Rob Booth's Electronic Explorations radio show will drop its first compilation on July 1st.
Now numbering over 200 episodes and running for almost five years (since November 2007), Booth's weekly online radio show reaches up to 80,000 listeners every time, and has featured exclusive mixes from both living legends and breaking newcomers. In July, Booth will release his first EE-related release, a 58-track compilation to be released digitally (first via Bandcamp, then other retailers), featuring unreleased and exclusive tracks from artists who have previously appeared on the show. Much like the radio show, the compilation focuses on a mixture of IDM-leaning artists, dubstep and bass music and harder flavours of techno.
Artists appearing on the compilation include Scottish techno veteran Neil Landstrumm, London's Perc, Manchester techno outfits AnD and Akkord, Berlin bass artists Machinedrum and Emika, Deep Medi mystery men Old Apparatus, and Planet Mu's Milanese and 0=0, neither of whom have released any music in several years.
We spoke with Rob Booth via e-mail to discuss his decision to put out such a large-scale compilation.What made you want to put together an actual compilation, and how does this kind of thing differ from your archived radio show in your mind?
It's a logical progression and has always been my dream to start a label way before I did my music degree. Having published mixes by some of the leading names in their field, mixes that are only available on EE, I've also become very good friends with quite a few of them too. But due to the sheer and ever increasing number of listeners, the show has run into financial difficulty with hosting costs and the brand new website. It was both the listeners and previous artists who came up with the idea of releasing a compilation, so funds could be raised to keep the show going. I hope this compilation will help push the name of the show. It's also going to help promote artists which are not receiving the recognition they deserve, something I always try to
push. There really are some amazing musicians out there, the trouble is being heard!
How did you go about choosing the artists, and why so many tracks? Is it meant to be an overwhelming experience? Is it the kind of thing you're supposed to listen to all the way through, or do you imagine listeners picking and choosing what they like?
I hand-picked the artists because 1) I'm into their sound, 2) some are very good friends of the show and understand what I am trying to achieve, and 3) some of the artists involved deserve more recognition than they are receiving. Why so many tracks... I enjoy a wide variety of sounds, so much quality out there to be discovered and I wanted all these people to participate. In fact I actually wanted a 70-track compilation but 12 producers didn't even have the decency to reply. I see this compilation as I see the internet today, it's bloated with new mixtapes every minute, new blogs spring up daily offering exclusive mixes, SoundCloud links every few seconds popping up on your Facebook account. So if you can't beat them, join 'em! Choice is good, why not?
At the end of the day I am offering a broad spectrum of music, similar to what I play on EE, a massive choice of genres and some fantastic tunes. I think there's a good five hours of music in one zip folder, it's there for when you wanna listen, that's the beauty I guess. If you don't like one tune, hopefully you'll like the next.
Over the course of 200 episodes, what moments on EE are you most proud of, and where do you see the radio show going from here on? Do you feel like you've made a tangible difference in underground electronic music since you started?
I really enjoyed dealing with Epworth and the Nottingham massive when we got together to do a full on Nottingham City showcase last year. Finally nailing Dave Clarke down, he doesn't do mixes for anyone, so when he said yes I didn't know how to respond! I grew up going to Atomic Jam and House of God in Brum, so Surgeon was a massive coup, especially as I had just started the podcast!
There are so many, discovering James Blake and playing his music when no one else was (with the exception of Distance and a few others). Mount Kimbie before they were signed, same with Airhead. It's been great to deal with the Hessle Audio crew, and lately the guys at Stroboscopic Artefacts (fucking hell, what a label that is).
As for where I want to go, my own stage at Glade is the ultimate goal and the elusive Aphex Twin in the mix, exclusive... to get Surgeon back on the show would be so good. I've been told many times by my listeners that they've up and left, moving to Bristol mainly, some to Berlin, due to what I've been playing on the show. I'm a massive supporter of everything Bristol! Crazy though isn't it, but why not, they're both wonderful cities. Oli Marlow over at Sonic Router swears by my show, it's what gave him the motivation to start up his own blog, so yeah I hope I have made some kind of impression, but I'm not here for that. I love publishing a new show, watching some go viral, and others where a new artist brings in an insane amount of "wow!" It's just a hobby, but one that I take very seriously, and hope to make full time before I'm old and grey. I'd be lost without it.
Tracklist
01. Access To Arasaka – Photons Second Quantization
02. Akkord – Surge
03. Al Tourettes – Mind Over Scatter
04. AnD – Stellar
05. Anneka – Jaws Of Day
06. Arkist & Komonazmuk - T-Model
07. Bong Ra – Sinistar
08. Broken Note – Let Em Hang (EE Re-Glitch)
09. Chris Finke – The Sickness
10. Coppa Ft. Machinecode – Life Styles Of A Billionaire
11. Cursor Minor – Hieroglyph
12. DA-10 – The Future Is Futureless (NGRRR Remix)
13. Darqwan/Oris Jay – Distracting Me
14. Dead Sound & Videohead – Fuck TV
15. Deadfader – Save It 7
16. DeFeKT – Sunseq
17. Distal - Ralph Muggins Acid Depot
18. Djrum – On the Road 2010
19. Drumcorps - The Path
20. Emika – FM Attention
21. Enduser – Void
22. Exercise One – The Reality Was Different
23. Forward Strategy Group – TTH (Signal Path mix)
24. Geiom - Cairns
25. George Lanham – Margeries Last Ride
26. Ghettozoid – Boy Toy (House of Black Lanterns remix)
27. Hizatron – Dejlig
28. Ital Tek – Gold Tiger
29. Kahn – Polar
30. Kowton – False Dawn
31. Loops Haunt - Peripheral
32. Machinedrum – Luster
33. Memotone – Stop running and they will catch you
34. Milanese - Hershey's Back
35. MonsterX - Terraformer
36. Neil Landstrumm - Feel Your Body Rise
37. 0=0 - Handshake Mode
38. Old Apparatus - Angels
39. Perc – Steve Bull
40. Phaeleh – Orchid
41. Point B – Second Guesses
42. Posthuman – Dead Man’s Land
43. Radioactiveman – Rowing Against the Tide
44. Roel Funcken – Cybot
45. Ruckspin – Belong
46. Scan One – Hip748
47. Scarecrow – Snowflake
48. Stormfield – Focus
49. Swarms – Pandora
50. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – (Behind the) Celladoor
51. The Unknown Consequent - Fundamental Forces
52. The Wee DJs – Miles
53. The Whispering Minority - Forgotten Worlds
54. Timeblind – Rising Lee
55. Tom Dicicco – 9926
56. Trevino - Sorrow
57. TVO – Lakeview
58. Wisp – Lark & Lion
Electronic Explorations will release Electronic Explorations on July 1st, 2012.