The upcoming Twisted Conspiracy Tour, coming to Boulder, Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in May, represents the fusing of two eclectic underground dance music scenes from Europe and America. Twisted Records is the preeminent psychedelic trance label in Europe, based in London, England, boasting such global psy-trance acts as Shpongle, Hallucinogen, Younger Brother, Ott, and Prometheus. Conspirator is a side project of the electronic improvisational quartet, The Disco Biscuits, a band who initiated the live electronic-rock fusion movement back in 1996 that has taken over the improvisational jam scene in America over the last twelve years. Both Twisted and The Disco Biscuits have been trendsetters in their particular genres, and have come together in recent years for a variety of co-bills and collective projects, both live and in the studio, and that is coming to a peak with this highly anticipated tour.
Simon Posford, musical genius and owner of the Twisted label, has produced genre-altering psy-trance albums as his debut, “Twisted,” and arguably the best psy-trance album ever made, “The Lone Deranger.” Around 2000, Posford transitioned to creating more ethnically flavored music, infusing Indian and Middle-Eastern sounds, and featuring more organic instrumentation coupled with his notoriously unique and infectious electronic beats which range from glitchy break beats to the harder trance rhythms. His 1999 album, Are You Shpongled?, a collaboration with Raja Ram of TIP Records, shattered any pigeon-holing of his music into any one genre as it took the global underground scene by storm. With its world beats, electronic and organic sounds, signature arpeggios, and conceptual vision, this album emerged as one of the most complete and well-rounded concept albums since The Beatles released Abbey Road in 1968. Posford and Ram followed up with two subsequent Shpongle albums before Posford beginning another project, Younger Brother with his Twisted label-mate, Benjy Vaughn (Prometheus). This project focused primarily on more downtempo, and dub-anchored tracks, with some smattering of psy-trance beats meshed in as well. Their first effort, A Flock of Beeps, was met with huge success on dance floors around the world. Younger Brother’s second effort, released last year, The Last Days of Gravity, features less beat driven music in favor of more ambient and melodic tracks including British vocalist, RU, and instrumentation lending a more mellow feel to the album, which was also met with critical acclaim.
The Disco Biscuits, Philadelphia’s musical shape shifters, have been an integral part of the post-Phish jam rock scene in America. They have been consistently touring and building a rabid fan base from their inception at the University of Pennsylvania in 1996 to their emergence as the leading force in American live electronica. Featuring marathon sets, delivered akin to a DJ set rather than a traditional concerts, The Disco Biscuits have been known to play without stopping for over two hours. Within these sets are both dark and blissful explorations into trance, dub, down-tempo, house, and break beats. Boasting mind-bending improvisational communication, The Disco Biscuits began a live electronica movement that has been followed by bands such as Sound Tribe Sector 9, The New Deal, Lotus, Umphrey’s McGee, and a host of smaller up and coming acts.
The Twisted Conspiracy Tour is headlined by Younger Brother, featuring a live band of talented American musicians including Biscuits’ bassist Marc Brownstein (the organizer of the project), Joe Russo, the drummer of The Duo, and guitarist Tom Hamilton of American Babies and Brothers Past. This line-up will back Posford (guitar, keys, effects, computer) and Vaughn (keys, computer) of Younger Brother in performing a live set of electronic tracks, with some expected virtuoso improvisation. This collaboration represents the coming together of many masterful musical minds from across two continents, and promises to provide nights to remember. In addition to the headlining live Younger Brother performance, the shows will feature DJ sets from Shpongle, Prometheus, and a live set from Conspirator (Brownstein and band mate Aron Magner.)
The melding of these two scenes began in 2005, at The Disco Biscuits annual summer festival Camp Bisco. It was this year that Posford and Vaughn accepted an offer to play late night and early morning sets that kept the party going until 6 am. After the initial meeting of the minds that summer, Younger Brother and Hallucinogen happily returned to Camp Bisco 6 to lend their UK vibes to the distinctly American festival in 2006. This festival represented the first onstage collaboration between the Posford and the Biscuits as he joined them on stage for a rendition of the dub remix of Posford’s classic “Gamma Goblins.” As Younger Brother also co-headlined a New Years Eve run extravaganza with the Biscuits in the Philadelphia area that year, their next collaboration happened on 12/30/06, as Posford sat in on turntables for most of the entire first set adding soundscapes and textures to the Biscuits already intricately layered music.
At that point, a legitimate friendship had been born between the Biscuits and the Twisted crew, and it was then that Posford agreed to produce several of the tracks on the The Disco Biscuits upcoming album, a collaboration that both sides have raved about. The time in the studio together brought each of their musical ideas to the forefront, and a collaborative sense of mutual creation began. The Biscuits began to pick up the electronic nuances of a psychedelic music genius, while Posford began to latch on to the more rock-based roots of The Disco Biscuits, and bands he cites as inspiration, England’s Ozric Tentacles, and Pink Floyd. Together, both parties have brought each other closer to a middle ground. Brownstein noted, “What’s really cool is that the music we are making is seeming to meet in the middle of straight electronic music and live performance. We have been influencing each other in the direction of our own expertise and what has resulted has been nothing short of amazing.”
Posford’s natural ability as an instrumentalist has also come back into play years into his career due to the influence of these collaborations. Known globally as one of the greatest psy-trance producers in the game, Posford is also a great guitar and keyboard player, and has recently organized a live Hallucinogen in Dub band, which has played dub remixes of his trance tracks in a live setting. In addition, he collaborated onstage with the Biscuits at 2007’s Camp Bisco 6, in which he sat in on both guitar and keyboards for a twenty-minute jam that impressed all involved and in attendance alike.
This brings us to now. While Younger Brother has played a few live shows with the legendary British electronic improvisers, The Bays, the Twisted Conspiracy Tour will feature a combination of Twisted and Biscuit musicians and friends. This is the first time this will be happening in America, and certainly illustrates the level of respect and admiration that each group has for each other. With huge musical experiments on the horizon for this tour, and cutting edge improvisational minds melding, it is a once in a lifetime chance to see what type of musical journeys will result.
May 9: Boulder Theatre, Boulder, CO
May 10: Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO
May 16: 1015, San Francisco, CA
May 17: Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
For Info: http://www.twisted.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12112&sid=a1579613d6f2811bf33a6d353bfd33e1
