indiemusik

Portable’s most recent release, “The Emerald Life” on Musik Krause features the track ‘The Shallow’. Last year I discovered the Resident Advisor bi-monthly podcast series, and one of the most rewarding releases I found was the Portable/Bodycode mix that Alan Abrahams put together.

His material combines a lot of different styles and struggles against a definitive genre label. His sound is repetitive and droney, but varied in a way that rewards multiple listens. He pulls out and drops in different snares or tambourines or chimes or fingersnaps or claps, every other bar, matching them up against each other, like falling Tetris pieces. He uses multiple rhythms featuring his retro drum machine sounds throughout his Portable and Bodycode work that give a really mechanical feel. He adds an element of groove and funk and I really feel like gloomily lurching along to the bass. The vocal singing over ‘The Shallow’ adds an air of melancholy overall to his blend of techno, house and minimal.

Portable – The Emerald Life on Juno Download

RA.117 Portable / Bodycode – 2008.08.25 – Portable Bodycode

I went back and listened to a podcast from Resident Advisor by Portable AKA Bodycode, also known as Alan Abrahams. He released this podcast with some unreleased material along with releases from Perlon, Spectral Sound and more. Here in this 60 minute podcast he has created a wonderfully colorful set that ebbs and flows into a natural progression of tech-house music.

His selection of soulful vocals combined with deep house sounds and rhythms is unbelievably moody and emotive. A flute solo flutters between notes as the break comes along, welcoming a moment of rest and respite. Soon the loops build up again, a short organ progression, a couple of percussive, metallic rhythms on top of a punchy bass drum. Although the bass never really deviates from the steady 4/4 gallop, the multiple syncopated bells, pipes and percussive noises afford plenty of different beats to focus on throughout the course of the set. A woman bursts in rapturous cries. More computer squelches and rhythmic, futuristic keys descend over a track. A filtered computer voice is cut up, skitters, and completes, looped over a dozen bars.

How Portable balances the entrances and exits of the loops, playing with tension and energy and mood over the set is a refreshing break from the endless, hypnotic looping of minimal that seemingly lacks any sort of direction.

I guess also I should note that the Resident Advisor podcast series updates every 10 days or so…it’s completely free and an easy way to get introduced to electronic dance music in general, but especially caters towards underground techno, house, disco.