Voltergeist

Let’s make no bones about it, Voltergeist’s debut album Burnt and Buried is a triumph for Scottish dance music. Glaswegian maestro Shaun Dowse (a.k.a – Emotiquon) has been producing dub-step and techno albums up and down the country for close to a decade. Now in late 2011 we get to finally behold his own labour of love and it was worth the wait.



Voltergeist fall into that much abhorred musical category of Intelligent Dance Music (or “Brain-Dance” to quote Aphex Twin’s unofficial moniker), but the main difference between this outfit and its often redundant contemporaries, is that Burnt and Buried does display some undeniable moments of genuine intelligence.



Introductory track “Boogu Yagga” rises and swells with ghostly groans and the distant, hypnotic pulse of a compressed kick drum almost betrays the moody pathos to be found later on in the album. Voltergeist’s range of influence in evident, there’s even elements of Detroit techno thrown in for good measure. But it never sounds uneven or thrown together, there’s real mastery at work here. It’s only after luring the listener in with “Boogu Yagga”s twinkly digital snyth and punchy bass popping that Voltergeist reveal their true colours. Burnt and Buried slowly blossoms into a work of elegant contrast.



“Pork Chops” shows a much more antisocial facet of Dowse’s personality. Its startling snare claps and off-beat time signature couldn’t be more of a departure to its predecessor and owes much more to the shifting aesthetics of electro-pioneers Autechtre than to ambient oldies Leftfield. Title track “Burnt and Buried” continues this new experimental complexion, plumbing the bleak, algorithmic depths of other electroacoustic genres. We just about verge on melodrama too with the unexpected orchestral inclusion of sweeping violins that carry the listener far off into the firmament. It’s ambitious stuff. Before you know it images soon begin to conjure in the mind’s eye. Dowse clearly seeks to have his music resonate on the similar level to a William Gibson or George Orwell novel.



So Voltergeist offer us two sides of the coin – One side portraying a technologically dominated, dystopian society, and the flip - of one lost in the mindless, drug saturation of dance culture. In doing so, Voltergeist present the listener with a unique paradox, one communicated through the medium of music, one that takes us from deep navel gazing to sparkling clarity - from eerie scepticism to tribal joviality. Amidst robotic croons of “Science has failed us, science betrayed me!” Burnt and Buried ends on the same cautionary note it carries for most of the album. This paradigm is at the very heart of Voltergeist’s life-force.



Other highlights include centrepiece “Inna Self Made Net” - an obscure portmanteau which hits us like some kind of introspective nightmare where the listener is transported to the shore of an Ibiza coastline, contemplating the pros and cons of walking out into the middle of the ocean. It’s five tracks later we see Voltergeist’s strange blend come together though. In “John Canoe”, the mystery protagonist’s story is brought to light through haunting voiceovers layered over some significantly more accessible beats.





Dowse’s roots lie in Deep House but his approach lies firmly in the anarcho-punk DIY attitude when it comes to writing and self-promotion. Voltergeist’s album was entirely written and produced on a MacBook Pro and Dowse exercises his own resourcefulness to fulfil the Voltergeist vision – saucepans were even used as a percussive device. It seems Intelligent Dance Music just found its first real justifiable member… - Trisickle Magazine (October 2011)

Having just finished listening to Glasgow-based producer Voltergeist’s latest album ‘Burnt & Buried’, we are left mesmerised and a little stunned. Electronic music is certainly most poignant when it is completely organic - from everyday sounds, objects and experiences to the wildest reaches of your own imagination, it is when you recognise endless possibilities that you start to create them. If inspiration hits you right, you can create the type of music which is instantly recognisible as yours and it is here on ‘Burnt & Buried’ that these boundless influences have come together so perfectly.

You may know Voltergeist as Shaun Dowse, head of Microrave Records here in Glasgow. His tireless efforts to source new and exciting artists have unearthed some incredible music recently, always shooting far beyond any recognised conformity. ‘Burnt & Buried’, released via Bandcamp this week is a product of raw emotion and a sense of complete musical freedom. Spending a lot of time in the studio after his grandfather sadly passed away, his music started to meander towards the sounds of Dub, Folklore and Acid and this is apparent on the seven featured tracks. Although the album as a whole is more engaging then placid you can identify the lighter elements which give 'Burnt & Buried' an extra layer. For example, there are Jamican flavours running throughout, no more so then on the track ‘Pork Chops’ where Shaun has sampled a Jerk Sauce specialist. There is also at times an intriguing maritime atmosphere or ‘piratey’ tone as Shaun so casually describes it. Listen to the beautiful yet mysterious ‘Inna Self Made Net’ and find yourself drifting through sonic bliss on an eerily calm ocean, the stir of squawking gulls and fishermen’s knots creating a quite vivid scene. It might sound ridiculous, but it’s this extra depth which makes listening to ‘Burnt & Buried' so interesting.

Featuring guest performances by Frog Pocket, Mike from Trembling Bells and the fantastic vocal textures of GNAW's Alan Dubin this is an accomplished, if involved listen which when given full attention can truly soar. We suggest you let it. - Synth Glasgow (August 23, 2011)

"The most interesting aspect of Plotkin Road is the tension between the rigid, quanitized neatness of Ableton, and the essentially freeform, organic elements that make dub interesting. Closer Who Bites The Lions? stretches itself tight between four-to-the-floor riffs and loose fills, channeling a hectic punk energy and summoning up some serious dub. An awesome EP." - Liam Arnold, Shallowrave Blog (Jun 14, 2010)

"Ever-evolving and mutating, Shallowrave favourite Voltergeist applies his acid-dub stylings to Ministry classic Psalm 69, reinventing the mental-industrial thrash-fest as a brooding, half-time dub stomper. Whilst the original contained some of Al Jourgensen's most polemical screaming, Voltergeist exorcises the majority of Al's presence from the track, focusing more on the groove and doom, peppering a deep, head-nodding riddim with bass flourishes and spoken word samples. Opening with a simple kick pattern and a rolling bassline, Voltergeist introduces layers of noise and static, along with wailing choral riff, creating an tense ominous atmosphere, before a simple snare pattern drags the monster to life. All bubbling subs, dark atmospherics and whispered vocal snatches, it's definitely one of Voltergeist's darkest pieces to date, despite the solid, grinding rhythm. Be very afraid." - Kid Ritalin, Shallowrave Blog (Dec 16, 2010)

"After weeks spent listening closely to every track sent for consideration, Paul Barker (Ministry producer, co-writer, engineer, and bass player) has selected both Deadly Apples and Voltergeist to be on the companion album of FIX - THE MINISTRY MOVIE. The album tracklist will include bands like Tool and Soundgarden..." - TuneCore, TuneCore Blog (Feb 02, 2011)

"Techno with a dark edge, innovative, minimal yet warm. Clichéd annotations, but entirely merited ones none the less. Voltergeist (aka Shaun Dowse) knows the Scottish electronic scene more than most, running his own label, Microrave Records and from successes through his previous project Emotiquon. Voltergeist has forged a name for himself as a first class producer of dark minimal techno. Not only this, he also has several high profile remixes to his name recently. The most notable being the excellent "Cut By The Brakes" by Grand National. Radio 1 DJs have given air play to his work and the man has even had interest from the likes of Ministry. More recent activity saw Shaun as a chief organiser in pulling the Glasgow Sound Cloud community together as part of International Sound Cloud meet up day. Headlining on the night, this will be a set you will want to be present for, so get your techno hats on and get on that dance floor folks, cause he aint letting up!" - TRONIC, Tronic Blog (Mar 04, 2011)

"With his minimal sounds, dubby breakdowns and 80’s vocoded synths flying about all over the place, Voltergeist ignited the crowd and got everyone dancing. Even the curious freeloaders from the upstairs bar swamping the venue and refusing to pay couldn’t help but move – maybe the Spaniards and Germans heard Tronic were back?" - David Maitland, Is This Music? (Apr 18, 2011)