This mix for Electronic Explorations is built on several ideas. First of all we wanted to test out an idea we’ve been exploring in theory but so far not in practice: the concept of an extended dj set with a live improvisational component. This is something we want to start performing next to our live gigs. The second idea behind this mix is our love for a large variety of music, ranging from experimental electronic sounds to Jamaican dub and American Minimalism. Lastly, the third idea was to provide something which contrasts today’s audience increasingly shorter musical attention span.

In a way we’re presenting something here which goes against what seems to be most popular today: short, precise chunks of content.

We worked on this mix for a long time. The preparatory thinking that went into it took at least as long as the actual creation. Many parts of the mix consist of multi-layered sections during which the seperate identities of the tracks became very blurry. It becomes one electronic shoe-gazing miasma of sound. At times it almost felt like we were mixing down tracks for an album, not a DJ mix.

This mix requires three hours of attention. Let’s see who’s up for that.

Other parts present clearly defined lines, as a contrast to what came before. We have also injected a lot of new Sendai material. Older material was reworked into longer, stretched-out versions which could be layered on top of the other tracks. Add to this a lot of real-time effect twiddling and you’re there. As a consequence it is impossible to provide a proper tracklist. We also feel that the mix will benefit from attention which is focused on the music, and not on the factual information surrounding it, i.e. the track list. Enjoy.

Our next release will be on Stroboscopic Artefacts, as part of the Monad series.

Sendai is the collaborative project by Yves De Mey and Peter Van Hoesen. Both artists are longtime friends and share a deep passion for exploring the outer limits of the electronic music spectrum. Sendai combines De Mey’s skillful extraction of deep and dynamic sounds from his modular synthesizer system with Van Hoesen’s keen sense of digital composition and sound design.

After two 12″ releases for Time To Express in 2009 the duo took some time out to reflect on their joint musical path. The result is ‘Geotope’, a no-compromise experimental album that sees the duo moving away from the dancefloor into an altogether more varied and daring sonic domain. The album shows a clear sensibility for stripping things down to their bare essentials. It is the result of a road travelled together without any compromise. In essence Geotope combines both artists’ influences and experience into a dynamic, ever-evolving sonic environment, the album was released in March 2012 on Time To Express.

Yves De Mey
Yves De Mey’s musical path consists of many different roads. During the second half of the 90’s, his releases were clearly rooted in breakbeats and UK drum’n’bass. Soon after that, through working for theater and dance performances and doing large scale sound installations, his interest in experimental sound design found its way into his music.

In 2009 his album “Lichtung” was released by the influential Line label. In that same year there were also releases on Morse and on Time to Express, together with Peter Van Hoesen as Sendai. Around that time, De Mey’s main tool in the studio became his ever-expanding modular synthesizer system. This definitely changed his way of working and obviously his sound as well, shifting from an elaborate niftiness in the digital realm to an obsessive cable-patched shaping of the real sound of electricity.

In 2011, Sandwell District found the time right to widen their dance-floor techno-scope and released De Mey’s Counting Triggers, a 6-track album that interprets club music in a downtempo electrified fashion. He has a new solo release coming up for Time To Express in 2012.

Peter Van Hoesen
When it comes down to combining the best of many musical worlds, Peter Van Hoesen can say he’s been doing it for a while now. Deeply rooted in the Brussels electronic music scene as DJ and producer since 1993, he’s considered by many as a man with multiple musical talents: from straight-up dancefloor jackin’ techno to advanced abstract electronica.

His music has been released on his own labels Time To Express and Foton as well as through Exone, Ostgut Ton, Ann Aimee, Komisch, Meakusma and several others. His 2010 album ‘Entropic City’ was considered as one of the defining techno albums of that year.
Peter is active as a DJ, producer, sound designer and composer for contemporary dance and theatre.

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