Conrank's innovative by any name
By Brian Offenther |
June 14, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Conrank DJed last Saturday at underground music club Shelter (5 Yongfu Road, near Fuxing Road W.) to celebrate the release of his EP, "Antidote Asia." That much is clear. What's unclear is what exactly a "Conrank" is.
The dictionary shows no such word, a Google search leads only to said DJ, and the chances that this columnist is going to contact the DJ directly when good old speculation is possible are nonexistent.
Is the name a pun of sorts? Perhaps a counter to the rating of fellow eclectic DJs and music producers like himself. As such he votes "con" to the notion of "rankings."
Or perhaps the name is meant to be unscrambled to "No-crank" as in he does seems to be a good-natured guy.
Since those are inconclusive, let's look past the name for what he's about. Conrank hails from London and now lives in Shanghai. The music he produces and mixes is eclectic underground electronica, weaving together drum 'n' bass, dubstep, hip-hop, and whatever else goes bump in the night.
It fits to the formula of Antidote, a brand founded by local entrepreneur and DJ Michael Ohhlson that's launching its record label with this release. Antidote has been around for years in Shanghai and has been known to throw parties based on electronic music but that stay clear of the mainstream house music and popular hip hop that many clubs feature.
Ohhlson jokingly but convincingly describes Conrank as Antidote's "gateway drug" and "part of (Antidote's) greater vision," something that becomes obvious when listening to the album and looking at its track listing.
The first two songs are remixes: "Flower Bunch" by Lady Citizen and "Grow Up" by Boys Climbing Ropes. Each song does more than encourage listeners to dance with bass that can chatter your teeth. Movement is essentially required. Each maintains a somewhat slow rhythm, for an unexpected groove between slabs of pure distorted sound. That is until the end of "Grow Up" where things pick up to a frenetic pace that club-goers at the EP launch loved.
That continues for the third track, "Mutant Militia" which is performed by rap group Lo-Fire with a beat by Conrank. The beat is essentially hip hop with a dubstep flourish and a texture wrapped in skittish static and a distorted bass sound that makes distinguishing whether your sub-woofer is having trouble with the bass frequency impossible. That might in fact be the point.
That's followed by a short musical piece aptly called "Lost in Space" which is extremely ephemeral - a break from the low frequency attacks that precedes it.
The last song is a remix of the classic Chinese pop song "Wo Yao Ni De Ai (I Want Your Love)" by Grace Chang, which teases the classic by surrounding it with waves of heavy static.
Clearly, if this defines what a Conrank is, than Conrank means quality in electronic music.
The dictionary shows no such word, a Google search leads only to said DJ, and the chances that this columnist is going to contact the DJ directly when good old speculation is possible are nonexistent.
Is the name a pun of sorts? Perhaps a counter to the rating of fellow eclectic DJs and music producers like himself. As such he votes "con" to the notion of "rankings."
Or perhaps the name is meant to be unscrambled to "No-crank" as in he does seems to be a good-natured guy.
Since those are inconclusive, let's look past the name for what he's about. Conrank hails from London and now lives in Shanghai. The music he produces and mixes is eclectic underground electronica, weaving together drum 'n' bass, dubstep, hip-hop, and whatever else goes bump in the night.
It fits to the formula of Antidote, a brand founded by local entrepreneur and DJ Michael Ohhlson that's launching its record label with this release. Antidote has been around for years in Shanghai and has been known to throw parties based on electronic music but that stay clear of the mainstream house music and popular hip hop that many clubs feature.
Ohhlson jokingly but convincingly describes Conrank as Antidote's "gateway drug" and "part of (Antidote's) greater vision," something that becomes obvious when listening to the album and looking at its track listing.
The first two songs are remixes: "Flower Bunch" by Lady Citizen and "Grow Up" by Boys Climbing Ropes. Each song does more than encourage listeners to dance with bass that can chatter your teeth. Movement is essentially required. Each maintains a somewhat slow rhythm, for an unexpected groove between slabs of pure distorted sound. That is until the end of "Grow Up" where things pick up to a frenetic pace that club-goers at the EP launch loved.
That continues for the third track, "Mutant Militia" which is performed by rap group Lo-Fire with a beat by Conrank. The beat is essentially hip hop with a dubstep flourish and a texture wrapped in skittish static and a distorted bass sound that makes distinguishing whether your sub-woofer is having trouble with the bass frequency impossible. That might in fact be the point.
That's followed by a short musical piece aptly called "Lost in Space" which is extremely ephemeral - a break from the low frequency attacks that precedes it.
The last song is a remix of the classic Chinese pop song "Wo Yao Ni De Ai (I Want Your Love)" by Grace Chang, which teases the classic by surrounding it with waves of heavy static.
Clearly, if this defines what a Conrank is, than Conrank means quality in electronic music.
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