Strategy

A project of Portland, Oregon-based DJ and multi-instrumentalist Paul Dickow -- also a member of Nudge and <a href="spotify:artist:3pBhiHgFB4MnOBqCSFeDnX">Fontanelle</a> -- Strategy fuses dub, funk, house, disco, ambient, and pop into a uniquely shimmering, free-flowing, genre-defying sound. Dickow began working as Strategy in 1999, using an intricate and deeply layered approach that he debuted with 2001's Counter-Clangs single on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Archigramophone%22">Archigramophone</a>. He released his first full-length, Strut, two years later on Outward Music Company, and also remixed a track for <a href="spotify:artist:7tX9RcCbGuLFROHPL2ri9r">Stars as Eyes</a> on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tigerbeat6%22">Tigerbeat6</a> label. Singles and EPs on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ORAC%22">ORAC</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shockout%22">Shockout</a> followed. In 2004, Strategy debuted on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kranky%22">Kranky</a> with Drumsolo's Delight, which had a more structured feel than his debut. Dickow also founded the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Community+Library%22">Community Library</a> label with David Chandler, aka <a href="spotify:artist:2lZ2NxUyTIKJtVc7F5weDe">Solenoid</a>; the label released Strategy's 2005 12" single World House. Remixes for <a href="spotify:artist:7M9x3nV0TCh4JnZTAx6z6x">Nice Nice</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3VNDPLoRirZi28lxSEYkZQ">the Blow</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7gG6LkU3pCSQmCIPR4aSBt">the Juan Maclean</a> followed, along with 2006's Fields of May single. Future Rock, Strategy's most complex yet accessible work to date, was released in 2007. Ambient album Music for Lamping arrived on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Audio+Dregs%22">Audio Dregs</a> early the following year. This was followed the by Krautrock-influenced Electric Soup EP on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Low+Point%22">Low Point</a> and blown-out dub 7" Noise Tape Reggae on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Entr%27acte%22">Entr'acte</a>.

Strategy kept quiet for the next couple years, only issuing two limited 3" CD-R releases in 2009. The project returned to vinyl in 2011 with the EP Super Awareness Is Fruit on U.K. label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Under+the+Spire%22">Under the Spire</a>. Deep house single "The Fixer" appeared on Japanese label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Endless+Flight%22">Endless Flight</a> shortly after. 12" EP Boxy Music surfaced on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Not+Not+Fun%22">Not Not Fun</a> sub-label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22100%25+Silk%22">100% Silk</a> in early 2012. 7" single "Dub in My System" appeared on ZamZam Sounds that summer, along with another 12" on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Endless+Flight%22">Endless Flight</a>, "Luna." In September, Strategy's ambitious self-titled LP, featuring appearances by guest musicians including Thomas Meluch (<a href="spotify:artist:77SQlBEZyyJ7neYnlp0cDl">Benoit Pioulard</a>) and Fred Thomas, was the first released on Los Angeles-based <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Peak+Oil%22">Peak Oil</a>. Cassette What If? was issued by Boomarm Nation by the year's end. 2013 saw Strategy nod to the U.K. house scene with the 12" single "Return from the Stars" on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Idle+Hands%22">Idle Hands</a>. Another dub-influenced 7" on ZamZam Sounds, "Clocky Man," appeared at the end of the year.

Strategy returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Peak+Oil%22">Peak Oil</a> in 2014 with the rave-influenced Pressure Wassure 12" EP. Cassette releases also appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22100%25+Silk%22">100% Silk</a> (Boxology) and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Field+Hymns%22">Field Hymns</a> (Cerebral Hut aka Off the Grid) that year. 2015 saw the release of three full-length Strategy LPs: related albums Seeds of Paradise (on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Idle+Hands%22">Idle Hands</a>) and Pods of Punishment (on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Entr%27acte%22">Entr'acte</a>) both arrived in March, and Noise Tape Self (containing tape loop pieces recorded between 2008 and 2010) was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Further+Records%22">Further Records</a> in June. The same label also put out Strategy's next album, Information Pollution, in February of 2016. ~ Heather Phares & Paul Simpson, Rovi