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Steinvord Speculation


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I almost got the impression that the rips that were floating around the internet were intentionally leaked with poor quality, maybe to hide some of the awesomeness of the release. I don't understand why there would be 128kbps rips when vinyl is the source, most collectors of vinyl being pretty anal about sound quality. Know what I mean? Just seemed like a troll move to rip off vinyl on such low quality lol.

Exactly, why go to all the trouble of getting a vinyl setup, recorder etc... Then miss out half the data?

 

There's certainly something fishy about the whole thing for sure.

 

Besides, I actually want to buy the release, I like to think I'm supporting the acts in some way.

One time I was drunk and forgot that I already owned the vinyl and I ordered another one, so I've got two. If you ever want it I will give it to you if you pay postage/handling. Admittedly it might be cheaper to just buy locally though.

That's a great gesture mate but alas I'm turntable-less right now so taking it off you wouldn't feel right, I'm sure someone else would get more use and pleasure from it too.

 

Big thanks for the offer though :)

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I don't have a locked groove on mine. Is that common?

Both copies? It's before the last track of the 3 track side I think. I thought all copies had it, would be really bad if it was a pressing error instead of a concious decision...

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I don't have a locked groove on mine. Is that common?

Both copies? It's before the last track of the 3 track side I think. I thought all copies had it, would be really bad if it was a pressing error instead of a concious decision...

 

 

I haven't checked both copies. The one I bought the first time I don't THINK had a locked groove, I'm going to check it out tonight. The second copy I bought I haven't tried yet! It's highly possible the locked groove is there and I've just forgotten or blanked it from my memory. I typically am a few beers in when we listen to vinyl :emotawesomepm9:

 

:beer:

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One time I was drunk and forgot that I already owned the vinyl and I ordered another one, so I've got two. If you ever want it I will give it to you if you pay postage/handling. Admittedly it might be cheaper to just buy locally though.

That's a great gesture mate but alas I'm turntable-less right now so taking it off you wouldn't feel right, I'm sure someone else would get more use and pleasure from it too.

 

Big thanks for the offer though :)

 

:beer:

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I have no time to play vinyl anymore either, but I downloaded an INSANELY nice rip of this. Then I cleaned it up even more and bounced it down to 44.1 (it was 96 kHz!)

 

So… nice versions are out there.

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Here's more food for specualtion regarding the origin of the name. I present "Vorstein" (@1:06):

 

Edited by psn
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/sees seinfeld clip and feels slightly annoyed then moves to disgust as considers the possibility that aphex might have watched and enjoyed such despicable tripe.

 

heh.

 

soz psn. [-; nice spotting. I'd say it's just a word mash though, maybe, but then i'm just a dumbo that doesn't preconsider my linguistics before i verbally dump them down, perhaps others have reasons for using this or that. Deep meanings behind playful one liners.

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I saw on the littlest Jenkinson's facebook (Ju Jenkinson) a post about the one track that sounds like "my fucking sound". He posted "Go plastic mode activated" (or something very close to that)

 

....?

Edited by StephenG
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  • 5 months later...

In order to beat a dead horse...I've been thinking about Steinvord lately. IMO, it's a collaboration between RDJ and Squarepusher. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were other artists involved. More specifically:

 

  • I feel I have a very good ear for spotting authentic RDJ, and, as others have pointed out (John Ehrlichman), Untitled has got to be him (pure Drukqs era).
  • I'm no Squarepusher expert, but a lot of it sound like him to me (particularly lyff Acid E1); StephenG has championed this.
  • Tom J was curiously cagey about Steinvord in that interview.
  • It's a classic mystery artist Rephlex release.
  • RDJ has been part of other mystery artist collabs (Universal Indicator).
  • In the latest Q Magazine interview, he says "I'll make music with anyone who I'm mates with."
  • Same interview, he admits to doing Tuss (finally) so that people could "hopefully evaluate it without knowing it was" him.
  • Similar topic in recent interviews about preferring anonymous DJ gigs to win the crowd over without any preconceptions.
  • He spends a lot of time on YouTube, apparently.
  • Again in the Q interview, he says no you don't need to get paid if you release music.

I recognize nearly all of that is pretty weak evidence, but I've still got a feeeeeeling. Mostly because of Untitled and snippets here and there on other tracks.

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In order to beat a dead horse...I've been thinking about Steinvord lately. IMO, it's a collaboration between RDJ and Squarepusher. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were other artists involved. More specifically:

 

  • I feel I have a very good ear for spotting authentic RDJ, and, as others have pointed out (John Ehrlichman), Untitled has got to be him (pure Drukqs era).
  • I'm no Squarepusher expert, but a lot of it sound like him to me (particularly lyff Acid E1); StephenG has championed this.
  • Tom J was curiously cagey about Steinvord in that interview.
  • It's a classic mystery artist Rephlex release.
  • RDJ has been part of other mystery artist collabs (Universal Indicator).
  • In the latest Q Magazine interview, he says "I'll make music with anyone who I'm mates with."
  • Same interview, he admits to doing Tuss (finally) so that people could "hopefully evaluate it without knowing it was" him.
  • Similar topic in recent interviews about preferring anonymous DJ gigs to win the crowd over without any preconceptions.
  • He spends a lot of time on YouTube, apparently.
  • Again in the Q interview, he says no you don't need to get paid if you release music.

I recognize nearly all of that is pretty weak evidence, but I've still got a feeeeeeling. Mostly because of Untitled and snippets here and there on other tracks.

I'm leaning towards it being less of a collaboration and more of a split type of release. 2(or 3 if you count the extra myspace one) of the tracks sound distinctively squarepusher, and the rest (including the EP and the myspace page) sound like RDJ.

 

a downright Aphex twin/Squarepusher collaboration I think would sound more obvious and have hallmarks of their melodic style all over each song. The difference with Steinvord Vs something like this

 

 

is that Steinvord (especially the EP) is almost completely devoid of signature melodic style. The melodies in it are very secondary to everything else. My theory is that if they did actually collaborate (or its just a split), they consciously held back on the melody to make it more mysterious.

 

edit: just listening to Freeman, Hardy & Willis acid again. Besides the trademark Aphex pads, the break/drum mixing in the later half of the song really reminds me of that one song on Steinvord which im forgetting the name of now. It sounds less like crazy drum and bass and more like breakbeat. There are also other melodic aspects to this song that sound neither like Tom or Richard, so there's that (listen to the last acid line)

 

edit2: sorry if this post was incoherent, i was sort of changing my mind in real-time as I typed it out

Edited by John Ehrlichman
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Guest Drahken

You guys haven't figured it out yet? The MP3 player rich left on the airplane had unreleased stuff by him and tom, and possibly Luke too. Some kid found it but had no idea what he'd come across. He eventually uploaded it to myspace years later using the name Steinvord from the metadata on some of the tracks. Rephlex got in touch so they could get some of the tracks they didn't have masters for anymore and released it proper. Tada.

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Didn’t they deliberately change the names all around between when the tracks were on Myspace and really released?

 

Yeah! I’m coming around to the idea of the side-with-two-tracks (“Maelstrom” being the longest track on the EP) being by Squarepusher. “Backyard” has very Squarepushery worm-break-science and that really low grumbly Go-Plastic-style kinda-walkin’ bass. And in the background are some ring-moddy drifting reverbed doodles that are quite Mutilation Colony/crazy Eventide feedback-esque.

 

& then Maelstrom perhaps sounds even more strongly like Squarepusher, including the part in the middle where there’s just an insane amount of twisty original soul (?—spacing on the break name) fuckery—just like the stuff on Go Plastic where it’s so fast the break sounds like someone like, scraping a plate.

 

Plus there’s a voice (!!) very low in the mix around 2:45 that really does sound a lot like Tom’s voice as recorded/mixed/processed in tracks like F-Train. Both in terms of the treatment and also like literally, it sounds like his voice. And compare the crazy smashed “cymbal” sounds (?) at around 6 minutes, which are followed by a nice cavernous rising “orchestration” with, say, Tundra 4.

 

Iyff Acid sounds insanely like RDJ, in my opinion. And the way there’s a ton of fuckery and the drums are so compressed that they are kinda puffy sounding? Totally reminds me of RDJ production. What a fucking cool track… the way the groove settles in too, briefly, with the cutoff OPEN? So fucking clever.

 

The other two tracks are awesome, but I don’t get as strong a feeling of a particular producer from them as the previous 3. Cyg X-1 does have a very brief “turnaround” that involves a sudden harsh, somewhat-expressive rhythmic gating effect, though (Syrroooooo).

 

Anyway, here’s hoping we someday… what? Find out the backstory here? Get more Steinvord tracks? Is there a Steinvord LP? Will these tracks be issued again somehow? Will the missing Myspace tracks appear? What happened to MEN records anyway?

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So if Richard D. James does have an AMA, I'm going to ask him if he is Steinvord. I don't think he is.

Edited by ZiggomaticV17
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I haven’t really been a big fan of Squarepusher so I couldn’t fully get why some people were so sure that Tom was involved with this. All I had heard were Hello Everything and Hard Normal Daddy which aren’t necessarily the most Steinvordish stuff from him. But since you brought it up frequently I decided to give it a shot and holy shit what I have missed! Go Plastic!, Feed Me Weird Things and especially Big Loada are awesome. Selection sixteen and Do You Know Squarepusher have their moments too but they are not as mind blowing as before mentioned ones. The jazzy bass stuff drove me away from Tom’s work so I didn’t really bother to look more of his stuff until now.

 

So now I understand better the Squarepusher side of the Steinvord speculation. It has been mentioned to death but My Fucking Sound and Maelstrom have their similarities. Also the beat from Boneville Occident from 0:41-1:19 could be the twin to the beat in Backyard. Just give it a little speed and add a break. And the beginning of Tundra versus beginning of Ontrackv2 sound quite similar to me. But still it raises a question why would he sample himself and not bring anything new to the table? There’s no denying though that there are some strong similarities between Steinvord and Squarepusher. I know you guys have known this all for ages though but I’m slow…

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edit: just listening to Freeman, Hardy & Willis acid again. Besides the trademark Aphex pads, the break/drum mixing in the later half of the song really reminds me of that one song on Steinvord which im forgetting the name of now. It sounds less like crazy drum and bass and more like breakbeat. There are also other melodic aspects to this song that sound neither like Tom or Richard, so there's that (listen to the last acid line)

edit2: sorry if this post was incoherent, i was sort of changing my mind in real-time as I typed it out

 

 

Exactly, if you have a hear for this... you can spot how the style sounds different from Tom or Richard, so it could perfectly be someone else. Still saying Cyg x-1 sounds nothing like Tom or Rich. Why it couldn't be some kid thats really good at whatever he is using? Maybe it is really a kid that has super skills with some cheap software like Garageband or Renoise, or maybe he is a rich kid whose has access to a lot of cool gear, or who knows. I consider all these posibilities. What makes me suspicious is the whole anonymous thing. So you are like 15-16 making these tracks, at 18 you get signed by Rephlex, this is a dream for any musician, still stay anonymous and say nothing about it. He also got contacted by Tom from Planet-Mu and he sent them a troll-type reply to them (sadly this history is lost within the Planet-Mu forums)... then years pass by and still nothing. Tell me a musician more anonymous than this? Because I can't think of any. Every anonymous musician ever eventually delivers some kind of information. A picture, a live appareance (even if with a mask or something), the name, an interview... SOMETHING so you can at least know its an actual person behind it. But there's nothing with this, which makes me feel pretty unsettled.

 

 

I haven’t really been a big fan of Squarepusher so I couldn’t fully get why some people were so sure that Tom was involved with this. All I had heard were Hello Everything and Hard Normal Daddy which aren’t necessarily the most Steinvordish stuff from him. But since you brought it up frequently I decided to give it a shot and holy shit what I have missed! Go Plastic!, Feed Me Weird Things and especially Big Loada are awesome. Selection sixteen and Do You Know Squarepusher have their moments too but they are not as mind blowing as before mentioned ones. The jazzy bass stuff drove me away from Tom’s work so I didn’t really bother to look more of his stuff until now.

 

So now I understand better the Squarepusher side of the Steinvord speculation. It has been mentioned to death but My Fucking Sound and Maelstrom have their similarities. Also the beat from Boneville Occident from 0:41-1:19 could be the twin to the beat in Backyard. Just give it a little speed and add a break. And the beginning of Tundra versus beginning of Ontrackv2 sound quite similar to me. But still it raises a question why would he sample himself and not bring anything new to the table? There’s no denying though that there are some strong similarities between Steinvord and Squarepusher. I know you guys have known this all for ages though but I’m slow…

 

Im probably one of the biggest break beast freaks out there, and I can't spot any sampling. These are originally cut up and processed samples. You can't sample from these guys straight because their music is always so damn busy. The Tundra pad could be about any pad, it's not that interesting and kinda irrelevant if sampled or not.

I think Cyg x-1 brings new elements. It's more steady music, the beat is not as crazy or jungle sounding, it's more drum and bass type, Aphex and Tom never do this. Plus the whole way things are produced are somewhat different. It could have been made in any software, that doesn't matter, what matters is the actual sounds and arrangements and track progression and these are really good. I spot software synths and effects and I spot what could perfectly be some hardware here and there.

Grant said there would be a release along with a new Monolith release but he has left us now without any of that...

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Have to take your word for that since I don't know a shit about sampling or making music in general. Simply jumped to conclusions based on how it sounded to my ears and thought I had spotted some similarities. It was 100% IMO type scenario and I wasn't trying to speak any universal truth. Anyways thanks for clarifying! :smile:

Edited by Grumpy Old Daddy
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Well it instantly sounded like a cheap "Go Plastic" rip-off to me. Doesn't achieve anywhere near the groove or "certain-something" of Squarepusher... even though we all know Tom himself can diverge from his own sound, if you know what i mean.

 

And its nowhere near RDJ at all at all at all!

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I have no time to play vinyl anymore either, but I downloaded an INSANELY nice rip of this. Then I cleaned it up even more and bounced it down to 44.1 (it was 96 kHz!)

 

So… nice versions are out there.

lol u can find it in archive.org in flac version... 'cause ur files are not good as a real lossless... lol, me either, have no time to play it, even if i'd them twice... if one day one should be damaged... but it's funny, i believe that i would play this vinyl for long time & never thought i should have no time...

Edited by Anchio Arch io Son Pittore
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