MP3 Monday: Dorian Concept
By Morgan Short, Feb 9th, 2009 | In Nightlife
Today's MP3s wing their way to your iPod (or reasonably facsimile thereof) in anticipation of the Dorian Concept concert on Feb 19 at The Shelter.
Actually, these were supposed to go on next week, and Beijing-based experimental duo White was supposed to be the focus for today but I forgot the CD.
Someone's got a case of the Mondays! AIIIYO!
Anyways, Dorian Concept is an Austrian keyboard button masher, quickly making a name for himself in experimental electronica/ hip hop circles for his energetic live performances, using a variety of keyboards, including a vintage, shitty Casio, an Alesis Micron, and the mighty, mighty Micro Korg. For the synth nerds, this is pretty interesting, as all three are sort of "cheap," and low-end -- retro, or designed to be retro-sounding -- but are nonetheless pretty neat if you can manage to exploit their strengths.
The Micro Korg in particular, is an extremely popular instrument here in China, both for DJs and bands, because it produces interesting synth sounds while being really user-friendly (takes about 10 minutes to figure out how to replicate your favourite Depeche Mode and OMD sounds -- no lessons needed), and it's about one-third of the cost of anything in its range of capabilities (you can buy them in Shanghai for 3500rmb. The jump up is to like 10,000rmb for any kind of similar and better synth).
It also has all kinds of knobs and flashing lights, and looks really robotic and super impressive.
According to my own baseless supposition, these days in China just about as many bands use the Micro Korg as there are bands that don't use it (Queen Sea Big Shark, Snapline, New Pants, Muscle Snog), and "live" DJs frequently rely on it as well (Liman).
The one issue with synth nerds is that most acts don't fully exploit the capabilities of the thing, and rely on preset sounds and arpeggios -- merely satisfied with replicating that vintage 80's synth sound. And noise acts usually just hammer on one note, and crank the delay to make a lot of noise. So pass¨¦.
Dorian Concept on the other hand, really pushes the instrument to its endpoints while avoiding the clich¨¦d synth sounds, which is why it would be interesting to see him perform. Check him out at these YouTube links here and here. Look at him go! Shazzam!
Anyways, here are some MP3s of his -- its sort of spacey-sounding electronica, with hip hop rhythms and stuff. It's also darker, and more serious than you would expect from someone using cheesy synths. Definitely no 80's strings presets and no electroklash here.
Dorian Concept - Ten Found Cent
Dorian Concept - One for Oh Ate
This is another one of those shows by the Free The Wax promoters, and you should check it out if you like what they've been bringing in (Dorian Concept recently shared a bill with Deadalus).
Free the Wax presents Dorian Concept at The Shelter Thursday, February 19. Tickets are 30rmb.
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