Search - Continuous Mode :: Disinformation Design

Latest project from Andy Mellwig (Porter Ricks). "Fired by his fascination for electronic sounds, Andy Mellwig built his first synthesizer single-handedly at the beginning of the eighties. That, a ring modulator, a Vox keyboard and various other pieces of lo-fi equipment soon made up a small electronic studio. The first gigs took place in the middle of the eighties in the form of live electronic sets at performances or the exhibition openings of underground artists and were a mixture of Wave, Punk, EBM, Industrial and experimental music. Mellwig developed his technoid project 'Async Sense' at the beginning of the nineties, followed by his first album that emerged from the Basic Channel milieu and was released on Moritz Von Oswald's Label Imbalance. Further recordings appeared on Bill Laswell's label Sub Meta (for the first time with Thomas K"ner) and Interference. On the heels of Async Sense, Mellwig developed a real-time software (Continuous Mode) and his close collaboration with Thomas K"ner gave birth to the project Porter Ricks. For his new Continuous Mode album, Mellwig concentrated on a certain musical style that emerged in the late sixties. Free Rock. Several times in the past, it had peered out from the undergrowth and even the average Beatles fan had a vague impression of all it could entail via songs such as 'Revolution No 9' or 'Helter Skelter'. Unfortunately this young bud did not grow up to be big and strong because basically everyone wanted a piece. Some pruned away the Rock and lost themselves in the realms of musical acrobatics, others didn't really understand the 'Free' bit and it all became rather orchestrated. On the whole, the result was an unholy alliance, somewhere between Yes, King Crimson and Weather Report -- a place in which some still reside. The only one to really comprehend the sign of the times was Miles Davis. The albums he recorded between 1969 and the mid 70's filled a pool of creativity that remains unequalled even today, a pool overflowing with Free and with Rock. One must say, and probably thank the Lord, that up to now no-one has seriously tried to work on an adaptation of that legacy -- not taking into account the occasional lame remix-treatment. Now, thirty years later down the line, that history has been re-united on this album from Continuous Mode. Without making explicit references, without even the slightest of suggestions, the complete spectrum created in the past is seen again as if through some distant looking-glass. And you want to see it done live! Andy Mellwig's concept of the discless DJ is realised not technically but musically on this record. This is history showing itself but not drawing upon real, acoustic sources or making use of quotations, satirical, ironic, seriously intended or otherwise. Continuous Mode play history as a continuum and not as a gratuitous sample archive to be plundered. That's why you get the impression that their melodies and layers of sound are something you've heard before (years ago, decades ago, in an earlier life). And at the same time, you can't help thinking: this music is from another world."