Saschah Ring regards the move he made from his native Quedlinburg to the German capital of Berlin in 1997 as the most important decision of his life, not to mention his best. While he’d made some headway into the nascent techno scene of East Germany, Ring was still frustrated and wanted to seek out something far bigger and better. He found exactly that in Berlin, where he was exposed to sounds and styles that took him far out of his comfort zone. For one, Ring began composing music away from the computers that he’d cut his teeth creating his first compositions on, learning to play the keyboards, guitar and drums in short order. Within two years of moving to Berlin, Ring had made enough of a name for himself to begin running the record label Shitkatapult along with the label’s co-founder Marcus Haas, and it was on that label that he began to release his first true records, taking the stage name Apparat.
In 2001 he released his first single “Algorythm” and followed that up with his debut album “Multifunktionsebene” in the same year. Almost immediately his work was met with critical acclaim, and throughout the rest of the decade his music appeared not on the charts but everywhere else that counts. From a Peel session he performed in 2004, to support slots with Radiohead themselves he performed with the side-project that he formed with Modeselektor, Moderat, and in the final scene of Breaking Bad’s fourth season. While he made his name with dance-floor oriented techno, he’s branched out more recently to make genuinely mind-expanding ambient music, and for the mastery he has over both kinds of electronica, Apparat comes highly recommended.
Darkside’s debut (studio) album Psychic was very probably my favourite record released last year. I loved it. I love it. The experimental electronic-rock duo consists of Nicolas Jaar, one of the greatest modern producers and electronic artists, and guitarist Dave Harrington, who has played with Nico (as he is affectionately known) for years.
I’ve seen Jaar’s live show a couple of times; in fact, the last time was at the Barbican in London, where he bought out Harrington for a Darkside segment. But the first time I saw Darkside proper was at Fabric for their album launch party. The claustrophobic and dark club was an oddly perfect setting for this show, especially with the (over)use of a smoke machine. Their unique fusion of psychedelic rock and ambient minimal techno has proved sort of divisive to fans of Jaar, at least their recorded output, but live they are a totally different machine.
They mainly side-step conventional song structures to create a soundscape of growing intensity – each ‘piece of music’ starts with sporadic sound effects and echo-laden guitar noises, before Jaar slowly add layers of synth and drum patterns. Eventually, a guitar hook by Harrington or a brief snippet of live vocals from Jaar will resonate as the audience recognises a song, but then it disappears amongst a wave of layered noises more akin to a post-rock band. Darkside’s strengths as a live project lay in building tension and then stretching out ideas far beyond what is usually considered ‘music’. It’s challenging but heady stuff. When they do play their own music, such as the funky take on ‘Paper Trails’ or the extended version of ‘Heart’, they are electric, but the best moments come when they rock out and jam, such as during a mutated cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Planet Caravan’. That Fabric show was absolutely incredible…I can’t wait to see them at Dimensions Festival in Croatia this summer.
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Apparat, aka Berlin’s Sascha Ring, is one of my favourite electronic artists, whether his is in DJ ‘rave’ mode, fronting his Apparat ‘band’, or performing live alongside Modeselektor as part of Moderat. I have seen all of his projects live and I honestly couldn’t pick out my favourite show, as each one has been so individual and special. The first time I saw him was when he was DJing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre in London. Here he delivered a thumping electro set backed by provocative visuals. I also saw him do a DJ set supporting Modeselektor at the Roundhouse in London and this time it was a near beat-less set full of orchestral minimal techno. Stunning. However, Apparat only became one of my favourites after I witnessed his full band show, in which he sings, plays the guitar and programmes beats while other musicians flesh out his compositions. This music was nothing short of beautiful, particularly the post-electronica of ‘Ask/Black Veil’, with Sascha Ring’s haunting, Thom Yorke-esque falsetto and the building euphoria of the soundcapes. Whether he is DJing or performing with a band, Apparat always drop in a version of Moderat’s anthemic ‘Rusty Nails’, which has got to be one of the best melodic techno songs of all time…
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