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Barker
British-born, Berlin-based Sam Barker has long sought to push the boundaries of electronic music – both in and out of the club. The Berghain resident’s string of signature solo releases for the club’s Ostgut Ton imprint have explored the rhythmic functionality of pumping, twisting and constantly evolving modular electronics. He is also one half of Barker & Baumecker with longtime Panorama Bar resident nd_baumecker, with whom he has released multiple EPs, two albums and dozens of remixes.
As a DJ, Barker combines bass music tropes, techno, electro, breakbeat, dub and ambient elements that coalesce into a distinctive, future-facing vision – one which is also reflected in his curation of the Leisure System label, which he co-founded in 2009. Originally started as a Berghain club night in 2008, Leisure System has released seminal works by the likes of Dopplereffekt, JakoJako, Objekt and Visionist (among others). The club night also held the longest residency in Berghain’s history.
Barker released his solo debut EP Debiasing on Ostgut Ton in 2018, containing four hypnotic and kick-less dancefloor tools conceptually based on research into behaviorism and psychological conditioning. This was followed by his solo debut album Utility, a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a spectrum of transhumanist ideas packed into a deeper exploration of the emotive potential of rhythmic ambient electronics – once again almost entirely without kick-drums. For many, both releases were seen not only as instant classics, but also as helping to define a discrete category of ambient dance music. Utility made numerous Best of 2019 year’s end lists, including Pitchfork, The Quietus, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor and others. It also earned title of Mixmag’s Album of The Year 2019. As Philip Sherburne wrote in his Pitchfork review: “For anyone who has ever fantasized about dissolving into the dancefloor, Utility is about as close as it gets.”
These releases were followed by two limited edition white label EPs for Ostgut, BARKER001 and BARKER002. Recently he has also completed remixes for the likes of Martin Gore, Tangerine Dream and Planetary Assault Systems, and contributed a track together with Luke Slater for Ostgut Ton’s 16-year anniversary box set, Fünfzehn + 1.
Barker is also an active instrument designer who combines coding skills with analogue, electric and acoustic instrument construction for his experimental archive and platform Voltek. In the summer of 2020, he contributed a large-scale sound installation for Berghain’s Studio Berlin art exhibition, featuring a self-playing piano performing generative serial compositions which emphasize democratic harmonic relationships between tones. He has also continued to delve deeper into constructing his own MIDI-triggered acoustic instruments, including a prepared plate reverb and various percussion instruments, notably exploring the resonant architecture of Detroit’s abandoned factories with Underground Resistance’s Ray 7.
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Maria Muldaur Readies 41st Album: "Don't You Feel My Leg - The Naughty Bawdy Blues Of Blue Lu Barker" Out September 28th
Source:
The Last Music Company
When a 24-year-old Blue Lu Barker stepped up to the microphone at Decca Records studio in Manhattan in 1938 to record Don’t You Feel My Leg, she had no way of knowing that that initial recording would turn out to be such an enduring piece of blues artistry. An immediate hit, the song instantly established Barker as a leading female blues vocalist, fueling a recording career that continued unabated throughout dozens of blues and jazz releases on Decca, Apollo, and ...
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Jazz this week: Kenny Barron, Tyondai Braxton, Thurman Barker, an all-star band with Cohen, Wilson, Hill & Oh, and more
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
It's a terrifically busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a number of interesting musicians visiting town over the next few days. So let's skip the rest of the preamble and go straight to the highlights... Wednesday, April 6 Pianist Kenny Barron returns to St. Louis for the first of two evenings with his trio at Jazz at the Bistro. Officially designated as an NEA “Jazz Master," the 72-year-old Barron is a stylistically versatile pianist, albeit ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Thurman Barker
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Today, let's look at some videos of drummer, percussionist, and composer Thurman Barker, who's coming to St. Louis to play two events in early April at Washington University. He'll perform first in a ticketed concert for the Jazz at Holmes series on Thursday, April 7, followed the next evening by a free event, improvising to silent films on Friday, April 8 at Wash U's Brown Hall. Barker is a 68-year-old Chicago native whose involvement in creative music dates back to ...
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The Memories Of Danny Barker This Week On Riverwalk Jazz
Source:
Don Mopsick
This week's Riverwalk Jazz features interviews with New Orleans jazz pioneer Danny Barker. The Smithsonian Institution opened the vaults of the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History so that we could present Danny Barker’s authentic New Orleans vernacular as he recollects life in the Crescent City in the early 1900s. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. You can ...
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Travis Barker The Talk Of Tinsel Town, But Enter Music Publishing Traps Him Again During "Travis Barker" Week From April 18 To 25
Source:
JCM Media
San Jose, Calif.,—Travis Barker consistently keeps the media and the drumming community fascinated. Whether it's his latest hip-hop record, Blink-182 reunions, plane crashes, or reality TV he never stays far from the public eye. That's why Enter Music Publishing, publishers of hip, drum/percussion magazines, worldwide and online, will celebrate “Travis Barker Week," from April 18 to the 25th on its web site. (drummagazine.com) Each day, the company will feature recent and older, archived stories about Travis' career. The editorial content ...
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Thinking of Danny Barker
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
This is neither the anniversary of Danny Barker's birth (January 13, 1909) nor of his death (March 13, 1994). I need no special occasion to write about Danny. He was born in New Orleans, where I served with him on the board of the original New Orleans JazzFest and was lucky enough to become his friend. No one has ever had a warmer, more genuine companion. Danny Barker with drummer Al Harewood at a New York memorial concert for Louis ...
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Neil Peart Barely Paradiddles Past Travis Barker Winning Fourth Straight "Drummer Of The Year" - To Be Inducted Into Drummies Hall Of Fame
Source:
JCM Media
San Jose, Calif., This year's Drummies have been very interesting for a variety of reasons. As previously reported, recording voting occurred as 6500 drummers casted 100,000 votes in the 40 categories that make up The Drummies. Neil Peart, for a fourth straight time, has won “Drummer Of The Year." It was a very tight race with Peart winning over Travis Barker by just six votes. It's reasonable to assume that Peart's lucky number is 6 since he can play in ...
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Drum! Magazine Traps Travis Barker's Fly Kit in Sept. Issue
Source:
JCM Media
Travis Barker is receiving rave reviews for his new “fly” drum kit, which MTV described in a July 29 report as “gravity-defying and head-spinning.” DRUM! Magazine, one of Enter Music Publishing's hip, drum/percussion magazines, however, had the scoop when DRUM! contributing photographer, Robert Downs, was invited to the Forum in Los Angeles on July 21 for a pre-drum premiere of Barker's new kit, which flies the friendly skies with ease. And then some. “I had no idea what Travis was ...
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Thurman Barker Quartet Performance At Bard College on Wednesday, December 11
Source:
All About Jazz
Concert will feature music from Barker's recent recording Time Factor
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-The Thurman Barker Quartet-guitarist James Emery, pianist Rob Schwimmer, bassist Jerome Harris, and percussionist Barker-will perform in concert at Bard College on Wednesday, December 11. The program, open to the public without charge, will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the Old Gym.
The program will feature performances of works from Barker's recent CD Time Factor. “The music on the recording was inspired by time," says Barker. “We all work ...
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