generally, there is much talk about records being life-changing. but, let's face it, in most cases it can hardly be called that. yet the demo tape somatic responses send me in 1998 really was that for me - life-changing.
i had come into contact with SR on the biophilia mailing list (anyone remembers what an electronic mailing list is?) which was one of the pinpoints for several hard and experimental producers in those days (the result later was the biophilia allstars LP). young me emailed somatic responses in a bout of youth and asked if they would be possibly interested in a demo CD-R by me. to my suprise they not only replied, but also offered to send me one of their demos in return. this was a moment of awe for me; some of my sonic heros send me, some bored weird-out teenager, some of their stuff! okay, the mail was sent, it arrived here. i put the tape in the recorder. and i was blasted away. the very second the synths of "umbrella" come on, i was not in this world anymore. it was as if life started to curve and twist and change. i felt that everything i knew about music and art moved away from me. *this* was art. this was the music i had always been looking for. this took sounds to a whole different level.
i became an avid fan of SR then and i tried to hype them whenever i could, much to the annoyance of my friends in the hardcore milieu, which couldn't understand my enthusiasm for this act. didn't they divert from 4/4 rhythms (major sin)? didn't they not use guitar samples and shoutings (another sin)? and so on.
they were picking up praise by a fast pace already back then. yet their music stood out from the other acts. it seemed that somehow, that it still felt uncanny to a lot of people.
so, by this story, you can imagine i felt well when SR asked me to contribute a track to their "photon collisions" compilation. i felt even better when i listened to it. now, about 15 years after i first fell in affection with this musical act, i listened to various dozens of other producers, who seemingly feel similiar, and chosed a style with an inspiration of this special type of music. the sound really had an impact, and the works of SR resulted in a new generation of artists who follow their roots. seemingly, it is far from being single and uncanny music now. people learned to understand, appreciate, follow this music.
well done!
"Photon Collisons" can be found at https://somaticresponses.bandcamp.com/album/photon-collisions-curated-by-somatic-responses
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