It's all L.I.E.S

Ron Morelli’s L.I.E.S. imprint has been on something of a roll for the last twelve months. With releases from Legowelt, Steve Summers, Max Dunbar, Zombi’s Steve Moore, Willie Burns (of Galaxy Toobin’) and his own ‘Two Dogs In A House’ project flying off the shelves at Rubadub we thought it was about time we got to know him a bit better. We could only think of two things to ask though…

My Favourite Record:

Implog-Holland Tunnel Dive (Infidelity Lust/Unlust)

I have been obsessed with this record since I first heard it in 2003 or so. Having listened to it probably hundreds of times, i’ve put entirely too much time into analyzing the possible circumstances under which it was recorded. Released in 1980 this is the piece of music that completely embodies what New York City was at the time and what it should strive to be currently when thinking in terms of actually pushing music in a direction that is truly experimental in every sense of the word. Don Christensen, the man behind this project, was a major player in the downtown music and art scene and was involved in groups such as the Contortions, James White and the Blacks, and also collaborated on other projects with the likes of Jody Harris and Robert Quine.

Anyway, back to the music, I like to imagine this recorded in some bombed out, rat trap of an apartment on 5th Street, junkies passed out in the hallway, and the player/s having little to no resources to record. They’ve probably have a 4-track, bass guitar, saxaphone (proving to be one of the most unlikely yet effectively instruments used during the break), some sort of drum machine or synth for the percussion, and a vacuum cleaner…definitely a vacuum cleaner. Lyrically, well dude probably has been eating beans from a can, smoking weed all day, and probably had a couple in him as well, he takes a look outside his window and just jots down a stream of conciousness which ends of being some sort of nihilist manifesto or suicide note from someone who is truly at the end of the line. Simple, effective and brutally painful.
All of these elements combined meld in such a perfect and fucked up way, by no means on paper should this record make any type of sense, it should probably suck, it does have a saxophone in it, right? Somehow though, Don Christensen and co. inadvertently made this into a piece of New York City music history that stands the test of time with the best of them. And if you have the balls to play this in a club to a crowd, when that vacuum gets turned in/plane takes off you’ll know exactly who’s down to ride for the rest of the night as it will either completely alienate or potentially change someone’s life

My Favourite Piece of Kit:

Moog-Micro Moog:

Ok, yo straight up, I’m making no bones about this, I just got this thing a month ago and like alot of gear, I have no idea how to properly use it. With that said, I turned it on, ran some delay and reverb, got some appeggiation happening, messed with the cut off, got some synth feedback happening and this thing was just growling, straight up nastiness. A powerful machine to say the least and i’m pretty sure Omar-S used it on the classic track J-A-I-P-U-R from his 2006 double pack. Strictly fo tha international dj only!!!!!

Catch Ron Morelli on the Scottish date of his European tour this weekend, Saturday 3rd December at La Cheetah, 73 Queen Street, Glasgow where he’ll be playing alongside Perseus Traxx for The Guild of Calamitous Intent.

Or if you’re further afield at any one of these dates…

Dec. 2nd-Rotterdam @wORM w/Trackman LaFonte & Xosar

Dec. 3rd-Glasgow @LaCheetah w/Perseus Traxx

Dec. 8th-Bucharest,Romania @some club w/ Bogdan

Dec. 9th-London @the Drop w/Roots Unit & DMX Krew

Dec. 10th-Manchester @soup Kitchen w/Paul Bennett & Juniper

Dec. 16th-Berlin @ SOJU Bar w/DJ Sottofett and Hugo Capablanca

Dec. 17th-Ulm,Germany @some club w/Bleep Geeks

Find out more at the L.I.E.S Soundcloud