Browse by Artist: PORTABLE

Artist:	PORTABLE
Title:	Knowone Can Take Away
Label:	PERLON (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	PERL 070EP

"Alan Abrahams, that's the man behind Portable, born and raised in South Africa, where he started to produce music in the '90s. 1997 he moved to London. After several releases on labels like Context or Background, he started his own imprint Süd Electronic around 2002. Another project named Bodycode was born and found a home at USA-based Spectral, the sister label of Ghostly. His first Portable album was released at the end of 2007 through Süd Electronic. Now Perlon is more than happy to welcome mister Abrahams on board with this incredible deep 12" entitled Knowone Can Take Away. Two songs for eternity!"

Artist:	PORTABLE
Title:	Version
Label:	SCAPE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	SCAPE 029CD

Version, Alan Abrahams' (aka Portable) second full-length album, is simultaneously archaic and totally futuristic, avidly exploring the fringes of techno and house. A resident of London via Capetown/South Africa, a superficial listen to Portable will reveal close parallels to the hyper-modern splinter-funk of the likes of Sutekh and his Context label where Portable also released his first record. On this release, futuristic elements that sound like miniscule spikeless particles strung together, pop up and then disappear within the tiniest fraction of a second, but are not relegated to the barrenness of micro-sampling techno. The archaic aspects of Portable's sound become most apparent in the unique sources Abrahams has unearthed for this release: reassembled field recording fragments of ancient African polyrhythms and syncopes. These snippets offer blurred glimpses of the jungle or a campfire, with the crackling taking on the character of ur-beats. Using modern audio software to digitally rework and filter these samples, they are given new shine, while preserving their old heritage -- their lore. The resulting sound is far from the "world music techno" some may have feared. Instead, Abrahams' Version represents a truly unfettered Afro-futuristic variant of techno that elegantly and serenely circumnavigates any prevalent beats, sub-scenes and trends. Abrahams allows syncopated bass drums, like dancehall rhythms, to mess with the static matrix of conventional 4/4 signatures while adding a polyrhythmic flow to the proceedings. Nevertheless, Version is also deep, soft, round and organic. Here "Portable" refers to Alan's home, often no more than the soft glow of a laptop in the twilight of a hotel room, somewhere in this world.

Artist:	PORTABLE
Title:	The San
Label:	SCAPE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	SCAPE 033EP

Alan Abrahams aka Portable acknowledges a considerable debt to "The San," the collective term for a group of tribes found in the south of Africa -- who are being driven from their homeland after 20,000 years due to diamond prospecting. In his techno productions, the South African uses field recordings featuring the intricate polyrhythms these people have been beating out of percussive instruments for millennia. Despite their polyrhythmic momentum -- all three exclusive techno tracks are suffused with a deep melancholy: "Symmetry" with its forlorn vocal fragments, "Diorama" with ethereal guitars and pizzicatos and "Sunblind Remake" with its detached drumming. Some tracks feature Leo Fernandez on guitar.

Artist:	PORTABLE
Title:	Powers of Ten
Label:	SUD ELECTRONIC (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	SUD 011CD

[deleted] Powers of Ten is Alan Abrahams' (aka Portable, Bodycode ) first full-length album on his very own Süd Electronic label, after well-received albums on Background Records and ~scape and a 2006 long-player as Bodycode on Ghostly International's affiliated label, Spectral Sound. Powers of Ten is the rich, expansive record that Abrahams has always wanted to make, as he further explores his African heritage and absorbs new influences from Portugal, his current country of residence. This is partly achieved through collaboration -- a thread that runs through the album. On "Arrabida," he works with classical Portuguese guitarist Mario MPEX, on "Shifting Sunlight" with Tor from the brilliant Portuguese guitar duo, Dead Combo, and he is also reunited with long-time collaborator Leo Fernandes, the London-based bass player, on "Kuiper Belt." Abrahams also tries his vocal capabilities on the album, a talent which was demonstrated impressively on the Take Action EP at the start of 2007, also on Süd Electronic. Powers of Ten perfectly illustrates the dualistic nature of Abrahams' work, which can sit comfortably in a home-listening context and also prove just as convincing on the dancefloor. The latter quality is especially evident on opener "Albatross" with its infectious vocal, on the Detroit-influenced Afro-joint "Locate," the more overtly techy "Offline Mondays" and the electrified "Trade Winds." There is a vast range of influences on this record, but surely one of Abrahams' greatest gifts is his ability to assimilate these influences, creating a coherent, never clichéd piece of modern electronic music, inimitably his own.

Artist:	PORTABLE
Title:	Powers of Ten
Label:	SUD ELECTRONIC (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	SUD 011LP

[deleted] Double LP version. Alan Abrahams' (aka Portable, Bodycode) first full-length album on his very own Süd Electronic label. Powers of Ten is the rich, expansive record that Abrahams has always wanted to make, as he further explores his African heritage and absorbs new influences from Portugal, his current country of residence. This is partly achieved through collaboration -- a thread that runs through the album. Powers of Ten perfectly illustrates the dualistic nature of Abrahams' work, which can sit comfortably in a home-listening context and also prove just as convincing on the dancefloor. There is a vast range of influences on this record, but surely one of Abrahams' greatest gifts is his ability to assimilate these influences, creating a coherent, never clichéd piece of modern electronic music, inimitably his own.

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