Erika - Live at No Way Back

This set is a whole new vibe for me. Most of my performances are specifically for the club, so fall into that 127-135 kind of tempo. I recorded this set over a year into lockdown, and was very disconnected from sound systems at the time, struggling with my relationship with club music and dancefloors. This set reflects that mindset, at a faster tempo than I've ever worked at before (158!), yet with more of an at-home listening vibe than a dancefloor feeling. While exploring this new tempo, I was thinking deeply about our interconnectedness and capacity for growth and change. We lost Andrew Smith two days before I performed this set, and his presence is felt throughout the recording.

My live show is usually given on a stage, away from my home, so I use a carefully chosen selection of equipment that fits into an airplane. Typically, I perform with a sequencer, drum machine, 4 synthesizers, and 2-3 effects pedals. Recording a live set in my studio made it possible to use as many instruments as I have inputs, so I brought as much variety as I could to this set. While some of this gear is used throughout the set (say, the 808 BD), some of it only appears in a single track (like the Deckard's Dream).

Here's the complete list of what I used to make the set.

sequencer —
 - Genoqs Machines Octopus

drum machines —
 - Elektron Analog RYTM mk 1
 - Roland TR-606 with Quicksilver 606 mod
 - Roland TR-808

effects —
 - Empress Phaser
 - Eventide Space
 - Moog Moogerfooger MIDI MuRF
 - Strymon BlueSky

synthesizers —
 - Black Corporation Deckard's Dream
 - Dreadbox Typhon
 - Korg Mono/Poly
 - MODOR NF-1M
 - Moog Minitaur
 - Moog Mother-32
 - Moog Voyager RME
 - Roland SH-101
 - Sequential Circuits Pro-One
 - Waldorf Blofeld
 - Waldorf Pulse2

recorded and mixed through —
 - Ableton Live
 - SoundCraft Ghost 24LE
 - UA Apollo 16
 - UA Apollo x16

— Erika