Moe Espinosa is a veteran of the Los Angeles techno scene, having helped to build it thru the 2000’s with partners Vangelis and Vidal Raiz via their Interface warehouse parties and Droid Recordings label. Espinosa is a classically trained musician who cut his teeth in and around the Punk/Industrial scene singing and playing guitar in various bands until he discovered LA’s rave scene in the early 90’s. Falling in love with the analog synthesizers behind early techno, the musician would go on to a career as a Product Specialist at Native Instruments, while also recording under the moniker Drumcell and contributing studio work to artists like Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails), Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb), and Gary Numan–to name just a few.
Recently, Drumcell began releasing music under the name Hypoxia, often via his BL_K NOISE label. More ambient in scope and less dance floor driven, the project explores his love of vintage and modular synthesizers. This month, Hypoxia’s Division Of Trust 12″ came out on Make Noise Records–the in-house label for Asheville, NC-based modular synthesizer manufacturer Make Noise. Comprising two long tracks recorded live in a single take, the EP features modular hardware from the company.
Bellowing bass blasts open “Hidden Error” to cosmic dimensions. Deeply resonating tones drone across the black space before a nostalgia-inducing melody flickers like a wash of almost forgotten memories. Opening an avalanche of feelings meticulously modulated across the track’s 11-minute run-time, while “Hidden Error” is epic in scope, and machine-driven, it is also ultimately human in perspective. The video for this track was created by Espinosa and the amazing visual artist Sean Curtis Patrick. The pair creates an other-worldly experience using glitched, lo-fi imagery that strobes and flickers with sonically activated noise and ghostly appearances from other dimensions.
Espinosa and partners Vangelis and Vidal Raiz’s Droid Behavior will celebrate 15 years of Interface warehouse parties tomorrow night in Los Angeles with an audio/visual performance featuring techno legends DJ Deep and Steve Bicknell. Here is a link to the event.
