Press

It's been a while! Just getting back into this... Rebirth in 2022! ...

A love affair with a well-placed sample gave birth to pH10 -Denver, Colorado, Westword, 2009

"Betts and Saturn became pH10, a chemistry-inspired name that evolved from the former moniker. The sound evolved along with the name: Industrial no more, pH10 embraced the dance underground and became a drum-and-bass/breakbeat outfit, a shift Betts acknowledges as happening largely because of Saturn's influence. Together they put out two albums — Sci-Fidelity in 2000 and Quarks and Gluons in 2002 — and had some success touring, including a six-week tour of Europe. In the course of working on another record, Betts began to feel that the partnership was no longer working out, so he and Saturn parted ways after writing an album and a half's worth of material and then scrapping it.

Saturn started a minimal techno outfit called Socks and Sandals but had one more major contribution to make toward pH10. It was he who introduced Betts to Sarah, the woman who is now his partner in both music and life."

-Corey Casciato

Dancing in Your Sleep: Label Microcosm Calms the Nerves - New York City, Village Voice, 28 Feb 2006

"(Ezekiel Honig) - The 28-year-old producer has two full-length CDs on his label (which also includes releases by artists Socks and Sandals and Someone Else), People Places and Things, and his collaboration with Morgan Packard, Early Morning Migration. The two discs inhabit an REM-like dream state—what sounds like water leaking trickles over the vibrating hum of a synth while rhythms fade and reappear without warning."

-Tricia Romano

Weatherperson Wanted. Bring Own Map. And Jokes. - New York Times, 2005

Then Clark Saturn ambled into the room. Freckled and antic, with a beaklike nose, he was wearing a ripped Schlitz bowling shirt and immediately confessed that "I'm not feeling very pretty today" because he had just come from a softball game. His weatherman jokes ("It's very smoky in Amsterdam") generated chuckles, but it was his quirky, non-TV persona that most appealed to Ms. Congdon. And Mr. Saturn was a fellow citizen of the Web, to boot.

"I teach German over the Internet," he explained, in all seriousness. "That's what was attractive about this to me."

After Mr. Saturn departed, Ms. Congdon declared him her favorite. "Clark Saturn," she cooed. "The best weatherman name ever!"

-John Freeman Gill

Listings - NYC, Village Voice, January 1, 2002

"After a hectic week of partying and ringing in the New Year, most folks probably want to relax. The best chill-out night in town turns two: Grab a cup of java and massage your brain cells (or what’s left of them) at the Second Anniversary Undercity party at Halcyon. No out-of-towners, just the stellar locals who fiddle with decks and effects from 3 in the afternoon till “late.” With Mercy_killaH & Hazmaat, BPM0, Klevervice, Clark ov Saturn, DJ Spinoza, Sean Smith, Sheldon Drake, and Instruction Shuttle presenting all manner of ambient, experimental, and minimal techno. Sunday @ 3, Halcyon, 227 Smith, Carroll Gardens, Bklyn"

-Tricia Romano

"Best Career Upgrade by a Former Local" - Denver Westword - Best of Denver, 2001

"Clark ov Saturn was a multifaceted contributor to Denver's scene before his 1999 move to New York City. His local-access cable show -- one teaching German, no less -- never seemed to get in the way of his ambient DJ gigs or the touring schedule of his techno/industrial unit, ph-10. Now ensconced as a DJ in Brooklyn coffee shop/vintage store Halcyon (its global prestige goes far beyond the dark roast), Clark has found time to expand his portfolio. Which explains why the Clarkster was found strolling through Manhattan, coffee in hand, in the guise of a dot-com superstar in one of Visa's Christmas commercials. Go, Clark."

Backwash - Denver, Westword, 2001

The planets must be aligning. That's one way to explain the one-night-only return of pH10, which headlines a multi-bill show at Club Sanctuary on Thursday, November 22. Ever since "Space Trucking Mogul" Clark ov Saturn and "Professional Speaker Killer" Recone F. Helmut (late of LD-50) left the Front Range for the newly hipsterized, brownstone-lined streets of Brooklyn, the electronic duo's appearances here have been rare. But that's not to say that all ties to the area have been cut. This summer, pH10 released its second full-length album, Quarks and Gluons, on local electronica indie Terraform Records; so far, the album has helped heighten the group's status in its adopted New York home as well as in progressive dance-music circles around the country. Live shows are a playful and irreverent blend of party-time ambience and vaudeville theatrics: Thursday's gig promises strip-tease performers, pulsating helmets, and vacuum cleaners serving as stage props. That's all topped by an original, vigorous form of drum-and-bass christened "fungle."

PH10 has proved itself to be one of Denver's most fun and upwardly mobile exports; we're just happy that the duo returns to the farm every now and then. Brought to town by the local New Vision America crew, pH10 appears with live acts Emptyhead and GloLab and drum-and-bass DJ Nightstalker. Welcome home, you strange boys."

-Laura Bond

HitPick - Denver Westword, 1999

"pH10, Friday, October 15, at Seven South, will return to the state but not the planet at their first show in the area since relocating to New York City earlier this year. The eclectic duo -- a curious collaboration between former LD-50 members Recone Helmut and Clark ov Saturn -- combines electronica, drum and bass, ambient and even the occasional lounge theme into a musical stew that's as danceable as it is smart. It's a style that's gained the twosome the hard-earned respect of crowds in European and New York clubs, including the infamous Knitting Factory, that bastion of avant-garde and experimental music. With DJ Jackalope on the bill, Friday's show should prove a worthy adventure in turntabalism, with Helmut and ov Saturn as your trusty sonic tour guides."

-- Laura Bond

(Just after playing Knitting Factory with Trumystic Sound System) - Village Voice

Feedback - Denver Westword, 1998

CLARK OV SATURN VS. RECONE HELMUT, THE DEBUT BY PH10, PROVIDES YOU AND YOURS WITH FOUR SONGS OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC THAT'S WITTY AND PROPULSIVE. "CORPUSCLE" MATES CONVINCING SLAMS WITH COSMIC BUBBLES, "7TH BOTTOM" IS AN ADVENTURE IN QUASI-AMBIENCE WHOSE CHANGES IN DIRECTION ARE ALWAYS WORTH FOLLOWING, "AMBULANCE DRIVERS" SPEEDS INTO DRUM-AND-BASS TERRITORY, AND "PROVERBIAL KICKS" DRAGS FRANK SINATRA INTO THE TECHNO ERA. SATURN AND HELMUT ARE FULL OF IDEAS BUT NOT FULL OF THEMSELVES."

-Michael Roberts

"Chemistry Class" - Denver Westword, 1997

"We always conceptualize the look of our shows," Saturn says. "We use LCD pixel projections, track spots, computer video mixing, fog and smoke."

"You gotta love smoke," Helmut pipes up. "Smoke works wonders."

"And who knows?" Saturn continues mischievously. "You might see live wrestling, ant farms, Jell-O sploshing, animal tricks...The sky is the only limit."