Squidge in My Fridge

Does anybody here know any details about Squidge in My Fridge? From Ben Middleton / DRN in 1993:

  Quote

Richard has a cynical / abusive / carefree naming convention. I suppose the sheer volume of music that he has written has lead to this... His earliest names are known already... analogue bubblebath, cordialotron, human rotation, squidge in my fridge, 2 u off wax iii, labia flaps...

 

Another interesting titbit from him back then was that at the time (waaay before the Panflet posts), James didn't have a TR-808, he had an R8 with the electronic sound library card. So only having samples of one is no excuse for anyone trying to make something as nice as Selected Ambient Works 85-92. ;) It's all about how you use them.

  Quote

 

 

Another interesting titbit from him back then was that at the time (waaay before the Panflet posts), James didn't have a TR-808, he had an R8 with the electronic sound library card. So only having samples of one is no excuse for anyone trying to make something as nice as Selected Ambient Works 85-92. ;) It's all about how you use them.

Nowadays with resynthesis, you can do amazing things with just samples. I have no clue how things worked back in the mid 80s with just samples. For some reason whenever I think of electronic music in the mid 80s I think of really slow and unsophisticated technology. Saw was possible back then so I'm very probably wrong on that.

maybe from Melodies from Mars or from Caustic Window LP or from « Dj Set » [Richard D. James featuring Leeched - Leech de Carl Michael Von Hausswolff, Raster-Noton] or Q-Chastic EP...

  On 4/24/2014 at 9:39 AM, ZoeB said:

Does anybody here know any details about Squidge in My Fridge? From Ben Middleton / DRN in 1993:

 

  Quote

Richard has a cynical / abusive / carefree naming convention. I suppose the sheer volume of music that he has written has lead to this... His earliest names are known already... analogue bubblebath, cordialotron, human rotation, squidge in my fridge, 2 u off wax iii, labia flaps...

 

 

Another interesting titbit from him back then was that at the time (waaay before the Panflet posts), James didn't have a TR-808, he had an R8 with the electronic sound library card. So only having samples of one is no excuse for anyone trying to make something as nice as Selected Ambient Works 85-92. ;) It's all about how you use them.

It's not the labia flaps, it's how you use them. (i know this doesn't really make sense when you think about it. But it sounded cool so fuckit. Kind of like how music gets made really, heh.)

Add that to the tons of aliases Richard assigned to his tracks that either became track names themselves (Cordialotron), or never saw the light of day (Mr. Men comes to mind and the "Mind the Gap" EP, more Power Pill releases, etc.). I bet it would be very interesting digging through Richard's DAT collection and see all the funny names/aliases he assigned to tracks.

Related tidbit - at the time the Surfing on Sine Waves LP was being reissued with bonus tracks (Redruth School and Portreath Harbour), Richard (this was before "quite good") told me he literally grabbed the first DAT marked "Polygon Window" and those tracks were on the DAT and gave those to WARP for inclusion on the reissue.

/blows mind gif

  On 4/24/2014 at 7:59 PM, Joyrex said:

Add that to the tons of aliases Richard assigned to his tracks that either became track names themselves (Cordialotron), or never saw the light of day (Mr. Men comes to mind and the "Mind the Gap" EP, more Power Pill releases, etc.). I bet it would be very interesting digging through Richard's DAT collection and see all the funny names/aliases he assigned to tracks.

 

Related tidbit - at the time the Surfing on Sine Waves LP was being reissued with bonus tracks (Redruth School and Portreath Harbour), Richard (this was before "quite good") told me he literally grabbed the first DAT marked "Polygon Window" and those tracks were on the DAT and gave those to WARP for inclusion on the reissue.

sort of like when he just grabbed a random DAT/Tape for that Lemonheads single/remix request. any chance we can get ahold of that band to see if they still have that laying around anywhere?

  On 4/24/2014 at 7:59 PM, Joyrex said:

Related tidbit - at the time the Surfing on Sine Waves LP was being reissued with bonus tracks (Redruth School and Portreath Harbour), Richard (this was before "quite good") told me he literally grabbed the first DAT marked "Polygon Window" and those tracks were on the DAT and gave those to WARP for inclusion on the reissue.

IMO those are amongst the better tracks on the album, and sound very much of that era, lending credence to the claim that he has countless tracks kicking around that are as good as what he releases...

I wouldn't be surprised if (at least some of) Mr. Men ended up as Melodies From Mars. It sounds like Sonic Bubblegum became Analogue Bubblebath or one of its sequels too.

  On 4/24/2014 at 11:21 PM, ZoeB said:

 

  On 4/24/2014 at 7:59 PM, Joyrex said:

Related tidbit - at the time the Surfing on Sine Waves LP was being reissued with bonus tracks (Redruth School and Portreath Harbour), Richard (this was before "quite good") told me he literally grabbed the first DAT marked "Polygon Window" and those tracks were on the DAT and gave those to WARP for inclusion on the reissue.

IMO those are amongst the better tracks on the album, and sound very much of that era, lending credence to the claim that he has countless tracks kicking around that are as good as what he releases...

 

Agreed - I really liked the tracks that he 'randomly' decided upon! I wouldn't be surprised if he downplayed the whole thing and actually picked out his best stuff for it, either...

  On 4/24/2014 at 11:26 PM, ZoeB said:

I wouldn't be surprised if (at least some of) Mr. Men ended up as Melodies From Mars. It sounds like Sonic Bubblegum became Analogue Bubblebath or one of its sequels too.

Melodies From Mars is a Mr. Men release...

I never even knew those Polygon Window tracks existed. New Aphex!!

You can buy them here: https://bleep.com/release/20409-polygon-window-surfing-on-sine-waves

those tracks are great. portreath is one of my faves of his

What is the source of the R8 -pre TR-808? The 808 all over Polygon window sounds quite proper to me.

other than the hats which is giving me doubts now that I think about it.

  On 4/27/2014 at 5:37 AM, bunyip said:

What is the source of the R8 -pre TR-808? The 808 all over Polygon window sounds quite proper to me.

Here you go:

  Quote

From idm-owner Fri Nov 5 01:26:46 1993

From: drn <cs92bbm@brunel.ac.uk>

Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1993 09:26:31 +0000 (GMT)

Subject: Re: lets rock

Status: O

As ever, in defence of the man of magic... I assure you rich doesn't stick

on a synth, an 808 and the like to do a track...

As far as I'm concerned, Rich is a PURIST, but to this extent is highly

experimental. One look at his studio will illustrate this... not an 808 in

sight... His talents stem from sounds and their possibilities, not his

ability to sequence together something using any old sound he can lay his

hands on, ie he is effectivly an idiosyncratic sound engineer.

Not wishing to doubt other peoples opinions, I too realise that rich can

indeed produce some less than original material (spot the old DX 5th

string on many of rich's earlier works). However, he has surpassed himself

in continually producing a more diverse range of sounds and feelings. One

listen to his contemporary orchestral pieces highlight a side of rich that is

new and untarnished, putting the likes of glass and eno in the back of

the record collection.

Unlike many other *artists*, rich has instigated a continual search for

alternative equipment to find new sounds. He doesn't have a flash studio

with leather chairs and flashy equipment, he still has his home built

speakers of old, and his FZ10 still encompasses most of his sample work

(which is minimal anyway).

AFX music should be appreciated now while it is there, as already I have

noticed that he is loosing his hearing to some extent... eventually

leading to him having to feel his sounds...

Enjoy your music, but appreciate other artist's abilities.

b

.............................................................................

ben middleton |

pattern avenger |

passage violator |

frequency defector |

rephlex interceptor |

|

the innovators |

|

tom (tin tin - e621 global communication), grant (acid sniper queen), j jon |

lizzie + carla, ian + liz, hair (techno godess), christina + r, aphex + tha |

matt (phew), john (woolly mammouth), safina (chocolatey spread), chris, a+b |

markey mark, davey dave, yanka, henry hawkins, janeee, ashiq (hawk), sarita |

paul t, sven, samu, vidar, m+s posse, milton, link, intelligent dance music |

sammie, sbex, g, kelly + andrew, paul n (prototype 21), jason + issie, bob! |

smw (russ), nv, mjb, chris (sog), rwr, katie (peace), ol, laura, todd sines |

fluid, brian, cindy, ys, susie, allison, djkc, kirk (art), dave (fatus cat) |

bloo sqr, katrin b (the bphex twin), techno.stanford crew, manuel sepulvada |

Velocity-9, jeremy, gavin + clair, simon, andrew + lizzie, rd, body release |

ed andy ken (black dog), mike (kudos), mike dredd (!kosmik kommando), u-ziq |

chris jeffs, synectics, rephlex, evolution, mangoes, spirit levels, *truro* |

 

As far as the TR-808 sounds on his Polygon Window material go... If memory serves, the TR-808 rimshot on If It Really Is Me sounds like a sample to me because it's being played back at various different pitches, which is a trick my friend Alex and I used to do in Impulse Tracker way back. So you sample it for C-5, but play it back in B, C, C#, C, and repeat, for a nice bit of variation. When I first heard that album, it took me a while to figure out where I'd heard that sound before... :)

Losing his hearing, back then?

Also, so the term intelligent dance music has been around since at least '93. trlol.

  On 4/27/2014 at 4:48 PM, delet... said:

Also, so the term intelligent dance music has been around since at least '93. trlol.

More info, if you're interested:

  On 4/24/2014 at 9:39 AM, ZoeB said:

Another interesting titbit from him back then was that at the time (waaay before the Panflet posts), James didn't have a TR-808, he had an R8 with the electronic sound library card. So only having samples of one is no excuse for anyone trying to make something as nice as Selected Ambient Works 85-92. ;) It's all about how you use them.

Yes! Anyone saying something to the affect of "You can't make decent music with etc etc etc." is like nails on a chalkboard to me. It's complete bullshit.

And usually comes from people that can't make decent music, haven't the foggiest in fact. I guess this is why they cling to the received wisdom of using this or that accepted path to musiceeness.

+ thanks zoe .. i appreciate your bothering to go and dig these things out for lil old meleetr.

Yeah interesting, thanks

Where are these quotes from btw?

idm mailing list.

Thanks Zoe, it is funny I never thought of the R8 solution with Polygon Window. I always presumed he sampled his own rimshot and hats, hand twiddled his toms. I recall reading once about him having Liam from the Prodigy's TB-303 gold painted and it being the cause of some falling out, but that information appears to have been erased from the web.

  On 4/28/2014 at 12:39 AM, bunyip said:

Thanks Zoe, it is funny I never thought of the R8 solution with Polygon Window. I always presumed he sampled his own rimshot and hats, hand twiddled his toms. I recall reading once about him having Liam from the Prodigy's TB-303 gold painted and it being the cause of some falling out, but that information appears to have been erased from the web.

In all fairness, I'd imagined it was probably a TR-606 and some TR-808 samples, maybe after borrowing one from a friend. C'est la vie, it goes to show you never can tell. :)

Of course, in hindsight, Ptolemy's switching back and forth between drum kits probably makes the digital drums seem obvious!