0054 // Other Form

Photo by Maykel Loomans

Drenched in an atmosphere most suited to nighttime and informed by the unpredictable nature of analogue machines, the music made by Other Form — real name Elliot Jay Stocks — could be loosely described as techno, but draws from a wide electronic palette, including the influence of his adopted hometown of Bristol. For Stocks, one of the main aims of his music is in conveying an atmosphere; “I’m not sure why it all turns out so dark, but it doesn’t ever seem right to listen to it on a sunny day!” Despite only a few months under the musical spotlight, his work has enjoyed support from Tommy Four Seven and Killawatt, the latter of which has also has collaborated with Stocks on a remix.

Part of what is appealing to this sound is the heavy emphasis on the importance of impulsive creativity; “I’ve found that the most interesting results come from music that had been allowed to come about organically. As in: just start hitting keys and twiddling knobs and layering things up and seeing what happens", he explains. "Hardware has played the most important role in that approach by far. There’s a spontaneity you get when using hardware that is very hard to find in software alone.”

Stocks is also editor of the nascent Lagom magazine, a publication that “celebrates innovation and creativity” that aims to “tell the stories of the people whose jobs, side projects, hobbies, homes, studios, and way of life offer inspiration to others.” However, having made music in various guises for over a decade, Stocks’ new music as Other Form represents a decision to finally get serious: to silo his work as a designer and properly embrace this ‘other form’ of creativity. Stocks originally wrote music under his Skull Tubes moniker, a name that he says “had a kind of tongue-in-cheek ‘horror’ aesthetic to it.” But the decision to work under a new title was simple, “I wanted a different moniker to free myself of all the old stuff, and to represent the new way I was making music: that more experimental, organic approach”.

The mix Stocks has provided traces his musical genealogy; mapping his multifarious influences and his projections into the future. “I wanted to showcase a lot of the music that has helped me find my place. Folks like Shifted and Regis blew my mind wide open". For Stocks, the recent foray into music is an exciting eye-opener; "I wasn’t aware of most of these artists until about two years ago, when everything suddenly clicked and I realised: this is the music I want to make”.

Tracklist:



Yves De Mey - Box Caisson [Opal Tapes]
Mønic - Morse [Tresor Records]
Other Form - Like Unknown Movements In The Mist [UNRELEASED]
Dino Sabatini - Extraction [Prologue]
Killawatt - Onslow Road [Osiris]
Vatican Shadow - Church of All Images (Regis Version) [Blackest Ever Black]
Killawatt - Black Air [Osiris]
Other Form - Oktober [UNRELEASED]
Manni Dee - Nicotine Kisses [Osiris]
Drumcell - Disturbance (Tommy Four Seven version) [CLR]
Shifted - Chapter 69 [Our Circular Sound]
Manni Dee - Sister Nobody (Mønic Version) [Osiris]
Sigha - Loop 4 [Avian]
Codex Empire - Kingsevil [Aufnahme + Wiedergabe]

0054 // Other Form by Stray Landings on Mixcloud

• Published
• Nov 21, 2015

• Credits
• Words by Georgie_McVicar