In Profile: A Potted History Of Convextion

Keeping his profile purposefully under the radar, Gerard Hanson’s work as a producer has become coveted purely for the effect it’s had on his listeners. First appearing with a slew of dub techno formed structures under his Convextion alias Hanson later became something of a hero within the tight knit electro community for the iconic and shimmering machine funk aesthetic of his E.R.P. attributed productions. Hailing from Dallas, Texas he’s part of a micro community of producers who are all enthusiastically doing their own thing Stateside while European labels like Frustrated Funk, Bleep43 and Semantica house the records. Despite having such close ties with our continent, it’s all too much of a rare thing that Hanson makes his way to Farringdon, so before he joins us in Room Two this Easter Thursday we have put our enthusiasm for everything he has achieved in his career together here, as way of our appreciation.

Convextion - Convextion AA [Matrix Records]

Gerard Hanson’s first releases under Convextion debuted on Detroit label Matrix in 1995; geographically the label was the perfect placement considering just how much Hanson denotes the futuristic, melancholic and deep sounds of his own aesthetic to the influence of the Motor City’s pioneers Juan Atkins and Derrick May.. So here we are starting from the beginning with one of these first recordings constructed of minimalistic yet affecting components; it outlays the ethereal hallmark sound of Convextion. You can see why he’s often been likened to the dub techno of Deep Chord and Echo Space in the way the Dallas based producer opens up the space with granular pads while rolling along with a skewed bassline in a convincing and almost hypnotic way.

Convextion - Premiata [Down Low Music]

Since Hanson began releasing his productions in the mid ‘90s there have been notable spaces between his records. Observing a radio silence in his release schedule from 1997 until 2005 when more material began to surface along with his debut album. Most impactful in this return was the release of his self-titled long player in 2006, homed on the Texan left of centre outpost Down Low Music. To this day this remains the sole album from Hanson and is also in possession of our resident Craig Richards who picked out track ‘Premiata’ to include in his fabric 58: The Nothing Special compilation.

E.R.P. - Vox Automaton [Frustrated Funk]

2007 saw Hanson starting to work under his E.R.P (Event Related Potential) alias - the adopted moniker for his electro edged productions and the one he is most prolific under in contemporary electro circles. This record was homed on European electro outpost Frustrated Funk and is the pure embodiment of machine funk. Around this time his cult like status really became cemented and this record itself was re-issued in 2015, very much feeling like a classic cut. Fun fact: E.R.P. sold his car to buy a Roland ROMpler synth in 1994, the machine also responsible for those otherworldly pads on this track.

Model 500 - Starlight (Convextion Remix) [Echospace]

If you ask any techno producer who knows their salt from Hanson’s generation they will enthuse about how much Juan Atkins and his tracks under Model 500 has influenced them. In the artist’s sole interview interview for the Irish blog, Subsekt in 2012 we learned that this was less of a remix rather than a re-version, with Hanson preferring to reimagine the track rather than mess about with and remix what he felt to be a perfect piece of music from one of his musical heroes.

E.R.P. - Lodestone (Ideograma BSAS Remix) [Semantica Records]

Craig Richards has actually included a track from Convextion/ERP on two of his commercial mixes, the first we already talked about under Convextion, but the second came on his Get Lost VII compilation for Crosstown Rebels in 2014 where he looked to Semantica Records for this remix by low key Spanish producer Idepgrama. With its funk powered swaggering walking bassline it’s no surprise this holds a firm place in Richard’s record bag.

Time Light Curve - Magnetite / Acid Lab [AC Records]

After the spate of activity in 2006 and 2007 there was another breathing space in Hanson’s studio emissions until he returned in 2011 with track contributions to a range of EPs and also a new name, releasing as Time Light Curve on a joint EP with Headnoaks. It’s quite a thing to hear him take a much more upfront approach to his sound moving up from the introspective depths of his tracks as ERP and Convextion on Acid Lab.

E.R.P. - El Camino [Bleep43]

It’s a bit of a rare thing that Hanson comes to play over in the UK - he last played for us in 2011 as part of Craig Richards The Nothing Special and before that you could sometimes catch him playing for London techno crew Bleep43 at their infamous Corsica Studios based throw downs. This infrequent nature of his London performances is why it’s all the more special that he’s returning to Room Two this Easter weekend and also leads us to another highlight from his back catalogue: E.R.P. at its best shimmering piston motioned grooves, on Bleep43’s first vinyl release back in 2012 with ‘El Camino’.