Latvian artist Martins Rokis, a member of the SHAPE platform, has been working in electronic music for well over a decade, mostly in the context of art installations, generative systems, and multichannel audio/visual performances. But he’s soon releasing an EP called Wrong Headspace, which inaugurates both his side project N1L and Lee Gamble’s brand new UIQ label (which is not a sub-label of PAN, as some had previously reported). In contrast to his conceptual art projects, Rokis is using N1L as an opportunity to dabble in experimental club music, exploring his perceptual predilections through sound design, immediacy, and sensation.
The EP’s first track, “Iguana Love Bite,” kicks off this guest mix that N1L graciously sent our way. From there, his mix — titled 56.9489° N, 24.1064° E (the coordinates of Riga, Latvia) — takes us through a 45-minute fetishization of sound materiality, one that pierces, stabs, pulsates, oscillates, and drones amidst ragged, chugging rhythms and tonal sweeps. With tracks by artists ranging from Arca and Sunn O))) to chookiessss and Surgeon, as well as music from the likes of Lilerne Tapes, L.I.E.S., and PAN, Rokis somehow deftly combines a myriad of styles and approaches into a dazzling procession of sound, featuring delightfully long fades, bold layerings, and competing sound worlds that find odd cohesion in their juxtapositions.
Rokis will be performing next Saturday (June 13) at a SHAPE showcase at Prague’s MeetFactory and alongside Nate Wooley on July 2 at Riga’s Kalnciems quarter, hosted by Skanu Mežs.
Stream the mix below, and subscribe to our podcast here.
[00:00] N1L - “Iguana Love Bite”
[01:42] Arca - “????? A”
[03:15] Pearson Sound - “Gristle”
[03:51] Mykki Blanco & The M Angels - “Gay Dog”
[06:18] chookiessss - “From Memory”
[08:32] Montauk Boys - “Shakedown”
[11:10] Birgit Ulher & Gregory Büttner - “Araripepipra”
[12:53] Low Jack - “New Life”
[14:25] FINAL POV - “GRAV”
[18:07] Sunn O))) - “It Took The Night To Believe”
[20:58] Surgeon - “Radiance”
[23:07] Ketev - “Predatory Soil”
[24:20] M.E.S.H. - “Scythians (Logos Remix)”
[25:00] Denis Smalley - “The Pulses Of Time”
[27:08] Austin Cesear & Stefan Jós - “03”
[27:42] Peder Mannerfelt - “Derrvish”
[29:21] Beneath - “Bored 2”
[33:03] Air Max ‘97 - “Engaged”
[34:52] Zuli - “131001 G”
[36:56] Art Brunell - “Acid Adventures”
[41:43] N.M.O. - “Zaragoza Variations”
• N1L: http://www.martinsrokis.com
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