Noah Pred (New Kanada, Thoughtless Music) and Eric Downer (Thoughtless Music, Fukhouse) from Toronto DJ at Ramp Chicago’s night at Debonair Social Club in their very first Chicago performance.
Resident DJ Liz Revision supports alongside resident VJ Spiderback and his special guest Amputeenie. Expect a mix of glitched-out IDM, edgy ambient, minimal techno and tech house.
Old school meets new school when Toronto scene builders Noah Pred and Eric Downer perform at Ramp Chicago’s night at Debonair Social Club. With a recent full length techno release on New Kanada, Ecocosm, Noah Pred holds down a residency with 
the Fukhouse crew and runs the Thoughtless Music and Sentient Sound labels. Eric Downer has been a force within the
Toronto scene producing numerous events and helping to bring a larger international presence to the already cosmopolitan city.
Through his releases on New Kanada, Throughtless and Sentient Noah Pred has quickly established himself as one of Canada’s rising stars in the international electronic music scene. Having performed alongside diverse artists like Funk D’Void, James Holden and Mathew Jonson he comes to us fresh from a tour of Europe and the Canadian West coast for his very ?rst Chicago performance.
Eric Downer has been a presence in what’s come to be known as the second wave of Detroit techno since its inception. He has performed alongside Richie Hawtin at some of the earliest Plus8 parties in both Detroit and Toronto and has contiued to play a major role in Torornto’s techno community holding down residencies and putting on events at Sensor, Footwork, 99 Sudbury, Guvernment as part of the Fukhouse crew. Recently Downer has begun producing his own tracks on the Thoughtless Label that he runs with Noah Pred.
All of Ramp’s residents are original content producers while being skilled at manipulating work in the live environment. Liz Revision chooses between glitchy minimal techno and melodic IDM. Resident VJ Spiderback mixes his own visual material live in response to the music, and has invited Amputeenie to share video mixing duties.
Ramp Chicago promotes and organizes forward-thinking electronic music events that focus on innovation in sound and video. Devoted to live and interesting electronic music that takes a path somewhere between the dance ?oor and your headphones, Ramp continues to bring in artists that straddle genres and take chances. www.rampchicago.com
Noah Pred
Producing dance music and performing live for over eight years, Noah Pred emerged from
Vancouver’s underground as a sought-after techno DJ with a sophisticated sound and unique style.
Devoted to authentic and soulful strains of techno in all its permutations, Noah’s sound continues to
evolve while remaining ?rmly driven by the dance?oor.
Since his ?rst records came out in the late nineties, his productions have received international
support, appearing on charts from renowned talent such as Carl Cox, Cari Lekebusch, and Laurent
Garnier. His subsequent 12-inch EPs and remixes have continued to garner critical acclaim while
moving dance?oors across the globe, appearing on playlists from Tokyo to Glasgow.
As a DJ and live act, Noah has travelled throughout Europe and North America, performing alongside
such diverse artists as Funk D’Void, James Holden and Mathew Jonson. After working as
assistant A&R for Consigned Recordings in Montreal, Noah applied his label skills by spearheading
the Paci?c Technics project, a triple-vinyl compilation bene?ting Amnesty International. The Paci?c
Technics CD, selected and mixed by Noah Pred, was released in June 2004.
Exploring his compositional versatility, Pred launched the Shen project later that year. Geared towards
digital downtempo, electronic dub and emotive IDM, Shen has provided Noah with a creative outlet for
productions that roam beyond the borders of clubland. His debut Shen full-length, ‘Outlines’, was
released on Native State Records in December 2006.
Recently relocated to Toronto where he’s accepted a DJ residency with the Fukhouse crew, he runs
two record labels from his studio headquarters - Thoughtless Music and Sentient Sound. Delving into
the potentials of ?eld recording and integrated sound design, Noah’s latest techno full-length on New
Kanada, ‘Ecocosm’, was released in August 2007.
Eric Downer
Growing up in the industrial town of Cambridge, Ontario, Eric Downer had become fascinated by
electronic music at an early age and was editing mixes on his dad’s dual cassette hi-? at age eleven.
Access to late night radio and a few well stocked record stores saw that he was buying music as soon
as his ?rst pay check was in hand at age fourteen. By seventeen, Downer was playing his varied
music collection to jocks, preps, punks and nerds in school gymnasiums and the seedy low rent bars
of downtown Cambridge, incorporating video and audio. Later, Downer moved to London, Ontario and
found work in a record shop being paid exclusively in vinyl. It was here that his career as a DJ really
began to take shape. London at the time was booming with the right mix of people and saw Downer at
gigs with peers as well as headlining alongside out-of-towners. Seeing the greater music industry
through the performers brought in from other cities ensured that Eric was past the point of no return.
Working with such a crowd provided much inspiration and pushed Eric into newer styles of music and
sound mixing.
The mid 1990’s saw Downer make the move to Toronto and partake in events hosted by
Transcendance and Alien Visitation, among others. This opened him up to many venues across the
whole of the city from gritty, decrepit slaughterhouses, to derelict warehouses, out to the forests and
beaches, onto tall ships and back to the heady nightclubs and more intimate nightspots. Eric has
played early Plus8 parties with Plastikman between 1993 and 1995, has shared the stage with Riley
Reinhold aka TripleR, Magda, Greg Gow, Sleeparchive and countless others. Mixing ambient, then
getting out the techno and cutting his teeth at various weeklies and events, Downer was broadsided
by the sounds of house. It was this period that saw him working through various genres during sets
and experimenting with different sounds, textures and atmospheres on the dance?oor, keeping house
at the center of his sound. Playing clubs like Industry, and other events gave Eric the freedom to
express moods and ideas to sold out crowds Gigging alongside many of the peers he met in London,
he was also billed with many other luminaries of the techno, ambient and house spheres while holding
down various residencies. This exposure at home saw interest generated in other cities, bringing Eric
to Halifax, Cincinnati, Detroit, Atlanta and points in-between.
Currently, Eric is still experiencing the ?ux of his career, working by day as an audio technician in
television and ?lm, he maintains his role in Toronto’s underground, collaborating with Fukhouse during
2003/4 and starting his own night, Sensor. Still inspired by new technologies and sounds, Downer
mixes a blend of his past in?uences with modern tech-house, techno and ambient textures to create a
true and sublime dance?oor experience. In the past few years he has been a part of boundary pushing
nights, bringing in current underground and respected talent while working in clubs like System
Soundbar, and various non traditional spaces. The continuing inspiration and collaboration with like
minded people and promoters Alienin?ux, Fukhouse, Terra, Footwork, Sensor and Geometry signify
the supportive and dynamic atmosphere currently in Toronto and its vicinity. With an eye on the world,
and an ear for new sounds, Downer now takes the last ?fteen years of his life in music and works a
fresh transition into the studio, and his future.
Liz Revision [subVariant, Chicago] – Resident DJ
A true “multi-hyphenate,” Liz McLean Knight–the sole female behind Quantazelle–is thoroughly
immersed in technology, fashion, music, and the often-surprising overlaps between. While attempting
to circuit bend battery-powered music toys for an upcoming music performance, she discovered that
electronic components can be turned into elegant jewelry and started an entire fashion line called
Zelle.
Versed in internet technologies and programming languages she started up an online store to sell not
only her jewelry, but also accessories and gear for the technologically-sophisticted yet fashionably-
minded crowd–Fractalspin.com. As Quantazelle she combines complex percussive programming,
sonic innovation, and engaging sound design together with an approachable melodic sensibility with
often booty-shaking results.
Site: http://www.quantazelle.com | Blog: http://www.lizrevision.com
Spiderback [TheCorp/House of Nine Dragons, Chicago] – Resident VJ (right)
Spiderback (aka Ben Cirrus) has been collaborating with various artists on numerous projects in
Chicago for well over 10 years. From founding artist spaces 1717 Federal, TheCorp and House of
Nine Dragons, to starting and rocking in local bands Color Dots, Replikator, Cyst, Black and Blue Inc.,
Silencer, Invertabrae and The Gravetones, Spiderback has explored a wide range of musical styles
and media of expression. VJ work is his latest method of spreading the disease of creativity.
Site: http://www.spiderback.com
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Thursday, March 27, 2008 @ Debonair Social Club
