WORDS: CHRIS MUNIZ , PHOTOGRAPHY: SHALOM SARAH MORGENTAU
EXTRA VALUE
To those attracted to the hard and darker side of changed which makes it quite difficult to find more well. Dylan and Tech Itch started playing my tunes
d&b, Current Value is sure to be a familiar name. attributes covering the whole thing.” and within a short time big names like Counterstrike,
Having been floating just under the radar for quite Evol Intent, TOV and Barcode rang the bell.”
some time, the Berlin-based Tim Eliot is on the Taking a cue from his love of early techno and
verge of breaking out in a way that has yet to be blurring the line between hardcore, industrial, and Fast-forward to the present and the Current Value
fully realised. Having given us a glimpse of the drum & bass, early Current Value releases became moniker continues to be a hot one in VIP circles as
mayhem most recently with a pair of hard-hitting synonymous with the ultimate in head-fuck dark- an ungodly number of releases are queued up in the
bits for Tech Itch and Obscene Recordings, there’s ness, suffocating atmospheres and relentless beats. pipeline for imprints like Tech Itch, Freak, TOV, Ob-
no telling what kind of dancefloor damage will soon Imprints like Don Q, Position Chrome, Klangkrieg scene, Evol Intent, Barcode, Algorythm, Soothsayer,
be unleashed on us as imprints like TOV, Sooth- and Phantom Noise were quick to represent as Tim Section8, Intransigent, Flex and Lost Soul.
sayer, Intransigent, Evol Intent, Barcode and even worked his way through numerous singles and four
Flex have all been snatching up Current Value bits full-length LPs of material. Looking ahead to the future, Tim has plans to begin
as quickly as he can churn them out. testing the waters on some studio collaborations,
“During the last few years I got more and more most notably with SPL, as well as focusing on his
A classically trained-pianist who began dabbling in interested in producing more floor-oriented d&b and live performance project which he plans to begin
electronic music in the early 1990s, Tim’s rise to working hard on my live sets,” Tim explains when touring with this year.
prominence came through a series of now classic asked about the noticeable shift in his direction
bits on seminal German imprints like Don Q and Po- these past few years. “2004 seemed to be a good “Last winter I spent a lot of time in Latvia with my
sition Chrome in the mid-90s. Old-school heads are year for me as I got signed to Soothsayer Record- singer Snow where the empty landscapes, extreme
sure to remember the machine-like precision of bits ings which was a good push for Current Value in the cold and snow inspired me a great deal,” Tim
like ‘Creative Robot’, ‘Skybreaker’ and ‘Bass Riot’ U.S. since the success of my early Position Chrome explains. “Tunes like ‘Fear and Ecstasy’, ‘The Fallen’,
which personified the harsh and dissonant sound releases. This was also when I started sending ‘What’s In It’ and ‘The Indivisible Force’ were pro-
of techstep taking hold in drum & bass culture at tunes around to other labels and producers - one of duced there on my laptop and headphones. It was
the time. them was Dylan.” only natural that this time period would also lead to
us developing a live show around Snow which we
“My early influences were people like Photek, The first tune to catch Dylan’s interest was ‘What’s will be taking to the U.S. in December and then on
Source Direct, Ed Rush & Optical, Dom & Roland,” In It’ which eventually went on to be released on to Europe early 2007.”
Tim remembers. “As for my own work, there’s maybe Obscene Recordings. “Things really took off from
just a few words that could really describe all the that moment on,” Tim says with a smile. “My produc- Keep it locked: www.myspace.com/currentvalue
tunes I’ve ever produced: dense, abstract, and cold. tion really turned into a storm and I was inspired to
In all these years my production has constantly do even better than ever which really worked out
52
k52_CurrentValue.indd 52 18/10/2006 13:02:05
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65