pH10

Artist Information

Biography

We are tough. We’ve played the nastiest of venues and rocked the sketchiest sound systems. We've played in areas of the world where the electricity shows off to its friends by killing expensive samplers. We have taken airplanes to play warehouse parties that were shut down before our gear cleared airport security. We’ve recorded entire records in unfamiliar studios with no engineer and the “tight deadline”. Be assured, pH10 can take it. However, there is one thing that strikes fear into our jaded hearts - wait for it - day jobs.

So, in trying to keep Recone and crew out of ‘business casual’ for 2008, we bring you the nastiest, noisiest, scariest, loudest and by far the heaviest pH10 release to date. 'Well Connected' has landed. Highlights include an intro by Brian Bell-Fortune, appearances by Pete Miser, Jamalski, KCutz and I-45 plus a new level of crushing production thanks to a shiny new Virus Ti and a deal with the Devil they call Sherman Filter Bank.

In case you are unaware what this crew is all about, here is some bio information and a little history. Brooklyn-based pH10 has been making records and playing shows for ten years. Concerts are hyped up parties with intense visual projections, a massive wall of sound and strange occurrences including strobe light helmets and dancers wrapped in vacuum hoses. Having played all over the US, Canada and Europe, pH10 has developed strong performance skills to back up their studio recordings. This is a finely tuned stage show that leaves audience members danced-out and smiling.

Although the pH10 crew insists on light-hearted antics in their performances, they take their productions seriously. This is apparent by the 2005 first place finish in the Dance/Electronica Category of the International Songwriting Competition and being awarded the ‘Indie Award’ by the Independent Artist Registry 2006. Rather than employ flowery language to draw you a picture, we’ll let a quote do the talking "To understand pH10, start by imagining The Beastie Boys growing up on Slayer rather than Afrika Bambaataa. Then, you'll need to figure out how records created with no electric guitars in site manage to be this damn heavy. Finally, a lesson or two in overdriven analog circuits at the community college is in order. - Alternatively you could just pop in one of their disks, start shaking your ass and it'll all come to you naturally" - Time Out London.

Instrumentation

Recone Helmut and SyBo use:
Emu samplers, Novation, Roland and Emu Synthesizers, Alesis Drum modules, Tech 21 distortion units, Dell and Apple computers, Sonic Foundry Acid, Sound Forge and CD Architect, Propellerheads Reason and Recycle, Steinberg Cubase SX and Wavelab, Waves, DB Audio, Ultra funk, TL Audio, TC Electronics, Ohm Force and Digital Fish Phones VST/DX plug ins.

Discography

Jan. 1998 - Self Released Demo
Dec. 1999 - 'Sci-Fidelity' Album
Oct. 2000 - 'Deffender' 12" single
Feb. 2002 - 'Quarks and Gluons' Album
Feb. 2004 - 'Needless to Say' CD Single
Sept. 2004 - 'Helmutvision' Album
Sept 2006 - BK United EP
Sept 2008 - 'Well Connected' Album

Official Website

http://www.helmutplex.com

Audio

• Enter The Underground (feat. Pete Miser)
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• Tell Me Why (feat. Pete Miser)
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• So Sensitive (feat. Pete Miser) Helmutplex Mix
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• 4PM (feat. Pete Miser) Radio Edit
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• Bulldozin' (feat. I-45)
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• Think It Through (Radio Edit)
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• Needless To Say (feat. Pete Miser) Radio Edit
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• BK United (Album Version - feat. Pete Miser)
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• Bulldozin (feat I45)
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• BK United (Album Version -Radio Edit - feat. Pete Miser)
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• Bulldozin (feat I45 - Radio Edit)
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• Schedule 1
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Lyrics

• Tell Me Why
• 4PM
• Needless to Say
• Think it Through
• So Sensitive
• BK United (radio edit)
• Enter The underground (feat. Pete Miser and Jamalski)

Video

pH10 Promo Movie

Photo Gallery

Press

• pH10 - In Helmutvision [+ Show ]
  

  ... this is some funky stuff, and no matter what kind of notions of cool you subscribe to, you need ...... this is some funky stuff, and no matter what kind of notions of cool you subscribe to, you need some funk in your life.
  
  Recone Helmut is the nutjob behind PH10. On his last record, Quarks and Gluons, he alternated being fun and frantic with boring and “classy” downtempo tracks. Thankfully, he decided to abandon the latter and plight his troth to the former. He’s through being cool. This is always a great move. Cool people can’t be bothered to shake an ass. They’re always strumming and crooning, kind of like the dorm folksinger in Animal House...and Recone Helmut wants to be John Blutarsky.
  
  Recone made some good moves here. He took on a rapper named Pete Miser, who rocks like he’s igneous whenever he shows up. It’s pretty rare for a d’n’b rapper to have good quotable lines, but Pete Miser gets off a few good ones. My favorite is probably the one about how he’ll get your girl breakin’ up with you like service on a free phone—but he also adds a political dimension with delicious cheap shots like “Dirty, like George Bush campaign tactics.” He also brings a touch of multiculturalism to the form: “Half white, half Chinese, now stop askin’.” (Memo to self: try to find a copy of his record Radio Free Brooklyn.)
  
  But it’s not all about Pete Miser either. The slowing down of d’n’b marked its decline as the Flavor Of The Month, so Recone bumps things back up into stompy dance fun. “Red Arrow (Punk as Fuck Mix)” is not exactly as punk as fuck, but it is fun and boisterous, and would be a great Bad-Company-UK-ish dance track if it didn’t keep grinding to a halt and then re-starting. (Maybe that’s the punk part, I don’t know.) “2600 Funkus” could be a Roni Size homage, with its acoustic bass sample and its refusal to fear a little repetition if it’s in the service of a greater cause. And the live version of “T.P.C.” (which doesn’t really sound all that live to me) shows how this group might function in a live context, big fat beats and slithery little beats and some chords that sound like Godzilla farts, all wrapped around weird vocal samples about how the phone company is psychotic. (Is this from The President’s Analyst?)
  
  Helmut has figured out how to use vocal samples as a means rather than as an end. This is punched up in “Helmut Theme,” which uses a bunch of great samples from Spaceballs; frankly, anyone who samples Spaceballs is always going to get high marks from me, but this track is just fun and zippy and cute, not “cool” in the least but it’ll get the party started.

• pH10 - In Helmutvision [+ Show ]
  

  Brooklyn-based drum and bass mavericks ph10 describe themselves as the 'Penn and Teller of live PA'....Brooklyn-based drum and bass mavericks ph10 describe themselves as the 'Penn and Teller of live PA'. Clearly not taking themselves too seriously, Helmutvision, their first full-length CD in over two years is quite a showcase, not just for their trademark humour, but also their refreshing talent with more than a little social comment thrown in.
  
  Producer Recone Helmut takes us with his mad band of genius DJs on an electronic odyssey that displays diversity, wit and an exciting sound that is all their own. The Intro, featuring Jase Mason, is a dynamic opening to the album, bristling with intense energy and an addictive quality that will have you returning to this track again and again.
  
  The haunting track Needless to Say, featuring Pete Miser, shows a melodic, intriguing side to the ph10 coin, in fact, throughout the album, they explore such depths and heights that they, unlike many other drum and bass acts, comfortably avoid the trap of being too one note.
  
  Helmut's Theme is a return to their irrepressible humour, with the sampled announcement, 'Make way for Dark Helmut!', this bouncy track is cute and scratchy, but with a dark core. (Like Helmut himself, I wonder?)
  
  T.P.C, the live track on the album, is brilliantly produced, featuring the hypnotic sound that typifies ph10. These guys clearly had a lot of fun producing Helmutvision, and it's an uplifting listen.
  
  Not without hints of the Beastie Boys about them, they are somehow more mature, and certainly as, if not more, exciting to listen to. They're out there on their own, and the way they're going, they're probably going to take over the world.

• pH10 - In Helmutvision [+ Show ]
  

  Helmutvision's "Intro" starts out with atomic beats, editing, scratching and rap. Next up, drum and ...Helmutvision's "Intro" starts out with atomic beats, editing, scratching and rap. Next up, drum and bass take over the second track which features Pete Miser - one of the pH10 components. "Find Strength" is a brief moment in deep darkness with spoken word and wrenching synths. "Helmut Theme" brings out the big beat weaponry - then drum and bass returns with "2600 Funkus", a more minimalistic track. "Think It Through" is a faint reminder in vocal style of a BT favorite - "Madskillz" from the album Movement In Still Life. "The Red Arrow" is well done drum and bass with beefy synths and "4PM" is deep, down, and funky. "Tough Love" throws in some spoken philosophy such as "the expression one wears on one's face is far more important than the clothes one wears on one's back" - yet there is a humorous side to the seriousness of the statements. Toward the end of the album, the live performance of "T.P.C." shows that pH10 can rock it live as well. "T.P.C." is a dark, thick, drum and bass track which is a seven-minute-plus performance recorded at the Rhinecliff Hotel in November of 2002. Dispersed hints of humor are thrown in throughout the album and are an unexpected and welcome placement. Another cool twist is that the album sleeve includes the equipment Recone Helmut used on the album such as Emu samplers, Roland and Emu synthesizers, and Alesis Drum modules. The techie in me is always curious as to what equipment is used and it was a cool concept to have included the info rather than have to search through an article in a magazine. Helmutvision is technically sound in all aspects from sound design, editing and production to the final stages of mixing and mastering (of which the mastering was done by Alan Douches at West Westside Music) while still keeping an emotive force in the music. Slick, phatt, and diverse, Helmutvision should intrigue those interested in a mix of big phatt beats and drum and bass.

Setlist

Current set list:

Intro
Duty Weapon
2600 Funkus Remix
Think it Through
Needless to Say
The Red Arrow
Find Strength
Helmut Theme
T.P.C.
4PM
Corpuscle
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Saucy Jack

The set is about an hour long, we dont do covers.

Basic Requirements

Calendar