Speaking of purist and hard-hearted, I’ve really been enjoying Horizontal Ground’s recent output, particularly that of 19 26 1 18 5, also known as Szare (for a while I assumed that 19 26 1 18 5 and Szare were different people, before my inner Alan Turing twigged). I’m hardly alone in my appreciation: HG and its sister label Frozen Border have been attracting a lot of attention from the techno community, admittedly much of it due to the part-anonymity of the producers involved, which for me is the least interesting aspect of the enterprise.

As Jeff, helmsman of the two imprints, intuits in a terse interview with Little White Earbuds, the idea of a techno artist being consciously “anonymous” is almost self-parodic in the wider context anyhow. “Even at it’s most revealed,” he says, “[the dance music world] is still really a bit of ‘micro fluff’ on the backside of the music industry.” Put another way, is the “anonymous” Szare really any more or less of an enigma to the man on the street than, say, Altered Natives? Exactly.

Is the “anonymous” Szare really any more or less of an enigma to the man on the street than, say, Altered Natives?

I was a big fan of the first Frozen Border 12″, a hard-hitting two-tracker that combined the Chicago and Berlin traditions beautifully, confidently conveying austerity and funk (as all the best techno does). 002 and 003 were solid as butter left in the fridge too long, but for me they failed to transcend their warehouse functionality – essential DJ tools, undoubtedly, but interchangeable with myriad other well-produced, Hardwax-friendly 12″s. Frozen Border 004 was a return to form, a more fragmented and dissolute affair, the A-side sidestepping the label’s signature style to date in favour of well-judged Echospace-style fizz and curtly syncopated beats.

The Horizontal Ground imprint has been running in parallel to Frozen Border, delivering slightly more stripped techno variants. I was ambivalent towards the sour bleepage of 001′s A-side but warmed immediately to the B, with its full-frontal attack of closed hi-hats, trippy arpeggios and impertinently funked-up bassline. Both sides of 002 might have fallen victim to their own furrow-browed minimalism were it not for the simple, insistent bassline of the A and the unusually close, claustrophobic atmosphere of the B – that rave-heard-through-a-brick-wall vibe of vintage Porter Ricks.

The first Frozen Border 12″ combined Chicago and Berlin traditions beautifully, conveying austerity and funk (as all the best techno does).

Just when I felt I’d got a handle on Horizontal Ground and put it to one side, along came 003 and an unexpectedly sunny(ish) double-header from a different producer, 9.454.18.5.25.5.18 (God knows). The skippy drums of ‘All The Way Back’ recalled Mood II Swing and prime-time US garage, offset with post-Downwards industrial textures, a winning compromise to be sure. I duly threw my hat back into the Horizontal Ground ring, and the attention was rewarded with a devastating production on 004 from Szare entitled ‘Snake Cave’. But in truth I didn’t realise quite how devastating ‘Snake Cave’ was until I heard the mix Szare recorded for LWE. Do yourself a favour and download it before you read on.

Download: Szare – LWE Talking Shopcast

The first part of the LWE mix (actually a live set) constitutes the most righteous and elegant 18 minutes of new techno you will hear all year, and features four of Szare’s own productions (another five appear later in the mix), three of which are as yet unreleased. He, she or they (I’m going to say they from now on – that’s what the picture seems to suggest) set the tone for these with an intro track from Munafir – a group of Rajasthani musicians led by tabla player Hameed Khan who combined Muslim qwwali chant, North Indian raga and gypsy devotional and dance music (cheers Wikipedia). This isn’t eclecticism for its own sake; traces of all of the hypnotic cyclical musics espoused by Munafir  inform and disturb the 4/4 grids of the ensuing Szare tracks.

The rolling, tribalistic ‘Kinshasa’ with its tough congas and spectral textures made me think of a less exuberant Altered Natives, and of Nick Hoppner’s 2009 Ostgut cut 12″ ‘Makeover’/'Foundling’, and especially of Sam Shackleton. Heavy-duty as ‘Kinshasa’ is, it’s scant preparation for the onset of ‘Snake Cave’, a tough but supremely shifty excursion into desert-dried steppers’ techno, Arabian bump and clap tattoos combining with livid tabla lines and a whirl of psychotic chants and whispers for disorienting but compulsively danceable effect. The ruffneck Heart of Darkness percussion persists throughout the trackier ‘Break East’, which really does sound like Shackleton making peaktime techno, and ‘Beatdown’, which comes over like a more ruthless and linear A Made Up Sound, and is not dissimilar to Peter Sutton at his broken best. By the time we reach ‘Mendeleev’ (also unreleased), it’s a sure thing: Szare is the single most promising, hope-giving techno production outfit of 2010.

The Horizontal Ground and Frozen Border personnel are wise and characterful enough to take some inspiration from outside of endlessly self-referencing dancefloor orthodoxy.

While clearly embodying techno at its most pure and uncompromised, one of the reasons that Horizontal Ground and Frozen Border tackle sounds so characterful, and has such gravitas, has largely to do with its personnel’s willingness to inspiration from outside of endlessly self-referencing dancefloor orthodoxy. In their LWE session, Szare draw upon not just Munafir but also David Bowie’s gloriously dainty ‘Moss Garden’ (from “Heroes”), and include their own remix of ‘Rainstorm Blues’ by South-West psych institution Flying Saucer Attack; meanwhile Jeff, in his interview with LWE, confirms that the labels’ names are references to Nico (prompting much comical, if dispiriting, ‘Who’s Nico?’ chat in the comments section – I mean, to think that there are people out there who’ve heard, I don’t know, Motor City fucking Drum Ensemble, but not The End or Camera Obscura. A skewed world indeed).

Last night I got hold of Horizontal Ground 005, due out in July – I have no idea whether or not it’s the work of Szare, it’s hard to say. Both sides seem to have Szare’s flair for melody and swing, if not quite as pronounced as on ‘Kinshasa’ or ‘Snake Cave’, and are dressed with rugged warehouse chords a la the Manc school of MLZ, Andy Stott and Claro Intelecto’s Warehouse Sessions. Whoever’s responsible, it’s gripping stuff, and along with Frozen Border 004 and Frozen Border 005 (out in June and July respectively), totally worth your attention. Though not before you’ve bought your copy of ‘Snake Cave’.

Until next time, take care of yourselves, and remember to say no to boring, artless shit.

Kiran Sande

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Features, Other Features and tagged with Altered Natives, Frozen Border, Horizontal Ground, Kiran Sande, Szare. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.