Pointbender is Sean Anderson, a Texas native who resides in Austin. He releases a majority of his original tracks on his label, Harmonious Discord. Read more in the "About" section here.
530Techno, the boutique record label based in rural Northern California, closes out 2011 with the seminal Remote Locations EP from Austin, Texas based Pointbender (Thoughtless Music, Harmonious Discord).
Deep, warm analog electronics fully expose the soul in the machine throughout this dynamic EP with remixes from legendary west-coast house producer, Jay Tripwire (Poker Flat, Nordic Trax, Seasons) and soul-tech super hero, The Munk Machine.
Semicircle, is a dubbed out journey dripping with the humid vibes of a torrential rain storm. Epic and beautiful, Pointbender’s artistry here is in his ability to capture a feeling and sense of place in his music. Pointbender’s trademark keys, and deep, bumpin tech-house beats keep the groove locked for both original tracks. Remote Locations, takes us into funkier territory with an irresistibly bumpin bass line. As the track progresses with his excellent use of live electronics, it expresses both the anticipation, excitement and the sorrow of being away from home.
On remix duties, Jay Tripwire summons the cosmic funk with his signature brand of trippy west-coast tech-house on Remote Locations. Bumpin up the acid in the bassline and adding some eargasmic three-dimensional lasers into the mix, he adds immense depth and spatialization to the track. Play this at 4 am on a sweaty dance floor of underground house heads and watch the impending freakdom.
Fast forward to Alpha City 2144 and soul-tech super hero, The Munk Machine transforms Semicircle into a futuristic monster of minimal grooving techno. Keeping the deep vibe and atmosphere of the original track but catapulting us into a synthetic Blade Runner-eque landscape of circuits and bass, The Munk Machine remix is the go to track for the main room.
As fall calms the nerves and prepares the hibernational music hoarders for a long cold spell of earphone engagement, Harmonious Discord gears up for its most promising winter to date. The first in this series comes to us from label founder and analog synthesizer addict Sean Anderson aka PointBender. Following the recent success with releases on Thoughtless and Blaq this space techno magician offers up a sharp dose of melody driven tech-house. Peppered with a cast of innovative techno savants, the so fell the orbit project offers a tale of space travel with stylish re-works by Noah Pred, KiloWatts, Symbio, and Vital.
The original is a tom driven big-room invitation to orbit with thick cascading syncopated elements filling up the spectral field. The introduction of a pad progression and various assortments of FX flare propel this song into full blown musical composition complete with the introduction of a killer SAW bassline that permeates the earlobes. Noah Pred of Thoughtless Music provides a pair of remixes for the EP, giving it some marquee recognition. The “Elliptical Dub” remix is a dub study adhering to the formula of the original, focused more on refinement of sound and focus rather than re-invention. One thing that can be counted on with any music from Pred is that it will sound big, distinct, and clean. His mix of warped 303 bass lines and clicky minimal noise on this remix is a refined, sophisticated version of the original elements, fine tuned to perfection. The second remix, “Gravity Collapse”, rearranges the rhythmic elements for something more tribal, while dialing back the bass, allowing the melodic pieces from the previous dub version emerge. The sleepy vibe and relentless beats make this version the most dance floor appropriate on single that reaches far and wide, often times succeeding. Secondly, but by no means a selection to be glossed over is HD favorite KiloWatts. His remix offers a chunky slice of techno-influenced sci-fi dubstep. KiloWatts can work in many styles but seems to be most at home when he is channeling mother ship landings and A.I. takeovers into his music. On this remix, he doesn’t skimp on any of that, creating a total makeover of the original. Out of that re-imagining springs a lasting track that crosses many genres along the way. 530Techno front-man and thought provoking mentalist Symbio is introduced to the label via a stripped techno-roots remix. This Lateral Dub focuses on subversive elements of the original brought to the forefront and driven with tension to a dark industrial-earth resolve. A first for the HD label, we end our remix with the first ever Drum and Bass contribution to the label. Vital (A local Dallas,TX producer) has transformed the original into a vibe-rich, commercially consumable selection that shows the power the original elements have when showcased in a genre that defies limitation.
Tracklisting Influences KiloWatts – Ayandan Four Tet – Clouding Deep Dish – Morning Wood Telefone Tel Aviv – Lotus Above Water KiloWatts – Seed Trentemoller – Take me into your Skin Telefone Tel Aviv – Life is all about taking things and putting things Out Lusine – Operation Costs Lusine – Gravity James Holden – Kaern DJ Mix Will Saul – 3000 AD (I:Cube Dub Mix) – Simple Recordings Vegenaut – There it is – Harmonious Discord Hans Thalau- Lassuer (Milton Jackson Remix) – Caballero Recordings Martin Buttrich – What’s Your Name – Poker Flat Zoo Brazil – Kazaboo – Harthouse Martin Buttrich – Snapshots – Poker Flat Loco Dice – A Chico A Rythmaco – Cadenza unknown Matthew Johnson – Marionette (Adam Bayer Remix) – Wagon Repair
This month’s Elemental Theory Podcast is from PointBender. Along the outliers of unexplored cerebral boundaries resides the sonic offerings of Grey Music member and Harmonious Discord label front man Sean Anderson aka PointBender. A project focused on thought bending synthetic manipulations and heady melody construction, the PointBender moniker provided Sean an avenue to explore a highly creative fusion of song creation and live performance. After many successful live performances the pieces began to gain a momentum of their own and were later released as projects on labels like Thoughtless, Musical Missionary, and Harmonious Discord. Enjoy this exclusive mix from the man himself!
Boozit is a dark low-end bangin slab of tech-house with a killer vocal sample and a hands in the air breakdown perfect for taking your danceflloor up a notch. With such a big track we invited 3 lateral thinking remixers to share their unique vision.
Our favorite don of the 303, Chicago’s Angel Alanis (Afro Acid, Slap Jaxx), turns in a huge jackin piece of lateral thinking acid house. Angel’s Acid lib remix bridges the old school acid trax sound with some other worldly cosmic techno funk. Next up, another artist from the midwest, Syphon (Wave Records, Parity), ups the energy level by throwin down some heavy tribal percussion into the mix. Syphon’s Dub wouldnt be out of place moving several thousand dancers following a DJ float, getting down in the streets of Berlin. Stripping things back and adding his signature analog keys, Austin, Texas based dj/producer Pointbender (Thoughtless, Harmonious Discord) guides us through the come down with a wonderful slab of warm techno.
Tracklisting:
JAK & LilRoj – Boozit
JAK & LilRoj – Boozit (Angel Alanis Acid lib Mix)
JAK & LilRoj – Boozit (Syphon Dub)
JAK & LilRoj – Boozit (Pointbender’s Bear Hug Remix)
Another great compilation from Blaq Records, just in time for the summer madness
some of the usual Blaq records family members like Soundspace, Dromme, Ocelli, Itzone, No2,
Sishi Rosch, ODNU, Metrika, FM, Jubilee, Norman & Sizemoreism.
…And we also have some very special artists and friends drop their debut on Blaq Records like
Lee Webster, Diego Moreno, Lao, Color One, Maxson, Love Bites, Music Designers, Pointbender, Bobby Empire & Oscar Rocha.
.01% is a collection of sound design projects spanning 6 years. It is a collection of my favorite sonic inventions and while not always a bomb on the dancefloor many of them remain very captivating to me, hope you enjoy!
released 20 June 2011
Produced by Sean Anderson except *03 produced by Sean Anderson and JD Northrupp. Congas, Clarinet, vocals, guitar, and FX played by Sean Anderson.
Pointbender is Sean Anderson, a Texas native who resides in Austin. He releases a majority of his original tracks on his label, Harmonious Discord. Read more in the "About" section 
