Afrikan Sciences carry the torch and grant the sight. This is his second offering for the ESP Institute. On the A side, 'The New Dun Language' shows us the meaning of loose. Literally everything about this masterpiece takes its time and operates in its own space, rhythms work together but stand apart, timbres inherently laidback are made aggressively present, like the diffused attack of a shaker that’s shook with such purpose it’s no longer granular but razor sharp. The soundstage drops all around you like percussion shrapnel, splitting your attention every which way, while the string lines remind you that no matter how deep inside your head you’ve gone, there is always a nearby exit to the comforts of familiarity. Flip the record over, however, and the track 'In His Convenient Way' will even further discombobulate your sense of self. Do you have dreams you’re on a merry-go-round and with each revolution you try to hop off, but you can’t? Each time you cycle around, the tension grows and grows? Well, this is like that, menacing but not dark, a demented odyssey through an impossibly thick swamp where you swear the trees are whispering to you but can’t quite understand their language, yet still you manage to communicate. As the time passes, and you near end of the track, the impenetrable veil slowly lifts and you realize you’ve been in control all along. These two songs will two songs will help to contemplate, heal and transcend. More

Afrikan Sciences hold time in one hand and space in the other. This is his first offering for the ESP Institute. Side A’s 'Have It Tall' boasts the characteristics of an improvised jam session. Tipped-off in a theme of rapid-fire percussion and an innocent chord progression, each instrument ventures into its own loosely carved space, allowing squelching sporatic bursts of bassline, rhodes piano twinkles and a frenetic funky drummer pattern that haphazardly cuts in and out, to coexist without ever stepping on one another’s toes. The production is simultaneously aggressive and mesmerizing, bright cracking punctuations alternate with a fat rolling bottom end, all elements dry and present. On side B’s 'Daily Gates', things are a little slower to get rolling. Currents of swirling synth chords carry over from the previous side, but here we’re dragged across a long and thumping upright bass intro. The fabric of instrumentation casually weaves itself over a 5 minutes of liberally syncopated rimshots, hi-hats and snaps, before a guitar interjects with a triumphant and otherworldly melody, a brief shot of glowing optimism before returning us to a heavy cosmic slop. These two songs have built the end into the beginning. More

Peerless rhythmist and sonic explorer Afrikan Sciences makes his PAN debut with 'Circuitous,' the third full-length, freeform offering from the New York-based artist. At the nexus of Afrofuturism, science fiction, transcendental free jazz, and future hip hop, this new work from Eric Porter Douglas casts itself and its creator in a liminal zone most recognizably charted by astral traveler Sun Ra. 'Circuitous' follows from nearly a decade of releases for Deepblak -the Oakland-rooted imprint of frequent collaborator Aybee- and shares common blood with both the elevated conscious- ness of late '80s club culture and contemporary West Coast beat scene Built around Douglas' signature polyrhythms and complex melodies, the unorthodox agility demon- strated throughout the album's fourteen tracks reflect his long history of live, improvised sets combining multiple turntables, upright bass, and a command center of digital tablets and controllers. Each track maps the artist's own movements, tracing paths of flight, highway trajectories through tunnels and over bridges, and rides through rough and gated neighborhoods. If familiar on the surface, deeper or repeated listenings to 'Circuitous' reveal the dynamic multiplicity embodied within. 'Circuitous' is a free and unbound body of work-one that defies easy classification yet translates fluidly across multiple environments-compiled over double LP in order to fully realize the scope of Afrikan Science's sonic palette. The album is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, pressed on a double 140g vinyl & CD, featur- ing artwork by Louis Reith & Bill Kouligas. 1. Two in the Chamber 04:45 2. Reddin Off 04:32 3. Transient Authority 03:05 4. Evolved In Twists 06:28 5. Circuitous 05:34 6. Kae 06:03 7. Feel 07:38
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The "Future Reference EP" see's Deepblak label head AYBEE pushing ever forward into the outliers of electronic rhythms. Always avoiding convention "The Future Reference EP" continues to expand on the producers affinity for forward thinking dance music rooted in soul expression More

The Passage EP brings together two of the chief champions of far reaching sounds in AYBEE, and Lars Bartkuhn. Bartkuhn best known for his work with his iconic (NEEDS) imprint, and AYBEE for his boundary pushing ethos at (Deepblak). A project spawned of mutual love, and respect the two met at an impromptu jam performance at the Xjazz Fest where the seeds were planted for further collaboration. Committed to stretching out beyond tight parameters they sought to capture the spirit of the dance. As "The Astral Walkers" they set out to combine the fearless freedom of the Jazzfunk era with the endless possibilities within electronic music.
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