Magnetik North is the latest work from Ian Tregoning. It started as a collaboration with Dan Arno and Jon Ryman to synthesise acoustic and electronic instuments, a studio jam session using live performances fed through ultra-fast studio processors (time-stretch, delay, pitch-shift, loops, auto-tune) and then sent back to the headphones so what you hear isn’t always what you’re playing. The results sound like a noxious hypnotic blend of krautrock and Detroit electronica.
Now working with the legendary drummer Jaki Liebezeit from CAN to add his endless evolving rhythms. Jaki Liebezeit is in a world of his own as he balances subtle restraint and technical brilliance. Recording started in the Summer 2006 in an old jazz studio in the south of Koln. Jaki arrived with a very minimal kit including a heavily customised cymbal set, a snare and that huge Gretsch floor-tom from the CAN days. Some of the recordings are over 10 minutes long but all of his performances are complete takes with no drop-ins, loops or edits.
The finished results are quite minimal, a blend of industrial and classical. The backing tracks are put together using a ‘drone’ keyboard technique where a chord is held for up to 15 minutes. Other instruments and fx are then blended with the key of the drone. The idea is to get away from chord progressions that are common in western music. Drums and percussion are added last which is another unusual technique. As Jaki says “they are often overlooked as tuned instruments in their own rightâ€.
MAGNETIK NORTH - Album track listing
1. The Shining (5'52)
2. Drone in Koln (9'00)
3. Sky at Night (7'05)
4. Motor City (7'02)
5. Neverland (7'17)
6. 8.1 (6'56)
7. 8.2 (4'39)
8. Whenever (6'04)
The first track on the myspace player 'Sky At Night' features Jaki Liebezeit.
The album will be released in 2008 and won't appear on iTunes.
Layo & Bushwacka! have remixed 8.1 under the title DJEMBE to be
released on October 23rd 2008 on Olmeto/The End Recordings. Also available on Beatport
