#5// Woebot

woebot

On this episode we host a jackin’ mix from Matthew Ingram aka Woebot. Woebot started life as an influential blog, part of the nameless network of critic theorists that also include Simon Reynolds and k-punk. As evidenced by his mix of ambient jungle for FACT magazine, Woebot's revelatory discovery of rave was perhaps the formative experience of his musical life. But as a blogger Woebot didn’t just stick to things associated with the hardcore continuum. His influential post of his 100 greatest albums of all time included Can, Slint and Big Black.

Next came Woebot tv, an internet series that included a look through JD Twitch’s record collection. Woebot has a multitude of Glasgow connections, including being one of the founding members of Sweet FM, Subcity’s predecessor. The Woebot blog and it's later incarnation of Cybore are both now retired, though Matt remains an online presence running the crucial Dissensus forum.

Ingram now focuses full time on making music and running his Hollow Earth label. He started out around 2008 making budget hauntological collages using a trusty MPC sampler, though now his records have become more conceptual. Last years ‘Moanad’ used guitar samples to subvert the modern day association of the instrument with tedious corporate indie rock.

On his latest record ‘Chunks’, he tries to reclaim pre kraut rock blues based boogie rhythms from unfashionable genres like metal and prog, and tease out the strange quirks inherent within. Despite this, you can still hear the distinct echos of rave, and his approach to making music and his use of sampling is still very much informed by hardcore and jungle.

The mix Matt has sent us is called ‘Slave to the Rave,’ and it's a full on hark back to his musical roots!

Posted at 19:14, 13th April 2011