Liquid Sound Design is hosting a special event the 19th April on Good Friday at London hot spot Mau-Mau Bar on Portobello Road. The event comprises conscious talks, art, a pop-up shop selling classic L.S.D. & Dragonfly Records vinyl, cd’s, and label paraphernalia.
You can also hear Dj sets from Youth, Gaudi, Dr. Alex Paterson/The Orb, Mixmaster Morris, Robin Triskele & Liquidyne.
I took a little time leading up to the event to prise L.S.D. label manager Robin Triskele away from her busy schedule to talk about the event, recent releases and what the future holds in store for fans of the label.
1)
What does it mean personally to you managing an iconic underground
label as Liquid Sound Design?
I have been listening to L.S.D. releases since the labels inception in the 90s and for sure some of my very favourite early psychedelic dub albums would be from Liquid Sound Design. Being in the scene in various manners since the 90s, I have always had a deep respect for Youth as he is renowned for launching the first Goatrance label with Dragonfly Records and of course soon to follow was the first ‘psydub’ label with L.S.D. These early releases defined these genres throughout the world by putting them to vinyl & CD.
When I was asked by Youth to manage the relaunch of the label in early 2015 I was quite honoured. Through running a music and event management consulting agency with Triskele Management, I have had the chance to work most of the scenes artists and labels over the last 15 years but to be given the opportunity to help bring such a seminal label back to life has been a wonderful opportunity.
Having already been friends with or connected to the labels artists and much of the other leading downtempo electronica artists, has helped considerably in making the label grow and bring new sounds and styles into the fold. Everyone fully got behind the label with such amazing releases and remixes and this has led the label to be quite prolific. I am blessed to have such legends weaving our labels history again, including Youth, Mixmaster Morris, Gaudi, Saafi Brothers, The Orb, Kuba, DF Tram, Suns Of Arqa for example. Most of us have been involved in the music industry for decades, we all share a strong family vibe and the artists have a very dedicated approach to the music we are releasing. The best part is it feels like we are just getting started!
I have been listening to L.S.D. releases since the labels inception in the 90s and for sure some of my very favourite early psychedelic dub albums would be from Liquid Sound Design. Being in the scene in various manners since the 90s, I have always had a deep respect for Youth as he is renowned for launching the first Goatrance label with Dragonfly Records and of course soon to follow was the first ‘psydub’ label with L.S.D. These early releases defined these genres throughout the world by putting them to vinyl & CD.
When I was asked by Youth to manage the relaunch of the label in early 2015 I was quite honoured. Through running a music and event management consulting agency with Triskele Management, I have had the chance to work most of the scenes artists and labels over the last 15 years but to be given the opportunity to help bring such a seminal label back to life has been a wonderful opportunity.
Having already been friends with or connected to the labels artists and much of the other leading downtempo electronica artists, has helped considerably in making the label grow and bring new sounds and styles into the fold. Everyone fully got behind the label with such amazing releases and remixes and this has led the label to be quite prolific. I am blessed to have such legends weaving our labels history again, including Youth, Mixmaster Morris, Gaudi, Saafi Brothers, The Orb, Kuba, DF Tram, Suns Of Arqa for example. Most of us have been involved in the music industry for decades, we all share a strong family vibe and the artists have a very dedicated approach to the music we are releasing. The best part is it feels like we are just getting started!
2)
I tend to think of Liquid Sound Design as a psychedelic dub/dub
reggae off-shoot to Dragonfly Records. More recently it’s much more
diverse for example Abraham Carmona’s ‘Ibiza’ focused on a far
more laid back Mediterranean sound. What did you feel this release
brought to the label?
The one thing that we are consistently doing within the label is trying to find new talented artists and music that is fresh and cutting edge. Music that is different to the norm with an open mind and slightly left field approach to the genre profile we were defined by in the earlier days of L.S.D. While psydub/psychill is still very much prevalent in our label, we have been exploring a wider variety of new styles. Over recent years we have seen the chill out scene become much more diverse and artists are exploring and experimenting more with sound. We see chill stages at music festivals and events are now offering more eclectic line ups and the music scene seems to be widening its scope of what is considered chill out. We want to be sure to embrace this change in L.S.D. as well now and you will continue to see us dipping our toes into different genres and scenes more and more with releases to come.
Abraham Carmona recorded his traditional flamenco album ‘Homage to Catalonia’ (Suriya Recordings) with Youth at his legendary Space Mountain Studios in Spain. After finishing the traditional album, they decided to explore a new sound, combining beats, samples, electronics, and merging them with Abraham’s unique style of infusing jazz techniques with a flamenco aesthetic. The result was ‘Ibiza’.
This album goes to show how the labels idea of downtempo electronica is not wrapped up in just one sound. It also shows how well different styles and genres can morph together to create something new and exciting and shows our fans we are always there with something unpredictable. At L.S.D. all artists & DJs involved with our label are truly passionate about all types of downtempo electronica and sharing good music! We are pleased to have the platform to share what we consider to be ground breaking music and to be able to introduce these new sounds through our releases.
The one thing that we are consistently doing within the label is trying to find new talented artists and music that is fresh and cutting edge. Music that is different to the norm with an open mind and slightly left field approach to the genre profile we were defined by in the earlier days of L.S.D. While psydub/psychill is still very much prevalent in our label, we have been exploring a wider variety of new styles. Over recent years we have seen the chill out scene become much more diverse and artists are exploring and experimenting more with sound. We see chill stages at music festivals and events are now offering more eclectic line ups and the music scene seems to be widening its scope of what is considered chill out. We want to be sure to embrace this change in L.S.D. as well now and you will continue to see us dipping our toes into different genres and scenes more and more with releases to come.
Abraham Carmona recorded his traditional flamenco album ‘Homage to Catalonia’ (Suriya Recordings) with Youth at his legendary Space Mountain Studios in Spain. After finishing the traditional album, they decided to explore a new sound, combining beats, samples, electronics, and merging them with Abraham’s unique style of infusing jazz techniques with a flamenco aesthetic. The result was ‘Ibiza’.
This album goes to show how the labels idea of downtempo electronica is not wrapped up in just one sound. It also shows how well different styles and genres can morph together to create something new and exciting and shows our fans we are always there with something unpredictable. At L.S.D. all artists & DJs involved with our label are truly passionate about all types of downtempo electronica and sharing good music! We are pleased to have the platform to share what we consider to be ground breaking music and to be able to introduce these new sounds through our releases.
3) Another example is DF
Tram whose previous album release was on Afterlife’s Subatomic UK
label which again focuses on the sunset Balearic sound. What inspired
you to bring him over to the dub side so to speak?
Personally, even before I came to re-launch L.S.D. in 2015, DF Tram had been on my peripheral radar. Being from the US originally, I visited San Francisco several times and was familiar with the underground chill scene from the early 2000s. Dylan has been involved in the North American underground scene for over two decades and is known for his eclectic and thought provoking multi-media collages combining music and video. He has also visited the UK several times playing Big Chill Festival.
DF Tram came to know Mixmaster Morris almost 20 years ago from bringing him to play a weekly club night in San Francisco he was organizing and has also has worked with him on some early The Irresistible Force productions, but his original connections to the LSD family came through Alex Paterson/The Orb. Alex sampled one of his tracks many years back and this led to him playing shows with both The Orb and Thomas Fehlmann, they have remained friends since, so much that he has been opening for The Orb on their 30 yr anniversary tour stateside. Dylan passed ‘Serenitay Infinitay’ on to Alex Paterson, who passed it on to Youth and the rest is history!
Personally, even before I came to re-launch L.S.D. in 2015, DF Tram had been on my peripheral radar. Being from the US originally, I visited San Francisco several times and was familiar with the underground chill scene from the early 2000s. Dylan has been involved in the North American underground scene for over two decades and is known for his eclectic and thought provoking multi-media collages combining music and video. He has also visited the UK several times playing Big Chill Festival.
DF Tram came to know Mixmaster Morris almost 20 years ago from bringing him to play a weekly club night in San Francisco he was organizing and has also has worked with him on some early The Irresistible Force productions, but his original connections to the LSD family came through Alex Paterson/The Orb. Alex sampled one of his tracks many years back and this led to him playing shows with both The Orb and Thomas Fehlmann, they have remained friends since, so much that he has been opening for The Orb on their 30 yr anniversary tour stateside. Dylan passed ‘Serenitay Infinitay’ on to Alex Paterson, who passed it on to Youth and the rest is history!
L.S.D. Label night : YOUTH & GAUDI ‘ Astronaut Alchemists’ launch party video
Video by Gem Rey / rockumentary.london
Video by Gem Rey / rockumentary.london
4)
The tail end of last year you put together an album launch at Bloc in
London for Youth and Gaudi’s ‘Astronaut Alchemists’. Whilst
this Easter weekend in conjunction with Dragonfly Records, you’re
promoting an afternoon of talks followed by an evening of Liquid
Sound Design D.J. sets at London’s Mau Mau Bar. Could you tell the
readers a little more about these events?
Being in event production and management for over 20 yrs, I’m involved at any given time with several ongoing festivals and events globally, but I have really been wanting to do something new and interesting locally within UK. For the last couple of years I’ve been flirting with the idea to do L.S.D. label events but have been waiting for the perfect opportunity. It seems the stars aligned when the Youth & Gaudi album dropped and thus came the first in a series of bespoke nights that would be tailored to appeal to the new generation, whilst still enticing to the music aficionados from days of L.S.D. past. I was clear on the vibe I wanted to create and the visual image I wanted to present, something that would leave an impression with people and an image that would remain consistent throughout the future events.
When Youth launched the label in 1998, his intention was ‘to create an outlet for more experimental and down-tempo music as well as satisfying the demand for the post club chill out sounds.’ So I wanted to create this vibe along with top notch visuals and deco that bring a reminiscence of the 60’s psychedelic consciousness and art. I wanted to somehow keep in mind and honour Youths vision and his ideals from early days of the label.
Being in event production and management for over 20 yrs, I’m involved at any given time with several ongoing festivals and events globally, but I have really been wanting to do something new and interesting locally within UK. For the last couple of years I’ve been flirting with the idea to do L.S.D. label events but have been waiting for the perfect opportunity. It seems the stars aligned when the Youth & Gaudi album dropped and thus came the first in a series of bespoke nights that would be tailored to appeal to the new generation, whilst still enticing to the music aficionados from days of L.S.D. past. I was clear on the vibe I wanted to create and the visual image I wanted to present, something that would leave an impression with people and an image that would remain consistent throughout the future events.
When Youth launched the label in 1998, his intention was ‘to create an outlet for more experimental and down-tempo music as well as satisfying the demand for the post club chill out sounds.’ So I wanted to create this vibe along with top notch visuals and deco that bring a reminiscence of the 60’s psychedelic consciousness and art. I wanted to somehow keep in mind and honour Youths vision and his ideals from early days of the label.
I invite you to read the press notes from our release Society Of Inner Light compiled by Youth:
‘Youth started the Society For Ancient
Enchantment in 1999, with the intention of combining ritual, music
performance, spoken word and DJ's to be able to dive deeper into the
mystery and meditation of the music. This created some legendary
early L.S.D. events and recordings and is directly connected to this
Society of Inner Light album and future events. The inspiration
behind this compilation goes back to the 1930's and "Dion
Fortunes Order Of Inner Light ". Some of her rituals in
Bloomsbury were said to have ushered in the 1960's flower power era
... Our intention here is to facilitate that same intention and free
the spirit of those times for our present and future tribal, dance
floor, chill out gatherings and facilitate and create an esoteric
counter culture that communicates to mind, body and spirit.’
With the Mau Mau takeover we are opening
the scope and bringing it to the community by hosting a day out for
people to come along to have a chat, hear enlightening talks with
Gregory Sams, Lee Harris & Youth, share some wicked music and be
immersed in art in a more laid back vibe. It’s a great opportunity
for us to see our music family in a more social setting and be able
to share new ideas and dream new concepts into creation, invite
people to embrace and co-create the esoteric counter culture Youth
speaks of. We will also be hosting our first Dragonfly & L.S.D.
pop-up shop to bring the label to people personally and connect.
We’re really looking forward to a chilled Good Friday with good
folks and good music at this legendary Portobello Road spot.
5) What else is in the pipeline for Liquid Sound Design this
year?
We have started the year off with a bit of a much needed break after dropping 8 releases in 2018!
So far this year we’ve mostly been busy arranging some really exciting artist collaborations whilst stepping into and tickling many different genres. We are curating remix albums for Youth & Gaudi – Astronaut Alchemists, The Irresistible Force – Kira Kira, the Saafi Brothers seminal debut album Mystic Cigarettes (originally released on Blue Room in 1996). We are really excited to be bringing Bluetech into the LSD family fold with ‘Liquid Geometries in Dub’, with a collection of rather eclectic artist remixes from his recent ambient and fully modular release on DiN Records. We also have a new album soon to be delivered by psydub maestro KUBA, the next release in the Future Horizons series and EPs from both Pan Electric and DF Tram.
On the flipside…. We are super excited to be on the precipice of a re-launch of the legendary Dragonfly Records! The label has been resting far too long and we think it's time to bring it back to life. We have been collecting demos and seeking new talent to join us alongside some of the original Dragonfly family for the next instalment of the well-loved ‘Order Odonata’ series, coming this autumn! The label will also see a new psy trance album from label head YOUTH, the first in almost 15 years.
So as you can see, we are full steam ahead!
We have started the year off with a bit of a much needed break after dropping 8 releases in 2018!
So far this year we’ve mostly been busy arranging some really exciting artist collaborations whilst stepping into and tickling many different genres. We are curating remix albums for Youth & Gaudi – Astronaut Alchemists, The Irresistible Force – Kira Kira, the Saafi Brothers seminal debut album Mystic Cigarettes (originally released on Blue Room in 1996). We are really excited to be bringing Bluetech into the LSD family fold with ‘Liquid Geometries in Dub’, with a collection of rather eclectic artist remixes from his recent ambient and fully modular release on DiN Records. We also have a new album soon to be delivered by psydub maestro KUBA, the next release in the Future Horizons series and EPs from both Pan Electric and DF Tram.
On the flipside…. We are super excited to be on the precipice of a re-launch of the legendary Dragonfly Records! The label has been resting far too long and we think it's time to bring it back to life. We have been collecting demos and seeking new talent to join us alongside some of the original Dragonfly family for the next instalment of the well-loved ‘Order Odonata’ series, coming this autumn! The label will also see a new psy trance album from label head YOUTH, the first in almost 15 years.
So as you can see, we are full steam ahead!
Find us online:
Facebook: facebook.com/LiquidSoundDesign
Bandcamp: liquidsounddesignuk.bandcamp.com
YouTube: youtube.com/c/LiquidSoundDesign
Spotify: open.spotify.com/user/liquidsounddesign
Robin Triskele FB: facebook.com/RobinTriskeleDJ
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