ERIK HANSON

With a broad musical sensibility and inspiring enthusiasm for House and Techno, Portland DJ/Producer/Electronic Musician Erik Hanson is more than deserving of an Ecstasy feature. A shining star in Portland's nightlife, Erik has been shining a torch on the path, so to speak, for some time now. Below is a dark and mesmerizing dub edit of a Japan tune for download. I was able to ask Erik some questions about context. Go dance with him this month and enjoy the dub! -Avalon

Why did you make this dub, how did it come about?

I love this song and have always wanted to effectively work this song

into a DJ set, but the mood of the song, to me, is full of a certain

heavy restlessness. It's beautiful at home, but I wanted to diffuse

the mood a bit for a club atmosphere. Plus, it's just fun to dissect

and mess around with the structures of songs that I like. For

instance, trying to isolate the vocals and set David Sylvian's voice

in an abandoned, frozen factory. I also wanted to add a mechanical

aspect to it as sort of an underline to the original's repeating drum

pattern. I made this one with DJing at Holocene in mind. I did it for

a particular night that I was booked to the DJ between bands. The time

between having the idea and the show itself was pretty short. It made

me have to be strategic about what I wanted to do it, in order to get

it done in time.

What music are you really inspired by right now?

There's a ton... Inspiration comes from all over. Inspiration drawn

directly from music is tricky to pinpoint for me because it is so

wrapped up in feeling. When I feel connected with a piece of music and

get that *zap* it has everything to do with how I'm feeling at the

time. I'm very inspired right now by the interviews in the book "The

Record Players: DJ Revolutionaries" by Bill Brewster and Frank

Broughton. I really admire the eclecticism that was embraced by DJ

pioneers such as David Mancuso, Afrika Bambaataa, Françios Kevorkian,

and Frankie Knuckles. These guys would pull records from many styles.

I would love be able to effectively combine a diverse variety of

danceable music, regardless of genre, into a night of dancing the way

that they have done.

What do you think of the dance/tech/house scene in Portland?

I think I've spent the past four days trying to type an adequate

answer this question for you, Avalon, and I am now opting for the

short response! :P

Currenty, for techno, DJs Folding and Ian Obe are keeping me on my

toes! (Their set from the last Various is excellent:

http://www.pdxindub.com/?q=node%2F313). Their night, Shuffle, at Crush

on SE 15th and Morrison, is a party that I am very excited to see

grow.

I've had some amazing times in Portland dancing to music that I love,

with great people. I see a lot of potential for growth in the quality

of dance parties and music coming out of here. Sometimes I just want

to go out dancing, regardless of specifics to the sub-genre of music.

Sometimes I wish my friends weren't so picky. Sometimes I wish I

weren't so picky. We've been working our asses off all week at our

jobs, now I wish that we could all just meet at the same party and

dance and have a good time. But at the same time, I also appreciate a

lot of the idealism around me. Just because something is

four-on-the-floor doesn't mean it's worth the electricity to amplify

it. That being said, Thank You, everyone in Portland who is making a

quality difference in house, techno, and dance music. Thank you for

the hard work and dedication. Let's all work hard to make what we want

a reality.

What other stuff have you been up too?

Hot Victory has a new 7" split coming out with Vice Device, soon.

Sweating Tapes is helping us put that one out. There's basically a

full-length album of music that the 7" will come with as a download,

as well. It will be quite the "bonus content!" Other than that, I've

been working hard on a number of recorded DJ mixes. I have a wide

variety of music that I want to share, so I have been programming and

plotting what will either become a podcast, a handful of cassette

tapes, or both.

I have two gigs coming up: Maxx Bass and I are DJing at Langano Lounge

on Wednesday, June 15th. We will be playing boogie, funk, disco,

house, and more. It's all about the variety in music and the mood,

overall. Then, on Friday the 18th, I'll be joining Ian Obe, Folding,

M. Quiet, and DJ Kuma for this month's Shuffle at Crush.

Japan - Sons of Pioneers (Erik Hanson's dissociated dub) by Erik Hanson

Download Sons of Pioneers (Erik Hanson dub translation)