Basic Channel Records ... Educate Me, Please.

bc-02 - phylyps "trak"
bc-03 - lyot "reshape"
bc-07 - "octagon" / "octaedre"

really really really really good

bc-04 - quadrant "1.1"
bc-08 - "radiance"
bc-qd - quadrant "infinition"
bc-cd - CD compilation

really really good but not sure what the point was

bc-01 - cyrus "enforcement"
bc-09 - phylyps "trak ii"
tresor 100 - scion arrange and process basic channel tracks

merely really good though sometimes boring

bc-05 - cyrus "inversion"
bc-06 - quadrant "dub"

any back history?

only known photo of the enigmatic duo behind basic channel

also *cough* http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1669 , http://www.circonium.de/music/index.html (I'm sure there used to be a really great feature on this site too, but it seems to have gone).

actually, you know, the m series was better than basic channel

i wouldn't say the M series was better than basic channel but i've only heard the M compilation CD which is much narrower sonically than the basic channel 12"s. i guess it just depends what you prefer but i don't think they're better.

Octagon and or Octaedre is a personal favourite

http://basicchannel.com/images/records_297/m-3a.jpg
http://basicchannel.com/images/records_297/bc-07a.jpg

BC 05 (cyrus - inversion / presence)
BC 07 (octagon / octaedre)
BC 09 (phylyps trak ii)
BC 06 (quadrant dub)
BC 01 (cyrus - enforcement)
BC 02 (phylyps trak)
BC 03 (vainqueur - lyot reshape)
BC 08 (radiance)
BC 04 (q.1.1)

On second thought, BC01 and BC02 should probably be switched, and BC08 should be bumped up a spot.

wtf Porter Ricks is named after the Captain from the Flipper movie?? That is so awesome.

I second what people are saying above about the Main Street series. 'New Day' is especially fantastic. It's a shame they we ignored for so long by most of the people splurging over the rest of the BC catalog. Anti-house snobbery maybe?

haha

where is the autechre remix for bmx-3
where is the merzbow remix for bmx-28

i have wrapped my life in chain reaction. the records keep destroying me. hallucinator "morpheus" and fluxion "prospect I/II."

also, i know i keep on saying this, but CHAIN FUCKING REACTION.

classic post

really really really really reaaaaaaaallly good
bc-02 - phylyps "trak"
bc-03 - lyot "reshape"
bc-07 - "octagon" / "octaedre"

really really really really good

bc-04 - quadrant "1.1"
bc-08 - "radiance"
bc-qd - quadrant "infinition"
bc-cd - CD compilation

really really good but not sure what the point was

bc-01 - cyrus "enforcement"
bc-09 - phylyps "trak ii"
tresor 100 - scion arrange and process basic channel tracks

merely really good though sometimes boring

bc-05 - cyrus "inversion"
bc-06 - quadrant "dub"

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, March 26, 2006 2:27 AM (ten years ago)

Do Various Artists fit into this somewhere? Decay Product is a fantastic record.

Are these the same versions as on the 12"s or edited versions? www.discogs.com/Basic-Channel-BCD-2/release/1345423

bc2's tracks are unedited

thanks!

Various Artists is Torsten Pröfrock, some stuff under T++ and was part of Robert Henke's Monolake stuff for a few releases.

afaik this thread is mostly basic channel the artists/label but the chain reaction stuff was what they published from others

btw saw moritz dj this year, it was good

Destroy "radiance" for inspiring all that shitty echo cord emo dub shit

enforcement is maybe the best for me. a brutal hypnosis.

enforcement, phylyps trak ii, quadrant 1.1 and octaedre (though it is way too fast) are the ones that i still play out. phylyps trak ii still way, way out in front of all the others for me.

my favorites are probably

enforcement
q 1.1 b1
infinition

All the 12"s were released digitally a while back - I got them from the Amazon MP3 store.

classic post

really really really really reaaaaaaaallly good
bc-02 - phylyps "trak"
bc-03 - lyot "reshape"
bc-07 - "octagon" / "octaedre"

really really really really good

bc-04 - quadrant "1.1"
bc-08 - "radiance"
bc-qd - quadrant "infinition"
bc-cd - CD compilation

really really good but not sure what the point was

bc-01 - cyrus "enforcement"
bc-09 - phylyps "trak ii"
tresor 100 - scion arrange and process basic channel tracks

merely really good though sometimes boring

bc-05 - cyrus "inversion"
bc-06 - quadrant "dub"

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, March 26, 2006 2:27 AM (ten years ago)

― I look forward to hearing from you shortly, (Karl Malone), Saturday, September 3, 2016 9:37 PM (six years ago)

i would like to revise these rankings

at the time i was listening to a lot of hard techno, so probably overrated these two:

bc-02 phylyps trak
bc-03 octagon / octaedre

of the two i think octagon holds up better as a “basic channel track”. i like the weird blippy noises on octagon that skitter across the sound field like drops of water dancing around a hot skillet. octaedre is not so exciting for me, it’s like they tacked the maurizio dub house beat onto the a-side, doesn’t quite work for me

phylyps trak also sounds (to me anyway) a lot like octagon with a beat tacked but it’s that insane barreling early 90s german techno beat. there’s a mills mix on one side and that’s how i think of the whole ep, as the most “techno compatible” of the series. i have to admit i can’t really tell the three mixes apart. maybe phylyps base emphasizes the kick (phylyps bass?) and i think at one point mills adds some choppy transmat type snares and hats? i usually just pick one randomly when i play it

people complain about these being too fast, and yeah like a lot of the series they’re 140+ bpm! but i guess with the rise of new “copenhagen techno” stuff and current interest in juke tempo music maybe it’s their time now

if it’s too fast you’re too old

bc-03 lyot reshape

here’s an embarrassing confession, i think i was confusing this one with the maurizio lyot remix, which is part of m series not bc series. that one is obviously eternal. i like how submerged and spacey this mix is.

the phylyps mix on the other side is as indistinguishable to me as the others. at 10 mins long it might be the most functional one from a dj perspective? i feel like i discover something new each time i listen to a different mix … and then promptly forget whatever i discovered. maybe that’s a feature not a bug woth the phylyps traks

bc-05 cyrus inversion / presence

i never listen to inversion. i’m not sure what the appeal is. i guess maybe the unique synth notes over the top? those notes sound vaguely middle eastern to me (like some sort of zither) maybe that’s why it says “cyrus” on the label? but i find the thick high frequency hiss maddening

presence reminds me of lyot reshape, as spacey as this set gets. it’s like listening to a glacier, or glimpsing an iceberg in the fog, a vague impression of something distant and massive that goes on almost forever and you’re only seeing the barest outlines. one of my favorite chain reaction tracks (ridis “foto”) pulls a similar trick ... but as as i love staring into the void, i’m not always in the mood for staring into void. sometimes it’s like sinking into an amniotic bath, sometimes it’s just too distant, too cold and forbidding. idk how it manages to be both, probably just had to do with my moods?

xp TRUE!

classic post revision

It’s Saturday afternoon, it’s beautiful, it’s a clear and pleasant day outside, we’re out here revising the classics

bc-08 radiance

someone on discogs called this “the most broken” of the series and yes i agree. similar vibe imo as presence and the phylyps track reshape, but formless to the point of evoking anxiety. thirty years on most of these records just sound like techno / house to me (testament to their influence over the genre and also how well they understood what came before them) but this is the one that still matches what was written about them in the wire (biba kopf?) … you’re never sure where the music ends and the static begins. the “radiance” of the title always made me think of the aura you see before a migraine, or maybe ghosts. maybe that was in the wire article too

as before, sometimes i don’t want to get quite so deep in the zone

it’s cold af here (63F) and completely cloudy, i want to die

perfect bc weather imo

25 years ago I was really into this stuff but always preferred the Chain Reaction side of things. And of that, only still listen today to the Porter Ricks Biokinetics album. When I sold the bulk of my CD collection the buyer didn’t want my BC or Chain Reaction CDs so I have it for free to Wonder Book in Frederick Maryland for some lucky person to find.

“I gave it for free”

bc-04 quadrant

i think of this one as the pop one now. partly because it’s the sampler, short tracks for diverse moods. classic dub techno (1.1.i) broken chain reaction stuff (1.1.iii) total zonk (1.1.iiii). but also because it has the funkiest track of the whole series (1.1.iii) ultimate dj weapon for any club, warehouse, party, wine bar, video stream, whatever

bc-09 phylyps trak ii

like m-04, m-05, m-06 and maybe m-07 this one is also in the pop category because if the tempo is right you can magically make it work in just about any house / techno set, you can pop in and out at any point or play the whole damn thing and it will sound good. absolutely perfect record.

and that’s just the b-side! the a-side is maybe just another mix of phylyps trak but with this relentless chord hit that pushes it to the edge of hysteria. not quite as versatile plus there’s a break you got to look out for at 8 mins that stops things dead in their tracks

you’re missing out, you should revisit these

bc-06 quadrant dub

okay so this one is the whole reason i revisited this thread. idk why but i never really gave this one a good listen. in my mind it sits very much in the middle of the series. it’s not as immediate as the club bangers (quadrant iii, phylyps trak ii, octagon, phylyps trak i) and it’s not meditative as the deep space drifters (presence, radiance, lyot reshape)

on the other hand there’s a few in the series that for whatever reason make no impression on me, either too monotonously tracky (enforcement), too big room trancey (hyperprism / infinition), too billowy and formless inna echocord stylee (basic reshape), too much a rehash / retread of what was done before (q “loop”)

unlike those, something kept bringing me back to quadrant dub. the warmth, maybe? so when the recently repressed most of these, i grabbed fresh copies of 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 (for some reason “radiance” was not repressed, but this is the other reason i am revisiting this) … i put on and … there’s voices? is that singing?

when i first put it on i’d had the windows down, there were kids leaving a game at the high school across the street (lacross playoffs maybe?) and i thought it was the music from their cars maybe mixing with my music? but no, there’s definitely a male diva down in the mix below the chords.

this is a revelation! how did i never notice this? has this always been here? obviously it has, but who is this singning? is it from a chez damier track? is it andy caine? was i only ever hearing the a side and ignoring the b side? or was i only ever hearing the b side (the vinyl sides i/ii seem reversed compared to how they’re presented on apple music)

anyway wow. just goes to show never know when you’re going to be surprised by something you never noticed in a track you’ve thought you’ve “known” for 25+ years

really really really really reaaaaaaaallly good

bc04 q1.1
bc06 quadrant dub
bc09 phylyps trak ii

really really really really good but sometimes not in the mood

bc03 lyot rmx
bc05 inversion / presence
bc08 radiance

merely really really really good

bc02 phylyps track
bc07 octagon / octaedre

i never listen to these

bc01 enforcement
bcbr basic reshape
bccd q loop
bcqd hyperprism / infinition
cd compilations and mixes

to sum up, i would say my respect for the classics has only increased and although on balance i still probably love maurizio singles and select chain reaction singles more i am ashamed for ever having criticized any aspect of basic channel releases #2-9

M series is so timeless, I was bumping those in the car really loudly during the last winter time

i am never not in the mood for m4, m5, m6

Great (re)assessments of BC tracks! Quadrant dub: there really are vocals among the haze, as the 12" is versioning Round One's "I'm Your Brother" 12" on Main Street, another BC offshoot label, that has vocals by Andy Caine.

ah excellent thx. i actually have that one and always play the ron & chez “chicago twisted mix”, must be why i figured it was either a chez damier track or an andy caine track (it was both!)

It's been a long, long time since I listened to the entire BC series (or the M-series for that matter). I think that Octagon/Octaedre would still be my jam (as it was 16!?! years ago), but I guess I should hear everything again to be sure.

I always thought that Phylyps Trak was overrated. I assume they wanted at least one, no doubt, peak-time club banger to come out of this project, just to prove they could do it while being faithful (kind of) to their overall aesthetic. Phylyps Trak II is much better.

Re: Presence and not always being in the mood to stare into the void: I totally get it. These days, I feel that way about some of these tracks too.