Alberta Balsam: Hardware and Harmonies

Alberta Balsam is a sonic world builder. A classically trained musician who graduated from the conservatory, her approach is both deeply technical and imaginatively rich. Utilising vintage hardware alongside Ableton wizardry, she recalls early electronic experiments while also tuning into cosmic frequencies that extend beyond time and space.
Alberta Balsam facing right in front of her studio gear
Out on Clone/Dub Recordings this month, 15 Billion Elektrovolt is no exception. Skyrocketing through sizzling acid, dreamy IDM and sawtooth electro, the EP delivers 7 potent tracks, punctuated by cavernous, rolling drums and spacious melodies. From the florid textures of ‘The Mandragora’ to the wonky, warbling bass of ‘Nibiru Desert’, ’15 Billion Elektrovolt’ transmits a star-bound energy that conjures visions of oceanic depths, far-off galaxies and distant horizons.
Catching up to discuss the release, our conversation dips into the analogue equipment that’s a signature of Alberta’s style – and which she uses as part of her mind-bending live showcases – drawing influence from the halcyon 1990s and the intricacies of production.

Hannah Pezzack: Your debut EP Higher Dreams – released by Dekmantel in 2021 – is inspired by the sci-fi novelist Ursula K Le Quin, and weaves a narrative of climate collapse, redemption and hope in the wake of chaos. Does this record have a similar conceptual underpinning?
Alberta Balsam: There’s no overarching narrative, but I often find myself inventing a world when I’m in the studio. I always have a visual accompaniment in my mind, like watching a movie. For instance, in the background of ‘Comic Bionic’, there are lots of laughing people, but the voices are synthesised through vocoders so they are really robotic. The track is about these androids moving through the city, causing chaos, on the way to a rave. Then ‘Galactic Gambol’ is a coming-of-age narrative; it imagines this cute, young character going out into the world and having an adventure. The process is quite cinematic, in a sense. Something that runs through all my music is this sense of optimism; a feeling of hopefulness.

HP: The vocals are beautifully subtle. There are these flashes of ghostly, computerised voices intertwined with the beats.
AB: Actually, I always try to forefront my vocals. But it often makes the track sound too poppy. So I wind up cutting them up and they vanish into the background or even disappear completely. Of course, there’s something rather beautiful about pop singing, especially when it’s got this ethereal, almost soothing quality. It’s interesting, isn’t it? Sometimes you have these go-to or automatic modes of making. Like the way you programme your drums or the chords you choose or the vocal style – these aspects are quite instinctual for me. It just feels right.

HP: Can you walk me through the equipment you used on the EP?
AB: I use a combination of vintage equipment and Ableton. I always mix in Ableton because it’s easier, but I use a lot of hardware at my gigs. Lately, I’ve been playing with my JX-3P, which I had just bought when I was making these tracks. So that instrument is really prevalent on the EP as well as my Moog which I used for samples. I was aiming for the release to have this more impactful, clubby feel, so I was looking for new equipment to work with.
They call the JX-3P the poor man’s Juno. It’s a Roland from the 1980s, but it hasn’t got any faders or anything. It’s such a pain in the ass to program. But you can use Ableton together with midi to control it, which is super cool. It’s a very nerdy approach that I love.
At times, I feel so overwhelmed by all the machines in my studio like I have too many options. For instance, with my Octatrack, I feel I’m not using it to its full potential. I have that with a lot of my gear. But then, I’ll be playing around with something, after a couple of years of owning it, and it will open up to me and I’ll understand every part of it. I think that comes with viewing the instrument as a toy.

HP: Unlike many electronic musicians, you are able to read sheet music and have training in composition. Does that ever come in handy in your production process?
AB: There’s a track on the EP – ‘The Mandragora’ – which has a very theoretical approach. It’s structured around these Plaid style, complicated chord patterns. And it isn’t in 16 or 32 bars, but rather 20. It was a way of working that felt creatively inspiring, although I’m not sure my background in composition always helps me. I want things to be dark, underground and heavy hitting, but making intricate melodies doesn’t seem to go hand-in-hand with that. It can make the music sound too polite or sweet. Then again, that is my training, it’s what I’m drawing on and what influences me. And all theories of music, all approaches, are connected.

Alberta Balsam using grooveboxes pictured from behindHP: To me, your sound is so rooted in the 1990s. I immediately think of Autechre’s ambient techno and, of course, Aphex Twin, where your namesake comes from, but also acts like Luke Vibert’s project ​​Wagon Christ or electro-icons Dopplereffekt. What draws you to this era?
AB: It’s wonderful to refer back to that decade because you play with familiarity while finding space to add experimental elements. It seems as if a certain recognisability opens a door to exploring weirder, more leftfield things. Although what draws me towards the 1990s, particularly the IDM movement, isn’t so much the sound, but rather the fact that artists made such beautiful, deeply touching music with such minimal means. It seemed to be this hugely creative moment in history, and I’m concerned that we’re not as sensitive these days. Or perhaps receptivity is still there, as an undercurrent, but it doesn’t surface as much.

HP: How do you see the release in relation to the other records out on Clone/Dub Recordings?
AB: The label feels like a really good fit, given that Rotterdam is my hometown. I’m a big fan of Exshaw by Ryan James Ford, for instance. I’m pretty proud to be alongside that album.

Alberta Balsam – 15 Billion ElektrovoltDub Recordings 050 shipping from clone.nl early June 2023

All photos by Laetitia Bosma.

Transllusion – A Moment Of Insanity

2001, the first year of the 21st century, but especially for many born in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, the year that was surrounded with an aura of “the Future” and that became symbol of the new and unknown things that life has in store, the starting year of a new transgression period in both scientific, cultural and spiritual evolution. In that year Transllusion recorded music in the Dimensional Waves Productions studio of which till date two known productions saw a release: “The opening of the Cerebral Gate” and shortly after that the mysterious “L.I.F.E.” album on Rephlex.

More than 15 years later, an unknown wave resurfaced, washing up an incomparable emotional state of electronic depth. Music from the Future rooted in an underwater Afro-futurist realm and the grandiose cosmological truths. This time rushing over us in a much more personal, reflective and more introspective way, yet leaving behind sonic confusion.

We now know who was responsible for all these futuristic recordings perfectly reflecting what the year 2001 stood for, James Stinson can be seen as one of the last few techno musicians from his generation that lived up to the high expectations of moving forward, finding the unknown and embracing the future without reliving the past.

Transllusion - A Moment Of Insanity DAT tape
Transllusion – A Moment Of Insanity DAT tape
This recently discovered DAT-tape, using his Transllusion alias, is the 3rd outing of the project and, surrounded with an even brighter aureole than the previous recordings, confirms the status of its producers mastermind. No further details are known, except for the project name written on the tape, but these intimate moments in the studio tell us what the future sounds like according to James Stinson!

Available from clone.nl 08-06-2018
https://clone.nl/item51575.html

The Men You’ll Never See part 2

Clone Urban Unit 1997
Clone store 1997, in true ‘men you’ll never see’ style located in the upstairs backroom of the Urban Unit.
Rotterdam, 1997… a regular wednesday in the small Clone Record store. Our imports shipment from the USA arrived… the highlight of the week!!! New releases that have been ordered from a fax list from the American distributors. In these days it was just phone calls and infosheets rolling from the faxmachine! New records from Detroit, New York, Chicago that I ordered but never heard before. Labels and artists that were unknown… just trusting your gut feeling while reading the description on the fax list and seeing the artist name and track titles. It felt like gambling with scratchcards… hit or miss! This shipment had a bunch of records that looked kinda obscure inbetween the many NY house records and harder acid and techno listed. The names looked cool so I ordered some copies… “Cybonix – Cybonix in Effect”, “DJ Assault – Tec De France” on D-bass Records, “D.I.E. – The Men You’ll Never See” were listed with restocks of old Incognito titles such as Tronikhouse… could be something nice!?

About 5 copies of each title arrived… I broke the seal on my baggy Stussy pants, put the needle on… and there it goes Boom Pack, Boom Boom Pack, Boom Pack, Boom Boom Pack… That’s the shit… That’s some energy going on right here…wait… what’s that?? A guy with a mic?? Bang, that quirky sharp bassline drops…. wooowww!!! “To all the people in the house, I’ve got two things to say and that’s… Get Up!” Crazy stuff… I like it! Flipping over to the other side… Cosmic Cars vibes… killer! These guys knew their classics, it sounded like a cover version of Cybotron’s Cosmic Cars???! I could tell from the music… I like these guys!. Ok… Last tune… Deep Space Detroit Techno Electro… I got all exited. This is the shit!!! This whole record is gold! “Driving in my car… Making techno tracks… People try to stop me… But I keep on going because I’m the man you’ll never see!” Goose bumps!!! That’s us… The Men You’ll Never See… just a bunch of freaks making techno tracks, playing them in the car with friends, at small parties hosted by ourselves or even imaginary parties in our bedroom. Not looking for fame or trying to make shitloads of money. We preferred music from DIY labels and anonymous producers… let the music do the talking… as pure as it could be! “We’re The Men You’ll Never see” that’s our vibe and D.I.E. made the perfect theme to that vibe!

The regulars came in for their thursday and friday round of record shopping looking for the latest techno and house imports, the latest bangers for their regular dj gigs at the local clubs. Sure, no worries… I got their back! No shortage of good records from all over the place in my little recordstore! Axis, Kanzleramt, Prescription, 7th city, Strictly Rhythm, Soul City, UR etc. etc.
I did put a small stack aside with these electro 12’s for the saturday morning when the out of town regulars from Alkmaar and The Hague plus the local guys with a day job came in; Pim Pametex, Electronome, Edo8, Cosmic Force, I-f, Duplex etc.
Everything sold out after a couple days… I had work to do. I needed restocks so I started faxing to the number on the records. Long story short… a longtime friendship was started and we did a remix ep on Clone Records with killer remixes by Adult. I-f and Electronome all going against the stream showing their love for Wave and Electro and delivering superb tracks.

Now it’s 2018… The world did change… Nobody is a man or woman you’ll never see… everyone’s got a camera in their hand and is a voyeur looking at other peoples lives. It’s all about seeing and being seen these days… Facebook and Instagram and their algorithms are setting the rules and often it seems that music is of secondary importance. But the music is still here… We are still here and we’re still making techno tracks. At the end the music is the only truth!
Needless to say it’s a proud moment to be able to offer 20 years after the initial release.., the official re-release of “The Men You’ll Never See – Part 1 and Part 2”

Peace,
Serge

DIE Clone Westcoast SeriesThe Men You’ll Never See pt.1

DIE Clone Westcoast SeriesThe Men You’ll Never See pt.2

The Men You’ll Never See…

Coming soon, two classic Clone records in the rebound straight from Detroit and the Dutch westcoast!

DIE Clone Westcoast SeriesThe Men You’ll Never See EP
I-f, Adult. and Electronome with their versions of this Detroit electro anthem by the Detroit In Effect boys.

DIE Clone Westcoast SeriesThe Men You’ll Never See pt.2
Raw and pure detroit electro-techno classics. Straight from the source. Remastered for the Westcoast!

Out in late April 2018. More D.I.E to come soon..!