Pressure is a new garage project produced by Dusky. Still typically resemblant of their trademark sound, this musical excursion looks back to their formative years and early productions that were heavily influenced by UK and US garage. Covering everything from murky 2 step sounds to uplifting vocal bubblers and soulful US influenced 4x4, the project includes collaborations with Manchester's garage revivalist Interplanetary Criminal, two-step pioneer El-B and London-based songwriter Mariella. "When we were writing our most recent album JOY we really enjoyed the process of creating 'Eros', one of the more garage influenced tracks on the album. It reignited our interest in the genre's sound world, so once JOY was complete we got stuck into writing a load of similar material and this project is the result.” - Dusky

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Dusky’s music has always been built on the pleasure principle, but JOY – as the title makes absolutely clear – takes that to new levels of purity and intensity.
Looking back to more innocent times and to rave music’s halcyon days, the duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman have tapped into that special moment when raving was still a voyage into the unknown.

This project is a distillation of the spirit of people coming together in hard times, forgetting their troubles and celebrating life. All of the core elements here are familiar from the peak rave era and the birth of hardcore – the cascading pianos, the infectious bleep melodies, the Chicago and Detroit grooves, the rugged Belgian techno riffs, and the proto-jungle break beats – but retooled, rewired, and refreshed for this brave new world.

It’s both a natural development and noticeable evolution from the pair’s previous work. Natural, because these musical elements have always been apparent in Dusky’s sound, but a clear evolution in they way they are presented, with such an unreserved and joyous tone.

The result is a celebration - and expression - of the communal ecstasy of the dance floor experience. An expression of 18 months yearning to be back out there communing and celebrating. An expression of everything that dance music - and dance culture - is about at its very best.

JOY brings together all the finesse and subtlety that Dusky have honed while traversing the various corners of clubland over the past decade, all their understanding of fundamental dance floor dynamics, and channels it all to a single, unified purpose. At a time when we’ve all suffered, we’ve all struggled, and we’re all uncertain, we’ve never needed this sense of unity more. All the release we’ve so badly wanted is here: we all need JOY.
credits

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Following their recent remix of KiNK’s ‘Perth’ for Running Back, 17 Steps bosses Dusky present their first original productions of 2018 in the five-track Aset Forever EP. Aset Forever is named in tribute to Jan Francis, a friend of Nick & Alfie who tragically lost his life late last year. Founder of the ATG graffiti crew and School Records (alongside Loefah) - Jan was responsible for Dusky's first London gigs both at ATG Warehouse parties and their Staunch residency at Corsica Studios. Covering hard synth driven grooves, tranced-out Italo, proggy techno and blissed out breakbeat house, the five track EP keeps things strictly dancefloor focused - again showcasing the duo’s unique ability to take a myriad of influences and wrestle them into new hybrids that sound their own. Lead track ‘Amongst The Gods’ has been a standout across their sets this year. Taking shuffling breakbeat house rhythms, classic sunrise melodies and 90s rave vocals, it builds to an understated but infectious warehouse crescendo. The EP swiftly moves onto ‘The Ace’ - Striking at 130 BPM, ‘The Ace’ is a hard hitting surge of twisted sonics and clipped rave samples. A dark slab of warehouse tech, ’Staunch' follows, with rolling Reese basslines, ‘ecstasy’ samples and eerie sci-fi chords. The second half of the EP sees Dusky take things deeper. ’Angles’ is a blissed out wash of Detroit techno stabs and vintage house textures, before ‘The Captain’ rounds off the EP with punchy Italo basslines and icy synths.

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UK House & Techno heavyweights Dusky return to their 17 Steps label with the classic house indebted ‘Square Miso’, picking up swiftly where this summer’s hugely successful ‘Cold Heart’ EP left off - the lead track an ever present in Gerd Janson’s summer DJ sets.
Already recognisable to many from Dusky’s festival sets as well as Jackmaster’s recent Circo Loco terrace recording, ‘Square Miso’ draws on the swing of classic NYC house with soulful, cut-up vocal samples and tightly programmed beats, whilst paying tribute to the ‘90s Italian House classics with its distinctive piano melodies - with a dash of Shades Of Rhythm-era UK Rave for good measure. As well as the club-ready original, a beat less piano and strings ‘reprise’ is also included.
A darker, Detroit-nodding club tool, ‘LF10’ blends heavy-hitting stabs, atmospheric melodic textures and House grooves. An immersive roller, like ‘Square Miso’ it serves as another example of the duo’s ability to blend different influences into unique hybrids.
With 2017 releases from B.K.R & Jamie Jones, Christian Piers, Bwana and Kiwi, Dusky’s 17 Steps has become an increasingly prolific outlet of forward thinking House and Techno - with support from Gerd Janson, Midland, Len Faki, Maya Jane Coles, Tiga and George Fitzgerald among others.



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Dusky present the latest 17 Steps release with the ’Cold Heart EP’, a four track package that cements their ability to craft a unique range of house and techno soundscapes. Having spent last year releasing their ‘Outer’ LP, as well as delivering their second acclaimed Essential Mix and touring a new live show, the ‘Cold Heart EP’ sees the prolific duo return to their roots in textured house and techno with four powerful DJ tools. With a nod to vintage New York house through a carefully sourced vocal sample, lead track ‘Cold Heart’ is a blissed out, atmospheric house epic that blends crisp percussion, soulful hooks, washing pads and a hypnotic lead organ melody. A favourite from the duo’s recent DJ sets, ‘Psychic Life Coach’ shuffles with dubby grooves, skippy drums and ethereal vocal cut-ups, before ‘Bowed’ offers a high energy dose of cosmic disco and ravey techno flavours, Rounding things off, closing track ‘Balfour Betty’ is built around warm, swirling synth textures that meet at the intersection of Detroit techno and vintage progressive trance.

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UK production duo Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman aka Dusky drop 4 of the finest remixes from their Outer album campaign of last year on heavyweight white label vinyl.
T. Williams’ cult grime alias Dread D alias and Livity Sound mainstay Kowton lend their hand to 2 heavyweight remixes for the Wiley collaboration ‘Sort it Out Sharon’ whilst the talents of Bwana and techno don shed take to the buttons on ‘Ingrid is a Hybrid’

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Having recently played an eight hour set to a sold-out crowd at London’s Oval Space, the prolific Dusky drop a trio of moody club tool tracks on 17 Steps as they continue their European Autumn/Winter tour. A club tool in the most effective sense, lead track ’Lydia’ is dark, nagging acid groover that builds and builds throughout its 6 hypnotic minutes. With all the melodic material based around the Lydian scale, ‘Lydia’ was originally inspired by a bizarre, trippy dream Alfie had in which everything was all based on the Lydian scale. A homage to classic techno, ‘Bitter Lake’ is a hard-hitting surge of looping, percussive energy and Detroit-nodding rave stabs that build to a hoover-fuelled breakdown release. Rounding off the trio, the brilliantly titled and uniquely composed ‘Infinite Libido’ again explores Dusky’s more percussive tendencies and has been a regular feature in their DJ sets for the past year.


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90s ambient icons Global Communication’s first production since 1997 arrives in the form of a remix. This is a super limited edition one off white label vinyl pressing... 250 copies worldwide. Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard’s 76:14 is one of the 90s’ most acclaimed electronic albums, while a cast of aliases (Reload, Jedi Knights and more) also orbited the project. Their last record came out in 1997, and although there was a live reunion in 2010, the new material we were promised is yet to emerge. Pritchard’s nowhere to be seen on this remix of Dusky’s ‘Skin Deep’ (it’s Middleton flying solo), but it’s still an occasion. According to Dusky, “we knew we wanted someone special and we knew we wanted someone who would get to the heart of the melodies and textures in the breakdown…. Global Communication made perfect sense. Tom has totally delivered, creating something that draws on the heritage of the ambient sound, but also feels current and modern.”

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Pressure is a new garage project produced by Dusky. Still typically resemblant of their trademark sound, this musical excursion looks back to their formative years and early productions that were heavily influenced by UK and US garage. Covering everything from murky 2 step sounds to uplifting vocal bubblers and soulful US influenced 4x4, the project includes collaborations with Manchester's garage revivalist Interplanetary Criminal, two-step pioneer El-B and London-based songwriter Mariella. "When we were writing our most recent album JOY we really enjoyed the process of creating 'Eros', one of the more garage influenced tracks on the album. It reignited our interest in the genre's sound world, so once JOY was complete we got stuck into writing a load of similar material and this project is the result.” - Dusky

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Dusky’s music has always been built on the pleasure principle, but JOY – as the title makes absolutely clear – takes that to new levels of purity and intensity.
Looking back to more innocent times and to rave music’s halcyon days, the duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman have tapped into that special moment when raving was still a voyage into the unknown.

This project is a distillation of the spirit of people coming together in hard times, forgetting their troubles and celebrating life. All of the core elements here are familiar from the peak rave era and the birth of hardcore – the cascading pianos, the infectious bleep melodies, the Chicago and Detroit grooves, the rugged Belgian techno riffs, and the proto-jungle break beats – but retooled, rewired, and refreshed for this brave new world.

It’s both a natural development and noticeable evolution from the pair’s previous work. Natural, because these musical elements have always been apparent in Dusky’s sound, but a clear evolution in they way they are presented, with such an unreserved and joyous tone.

The result is a celebration - and expression - of the communal ecstasy of the dance floor experience. An expression of 18 months yearning to be back out there communing and celebrating. An expression of everything that dance music - and dance culture - is about at its very best.

JOY brings together all the finesse and subtlety that Dusky have honed while traversing the various corners of clubland over the past decade, all their understanding of fundamental dance floor dynamics, and channels it all to a single, unified purpose. At a time when we’ve all suffered, we’ve all struggled, and we’re all uncertain, we’ve never needed this sense of unity more. All the release we’ve so badly wanted is here: we all need JOY.
credits

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Dusky are back with their blistering rework of JT Company’s 1990 release ‘Don’t Deal With Us’. Retaining the infectious piano line of the original Dusky beef up this Italo House classic with their infamous basslines and driving percussion, resulting in a peak summertime anthem.

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Third Son is back for his third EP on 17 Steps ‘Faint Harmonics’. Four tracks filled with his usual gritty percussion and pulsating electro basslines.

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Klose One and Claus Fuss return to their collaborative techno alias OneOneOne with the Pipeline EP. As a DJ, Klose One’s knack for fusing a house music backbone with elements of UKG, bass and grime has allowed him to endure as a staple of London’s fast moving underground scene. Claus Fuss is a classically trained producer and composer, and a master behind the scenes as co-creator of Zed Bias’ live set, and more recently the head of live sound for German synth pioneers Tangerine Dream. As OneOneOne they take an improvisational approach to production, channeling their ideas through analog equipment and live sequencing. Title track ‘Pipeline’ and closer ‘Bewusst’ demonstrate an economic use of individual elements to create tightly wound dance floor rollers with a tough edge. The two let loose on ‘Squeak’ and ‘Jolt’, a pair of stripped back and anthemic techno bangers, primed for a grunge-y basement setting.


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17 Steps present ‘New Atlantis’, a 5 track EP from versatile DJ, producer and dance music historian Chrissy. The EP takes its name from an unexpected source – a 17th century utopian novel of the same name by Sir Francis Bacon, depicting a future society in which science has become the ruling principle. It’s an inspiring idea for Chrissy – an antidote to the assault on truth and intellectualism led by climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, creationists, unfit-for-office demagogues and the slow suffocation of fact-based journalism. ‘New Atlantis’ explores the utopian worldview implicit in early rave music, drawing on classic Chicago house, UK hardcore and Drexciyan electro. The result is a collection of jacking breaks and bass infused dance music washed with a bittersweet euphoria – celebrating and lamenting an era’s forgotten optimism.A1. In Paradise, A2. New Atlantis, B1. New Instruments, B2. In Paradise (Loods Remix), B3. Composition for Sample, Flexatone & Vibraslap


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Joris Biesmans debuts on 17 Steps with his Big Mouth EP. The Berlin based Belgian follows hit records on Rhythm Cult, Aeon and his own Tve Recordings with an EP crafted in his trademark style – propulsive, analogue driven house and techno, rich in melody and colour. ‘After All These Years’ and the title track ‘Big Mouth’ are anthemic, brimming with extrovert synths and acid lines. On ‘DrumatiXL’ Biesmans channels vintage, celestial electro through his hardware. It’s a slick, sci-fi inspired three track selection primed for the Berlin dancefloors he calls home

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London based producer Christian Piers has a decade of production experience and a discography that spans house, techno and drum and bass. He is a long-term friend of 17 Steps, and became the second artist to release on the label after label heads Dusky back in 2015. Acclaimed releases on Curle and with Leon Vynehall as Laszlo Dancehall have sustained Christians' reputation as a truly versatile producer. With ‘Virus’, his debut LP under this alias, Christian puts himself forward an exceptional and compelling voice in UK techno, drawing on his experience in drum and bass and breaks, a sample heavy hip-hop inspired approach to production and a dubbed out, industrial techno aesthetic. Opener ‘Extrinsic’ lays the foundations, combining cavernous drones and rattling breaks over submerged kicks, conjuring up images of chasmal warehouses, dusty basements and rattling window frames. Elsewhere delay soaked stabs bounce off combative breaks. A dialogue between Christians’ influences ensues that’s as captivating as it is individual. Christian creates passages of intense energy without breaking a sweat. Cold atmospheres are navigated with an unhurried authority and confidence that prevents them from becoming desolate. Behind the gritty haze and forceful bassweight Christian hides the playful, agile rhythms that have become his signature – percussive sounds stumble and roll in the background, whip like snares slice through the fog. ‘Virus’ is an exhilarating ride; right up to the final bars of the teasing, anti-climactic dancefloor weapon ‘Resource Depletion’. The infinite rising tones of the closer are a bold and forward looking statement of intent from an artist whose evolution continues to unfold.

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Third Son returns to 17 Steps for his diverse 'Avril' EP. Bringing Electronica and Acid soundscapes alike, the 4 tracks highlight the endless benefits to his vulnerable, raw and unconstrained production technique.

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