I've been revisiting Stay Down, the 1998 Two Lone Swordsmen album from 1998 that stands out even in their wide and varied thirteen year back catalogue, one that takes in almost every electronic style of music you can think of plus trip hop, stoned hip hop, post- punk, rockabilly and garage punk.
Stay Down is minimalist ambient techno, twelve tracks with a common and coherant sound. In 1998 I was a bit confused by it. It seemed to lack the hooks or the musicality that a lot of Andrew Weatherall's previous work at that point had. But time and tide have revealed Stay Down's magic- a submerged, ambient murk, dark and clunky drums and bass overlaid by melodies that flit in and out, everything FXed by the Swordsmen studio machines, especially according to Keith Tenniswood the Mutator which applied a blur of resonance, tremelo, reverb and delay.
The cover image- two deep sea divers, an illustration from a 1950s children's book, washed out in a sea green/ turquoise blue- is the perfect image for what the record contains. The first track is Hope We Never Surface, which in title and sonics, give the listener an idea about what they're in for...
Static. Distorted voices. Ambient FX. Flickers of sonar and radar. Metallic rattles, the sounds are bouncing off the interior of a submarine. And a pretty synth chord melody, rising and falling, the light that illuminates the deep sea murk of the rhythm. Two and a half minutes of ambient music that fades out quickly with a dial being turned, and more static.
In 1998 the rest of the Warp roster were getting the plaudits- Autechre, Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada- but this album is as innovative and interesting as any of the ones by those people. Sometimes things just take a while to open up to you.
In 1999 Two Lone Swordsmen released a 12" called receive Tactical Support, three remixes from the period- A Silicon Scalley remix of Black Commandments (originally from A Bag Of Blue Sparks), a C- Pij remix of The Big Clapper (from Stay Down, with C- Pij being a Nina Walsh pseudonym) and a Kenny Hawkes remix of Hope We Never Surface.
Hope We Never Surface (Kenny Hawkes Remix)
Kenny triples the running time, adds a thumpy but minimal kick drum and snare, some bass wobble and heads from the bottom of the sea into a spacey house/ techno galaxy- sci fi electronics for basement clubs. The late 90s were a fertile time, various reactions to the superclub era coupled with some pre- millennial tension creating all sorts of weird and wonderful scenes and subplots. By 1998 Andrew had turned away from the bright lights at least twice, deliberately heading underground or in Stay Down's case, underwater.
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