This is one of the most anticipated shows of the year as artist Alan Abrahams aka Portable/Bodycode steps back into San Francisco after four years and this time to one of the hottest arenas for underground music pleasure, your midweek heaven, HOUSEPITALITY. This is the world wide tour for the release of Portable’s “Into Infinity” ep on Germany’s deepest and most respected and recognized avant-garde minimal tech house labels, Perlon. Portable will be performing a LIVE set with live vocals and a newly armed set of gear. It would only make sense then to have As You Like It’s Jeremy Bispo as our honorary host for such a high level event. He took the time to put together one of the best thought out interviews we have had on our blog yet. Thank you Jeremy. Your questions were amazing. The interview appears later in this article.
Opening for Portable are Housepitality residents Miguel Solari and Matt Richardson, both whom have a serious affinity for this label and this artist. In the back room, Slow Groove Lounge, we have Tee Cardaci, JP Soul and Paul Carey, some serious hip hop djs. Resident Mixologist Kira Buck will be rotating new pisco, bourbon and tequila cocktails. As usual, free champagne from 9-10pm. This is going to be another avalanche of hot beats dropping on your heads on Wednesday night in lovely San Frandisco! WE GOT YOU!!!
With no further ado, here is the interview:
Portable goes Into Infinity at Housepitality. By Jeremy Bispo –
JB: Welcome back, it’s been over four years since you’ve been to San
Francisco.
P/B: “Its a tour to promote my new album ” Into infinity ” which is out now on Perlon. Already done touring Argentina and Brazil. It will include US, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa, Italy, Uk and Russia.”
JB: We’ve got quite a few serious gear geeks here. What do you use for your performances?
P/B: “My newer addition to my live set is my mike and vocal effect processor from TC electronic. I have of course my laptop running ableton live and an assortment of MIDI controllers.”
JB: Here in the States, most live performances typically are not more than
an hour. From what I’ve heard, your sets often push the two hour mark.
Sounds exhausting, especially with the amount of strain on your voice.
What makes things different for you, and how do you approach the
challenge of performing for audiences that are so used to such brief
sets?
P/B: “My set times fluctuate depending on my mood and my audience. I’d say I’m comfortable with a 75 min set. The fact that I am singing live makes this a good point, to stop as I’m putting in more energy. But in saying that, if the mood hits and there are no time contraints, ie, other performers playing after, it often goes longer until it feel right to finish.
How I cope with short attention spanned audiences? My sets are always dynamic and completely live, so if I feel that at a certain point the audience could do it a change in direction, I can change it on the fly.”
JB: You’ve lived in Berlin for sometime now. How are you able to
concentrate with all that goes on nightly? And what have you learned
through immersion in the scene?
P/B: “The fact that I am working in this industry means that on my time off I do other things, my partner is a contempory dancer so we’re often checking out dance shows. There are many art related things going on in berlin..clubbing is really only one facet of this amazing city!”
JB: Your relationship to Berlin based Perlon remains constant. Tell us a
bit about how that was first conceived and your upcoming album for
them.
P/B: “I was invited to play live a few times for the perlonized night in Berlin and they just asked me if I had any material available for them.
My current album, “into infinity ” is a vocal lead album. Its been said to be much softer and more melancholic than my previous work but I guess that’s up to the listener. I collaborate with Efdemin, Lakuti and a guitarist Johannes Schoen on the album and it reflects my I going growth as an artist and performer.”
JB: How do you see the difference between Portable versus Bodycode? What
the aesthetic of each is, and perhaps what it is that makes his most
recent album a Portable album over a Bodycode one?
P/B: “My portable guise is more experimental, while Bodycode is squarely aimed at the dancefloor. With my latest album I was experimenting with using my voice and lyric skills more.”
JB: Thank you, Alan, for taking the time to answer our questions. We look
forward to your upcoming visit.
————— end of transmission —————–
Portable’s Soundcloud page:
Latest tracks by Portable AKA Bodycode
A great video of him killing it at Monkey Bar while performing Tatty Is Too Divine. Check him rocking his live gear:
This is going to another amazing night at Housepitality:
The deets:
Michael Tello and Miguel Solari invite you to
[ [ [ [ [ [ [ H O U S E P I T A L I T Y ] ] ] ] ] ] ] – Hosted by Jeremy Bispo (AYLI)
Feat. PORTABLE aka BODYCODE (Perlon, Berlin) LIVE!
The worldwide tour for Portable’s “Into Infinity” album on Germany’s deepest, PERLON.
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FREE champagne from 9pm-10pm
ART SHOW by: BUCK 50 (mixed media)
FREE before 11pm with RSVP at www.housepitalitysf.com/rsvp
THE GUEST LIST CLOSES AT 11PM !!!
Main Room Support:
> > Miguel Solari (Housepitality)
> > Matt Richardson (Housepitality)
Slow Groove Lounge:
> > Tee Cardaci
> > Paul Carey
> > JP Soul
Mixologist – KIRA BUCK – handmade pisco, tequila and bourbon cocktails.
PORTABLE aka BODYCODE –
Alan Abrahams AKA Portable AKA Bodycode has been in motion his whole life—growing up in South Africa, coming of age in London, decamping to Berlin and finally settling in Lisbon—and his deeply syncopated brand of electronic dance music has evolved with every step of the journey.
His formative years were spent in an impoverished Cape Town township ironically tagged “Beverly Hills”, and to the backbeat of the first wave of Chicago house records he emerged out of the ruins of a post-apartheid South Africa. Inspired musically, yet frustrated geographically, he relocated to London in 1997.
In London, Abrahams began recording as Portable, the experimental, atmospheric project that acts a living link between the indigenous sounds of his youth, and those first records whose futuristic aesthetic broadened his horizons. He founded the Süd Electronic label with his partner Lerato and released a string of 12″ releases. A succession of full-length albums followed – Cycling and Futuristic Experiments #005 on Background, Version on ~scape records, and the Powers of Ten for Süd Electronic in 2007. A rich and expansive record, Powers of Ten further explored his African heritage through a new lexicon of sonic influences, acquired from his home base in Portugal.
Upon moving to Lisbon, Abrahams conceived of Bodycode, a more dancefloor-centric project that complements Portable’s headier textures with a more body-moving aesthetic. As Bodycode, Abrahams harnesses his desire to “unlock the psyche via the body,” layering tech-funk with wisps of melody, heady effects, and a liberal wash of otherworldly vocal samples. Somewhere between the beats for the body and melody for the soul, Abrahams believes, lies the Bodycode. The result was Bodycode’s first full-length, The Conservation of Electric Charge, a whirlwind of percussive, multi-layered techno released on Spectral Sound in 2006. After a three-year absence, Abrahams resurrected the moniker for second Spectral full-length, 2009’s Immune, an intricately textured album of vocal-laced house. “I just felt it a good time for a warm, nurturing aesthetic,” says Abrahams of Bodycode’s shift in tone, “We need that right now.”
With recent 12″ releases for Perlon, Naif, , a forthcoming remix for Swedish duo , The Knife , & remix for Ellen Alien’s B Pitch Control imprint and with Portable’s long-awaited full-length follow up slated for 2011 ‘ We will continue to witness Alan Abrahams exploring the experimental outer reaches and the innermost dancefloor sensibilities of both Portable, and Bodycode.
Check out this LIVE recording of Portable/Bodycode at Fragil:
http://www.mixcloud.com/PortableBodycode/bodycode-live-fragil/
Portable/Bodycode Soundcloud Page:
http://soundcloud.com/portable-aka-bodycode/tracks
Website:
www.portablebodycode.com
Booking agency shout out:
www.cohenshi.com
This is a pretty big deal SF. We look forward to having another one of those epic Wednesday nights at HOUSEPITALITY – We Got YOU!!!
See you there lovely midweek professionals!!!
Located at Icon Ultra Lounge
1192 Folsom St. at 8th St., SF
9pm-2am | 21+ | 3 Rooms
$5 before 11pm, $10 after
FREE before 11pm with RSVP at www.housepitalitysf.com/rsvp