FREQUENCY 7 aka SURGEON & BEN SIMS @ InBox

Surgeon - 10 Years of Birmingham Techno 1995-2005 Mix
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Tracklist
00.00 : Surgeon - Atol (Downwards)
01.23 : Surgeon - Magneze (Downwards)
04.10 : Regis - ModelFriendship (Downwards)
05.06 : Surgeon - Badger Bite (Downwards)
06.43 : Regis - Speak To Me (Downwards)
09.53 : Surgeon - Optic (Downwards)
10.48 : Regis - Untitled (from Hard Eduction sampler) (Downwards)
11.44 : Regis - Baptism (Downwards)
12.40 : Regis - Adolescence (Downwards)
13.35 : Female - Gayscene (Downwards)
14.31 : Female - Angel Plaque (Downwards)
15.47 : Karl O'Connor & Peter Sutton - Guiltless (Tresor)
17.11 : Surgeon - Intro (Version II) (Tresor)
19.30 : Surgeon - Return (Tresor)
20.54 : Surgeon - Credence part 2 (Dynamic Tension)
22.45 : Surgeon - Credence part 4 (Dynamic Tension)
23.40 : User - User02 b1 (User Records)
24.36 : User - User03 a2 (User Records)
25.32 : User - User05 a1 (User Records)
26.28 : User - User06 d2 (User Records)
27.23 : Surgeon - La Real (Counterbalance)
28.40 : Surgeon - Waiting For Me (Counterbalance)
30.38 : Surgeon - Midnight Club Tracks part 1.1 (Counterbalance)
31.34 : Surgeon - Midnight Club Tracks part 2.1 (Counterbalance)
32.44 : Surgeon - Midnight Club Tracks part 2.2 (Counterbalance)
33.39 : Diversion Group - All Boys, No Girls (Downwards)
34.35 : Diversion Group - Shirts and Skins (Downwards)
35.02 : Surgeon - Setting The Scene (Dynamic Tension)
36.54 : Surgeon - Sleep (Ultra Violet) (Dynamic Tension)
40.09 : Surgeon - Death Before Surrender (Downwards)
42.00 : Surgeon - Another Body (Counterbalance)
43.23 : Surgeon - Prowler (Counterbalance)
45.29 : Surgeon - Exhibit (Counterbalance)
48.16 : Surgeon - Shaper Of The Unknown (Counterbalance)
49.11 : Karl O'Connor, Peter Sutton & Ian J. Richardson - Death Head Said (Downwards)
50.35 : Regis & Ian J. Richardson - Untergang (Sandwell District)
51.58 : Regis - Get On Your Knees (Downwards)
53.04 : Regis - White Stains (Downwards)
53.32 : Vandross - Hurt Me I'm Waiting (Female RMX) (Sandwell District)
55.24 : Paul Bailey - Saturday Boy (Surgeon RMX) (1881 Records)
57.57 : Paul Bailey - Informantion Illusion (Rodz-Konez)
59.20 : British Murder Boys - Learn Your Lesson (Counterbalance)
62.35 : British Murder Boys - Don't Give Way To Fear part 2 (Counterbalance)
63.30 : British Murder Boys - Fist (Downwards)
64.26 : British Murder Boys - Father Loves Us (Counterbalance)
67.13 : British Murder Boys - Anti Inferno (Counterbalance)
69.32 : Surgeon - Klonk part 2 (Dynamic Tension)
71.23 : Surgeon - Untitled 2.3 (Counterbalance)
73.43 : Surgeon - Untitled 3.2 (Counterbalance)

Chit Chat With : Surgeon vs Sims Special Frequency 7 show
Marec, 2009. Ben Sims gets the questions.




At Blosk last year you teamed up with Tyree Cooper and dug out your old acid twelves. You've also got a hefty collection of old hip hop and electro, but I don't think you display this outside of the Split parties – are you planning any more?

Last year was a lot of fun, it really climaxed the party. I’ve worked with Tyree a few times now – it’s a project I’m happy doing. Aside from the fact that he’s my friend now, I’ve been into Tee’s music for over 20 years. It’s pretty amazing doing sets with him.

As a record collector, I really enjoy when I get a chance to play other styles I am into – but it rarely works when it’s sold as a ‘Ben Sims’ set – people just hear my name and expect a certain thing, even if it’s advertised as an alternative set or whatever. So for the most part I keep these sets to my own parties. In various Essex Rascals combinations over the past year, we have done sessions at various clubs and festivals around Europe. I’ll continue to do the Essex Rascals Podjams and now we’re looking for a respectable internet radio station to host our Way Back Whensday shows. I’ve a disco edit label on the way. I just seem to be missing those kind of tracks in my sets. I’ve a couple more planned but then will leave it a while and focus on whatever else I need for mt box. To be honest, that’s just the purpose of me making tracks – to fill my bag.

You are playing doing a Split party at Bloc next week. Do have more planned?

We’re working a new project – it’s all pretty hush-hush, so I can’t say much about it. But if it all goes to plan, it’ll start in a few months and will involve two other likeminded promoters at a larger venue that we’ve used for a while. At present, that’s the main focus for Split. After we celebrated our fifth birthday at Atomic Jam, it seemed like a good idea to rest for a while. As proud as I am of what we have done so far, it’s fucking hard work sometimes. It’s definitely easier to just turn up somewhere with a bag of records and be completely oblivious to all the drama involved in putting on parties.

I read a quote from you before, saying, ‘real DJs play records’, but of course you play alongside Surgeon from time to time. Do you feel there is anything really radically different to what he does, compared with yourself, the more traditional DJ?

Yeah, I do the occasional rant about people not using vinyl – there’s just something wrong seeing people using programs like Ableton, but not doing anything more than is possible with records. Of course, times are changing – not everything comes out on the black gold anymore and you have to adapt unless you want to play the same old track on vinyl every week – but a program like Ableton provides so many possibilities of manipulating the music that anyone using it to blend two tracks together should be fucking ashamed of themselves.

Tony (Surgeon) was the first person I ever heard use it. I couldn’t even work out what he was doing. I spent ages analysing a record of the night, trying to figure it out. I had to ask him in the end.

Tony has always been a strong programmer. His sets were always bold, carefully thought out and varied but since embracing Ableton, he’s taken it to the next level. The range of styles he can squeeze in is only really possible because of it. He is one of the rare few who uses it to its full potential and actually creates that off-the-cuff mastermix that guys like me have been trying to do for years with turntables or editing or four-track recorders or pause-button mash-ups from way back when…

It’s not DJing, no – it’s more than that.

When you’re playing with Surgeon, how much do you re-think about what you put in your bag? Where or how do you find a common ground for a Frequency 7 set, or do you just turn up and see what happens?

Doing Frequency 7 sets definitely gives us both a chance to play more tracks we wouldn’t usually drop. It gives each of us a wider spectrum to play with. We want the F7 project to have its own identity, so we purposely dig deeper for the shows. It’s not just a case of Surgeon and Sims = F7. I have the freedom to play dubby techno or deep house or electronica and even broken beat and drum and bass, because I know the set won’t lose its flow knowing I am not the only one in control. It’s very refreshing to break out tracks that I love but don’t usually play in my Hardgroove sets.

Now that Frequency 7 is becoming a little more frequent, can we expect to see any Roku shows with Mark Broom?

We did one last year, and it was cool to get together. But for now the Frequency 7 sets are my main collaboration project – plus the Killa Productions experiment with Paul Mac that we’re going to test run this month. So Roku is on hold for now.

You’ve always stuck to your guns with the music you play. Do you feel vindicated now that there’s something of a backlash against the more watered down tech-house/minimal sound?

I’m just happy playing and supporting the music I like and enjoy DJing with. I’m not a jukebox and I certainly wouldn’t start playing something just because it’s popular. If that sound came along that was amazing, mind-blowing and fresh, then great, I’d embrace it with open arms. But the majority of new wave minimal just isn’t that interesting – all the key ingredients of funk, soul, groove, energy… they’re all gone.

Obviously I love the raw, repetitive club tracks, stripped to the bare essentials. They’re perfect DJ tools. I’m a big fan of real minimal techno – Robert Hood, Jeff Mills etc – but aside from a handful of producers who are making minimal-ish music I like and do play (Shed, Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann, Skyscraper, Norman Nodge, Counterpart, Mike Denhert etc) the bulk of it does nothing for me at all and I really don’t understand the fascination with it. Maybe I’m getting old – or maybe I don’t take enough horse tranqulizers or maybe it’s just funkless shit!

Do you think Berlin's current status as world wide "capital" of techno is justified?

There’s a certainly a lot of strong artists coming out of the German scene now. Some of the guys I mentioned above are doing a lot of interesting stuff and bridging the gap between proper techno and the new wave of minimal. Also labels like Logos from Macedonia, Edit Select from Scotland, Dynamic Reflection from Holland, Frozen Border from wherever and the Consume label, bringing together dubstep, jungle and techno. It’s slowly but surely becoming a good time for uptempo music again… and there’s no shortage of great real house, with artists like Rondenion, Linkwood and STL, and labels like Quintessentials, Aesthetic Audio, UQ etc doing some fine downtempo grooves. There’s so much good music out there that focusing on one city seems silly.

In the past year, it feels like house and techno have taken what could be seen as a regressive step - for example, 90's deep house seen as a style of music being riffed a lot. Is it about time that people just accepted that techno/dance music doesn't have to be constantly in search of new ways of doing things?

I think that after 25 years of house, techno, electro etc, there’s definitely less places to go. Most things have been done before. If you’ve been into it long enough, you’re bound to hear a familiar sound come back as ‘the new thing’ with different producers and better production quality – that’s just how it is. I don’t care if a track is new or old, it’s either good or bad. Every sound has its golden era – they should be celebrated, not forgotten.

 

Chit Chat With : Surgeon vs Sims Special Frequency 7 show
Marec, 2009. First up, Surgeon.




You've embraced digital technology very successfully. Do you think you only fully realised what you've wanted to do in terms of performing music to a crowd now, or was it more borne out of boredom with the more traditional means of DJing?

It was just a case of experimenting with different DJ technologies. When I started using Ableton I knew that would really enable me to achieve what I set out to bring as a DJ.

A criticism levelled at some Ableton/digital performers is that the cutting of tracks into mere loops, they are undermining the original artist’s vision. Do you agree?

If it's bad, it's bad. If it's good it's good no mater what you use to DJ.

Your early productions were at the forefront of the ‘Birmingham’ sound. Does the city still influence your music?

In the last 15 years Birmingham has more fancy, shiny shopping centres, but still has the same complete lack of ambition to raise itself above a level of bland mediocrity.

You're in the lucky position where people expect something outside of the traditional techno set when you play - it's probably a position many other DJs would like to be in. How much of the blame do you think falls at the feet of the DJ to not take the risks, or is it more due to the expectation of audience?

I guess every artist has their own approach, in my case I think it's down to being really stubborn about only playing music that I think is good.

Dubstep has blown up in the last couple of years. Is it healthy to happen in such a short space of time? Does a more mainstream embrace of a musical style automatically mean it will become compromised, or is this just the tedious mutterings of the elitists?

I remember the same with drum and bass. Of course when there's a 'new' trend recognised you always get a load of idiots making pale imitations of the good stuff. Then everyone goes, "I'm bored of that now" so it's killed before it gets the chance to take its first steps. Good music is always there, just ignore the shit.

You embrace newer styles, but also dip in and out of older stuff too…

Great music really is timeless to me. It is important to me to be playing new music, but never just for the sake of it. Introducing old tracks to a new audience is also important to me…

Frequency 7 Promo Mix




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More about FREQUENCY 7 (AKA BEN SIMS + SURGEON)


A soundclash of styles from two mixmasters ‘Ben Sims’ and ‘Surgeon’,
both undisputed leaders in their chosen musical disciplines, now touring
and performing together to create something truly fresh!
They create a uniquely improvised journey through cutting edge and
intelligent electronic music, combining elements of: Techno, Funk, Dub,
House, Hip Hop, Disco, Industrial and more, whilst utilizing turntables, CD
decks, FX and all the latest Hardware/Software technology to take the
listener and dancefloor on a journey into unknown territory.
Taking its name from the highly influential track Frequency 7 by 80’s
electro pop outfit 'Visage', a futuristic electronic funk classic that was
an inspiration for producers on both sides of the Atlantic, the concept was
originally road tested in a series of secret gigs and audiences knew that
they were at the birth of something truly special.
Now 4 years on, with headline topping performances at GLADE FESTIVAL,
MONEGROS, AQUASELLA, AWAKENINGS and many more, the Frequency 7
project is going from strength to strength, their sets are tighter than ever
and they are officially established as the ‘ultimate’ DJ duo booking for any
self respecting event.
Right now the guys are bracing themselves for a busy 2010 with studio
productions, a mix CD and a tour of Japan already in the pipeline, so, if
you haven’t had the F7 experience or you want to see just how far they’ve
progressed, it’s now time to get in touch and snap up those illusive dates!