Selections 006
It’s time for Selections number six and we have a handful of fresh releases that have been creating a certain type of mood for us these past few weeks: psychedelic, deep and driving, quirky, ultimately unclassifiable… It’s the sound of producers new and old finding the sweet spot between familiar ground and territory unknown.We start with the highly anticipated debut of Slow Life’s Laurine, as classy and on-point as expected, before jumping over to a VA from Birmingham’s space•lab featuring the talent that is Anderson. We are loving the meaningful concept and work of art from Rome’s Pancratio on his label One Trip To Avyon, and Klasse Wrecks' much-desired and now re-pressed 90s banger by Hi-Tech Criminal. We close the selections with mood-setting breezy breaks by Basement Spaceon Leeds’ Butter Side Up. Whether you’re starting to go out or still staying at home, this is music for the mind, body and soul, so join us on this trip!
Laurine - T.O.S.D.L [Slow Life]
It’s been seven years after Slow Life emerged onto our scene with a series of releases from S. Moreira and how things have changed. The roster of artists releasing on the label has expanded (like an extended family) while the DJing paths of their core members have gone from strength to strength. Now, on release #031, it’s finally time for co-founder Laurine to step up to the production plate with the Abun.dance EP, and the results live up to expectations.These four tracks are very much a distillation of the Slow Life aesthetic, instantly recognisable to anyone who’s seen Laurine and Cecilio in one of their infamous extended B2Bs. The signifiers of their beloved 90s sound – organs, breaks, bleep basslines, house chords – are present and correct, but of course presented with a contemporary mix and balance. The lead-off track, ‘T.O.S.D.L’, pulls this trick off effortlessly, adding just enough quirk and dissonance in the bass and acid lines to offset its cool and classic central house groove.
Anderson – Tasty Water Stuff [space•lab]
Matt Anderson has been a regular on Say What? favs Wex and sublabel Day By Day, so it’s hardly a surprise that his track on this VA from space•lab also caught our ear. In a compilation that dives headlong into the depths of psychedelic breaks, electro and trance, Anderson’s whimsically named ‘Tasty Water Stuff’ stands out for its patient pace and spacious sound stage, the tribal and trancey flourishes finessed into a chugging mover that will serve for warm-up and crack-on alike. Anderson manages to release quality after quality while maintaining his own distinct sound. In our opinion he is one of the most talented and exciting producers on the circuit – hats off!
Pancratio – Unconscious Research [One Trip To Avyon]
Gian Luigi Mendozza aka Pancratio has a long and multifaceted career behind him already despite only being 28 years old, from early minimal success to diverse aliases (check his releases as NDSOMEWARE, for example) and the establishment of his OTTA Research Lab production studio in Rome. The past year has seen the launch of his label One Trip To Avyon, featuring sought-after EPs with long-time collaborator Giammarco Orsini and, now, new solo Pancratio material which shows a different side to the producer heading into trance territory. Titled ‘Pancratio pres. OTTA3 X La Trense’, the latter ‘La Trense’ comes from ‘Trance’ as a genre as well as a meditative form, while the titles of the tracks are different steps used in Eriksonian's hypnosis procedure. In the first place La Trense was inspiredby Aleister Crowley's Magick, and the focus on different types of meditations described there, while Gilbert Rouget's Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations Between Music and Possession conveys his main idea of 'meditation in motion'. Pancratio suggests that meditation in a modern society is possible in a club environment i.e. a spiritual temple, where the DJ is a shaman and the music a mantra which guides the listener on an inward journey. Aesthetically he’s put together two talented visual artists Fresh Rucola and Alice Zani to make the release a whole work of art. Zoning in on the music, as you’d expect from a studio lifer, these tracks are heavyweight hardware jams based on rock solid sound fundamentals and the sense of flowing evolution that only comes from analogue experimentation. The tracks fit perfectly with the psychedelic, spaced-out feel of these Selections and will surely take plenty of late morning dancefloors on a real trip.
Hi-Tech Criminal – Light Bulb [Klasse Wrecks]
Mr Ho and Luca Lozano’s label Klasse Wrecks has been a long-time staple for that meeting point of classic 90s rave, hardcore and techno with today’s genre-blending tastes and production values. Part of their appeal comes from the magpie-like A&R that sees hot new and upcoming names rub shoulders with people who were there the first time round. Hi-Tech Criminal is one of the latter, having put out just a couple of EPs in the mid 90s that over time have become highly prized finds. Klasse Wrecks are now reissuing the Duster EP with a bonus unheard version of the title track, but it’s the dynamic, Chicago-indebted squiggle of ‘Light Bulb’ that makes our Selections, bringing back fond memories of when it was played. Its alluring vibe and out-of-the-box sound design steams up any dancefloor.
Basement Space – Equilibrium [Butter Side Up]
Butter Side Up is one of the most reliably high-quality labels operating at the moment, privileging quality over quantity in some of the prettiest packages you’ll see (thanks to their enduring collaboration with designer Sophie Douala). The latest EP from Stockholm’s Basement Space continues this streak, leaning into the more musically and rhythmically interesting side of house and breaks. The broken beat force is strong with this one, but what really stands out is the incorporation of rave gestures into the equation, be it crafty sirens and lasers or pulsing acid on the B side or the rolling hip-house groove and scratches on the lead track ‘Cosmonaut’. We’ve picked ‘Equilibrium’, with its sophisticated jazzy breaks, taking our imagination to a beachfront situation (Dimensions anyone?). This is music being made with intelligence, shot through with a real sense of fun, and all backed up by serious musical chops.
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