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Dan "Doormouse" Martin is the owner of the Addict and Distort labels, originally run out of the cold ass Milwaukee Wisconsin and now run from his new home in sunny Miami. Since sometime way back in 1997 or '98 he's been releasing some of the most ear bending breakcore you'll find, all of it with brilliant twisted humour running through it. His album Broken on Planet Mu records in 2002 introduced him to a wider audience and the Addict LP Freaked Out Mess was licenced and re-released by Violent Turd (an imprint of Kid-606's Tigerbeat6 label) in 2003. A new Planet Mu album, provisionally titled Xylophone Jism, is currently in the works. Dan has made two visits to the UK on his tours and has gigged with Gusset on both occasions. There's a great set of pictures from the most recent of these here. |
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Parasite
Armin Elsaesser, a.k.a Parasite, is the owner of the Death$ucker label and the fantastic online electronic music shop dSWAT (that Digital Special Weapons and Tactics or Digital Sounds Warped and Twisted, depending on his mood I guess) As Parasite he makes some brilliantly twisted ragga jungle that manages to sound extremely dark and yet incredibly funky at the same time. Check out his releases on Peace Off and Damage as well as what Death$ucker back catalogue you can get your hands on. Originally introduced to Gusset by a mutual friend he took a chance on us and let us come along and play at the Venetian Snares gig he was putting on. We have since played at gigs for each other on several occasions and he was even nice enough to put one of our tracks on the Death$ucker compilation album Ballroom Blitz and distribute our CD-R releases (plug: available through dSWAT)! He also makes up one third of political spoken word vs ambient music collective Popstar Liberation Front along with Ana Kissed (check out her films at plugincinema) and Anarchist606. |
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Sheriff Rosco
Sheriff Rosco, or Paul Bavister to his friends, is a resident DJ at the Bristol based RUKUS nights where he has supported the likes of Aphrodite and the EZ Rollers (to name but a few) and at figUreDRAWingclASS. A long time friend of Gusset, he has been to nearly as many of our gigs as we have. Rosco almost became a member of Gusset on a few occasions (way back in the dark recesses' of our murky past). He had planned a special guest vocal performance for the infamous Gusset Fiddlers gig, but unfortunately was unable to perform his stonking rendition of David Bowie's "Hallo Spaceboy" due to unforeseen circumstances (a rare case of "chicken-itis"). Rosco is frequently seen DJing at Gusset gigs providing a selection of drum and bass and funky breaks. If you see him buy him a pint and take him home and shag him, he’ll appreciate it even if you don't.
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Venetian Snares
Venetian Snares, VSnares, Snares Man, Ventriloquist Snakes, they're all pseudonyms of Winnipeg Canada's Aaron Funk. He has been propelled to dizzy heights at terrifying speed over the last few years and his name can now be spoken in the same sentence as Aphex Twin, µ-ziq or Squarepusher without causing eyebrows to raise. As Mike P (µ-ziq) said in the biography on the Planet Mu website "Just trust me and buy all the cd's he releases, 'cos his shit is hardcore, taking what was drum'n'bass & breakcore totally to another level. Believe." Despite being a relative new comer to the scene, Snares is making amends quickly to get up to the same size back catalogue as the others in the big league. Releasing about three albums per year, all of outstanding quality (except maybe the Nymphomatriarch collaboration with Hecate, don't bother with that one) get your hands on some of this now, in particular Doll Doll Doll on Hymen, and Higgin’s Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits, Winter in the Belly of a Snake and Songs about my Cats, all on Planet Mu. Gusset gigged with Snares at the Thekla in Bristol in November 2002, here's a photo I took of the man in action and one of us at the same gig.
Unofficial geeky fanboy site |
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Donna Summer
Donna Summer is currently in a bit of a legal mess because there is apparently some 70's disco diva who goes by the same name. His next album will most probably be released under his real name, which is Jason Forrest. JF/DS plays an eclectic mix of "breakcore, electro-acoustics, death metal, dirty 70's disco and raw Satanism!" on his WFMU radio show, Advance D&D. He's even been know to play Gusset material, further proving his insanity. You can hear the archives here and listen to the show live on Wednesdays from 11pm - 2am (EST) on-line at wfmu.org or on WFMU 91.1 fm 90.1 if you happen to be in New York. Lookout for his UK tour in March, and if you’re in Bristol you should be able to behold the spectacle of Donna Summer with Gusset Support. |
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Baseck
Baseck is one of the most technically astonishing DJs I have ever seen, and he plays mainly breakcore. Think Cut Chemist cutting up Venetian Snares, or QBert scratching the living fuck out of Aphex, and you're getting there. It's like witnessing the perfect marriage of noise and music. You could give him a dub plate of pure white noise and he'll get people dancing to it. Derek came to the UK with Doormouse back in 2002 and gigged with Gusset at the Louisiana in Bristol, unfortunately none of the photos really came out so we can't show you anything. I would link to his website but it seems to be down at the moment, so have a look at the information up on discogs.com and have a look around and see if you can find some downloads.
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Leafcutter John
John Burton used to be a guy with an acoustic guitar making folk music, but then, an amazing transformation occurred. When John ate a banana... OK, it had nothing to do with bananas, but when John started working with MAX/MSP (a Mac based graphical front end for the Csound programming engine) something new and wonderful happened. Leafcutter John was born. This really is music like nothing else that’s gone before. Its ambient, welling, uplifting and drenched in lushous reverbs, yet its also harsh, dark and oppressing all, at the same time. For his most closely folk related material listen to The Housebound Spirit (which he also generated the fantastic SG artwork for as well as Venetian Snare Chocolate Wheelchair album) and for more granular, electronic sounds listen to Microcontact or Concourse e.e.p., all on Planet Mu. Gusset provided support to John at the Thekla in Bristol in 2003 thanks to the Point of Reference guys. |
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Knifehandchop
Knifehandchop is Canadian Billy Pollard Scarborough. He makes fast, bouncy ragga beats with a kind of computer game music feel. His first album, 'Fighting Pig Learns Judo Tricks', was recorded in mono on his parents' PC to retain that in-front-of-the-TV-feel." He has since released several albums on Tigrebeat6 and the brilliant 7" compilation Bling The Noise on Irritant. Gusset provided support when Billy played in Bristol in 2003. I was a complete idiot and fucked up all of the photos I took (film not loaded properly in camera) so don't look them and feel free to ridicule me if you'd really like to see them. |
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Duran Duran Duran
Ed Flis is Duran Duran Duran (sometimes referred to as Duranx3 to save time) and he also makes insane breakcore (are you seeing pattern here?) He toured the UK with Knifehandchop in 2003 and hence gigged with Gusset at the no-photo show in Bristol (see above). Check out his website and the huge selection of MP3s here.
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