various / 14 tracks

14 tracks: Screw the pitch

Rollin' from DJ Screw's doped tones to Markus Schmickler's queered pitches, this 14tracks selection explores the relationship between displaced pitch and space in screwed HipHop, dub and experimental electronics. From the very first experiments with variable tape speeds, through the widespread use of turntable pitch controls, right up to the application of autotune and time-stretching, the evolution of electronic and mechanised music is continually displacing our perception of the "norm", and in turn creating heightened (or equally drowsy) psychedelic effects. Our selection focuses on a bunch of cuts which toy with our perceptions of time and space, veering from the radically wrenched BPMs of Salem, Niggas With Guitars and Burial, via the soured harmonics of Leyland Kirby or Kode 9 & Flying Lotus, and the illusory tones of Marcus Schmickler's 'Smooth Hang (Gliding)'. As spatial rendering techniques advance into the next dimension and the R&B field searches for new sensations, we can only imagine the possibilities for the future....