[San Diego] - Stewart Walker LIVE 10.02.04
From CultivateLife.org and the creators of Mental and Dragon Lounge...
Broadcast Sessions Presents
Saturday, Oct. 2, 2004
From Berlin, Germany
Force Inc., Tresor, m_nus, and Persona recording artist
Stewart Walker LIVE
Stewart Walker grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. About 800 miles from Detroit or Chicago in geography but even more distant in ideology. In the early 90's, Walker looked past the jangly guitars and derivative melodies of popular American music and settled his gaze on British pop musicians experimenting with electronic effects and rhythms. It was through this distant gate that he entered into the emerging world of modern electronic music. His interests of that time included the sound of "baggy" Manchester groups like Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, but over time he switched to the more electronic sounds of the Orb, 808 State, and LFO. After finishing high school in 1992, he went to England to find and listen to the more underground records available only to the European market. He also attended his first "raves" which he had previously only read about. Upon his return to the US he sold his guitar and bought an analog synthesizer. Unlike most electronic music producers, Walker began producing tracks without first becoming a DJ. Finances dictated that he could either buy music equipment or a pair of turntables, but the magic for him was in the creation of sounds rather than collecting and mixing other people's records. So after two years of college, part time jobs, learning and saving, he finally had a functional beginners studio. Because of the limitations of such a small studio he was able to concentrate on creating interesting sounds. He had no MIDI devices and so each composition tested a new method of interfacing the different machines. These were the experimental years, when the basis of his direction and musical identity was formed. This knowledge was gained by trial and error and without any external mentors. There were no other electronic musicians around him until he moved to Wisconsin in 1995. It was there that he decided to take up the musical path in earnest. After a year of filling in the shortcomings of his equipment he quit his day job and started spending every day in the studio, putting the experience he had gained over the past 3 years into a more structured musical form. Between 1997 and 1999 he began releasing his first 12”s on US labels such as Matrix (Detroit) Belief Systems (San Francisco) and Tektite (Austin). These successful releases brought Stewart’s music to the attention of Cristian Vogel leading to a release on the prestigious Mosquito label in late 1998. In the Winter of early 1999 Stewart traveled to Germany for his first European tour. In additon to performing, he traveled to Berlin and met with the kind people of Tresor records who were so impressed with his demo, they signed a 12” the same weekend that they first heard it. This connection with Tresor led to more Eurpean tours throughout 1999 and 2000. During the Summer of 1999, while Stewart was living in Washington, DC he sat down in his studio apartment with the primary goal of writing his first album. The resultant work called “Stabiles” was released by Force Inc. Music Works of Germany and considered a major critical success. It was based on pushing techno music away from the clubs and into a more home-listening environment. He based the individual tracks on the cast-iron sculptures of Alexander Calder, and thus took the title of the album from Calder’s series of the same name. Stabiles prompted a US tour in the winter of 2000 with Kit Clayton across the Northeast and Midwestern United States. In the Summer of 2000 Stewart decided to take a break from living in the US in order to check out what it was like to live the immersive techno lifestyle in Berlin. It was during the Love Parade of this summer that he connected with Cocoon Music Events who have now become his European and Asian-territory booking agent. Finally, 2001 marks the year that Stewart is creating his first label: Persona records. The purpose of the label is to provide a single point of promotion for Stewart’s music so that it is easier for fans to keep track of each individual release. The other benefit of restricting the music to a single source is so the style of his music can be followed more clearly and the continuity of the Stewart Walker sound makes itself more readily apparent. -sinewaves.it
*****************two areas of music******************
**minimal/tech sounds in the WAREHOUSE**
Stewart Walker LIVE (Force Inc., Tresor, Persona, Mille Plateaux, m_nus, Berlin)
see above. we're freakin excited about this one if you can't tell
nominal LIVE (ocnlnr, SD)
as always, bringing it live with much knob twisting, filter tweaking, and mouse clicking.. We will be taking a break as Broadcast residents in November so catch us this time opening for Stewart
Red Sonya (vinylelements619.com, SD)
we always enjoy Sonya's tech-house sets and she's way more stylish than we'll ever be
DJ Astarte (Bass Culture, SD)
Sheri is one cool, hip DJ that may be Stewart Walker's second biggest fan in SD (I'm his biggest!). I knew it would take a big deal to get her out of DJ retirement, so don't miss her set. She's a true fan of minimal just like us
**organic live sounds in the VENTANAS LOUNGE**
Soulphonic Soundsystem (transistor lounge, LA/DC)
DJ SANTO (Decks)
DJ Santo has held down residencies at Soul Bossa, Sunday Service, & The Standard Hotel in addition to the Transistor Lounge, and has DJ'ed alongside artists such as Truby Trio, Kyoto Jazz Massive, Funky Lowlives, Boozoo Bajou, Cuica, The Thievery Corporation, Nicola Conte, Thunderball, Desmond Williams, St. Germain, Bostich, dZihan & Kamien, and Fila Brazillia amongst others.
el john (Live Percussion, Thievery Corp., DC)
Drummer and percussionist, John "el john" Nelson, has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and Japan with a wide range of artists and musicians - Thievery Corporation, Poi Dog Pondering, James McMurtry, Penelope Houston, Victor Krumenacher, Pi, Federico Aubele, Pat Johnson, Walter Salas Humara, Mike Emerson to name but a few. His trap drumming and conga rhythms can be heard on several recordings.
el john has spent much of 2003 touring as conguerro and percussionist with the acclaimed Washington DC based group Thievery Corporation and as the trap drummer for Chicago based Poi Dog Pondering. Future projects include a recording date with Thievery Corporation, a tour with emerging ESL artist Federico Aubele, and performances with el john's rock trio Captain Bring Down.
Visuals provided by nominal, delirium, kpiat, and dj bigbunny (special bunny friend)
Sound by PDA
Ventana’s 338 7th Ave San Diego
9pm-2am full bar 21+ $10
www.cultivatelife.org (visit here and sign up for the newsletter!)
www.mergeevents.com
www.oceanlinerrecords.com
www.personarecords.com
www.tresorberlin.de
www.vinylelements619.com
www.soulphonicsound.com
www.eljohn.com
www.ventanas-sd.com
