Crate Diggin’: Six records that inspired Drumcell to make electronic music

Moe Espinosa has always liked his electronic music raw. The techno he makes as Drumcell is gritty and slamming, at once disorienting and poised towards the dancefloor. Much of his material has landed on Chris Liebing’s CLR imprint and his own Droid Recordings – labels that have become known for showcasing a darker side of the genre. While Espinosa cites science fiction as the key inspiration for his work, this relentless approach to making music probably comes from his punk background. Throughout the 90s he was heavily involved in LA’s noise and industrial scene, before artists like Jeff Mills steered him towards a love of synthesizers and mixing records. Ahead of his Room Three appearance with us this weekend, he went into detail on these early influences for our latest Crate Diggin’ feature.

Metal – Gary Numan [Beggars Banquet]

Being the youngest of 4 siblings I was pretty much forced to listen to whatever music my older brothers and sisters listened to. My siblings were between the ages of 13 and 19 years old in the 80s, and music was pumping out of every room in our household. Anything and everything from KISS, Van Halen, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie & The Banshees to The Sex Pistols could be heard playing depending on what room you would walk into. I distinctly remember walking into my sister’s room and hearing Gary Numen. While the song Cars might have been the popular choice, it was the track Metal that really grabbed my attention and instantly became a timeless song that would still be in my rotation today.

The Hacker – ClockDVA [Interfisch, Big Sex]

Shortly after discovering industrial music I was introduced to ClockDVA through an industrial music compilation. The Hacker was the one track from their entire discography that stuck with me. The production of it left me intrigued with how anyone would make music like this. I was oblivious to the idea of samplers and after discovering what they did, I dragged myself further down the rabbit hole of wanting to learn more about making electronic music.

(Let’s Get) Physical – Revolting Cocks [Wax Trax!]

I was a fan of bands like Ministry during a period of teenage angst in the early 90s. I learned that members of Ministry had formed a band called Revolting Cocks, and the name alone was enough to spark my interest. It didn’t take long until I was playing their album Beers, Steers & Queers over and over. The samples and aggressive distorted drum machines inspired me to want to experiment with my own music.

At The Heart Of It All – Nine Inch Nails [Nothing, Interscope, TVT]

Nine Inch Nails was definitely more on the pop side of music inspired by industrial, I recall their music videos were played over and over on MTV’s Headbangers Ball. One day I discovered one of their remix EPs and collaborations they had done with Coil on the record Further Down The Spiral, which was far more experimental and miles away from their pop formatted music. I was already discovering a lot of electronic music when I discovered this song, so I was ecstatic to learn it was a collaboration between Aphex Twin and Trent Reznor.

Second Peng – Autechre [Warp]

When I heard Autechre for the first time, everything I thought I knew about music just unravelled. This was music from the future, and whatever they were doing sounded impossible to pull off. I wanted to learn how they were doing it.

Growth – Jeff Mills [Axis]

I was already attending raves and warehouse parties through the mid-90s. In Los Angeles we got run-of-the-mill trance, drum & bass and gabber, but the day I heard Jeff Mills I knew exactly where I belonged. That started a life-long obsession with everything techno. This is what made me want to DJ. The energy he brought to the decks was next to none and inspired me to start playing records.