Stewart S Walker- It's Process Not Substance (1999 techno)

Stewart S. Walker is prolific techno producer who happened to live in Boston for a good deal of the late 1990s. This was around the time he recorded the 4-track "Abstract Symbols of Decadence" EP, which this track was extracted from. There is zero information on the label this came from, Tektite, available online (aside from a listing of the 12 other releases it had on Discogs). If anyone can provide any additional insight about Tektite and if it was a Boston-based imprint, I'd love to find out more.

"It's Process Not Substance" is probably one of the first truly "minimal" songs I ever had the chance to hear. Walker makes great use of empty space here, utilizing the full potential of the very few samples and sounds he comprises to make this piece. I definitely dig the quirky bassline. The other three songs on this EP are very similar aesthetically. "It's Process..." ended up appearing on Richie Hawtin's legendary "Decks EFX and 909" compilation released in 2000. Although only a single bar of the main riff was used, I'm sure many techno producers would kill to get even ten seconds of their work onto a Hawtin compilation!

What's Walker up to these days? He moved to Germany about 7 years ago, has since released music on Tresor, M_nus, Careless, and Persona Recordings, and founded Itchyclips.com. Itchyclips is an MP3 store that not only sells full songs, but also Ableton sets that allow the DJ/producer to extract loops and other components to make on-the-fly re-edits. This is an interesting concept and gives the DJ a great amount of creative freedom that extends beyond just mixing one song into the next.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• stewart s walker
• stewart walker
• techno
• minimal
• deep
• richie hawtin
• tektite
• abstract symbols of decadence
• it's process not substance
• bring back the buffalo

[merrickbrown]

thanks for posting this. :) i ran the label tektite out of austin, texas.. the last release came out in 2001 then my distributor went out of business. i plan to relaunch the label sometime this year. glad you're feeling the sounds...

[KinePaul]

where can i get the vinyl :( ?

[metathesis77]

@metathesis77 .... see it all makes sense lol, glassy black, out of this world, massive impact.

[metathesis77]

tek·tite (tek′tīt′)

noun any of certain small, yellowish-green to black glassy bodies of various shapes, found in isolated locations around the world and thought to have originated as meteorites or from meteorite impacts

[ruirid]

Amazing.