Alex Egan is a London-based DJ, producer and designer. He has operated under a variety of aliases – such as Astronomer – remixing Joakim, Metronomy, The xx, Glasser, Jori Hulkkonen, Zombi and many more to widespread acclaim. His latest project ‘Geschmacklos’ – recorded as The Draughtsman – will soon be released on the Marketing Music label and has received glowing feedback and radio play from the likes of Erol Alkan, Ivan Smagghe, Trevor Jackson, Roman Flügel and Ewan Pearson.
As one half of former DJ duo Skull Juice, Alex has played across the UK, Europe and beyong including legendary clubs Trash, Optimo, Bugged Out! and Fabric. Since their final set at Field Day 2011, Alex and Ben continue to co-host their long-running club Walk The Night together on an irregular basis. While currently working on new music, Alex is also busy preparing a new label and event series, Utter, as an outlet for a number of new ideas spanning music, film and design.
FIVE TRACKS YOU MUST HEAR THIS WEEK #62: ALEX EGAN
BRIAN ENO-NO ONE RECEIVING
Well, I have to start with Eno really! He’s one of those artists where my fandom quite possibly crosses over into obsession (See also: Aphex Twin, Yello, Legowelt, Joakim, Maurice Fulton, Jackson… I’ll stop there). This is the opening track from the 1977 LP ‘Before And After Science’, a personal favourite that I believe ranks alongside ‘Another Green World’ as his best.
EDEN AHBEZ-FULL MOON
A true eccentric, eden ahbez dressed in white robes and lived wild eating raw vegetables, fruit and nuts. He wrote the achingly beautiful ‘Nature Boy’ for Nat King Cole in 1947 then promptly disappeared. He was discovered living with his family beneath the first ‘L’ of the iconic Hollywood sign. In fact I would suggest reading up on him because that’s just the tip of the iceberg really! This is from his only solo LP ‘Eden’s Island’ released in 1960.
THE THE-GIANT
I won’t pretend to love everything by The The but there’s no doubt that Matt Johnson is a terrific songwriter and this has to be his finest moment. It just builds and builds and for a track pushing 10 minutes long, never gets boring. From the ‘Soul Mining’ LP, released in 1983.
DER ZYKLUS-POLAR COORDINATES
Sub-zero atmopherics from the genius that is Gerald Donald. Formerly one half of Drexciya and recording under a wide range of alter-egos (Dopplereffekt, Arpanet, Zerkalo, Heinrich Mueller, Zwischenwelt and many more) he has created well-worn dancefloor gems as Der Zyklus such as ‘Elektronisches Zeitechno’ and ‘Formenverwandler’. This time I thought I’d choose something more experimental from the 2004 masterpiece ‘Biometry’.
KANO-I’M READY
It’s all getting a bit dark and serious here isn’t it? Let’s lighten the mood with this undisputed classic from italian masterminds Kano. Sampled on countless other records and with THAT bassline you can hear why. Is it Italo-Disco? Is it Electro? Who cares, just turn it up and dance.
Original link: http://erolalkan.co.uk/?p=9117