Derek Carr - Arrival

FireScope: 2021

Man, it feels good seeing Derek Carr getting his due. Not that I can claim to be some long-standing fan of the man's work, as if I've been listening to his music since the Copper Beech E.P. I only stumbled upon him by happenstance with The Digital Space Race, and while enjoyed that album, didn't reconnect until he connected with FireScope for Distant Systems.

He's released a fair amount of material between those moments, but it seems his profile's quite taken off since releasing Contact on Subwax Excursion (Model 500 artwork nod likely helped). Many EPs on many labels have since come out, plus a four-record retrospective on For Those That Knoe, and man, have the plaudits ever blown up on Discogs. Seems Mr. Carr felt it was a good time for a revisit to FireScope, a full LP outing in Arrival. Which means two vinyl records. Or two CDs etched with vinyl grooves. FireScope sure loves its FOMO-triggering mediums.

Let me get this out of the way: if you're familiar with FireScope's brand of techno tunes, there isn't much different going on here. This is a lane Steve Rutter's print has firmly made for themselves, and are resolute in adhering to their musical manifesto. Intelligent techno for our doe-eyed gazes into the future, rhythms for cruising interstellar highways, melodies for sci-fi city-scapes. I cannot deny hoping Derek would branch a little more from this, maybe provide a banger, or even an ambient interlude for a more complete album experience, but 'tis not to be. This is a label that still has traditional vinyl as its primary listening format (however many records that may take per release), which will forever lead to LPs being rather tracky as a playback.

Ehgh... I felt icky typing that, but it needed to be said, the little naggy knit in my head demanding it. For as much as I enjoy Derek's Detroit vibes throughout Arrival, I cannot deny it being a bit samey throughout too. For sure there is some difference between the two halves (or both records; or both CDs). If anything, the second part has more rhythmic heft, Haemoglobin providing a nice little trunk-rumbler of a bassline with its spritely melodies and floaty synth sweeps. Droidworld features a funky little bassline of its own in support of an almost melancholic musical lead, while Apollo does a laid-back low-slung shuffle while synth pads and future strings cruise about. Inside Out and MCR get more on vintage Detroit vibes, about what we can expect out of most Derek Carr tunes these days.

If it seems like I'm writing off the first half (sides A & B; disc one), don't get it twisted. I like it just fine, in that I like mostly everything out of FireScope. There's even some fun playfulness in tracks like Alaska Blue and Anoat System. I just felt things picked up when the beats picked up, which gets back to my annoyingly incessant desire for diverse long-players.

Derek Carr - Distant Systems

Firescope: 2017

When I heard there was a new album from Distant System, I couldn't believe it. I've been keeping tabs on Tyler Smith's wonderful, neglected project for ages now, and to have it suddenly pop up out of nowhere? That can't be right! But the cover art sure looks like something the psy side of music would put out. What's going on with- oh, it's an album titled Distant Systems, from Irish techno producer Derek Carr (not to be confused with NFL quarterback Derek Carr). Well, that's almost as spiffy – I liked Mr. Carr's The Digital Space Race, and was interested in developments his career would take since Psychonavigation Records imploded. Still, unintentional as it was, it's a bit of a tease calling his new EP Distant Systems from where I'm sitting. The struggle is real...

Anyhow, Derek Carr has found himself a new home with an intriguing little print called Firescope, who's parent label is B12 Records. Yes, that B12, they of early UK techno legend with Warp Records. I can't say I've gotten into the duo to the same degree as their peers like The Black Dog and Aphex Twin, for no better reason than none of my compilation purchases ever led me to their music. Yes, it's that stupid a reason, but they've remained active, dusting off their own self-titled print a decade ago to release a bunch of back-catalogue for the digital era. For some reason, B12 set up a whole new label in Firescope to release their newer material (just this past year!), and have started inviting like-minded producers into their fold. We'll see how things pan out in time, but if they keep bringing in talent like Derek Carr, it'll be far indeed.

If you missed that Digital Space Race review, or somehow overlooked the super sci-fi cover art, Mr. Carr does a Detroit techno thing with an ear to the great above and beyond. Distant Systems maintains that tone, a tidy four-tracker that goes down easy-peasy as a space-based pie (popular diner option near Jupiter 2). Artifice 2 has a simple electro rhythm going for it, with little bloopy pings, haunting pads, and rich sweeping synths in the lead. Terrahawk gets a tad funkier in its electro, coupling with gentle trance pads and bleepy-acid leads. 3 3 8 9 reuses the same pads (kinda' reminds me of the ones used by A Positive Life), but opts for the techno groove instead – essentially a 'deep' version of Terrahawk. If you need an even deeper cut though, East Is East has you covered, a simple slice of chill Detroit goodness, good for the afterhours.

Of course, Derek's ear for techno bleeds retro, so if you don't have much use for tunes that sound plucked from the glory years of Artificial Intelligence, Distant Systems may not be your bag. Can't imagine many such folk existing though - maybe those religiously weaned on the minimal monotony of the '00s, and nothing else.

Derek Carr - The Digital Space Race

Psychonavigation Records: 2008

Derek Carr isn't super-obscure like some of these Psychonavigation folks are. He has some half-dozen records to his name in the early ‘00s, though mostly jumped from label to label in doing so. By the time he found a semi-permanent home with the Ireland print, he’d already released two albums on another Ireland print, Nice & Nasty Records. And his self-released debut single, Copperbeech EP, is apparently something of a rare collectible for ‘Irish techno by way of Detroit’ enthusiasts, because this is also apparently a scene. That actually has me wondering if Derek Carr is actually his real name. I mean, I can only assume it is so, but Lord Discogs doesn’t have any bio on the guy, and anyone also making Detroit techno with a name like that can’t be a coincidence. Okay, it can, but c’mon, really? Are folks with that combination of syllables just destined to make music of a similar sound? The Techno Gods are weird.

In case it hasn’t become obvious by now, Derek Carr makes minimal gabber; and by ‘minimal gabber’, I of course mean Detroit techno. Its more ‘space age’ than the genre typically goes, The Digital Space Race at times coming off like early Apollo material. Openers Horizons and Butterfly could have found an easy home on those seminal ambient techno compilations, while Letters and Grassy Plains fears no pianos being coupled with their soft electro breaks. Elsewhere, the future funk is present and correct with tracks like 678, Departed Emotion, and Home, while Mr. Carr indulges with a little spritely indulgences with Juvenile and Sis. Plus, can’t neglect the strict ambient cuts, the short Dilated Beyond Belief (hilarious title!) serving as an intermission of sorts, and Surrounded By Nature taking us out in good ol’ space drone fashion.

Um, that’s The Digital Space Race all summed up then, isn’t it. If you’ve ever heard retro Detroit techno, you’ve heard this album, and Mr. Carr isn’t in any sort of hurry to shake the foundations. The tunes are all nice and arranged well enough, but they don’t leap out in any significant way either. Not even the strictly old school production is much of a unique selling point. Novel perhaps, especially for a 2008 release, but this is Derek Carr’s preferred style of music making, and far from the only chap around doing it. Yet I’m hesitant to call The Digital Space Race something silly like ‘recycled’, ‘rote’, or ‘retro to a fault’, because it most definitely is not that either. It may sound sprung from suburban Detroit in the year 1994, but futurism will never age.

As for Carr, he’s put out a couple more albums on Psychonavigation since this one, but more interestingly recently released another single on Trident. This was the ‘print’ he set up to self-release his first single, which I guess he dusted off to put out another EP through Bandcamp. Now wouldn’t that be something, seeing a re-issue of the old Copperbeach EP too.