-full++ of my track for his track "In The Studio" from his 2012 release "848/855 Song Based Freestyle Mixtape".
It's cool.
This is my contribution to the 2002 Ersatz Audio label compilation "Misery Love Company" (EZ - 020). Every track on this comp is killer and you should seek it out :)... 16 years on and I still listen to it reguarly...
Martin C Martin is from my first full-length album on Suction Records in 1999 called "Fear Not The Snow And Other Lo-Fiing Objects". The "snow" refers to background noise/hiss/crap recording quality which also informs the name "Lowfish" (meaning Lo-Fi-ish). The name of the track comes from a dude I met playing in New York one time named - good guess - Martin C Martin. I had the poor guy show me his driver's license to prove it. This track reminded me of him. No idea what we talked about but it stuck with me.
This track is all Roland Jupiter-6, 808 and Roland s-750 sampler. The Jupiter-6 is used in split-mode and does about 65% of the song - everything was recorded in real-time/one pass to tape and recorded later to DAT and sequenced by an Alesis MMT-8.
My contribution to A Tribute to Robert Moog on the Netherland's always excellent Crème Organization label.
This is one of my favourite Lowfish tracks. Produced in 2005 the track is mostly Jupiter-6 (main lead and bassline), 808, Arp Odyssey (second bassline half-way through) and plug-ins/computer crap.
"Domination" is from my 2002 release on Adult's Ersatz Audio label from Detroit.
There are actually several versions of this track (thus the version 2 here). The vocoder is actually the built-in shitty vocoder in the Roland vs-880 which I used to record quite a few tracks around this time. The rest is mostly Roland Jupiter-6 and TR-808.
A collection of recent feel-good synth hits to start off 2019 …
Broken English Club - “Animal Town” (L.I.E.S) Belief Defect - “Opium Den” (Raster) Jensen Interceptor & Assembler Code - “Extraction” (Central Processing Unit) Morah - “Coma Verenices” (brokntoys) Unfinished Portraits - “Closeness” (Lobster Theremin) Betonkust & Palmbomen II - “Boven De Wet” (Pinkman) LVRIN - “Lynch” (Pinkman Broken Dreams) The Exaltics - “000458.00.9” (Solar One Music) Chicago Jim - “A4” (Lobster Theremin) Furious Frank - Dangerous Dancer [Ken Oath Records] Outermost – “Surface #4”(Modal Analysis) Caterina Barbieri – “How To Decode An Illusion” (Important Records)
Lowfish - Reel Electronics Volume 26
TRACKLIST:
The Advisory Circle - And the Cuckoo Comes (Ghost Box) Felix K + Ena – “Live at Berlin Atonal 2016” (Extract) (Berlin Atonal Recordings) Blawan – “Fawner” (Ternesc) Chevel – “Data Recovery” (Different Circles) Charles Manier – “Mesrop” (Bopside) Trenton Chase – “Under The Sludge” (June Records) S.M. Nurse – “Frutta” (Domestica) Annanan & Maroje T. – “Confrontation In Terms Of Sexuality” (Pinkman) Facit - “Broschyr” (Minimal Wave Records) The Modern Institute – “IV Cheeks” (Diagonal Records) Pollon – “Xtro” (Scopex) D'Arcangelo – “Diagram XI” (Suction Records) Rafael Anton Irisarri - “Downfall” (UMOR REX)
Lowfish - Reel Electronics Vol. 24 Infrequent mixes of tracks I'm into, certainly not a DJ mix....
Tracklist: Tod Dockstader - "Piece #1" (Soul Jazz Records) ARIISK - "Pointillism" (Nostilevo) Staccato Du Mal - "Kervorkian" (Weird Records) 440PPM - "Bølling Oscillation" (Avian) Patricia - "I Know The Face, But Not The Name" (Ghostly International) Pye Corner Audio -"Decade Counter (Cloudface Remix) (More Than Human) Demdike Stare - "Curzon" (Modern Love) Lena Muir - "Experimental Product 2" (Eye For An Eye Recordings) Beau Wanzer - "Weak Blizzard" (Self) Aphex Twin - "Winding Road ,e,+41" (Warp) Biosphere - "This Is the End" (Biophon) Cloistral - "Stillness" (Bokhari Records) Abul Mogard - "Tumbling Relentless Heaps" [Ecstatic]
Lowfish - Reel Electronics - Volume 22:
Includes some favourite tracks from 2016....
John Bender - "35b5" Maoupa Mazzocchetti - "Zero Power Fixed" Metrist - "Assume I Do It All On Purpose Henning Baer - "AIIM" (Kangding Ray Remix) Maelstrom - "Lithium" Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - "A Kiss" Pye Corner Audio - "Lost Ways" RX-101 - "Bloom - Part 2" Varg - "Inga droger / Ingen parfym" ISAN - "Rattling Downhill" Roman Flugel - "Dust" Korrupt Data - "Density Function" Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm - "00:26"
We Will Fail - “V2.02” Fizzarum - "Ursa-Majoris” D.Å.R.F.D.H.S. - "Smash! Grab!” Anders Ilar - "Ludwijka III” Worriedaboutsatan - "Blood (Head Technician Remix)” Frak - “Synthfrilla” The Analog Roland Orchestra - "Melody 8” IXTAB - “War” We Be Echo - “Jump Up” Charles Manier - "Stag Error” Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm - “M” Clark - "Open Foe"
Lowfish - Reel Electronics Volume 18.
Tangerine Dream (vs. my ring mod pedal) - “Desert Dream” Aphex Twin - “14 07 b” MG - “Stealth” Adolf Filter - “Inner Wall” Varg - "Asocial 46” Lakker - “Pylon” Autechre - “444” Varg & Hypnobirds - “Hogdalen” Isreal Vines - "01 WWKD” Alessandro Cortini - “Nebbia” Silent Servant - “Still Life"
One of the best Lowfish tracks no one has heard? Dunno but I love this track. Sappy Jupiter-4 melodies meet all my dusty drum machines.
Released on the limited "Hello Tinnitis/A Little Thing Get By" 7-inch vinyl-only release from 2011.
Buy a copy here: https://lowfish.bandcamp.com/album/hello-tinnitus-a-little-thing
Press release:
"Hello Tinnitus / A Little Thing Gets By" is a new 7" single from Canadian electro mainstay Lowfish, a preview of his forthcoming "Hypersensitivity" full-length. Lowfish is Gregory De Rocher, and this is suction023.
Barring last year's "Memories..." album, a compilation of vintage archive recordings, this double-A-side 7" is actually the first new Lowfish release since 2008. While his last 2 albums could best be described as serene and clinical, electro at it's most austere, Lowfish's return to Suction Records, the label he co-runs with Solvent, also marks a return to a more melancholic electropop sound. This is not new territory for De Rocher, but it's been a while since we've heard this kind of direct, fragile emotion from Lowfish. In fact, with their slow, head-knodding 808 beats and wistful synthesizer melodies, these songs could best be described as electro-ballads.
"A Little Thing Gets By" is almost cute, until the strings fade in - pure heartbreak. "Hello Tinnitus" meanwhile, is the most pure slice of synthpop that Lowfish has delivered since 2002's "Theme to Parked Cars", a firm Lowfish fave for many. While Kraftwerk remains the pivotal electro music reference, only a few electro artists can rival the masters' keen sense of melody and emotional depth — Lowfish is one of those rare electro artists, and this 7" makes that case clear.
The track "Frozen and Broken" from my 2008 release "Frozen and Broken".
This track, like much of that album, features heavy use of the Dave Smith Evolver–which was an obsession at the time.
Buy the album here: https://lowfish.bandcamp.com/album/frozen-broken
"Colder" is from my 2004 release on Suction Records "1000 Corrections Per Second".
Drum machines and Roland Jupiter-6. That's my deal.
Buy it here: https://lowfish.bandcamp.com/album/1000-corrections-per-second