23

Paul Raven January 16, 1961 - October 20, 2007

RIP



Free DJ mix available for download:



23 - PULSE Rare DJ set by 23. An excursion into the worlds of ambient, techno, trance, acid, and breaks. Recorded live on 12-25-05



BROUGHT TO YOU COURTSEY OF RHYTHM SOURCE MUSIC



23, the solo electronic dance effort of Alien, began shortly after the start of 96. The name of the project was originally dubbed "TRANCE23" and focused mainly on minimal acid-trance. Musical areas excluding trance would quickly come to be explored by TRANCE23, and perhaps working in tandem with this, by '97 "TRANCE" had been fully dropped from the name, yielding merely "23". Despite the broadening of musical areas 23 came to explore, the project retained its acid-trance reputation largely through live performance. Alien elected to follow the lines as such artist as Prototype 909 and conduct all live p.a.'s in a spontaneous manner; simply making up and controlling the music as a performance progressed, with the majority of these performances having a tendency to center almost completely around 23's original minimal acid-trance sound.



In 1997 23 would release "THEE 23RD SIGIL OV REASON", an album which though focused on acid-trance and acid-house would yield side trips into areas of jungle, gabber and experimental noise.



Less than a year later the album "Live P.A." would issue. This time, rather than focusing on production material, chunks of two different 23 live performances would be featured along side one new production track at its end. Keeping to the acid-trance reputation 23 held within the rave community for hard pounding acid performances, the album was a dark and aggressive venture into the world of acid. The production track, though once again keeping with a heavy use of 303 acid lines, would feature much more of a progressive trance/house type feel.



A sparse string of 23 vinyl releases would continue to be released, with an acid focus seeming to decrease more and more as time progressed. This would lead to the album State being released in 2004 (in limited edition). Unlike the previous 23 albums, trance and acid house were almost completely abandoned, and in there place was an eclectic assortment of complex industrial rhythms, jungle, ambient, and, breaking away from the other wise dark sound of the work, a surprisingly light hearted and energetic house track.

Continuing in the vein of State, the 23 sound has come to bear its central focus in areas of aggressive industrial influenced dance forms and dark ambient explorations.



Not being one to totally shun the past, Alien now also works as A23P, hub for both the continuation of the original 23 acid sound and live improved techno.



A Glimpse Inside The 23 Enviroment (STUDIO ALEPH CIPHER)



SYNTHS/SAMPLERS:



ALESIS FUSION 6HD



E-MU XL-7 (Loaded)

E-MU PX-7



FUTURERETRO 777 (2x)

FUTURERETRO XS



KORG ER-1 MKII



MFB Synth II



NOVATION Supernova II Pro X



ROLAND MC-505

ROLAND MC-09

ROLAND TB-303

ROLAND V-SYNTH GT



YAMAHA FS1-R



NATIVE INSTRUMENTS Reaktor

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS Kontakt



PROPELLERHEADS Reason



ABLETON Live



GUITARS:



IBANEZ RGZ 450



Custom Built Electric



SEQUENCING:



(Studio/Production)



STEINBERG Cubase SX



(Live)

E-MU Command Station (2x) [formentioned]

ABLETON Live [formentioned]

ROLAND MC-505 [formentioned]

FUTURERETRO 777 (2x) [formentioned]



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