Little White Earbuds and Smart Bar are excited to bring Santiago Salazar, Hakim Murphy, and LWE’s Steve Mizek to Smart Bar on Saturday, July 2nd. Two pairs of you will join us gratis if you enter our contest of sorts. Simply send an email to contest[at]littlewhiteearbuds.com with your full name and “S2 IN CHICAGO” as the subject line. The contest closes June 30th at 10 AM. Two winners will be chosen at random and notified via email. Good luck and we hope to see you at the show.

Ever the generous guy, Santiago Salazar is giving away another hot tune which serves as this week’s download. Made available as part of the Soul Aid project to benefit Japan, “Technik” is the kind of track S2 could’ve easily committed to vinyl if he had wanted. Although imbued with his characteristic, bouncing bass, “Technik” is a reflective affair, evenly coated with foggy pads parted by bittersweet synth leads. Uniquely suited for the somber cause to which it’s dedicated, “Technik” is something you’ll want to own even if you’re somewhat wary of buying something to provide humanitarian support. Thanks to Mr Santiago for the track.

Santiago Salazar, “Technik” (download @ SoundCloud)

LWE’s 30th exclusive podcast was another milestone mixed by UR-affiliate and Historia y Violencia labelhead, Santiago Salazar. Don’t forget to grab his blistering hour of techno before it heads off to the archives this Friday, December 3rd at 10a.m. CST.

Santiago Salazar seems to work best when he’s busy. Luckily for us it seems his schedule is crammed: When S2 hasn’t been producing barnstorming techno for labels including Rush Hour, Macro, Wallshaker Music, Underground Resistance or his own Historia y Violencia imprint co-managed by Silent Servant, he’s been a partner in Los Hermanos, Ican, and UR. Oh yeah, he’s also a dutiful dad and husband. That he was able to find time to produce the one-off, free track “Jamilia’s Theme” only reinforces my belief in his skills under pressure. Based on The Jones Girls’ “Nights Over Egypt,” the tune is a feel good house ode to one of Salazar’s good friends that you might be tempted to claim for your own. Strong but sultry, Salazar constructs wiggling synth arpeggios over warm pads as stepping stones for those Jones Girls to belt it out. “Jamilia’s Theme” might just be the quickest (and cheapest) route from backyard BBQ to dusky summer dance party. Our huge thanks to Santiago for sharing this track with us, especially as a .WAV.

Download: Santiago Salazar, “Jamilia’s Theme”

[Wallshaker Music]

If you have a penchant for dance music, are over 21 and living in any moderately sized US city there is almost no avoiding nightclubs. They serve as the most likely environs to experience a DJ but often times they are venues ill suited for the music. Be it shitty sound systems, poor layouts or staff with attitude to spare, a bad club can ruin a great DJ’s performance, but more importantly they counteract the whole reason for going out in the first place. Santiago Salazar’s debut 12″ for Wallshaker Music takes the modern club owner to task for those very sins and more.

Up to now Salazar’s limited solo work has been firmly focused on techno albeit with elements of house and Latin influences peaking through, but for “Your Club Went Hollywood” he lays his attack on the field most fitting the topic. Calling this commercial house would be missing the point, but with a healthy drum track intro this is begging for play in the very places it is criticizing. Like any wolf in sheep’s clothing, what starts as just mere DJ fodder changes direction as the Rhodes keyboard line and flanged hi-hat pattern are joined by a voice listing all the dubious things about some club owner’s venue: “$20 parking, $25 entry, $12 mixed drinks, bootleg photographers getting in my way of dancing.” In other words “your club has gone Hollywood” and “the underground gonna put a stop to that.” It’s a UR-style statement but said so smoothly its force may be lost on clubgoers who are too busy digging on the corkscrew keyboard melody, rising strings and funk bass line to realize the irony.

Aaron Carl’s remix doesn’t alter the script much but introduces the melodic elements much earlier, adds a subtle acid line and doesn’t give the full vocal as much play in its entirety. For the digital version an additional track is offered that shows off Salazar’s more techno/house fluent side. “Chela’s Groove” utilizes driving drum programming and a thick bass line played rapid-fire like Bootsy Collins on speed as a footing. But Salazar’s ear for melody gets equal billing as moody minor chords intersect with shimmering, expansive keyboard lines. It has a much less produced feel but the raw emotion of the melodies comes through with soulful vibrancy. While “Your Club” will likely get more play, “Chela’s Groove” won’t be in need of an update in 2020 as inflation makes $12 mixed drinks sound like a bargain.

14. Santiago Salazar, “Arcade” [Macro] (buy)
Santiago Salazar confessed to LWE that, unlike his other tracks, “Arcade” doesn’t get him dancing. “I usually wave my hands in the air to that bass line like I’m playing a theremin,” he admitted. Yeah well, us too. The cloud-parting synthesizers and noodling Spaghetti Western accents made for a breathtaking and evocative sci-fi set piece, but charting the irrepressible ascent of that buzzing, truly electric bass line was so exhilarating, it felt like a revelation. S2 attests it was inspired by “a fun day at a random arcade in Los Angeles,” but “Arcade” meant a lot of other things to myself and a lot of other people this year. (Chris Burkhalter)

13. Kode9, “Black Sun” [Hyperdub] (buy)
Much ink was spilled this year in the names of Hyperdub and its founder, Steve Goodman, best known as Kode9. Not enough was said, however, about the cultural maven’s own releases, few though they may be these days. His stringent quality standards have meant only the best, like the tipsy workout “Black Sun,” make it to the shelves. The ebb and tide of smeared pitches is at once weary and also elated, cheered on by the swift footwork of an inquisitive bass line and explosive claps. Yet the darkness it’s avoiding seeps into the volatile melody and forceful persistence of his drum programming, a sort of resignation that no matter what we’re partying to forget, the world’s ominous troubles return each day with the sun. Few so fruitfully evoked the modern malaise and the need to chase it away as Goodman. (Anton Kipfel)

12. Wax, “No.20002-B” [Wax] (buy)
The concept of an “endless summer” was one of the more noteworthy trends in indie music this year, but when I needed to conjure balmy temperatures and sunshine the first thing I reached for was “No.20002-B.” Not only is it one of most direct tracks Pawlowitz has released, it tackles an oft abused, piano-laden house sound with a breezy flair that blows away its middling contemporaries. Crackling with energy but cool under the collar, launched by gritty percussion but smooth enough to soothe, utilitarian enough for adventurous jocks but strong enough to ring out solo, “No.20002-B” is one of those rare, gripping tunes that can slot into almost any house or techno DJ’s set with ease (not to mention the pleasure it elicits on a nice pair of headphones). Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to bask in this record’s warmth as I ignore winter clawing at my windows.
(Steve Mizek)

11. Kassem Mosse, “Workshop008A”
[Workshop] (buy)
According to his MySpace page, Leipzig’s Kassem Mosse “lives in a nighttime world somewhere on the edge of time.” This year Mosse laid aside concerns of genre or function and truly took us to that place. The slowed-pulse A-side of his second EP for Workshop worked a conjurer’s magic with its light, submerged percussion and gently rippling keyboard melody. In spite of its simple, unadorned, even sterile palette, “Untitled A1″ evoked phenomenally vivid color and warm human feeling, all the while orchestrating minor shifts from serene calm to quiet thrill that had us coming back to Mosse’s nighttime world again and again.
(Chris Burkhalter)

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With the Underground Resistance headquarters as his incubation unit and Mike Banks as mentor, it is no surprise Santiago Salazar’s career has developed in the way that it has. He first appeared in 2001 under the moniker S2 and popped up intermittently over the next few years, sharing vinyl space with Dex from Los Hermanos, also undertaking edits and mixes for UR. Before long he was asked to join Los Hermanos and be a part of the UR Galaxy 2 Galaxy project. His Ican label with friend Esteban Adame has been going strong for the past few years while 2009 has seen the launch of the feverishly infectious Historia y Violencia imprint with Juan Mendez. Little White Earbuds tracked down Mr. Salazar to tap his brain for more information on collaborations, being a part of the techno version of Parliament and the importance of dancing to your own tracks. In addition, Santiago helms our exclusive 30th podcast which is full of slamming (and often unreleased) techno cuts that’ll have S2 fans drooling.

LWE Podcast 30: Santiago Salazar (62:10)

Tracklist:

01. Santiago Salazar, “Partida” (LAX a SFO mix) [*]
02. Santiago Salazar, “Materia Oscura” [Rush Hour Recordings]
03. Santiago Salazar, “Untitled” [Historia y Violencia*]
04. Santiago Salazar, “RELEASE: Stress Valve” [*]
05. Santiago Salazar, “Sci-Fi Xicano” [Rush Hour Recordings]
06. Ican, “Trucha” [Planet E]
07. Los Nite Owls, “LNO Theme” [*]
08. Silent Servant, “La Noche” [Historia y Violencia]
09. Open House ft. Placid Angels, “Aquatic” (Rennie Foster Dirty Works Mix) [Rhythmic Tech]
10. Carl Craig, “Future Love Theme” [Warner Music Japan]
11. Suli Belarto, “Copa Verde” [Huastec*]
12. Ican, “Caminos Del Niño” (Martyn’s Oscuro Mix) [Ican Productions]
13. Omar-S, “Psychotic Photosynthesis” (S2 Dub Mix) [*]
14. Ican, “East Los Revival” [*]
* denotes unreleased tracks

Tell me about your discovering dance music. Were your friends into it as well and was there much of a scene in LA at the time?

Santiago Salazar: Well, I’ve been into dance music all my life. But in my teenage years, I started sneaking out of my house to go to local backyard parties with some of my friends. There were always parties going on our block or the next. I remember hearing disco, freestyle, new wave, hip hop and slow songs I use to love watching the girls dance. There were about 2 DJs living on my block so I would always go see them practice; of course they would NEVER let me touch their expensive Radio Shack equipment! I was a part of local party crews in La Puente/Bassett area and every weekend there would be parties to go to.

In the early days of being a DJ yourself what particular moment or club helped hone your skills the most?

The Beverly Room was the spot. That was my first regular gig located in the infamous “Rampart District” of L.A. I would play every Monday night from midnight ’til 5am/6am. It was a crash course for me because prior to that, I hardly played in front of people. Just so happened, that spot had mostly gay attendance. I remember being threatened a few times by regulars who would say, “I’m gonna kick your ass if you don’t get off the tables.” After being intimidated a few times, I tightened up my skills and the reaction was different. They would be dancing right in front of me, cat walking, leg kicking. It was a rush for me!

What were your reasons for moving to Detroit?

Submerge and the childhood dream of getting into the music business.

How did you come to meet the Underground Resistance guys?

A simple phone call back in ’95. I wanted to call the phone number on a Teknotika record to let them know that I loved what they were distributing around 1995. It just so happened that Mad Mike answered the phone and was interested that Chicanos/Latinos from L.A. liked the Submerge sound. From that phone call, Mike started sending me white labels of all their releases. I would go to all the record shops in L.A. and give it to the buyers. Some of the popular shops on Melrose started to have a whole Submerge section in the shops.

How did your time there help your music both in production and the way you approach what you do?

I always had the approach of making music for DJs, but working in the studio with Banks helped me tremendously. I would sit in the studio with him at the midnight hours working on various Red Planet, Los Hermanos, UR releases. Sometimes he had me in there just for support. Other times, I would be setting up recording takes. But most of the best time I was chopping up tracks with Mike. I learned how to assemble tracks from one of the masters. I remember once, DJ Dex, DJ Genesis, DJ Roach (Rolando’s brother) and I all got a crash course on editing with reel to reel tape (UR-040 Analog Assassin). After that, I had a much more appreciation for Pro Tools.

I understand you provided the edits for the Galaxy To Galaxy album and the Interstellar Fugitives 2 comp. Tell us about the process.

Well, it was a few people who provided edits. DJ Dex, Jeff Mills, Gerald Mitchell, Mike Banks and myself. It just so happened Jeff and I got written credits on the G2G album. For the Galaxy 2 Galaxy album, most of the older tracks were edited by Jeff Mills with the exception of the newer tracks. On the ISF2 comp, it was produced and edited in Kobe, Japan. That was the turning Point for me. Mike and I stayed there for about a month and worked on ISF2 comp, along with Skurge, Gerald Mitchell and Cornelius Harris. Working with Mike, I learned how to assemble tracks, post-production and placing the tracks in CD order. We were always getting feedback from the guys back home in the states (Ray 7, Nomadico, DJ 3000) and adjusting.

How was it making and playing music with so many other people as Galaxy 2 Galaxy, being a part of the techno (or rather hi-tech jazz) version of Parliament?

It was one of the highlights of my music career. Overall the band helped me most with my DJ performances and production. I can’t explain why it did, I just remember one time, we were playing a festival in Belfast and I was to open up and close out for Galaxy 2 Galaxy/Los Hermanos (while still playing with the bands). So, I was on stage for about 6 hours in total, I remembering while closing out, I felt this overwhelming control over the crowd, something I haven’t felt before. It was all due to playing with a group of head-strong professional musicians.

You seem to do well out of collaborating with people or teaming up as part of a unified project. What is your take on working solo and being part of a bigger team when making music?

I love doing both. When I’m working on a solo project, the sound is more minimized to one soul (with the exception of my wife and son always around). I’m always trying to get a reaction from my wife and son. Sometimes, my son will put his toy down and say, “Dad, at this part, you should make the clap go [makes delay effects noise].” When working with Ican, you get a combination of more souls. Sometimes, a Ican track would have 3-6 souls on it (Esteban Adame, Dan Caballero, Iris Cepeda, Gonzalo Chomat, Jose Perico Hernandez and/or myself). I love collaborating with Esteban Adame. I always learn something new from this guy and it always helps my solo productions. Same goes with Silent Servant; he actually had a strategy before starting Historia y Violencia where he told me to study the charts of all online stores/DJss top 10′s etc. We did this for about a month and then started production on a sound for HyV.

What were your reasons for moving back to LA?

Jobs! At the time, Submerge Dist. couldn’t afford a huge staff. I was working at a local sushi bar as a bar-back/dishwasher until I got fired for getting into a fight with a patron. With stress and being home sick, we decided to move back. We still miss southwest Detroit and friends.

Internationally we don’t hear much about LA in terms of its dance scene. What is it like?

LA has a great scene. Parties like Deeper Moods (Suli Belarto), Lies Lies Lies (Joe Bickle), FTWK (Rudy C/Abdul Shakir), re_Invent (Developer), and Sub Level (Doc Martin) are some of the best parties to go and really get your dance-on. There are many smaller parties that go off weekly with local talent that are great.

With Ican and now Historia Y Violencia are you still a part of Los Hermanos?

Yes, very much so. Los Hermanos is always changing, new members, new sound etc.etc. Gerald has really worked hard on keeping Los Hermanos open for great production. We are currently working on our 3rd album.

Stylistically do you approach your Ican releases and Historia Y Violencia releases in different ways? And if yes, how so?

With Ican, you get more of a sci-fi Latino techno/house sound. We really want to carry on the tradition of Los Hermanos sound but with vocals. On Historia y Violencia, you will get more of a deeper sound. Juan and I really took time into starting this label. We did a lot of research and development.

Financially, running a record label doesn’t seem to be such a rewarding idea these days. What were the reasons behind setting up labels rather than shopping your Ican and HyV releases out elsewhere?

Aaron-Carl had a lot to do with us starting the Ican label. At the time, we was shopping our first release around and then Aaron did this remix for us and gave it to us as a gift. He helped plant the seed for us to launch Ican Productions. With Historia y Violencia, Juan and I felt it was the perfect time for us to do something together. He had the connection with Veto Distribution in the UK and it just worked out perfectly.

You’re offering the next installment of Historia Y Violencia as part of a download bundle of all three releases before the third release is out on vinyl. What was the decision behind this?

Juan and I felt it was time to branch out to the digital realm with Historia y Violencia and felt we should do this with free bonus tracks. HyV003 tracks are titled “Corazon” and “Mi Alma,” which translates to “Heart” and “My Soul.” Also, Zero” was the ONLY digital store to reach out to us. It took about six months to finally get it going and Ike at Zero” was extremely patient with us. It’s not too often a digital store goes out of their way to contact you through Myspace with interest in carrying your catalog.

Your tracks are all very much made for the floor. Do you get out on the dance floor yourself much or do you make the propulsive tracks you do from the point of the DJ spinning?

Both. I love to dance (only to certain DJs). If the music I produce doesn’t make me dance, it usually gets scratched. “Arcade” is a exception for me; I don’t really dance to that track, I usually wave my hands in the air to that bass line (like I’m playing a Thermin).

Which producers and records have you been digging lately?

Aaaah… SO many. Really diggin’ the East Coast revival team of Jus-Ed, Fred P, DJ Qu and Levon Vincent. The veterans, Kerri Chandler, Chez Damier, Brothers’ Vibe, Vince Watson and Orlando Voorn. Ben Klock, Stefan Goldmann, Soundstream, Patrice Scott, Keith Worthy, Jeff Mills. New cats: Suli Belarto, Disco Nilihist, AEOD, the list goes on and on.

What can we expect from you over the next year?

More vinyl releases! More of the Historia y Violencia project with local talent here in L.A. Ican is going Italo with a release from Raiders of the Lost Arp and a follow up release from new Ican artist El Coyote. Also, a remix I did for Kevin Reynolds in 2006 will finally see the light of day.

LWE Podcast 30: Santiago Salazar (62:10)

[Historia Y Violencia]

The second installment from the vital Historia Y Violencia label tracks two further impeccable emissions from Messrs Mendez and Salazar. For “La Noche,” Silent Servant again digs deep into the vault of Basic Channel rhythms, weighing in with a concrete textured, knuckle scraping journey through some very gritty terrain. Obviously Silent Servant’s Sandwell District camp buddies have been rubbing off on him; the punishing, cruel as winter tones matched with luckless, dead end chords sounding every bit as menacing as an early Downwards release. While there is an ascendant trajectory propelling the chords, their path is narrow and ultimately circuitous, destined to travel the same bleak pathways time and again.

Santiago Salazar’s first side for the label was a much darker affair than we’d expect from him, and though “La Minora” displays a similar coarseness, there is an underlying beauty that wells up to steer the track in a different direction. Salazar’s Detroit tenure brings forth a distinct strain of hi-tech soul to the track, so while the shakers are coated with a thick layer of static film and the synths are bristling with a prickly heat, the melody emerging from all this fuzz is clean and pure. It winds it’s way up through the octaves, snaking around before diving back deep into the silence. Perfectly executed turns from both producers who in the space of two short releases are making their Historia Y Violencia label an absolutely indispensable faction of techno.

[Macro]

If Salazar turned in his needles today he’d leave sporting a first-class resume: member of the legendary Underground Resistance, core contributor to live acts like Los Hermanos, and steady recording mercenary for Carl Craig’s Planet E. So it’s not like S2′s aching for a new belt-notch. If anything, his latest on Macro proves that he’s still out busting his hump like the rest of them to turn out quality music. “Arcade” is gorgeous, emotive techno, an exemplary scene of machines catching feelings: the bleedings of a robot heart. The track is propelled by moody saw-wave synths and a sense of near-balearic drift teased out by the snakings of vaguely Oriental leads. A balance of a restrained, yet bright tonal palette together with a general sinusoidal expressiveness lands it not far from being a Gui Boratto jam. If the tune’s in fact meant as an arcade experience, think Tron-style rabbit hole immersion, a hallucinatory symbiosis of player and game, the fleeting transports offered by a roll of quarters and an overactive imagination.

Riding momentum from his killer “Art of Sorrow,” Macro master Stefan Goldmann turns in a fluid and patient remix that’s double the length, in which elements of Salazar’s original now pass like strands in a growing quilt. The first half is fairly straightforward; it’s the mutations in the second half that will command your attention. From the halfway point on, enjoyment of this track will largely be contingent on your stance towards the uses and abuses of traditional Asian instruments in dance music — koto and flute, specifically. Their deployment in this context is a careful balancing act: done well, they lace a track with an air of elegant mystery; done poorly, they invoke any number of kitsch-tastic images: cheapo samurai flicks, take-out restaurant muzak, the pre-recorded backing tracks favored by subway buskers. In other words, Goldmann can be lauded not only for turning in the sort of monster re-work you thought he would, but also for swerving to avoid pan-flute hell. He pulls this off by eschewing the dangers of sugary melodies and concentrating, with all the micro-finesse of a watchmaker, on allowing the instruments to deftly chime across the 4/4 rhythm — operatic to be sure. You get the pounding of the heart, and above it, the soaring of the soul. Goldmann’s upped the passion considerably from S2′s already-swooning original, and when it comes time to land the remix, he decides to take it all the way into a super-long symphonic splashdown. Killer on the dance floor? To be sure. I imagine it also goes great with sweet and sour chicken.

[Historia y Violencia]

Imagining hitherto un-thought of couplings can be an amusing pastime; animals being able to cross species breed; chessgammon, the new board game for the weary pawn; vodka ibuprofen mixers, the preventative refresher. Of course they can prove to go horribly wrong too; “Alien Vs Predator” and a McCain/Palin ticket, just for example. A recent coupling that hits in all the right spots is Santiago Salazar and Silent Servant sharing release space with what is hopefully the first of an ongoing collaboration in the Historia Y Violencia series.

Both packing considerable credentials (Salazar is one third of Los Hermanos and general UR guerrilla, Silent Servant is AKA Jasper, founder of San Franciscan labels Cytrax and Delay), it’s impossible to distinguish which track comes in first on the day. Salazar’s “Santuario” builds demented, throbbing chords over a steady, distorting pad, the result sounding more like it was devised in Berlin than Detroit. Fragments of warmth are found in the percussion but everywhere else this is a distant, affected piece of jacking brilliance. Silent Servant takes no prisoners with “Lo Profundo” firing off tracers of white noise while steely cold chords clamber after them into the ether. Subtle turns of melody provide contrast from the gritty main fare but regardless this is pure dance floor combustion. Silent Servant taps the brakes slightly on his usually unrelenting approach displayed on his Sandwell District releases while Santiago Salazar toughens up his mystical Detroit/Aztec vibe. The result makes for absolutely essential gears!