New Video: Echaskech Live AV Mix

Last night Echaskech premiered a new audio visual set at the https://www.awamutogether.co.uk/2020 House Party - a three day stream of audio and visual entertainment to help raise money for the Awamu Charity which helps orphaned and vulnerable children in the slums of Kampala to get the education and skills that are vital to their future.

That set is now available for you to watch in your own time and leisure! The audio is from Echaskech’s performance at the Sundeck in Margate in 2019, i added the visual layer built out of the elements I’ve been constructing for the tracks over the years (featuring the visual work of Mantissa and Switzon S Wigfall III).

You can nip over to youtube and watch it again and again and again… (preferably from different IPs and using different yt accounts… Oh! No reason)

Obituary: John Rixon (a.k.a Amukidi)

It was with great sadness that we have learnt of the death of John Rixon (a.k.a Amukidi) on Monday 14th January. John had suffered a stroke on Boxing Day and since then had been in hospital. 

I wrote a few word for the Echaskech facebook page to try and mark his passing:

John was instrumental in legitimising the clubbing world’s use of visual arts: as visual coordinator for the Big Chill he helped and supported numerous audio visual acts - including ourselves - to get seen and heard. He was a huge fan of electronic music and was always keen to find out what we were up to. 

His own creations were always a joy to behold. Under the alias “Amukidi” (his name coming from a track by his long time friend and collaborator Roger Eno) he blended slow moving constantly changing abstract organic shapes and textures into ever changing landscapes that encouraged the audience to stop and engage with. 

In 2010 along with Simon Wild he curated “Quiet Voices” a show at the Tate Britain gallery that featured live audio visual performances by artists such as Roger Eno, Jon Hopkins, Alucidnation and Animat (to name a small selection) and a short film programme that explored the nature of quiet. I was incredibly honoured to be selected to contribute a film. To be given the opportunity to have something that I help make be shown at one of the UK’s leading art galleries is still my highest accolade, and for that I am still humbled and will be forever grateful for the trust that John placed in me.

Though what will be missed the most will be John’s warm, friendly manner, supportive nature and his acerbic wit. Never one to mince words he always cut to the chase and let you know exactly how he felt whilst raising a smile..

My last meeting with John was at Awamu’s Together festival. We caught up and shared new musical findings he asked me what I was working on. I was reticent to bring it up because my current project (which had stalled) was so ephemeral and pointless and, when I’d discussed it with others, their eyes had glazed over. But not John - his eyes lit up and he grabbed my arm “Mark! You must finish this! I have to see it! It sounds right up my strasse!” Only John had that uncanny ability to see what I was trying to achieve! My last sight of John was of him grinning, bouncing around to a deeply ambient set by Misled Convoy, whilst mixing his beautifully intricate visuals across the screens. He never looked happier. 

Our thoughts are with all who loved John but especially to his wife Sarah and his children Pheebs and Clare.

You can happily spend hours watching John’s videos on Vimeo here

https://vimeo.com/johnrixon

New Videos: Introducing Live play Daft Punk videos 2017

In addition to last week's Echaskech video  here's a couple of videos I made for Introducing Live's Daft Punk Performance at Wilderness 2017. A performance so good that even the N.M.E. described it as their  "unexpected highlight of the festival" 

There's a couple of videos out there that already explore the idea that Michel Gondry's iconic video is palindromic so I started with that , but I wanted to also represent the idea of - as Introducing live are a band covering Daft Punk  -  other people covering the video (of which there are quite a few if you spend days on You Tube searching them out) and that is the latter segment (sort of people from around the world doing the dance from "around the world") but when I got the audio from the band (I'd been using the Daft Punk track as guide audio) I realised that they play a little insert from "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". Not wanting to repeat my earlier HBFS video (which also tries to show the incredible creative fandom that exists around Daft Punk) I explored the idea of improvement and - after working on another video project where I'd worked on (and abandoned) a master-cut of 80s TV shows - my brain pushed the two ideas together and came up with the homage to the bionic man and woman that just works so well with this section.

Daft Punk's Robot Rock is, well... a bit dull and repetitive - quite apt for a robot song about robots - and personally I think Introducing Live's version is much better, primarily because they can add in more dynamic range into the performance. As soon as I knew that this track was in the set list I knew what I wanted to do: a compilation of movie robots! I started to make my own and then wondered if anyone had already done this already and lo (the internet provides) I found three 'history of movie robots' videos which I sliced and diced, retimed and corrected to the audio and added a bit of Electroma foootage at the end, but really most of the exceptional hard work and credit should go to Jonathan Mann's "Every movie robot..." video

New Video: Watch Echaskech's 'The Knowledge' (live version)

Hi all! It gives me great pleasure to let you know about this video of Echaskech's 'The Knowledge" which was premiered at this years Awamu at Together's festival. Hope you enjoy it! 

Mach V @ The Tate Britain Jan 8th 2010 as part of "Quiet Voices"

Sadly there's no show this week as dufus, here managed to record the whole thing at a completely distorted level , rendering it unlistenable, however I do have other news. I've been asked to contribute a short film to accompany "First Light" by Sounds From The Ground for a show - called Quiet Voices - at the Tate Britain that's being curated by John Rixon (a.k.a Amukidi), on Friday 8th January, 2010 between 6pm and 10pm.

I'm completely stoked, excited, humbled, daunted and numerous other confusing emotions by this news as it's completely beyond what I'd ever hope to acheive as a "VJ", but I do hope that some of you can make it down to London to see the show, not only for me but for the plethora of talent that my film will be a small part of.

Normal service will resume next week. :)

Echaskech AV Set now on Vimeo

Echaskech AV set at Fortified Recordings Night from mach v on Vimeo. Dom & I were asked to play a DJ/VJ set at the wonderful Fortified Recordings night and this is the first 30 minutes of it. Dom use ableton to mix the tracks and I used Motion Dive Tokyo Console to blend the video. The whole thing was recorded on my Archos AV500 and then shortened in Quick Time.

Echaskech "Out There Still" 2008 Video Mix now on You Tube

With the global financial markets in disarray, and with the news that Orbital are getting back together, it seems the right time for us at Echaskech HQ to share this with you lovely people. With thanks (in blissful ignorance) to John Landis, Rick Prelinger, Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott and, of course the mighty Orbital because without you, this piece would not be at all possible. :)

Echaskech & AGT Rave Cru Live! Concrete, SBE, Dec 20th Free

We're celebrating xmas with a full acid rave party at our South Bank home, Concrete (next to the Hayward Gallery) from 8pm till 1pm (free entry). Expect party hats, streamers and you dancing to kick ass acid fulled techtronic breaks! Alongside Echaskech, we've also got the Ravetastic AGT Rave Kru playing Live so that's two top notch bands and all for nowt! :)

Look forward to seeing you.

Dom, Andy & Mach.

xx

VJ gig: Nice Up! Big Chill House Nov 22nd

I'm VJing at the Big Chill House for Nice Up! which means I get a comfy seat to hear Benny Page & JStar DJ.

And if that's not enough, my temporary structured compadres, The Disco Shed, are taking over the top room too! What a night it's going to be!

9pm - 3am, Entry £5

What Bigchill.net say:

Another bumper line up on a Friday night, this time the NICE UP! crew invite drum and bass/dubstep hero Benny Page to come and blow the joint. After a series of reggae tinged drum and bass monsters, he has slowly been building his rep as one of the toughest new producers on the scene, as well as dipping his toe into dubstep. Joining him, alongside resident DJ Shepdog is reggae/hip hop mash up don Jstar and his crowd hyping sidekick MC Honey Brown. Never ones to play it safe, they always NICE UP! the dance good and proper.

Upstairs, festival favourites The Disco Shed Soundsystem bring their unique brand of shedonistic disco, funk, singalong classics and perhaps the odd garden gnome or 2. Just the recipe for getting shedded!