Turn the dark off

He probably didn't chose the title himself , but who in their right mind could ever label Dubfire (yes, the guy from US proggers Deep Dish) techno's new 'prince of darkness'? I've had the misfortune to listen to every release on this guy's label since he 'went minimal' and I've never heard a more watered down, badly produced, emasculated load of cobblers in my life. Each release appears to be based on the same hamster's fart beats and ping pong percussion, panned and filtered to create those predictably hollow stadium techno breakdowns and peaks. It's dismal music - although it can't quite reach the dizzyingly awful abuse Dubfire visited on The Cube's 'Spastik': in fact, maybe this did come about as a result of Richie getting ensared in a Faustian pact - but there's nothing dark about it or its author. Some of Marcel Dettmann's music is dark; some of Sandwell District's releases are dark, as is practically everything on Downwards, but Dubfire is not, he's just a watered down opportunist. If he really wants to get really dark he should either go on tour with Metallica, party for a week with Sven (he'd need to pack some adult nappies though), or read a few Dostoyevsky novels and glug a gallon of vodka. Prince of darkness? More like the duke of drivel...

Comments

[theUbiq]

Right On!

[hum3]

Mweh, let's call it 'progressive minimal' and be done with it.

James Holden was right though: The idiots are winning.

[kenny]

I wouldn't put it past Dubfire to name himself that actually. His mnml releases are truly pathetic. In a supposed genre that ran out of any sort of ideas it had (not many) at least 2 yrs ago, his stuff must be its lowest point yet. Its embaressing to see a supposedly high profile dj/producer carbon copy sounds just to desperately keep himself in the limelight. It's nearly funny how he managed to take out every edge Spastik had in it, its nearly a talent to be that bad.

the NME used to have a funny article called "Oi, bullshitter" that just called out bands and artists. He definetily gets my vote.

[Hum3]

Ahh, I can't help it - let's add some quotes from the man himself:

"I’ve always been into the macabre and the gothic. My friends always joke about my taste in horror movies, and I used to be a nu-wave punk rocker and listen to a lot of metal. I think I am still going through that stage a bit actually, as every couple of months I decide to paint my nails black!"

"It was funny, I was just talking to Oliver Huntemann, who I idolise, and he sent me an email saying, “Hey, you know they call me the Dark Lord of Techno? Well my girlfriend just sent me an email with you on the cover of DJ Mag, calling you the Prince of Darkness!” It just so happens that me and Oliver are gonna do a track together, so we’ll have The Dark Lord and The Prince of Darkness collaborating!" (from: endclub.com)

Glad we cleared that one up...

[Martin Dust]

Dark, FFS - they look like Mighty Boosh extras and defo too rock & roll cliche to techno.

[Martin Dust]

FFS - To Be Techno :)

[Z]

First of all, on a personal level...Ali is a stand-up guy. He is so nice that he's nearly a push-over. I also don't believe he would actually call himself a Prince of Darkness aside from joking about other people's words. Aside from Spastik remix and Ribcage, he doesn't have any other dark material and those tracks aren't even dark.

Second, I think Sci+Tec definitely lacks integrity/talent but I will say that surprisingly I liked the Steve Lawler (of all people) release. On a system, it's pretty metallic.

I won't pretend to be a huge fan of his music, but I will admit whenever I hear one of his tracks played on a sound system, the crowd goes nuts and I'm sure 95% of them don't know its a Dubfire track (or even a big track for that matter). While content may be lacking and the dynamic may be predictable to the trained ear, sonically Ali knows how to pull off tracks that will please a crowd every time.

[Marcelo]

I'd rather spend time reading something that blows your mind and you're dying to share with us (like the excellent post on Phonica old gems) rather than on Dubfire music, nicknames, etc...

His music won't pass the test of time, for sure, but right now as Z points out, crowds go mad.

Don't really know why you waste energy to talk badly of anything. If that's gonna make you feel better, OK, go on.
It makes TEST look like childish gossip and and TEST is way above that.

BTW, he was probably labelled Prince of darkness by some journo, they love labels, (and maybe he was even joking...)