Detroit based multi instrumentalist Jimmy Edgar brings his unique electronic vision to Items & Things for the label’s keenly anticipated fourth release. Edgar’s versatility is well documented with influences ranging from jazz, funk and R&B through to Chicago house and of course Detroit techno. For this outing he puts his distinctive R&B tinged electronica to one side, laying down some timeless acid house grooves that pay homage to the founding fathers of the genre. The sublime techno soul of the title track Funktion House kicks off the 4-track EP with sweet chord stabs and laid back laser sweeps dominating the intro. A gentle yet infectious background melody that’ll pull bodies to the dancefloor like bees to honey completes the summertime vibe with each element effortlessly evolving as Edgar applies subtle ring shifts and delays to the down tempo groove. The tension gradually builds with some acidic tweaks eventually emerging to complement the squelchy bassline but the track never loses sight of its soulful origins, keeping the floor ticking over and soothing the collective spirit in a wash of old school nostalgia. Dark acid tones abound on Young Thing with its dirty, scratchy vocal parts posturing over a sparse, razor sharp 808 groove in a return to the days of Phuture Fantasy Club and Fast Eddie’s Acid Thunder. The nervous tension resonates back and forth between the liquid acid and the pitched down vocals creating the perfect late night dancefloor moment that’ll turn the most innocent of clubs into a heaving sweatbox, maintaining the high standards and left field agenda set by the label’s previous three releases. The beats get nasty as another of Detroit’s next generation, Thrill Cosby aka Seth Troxler goes to work on reforming Funktion. The mood is relentless from the off with another twisting acid line accompanying a host of peripheral bleeps, efx and reinterpreted retro synth stabs from the original version. The groove pushes forward urgently, cloaked by freaky pitcheddown vocals that repeat hypnotically into a full-on electro funk breakdown that disorientates and seduces in equal measures. Edgar’s own acid remix of Funktion offers a more toxic take on the original theme. It’s raw, stripped down with urgent snare rolls, machine gun claps and cavernous reverberating vocal efx. The jacking bassline becomes embroiled with the splayed hi-hat pattern before a complimentary second bassline fleshes out the sequence. The powerful acid rush continues to ebb and flow, teasing the floor constantly before he finally drives it to point of climax, tweaking the controls to oblivion until the track dissolves into a sea of delay. More

TRACKLISTING:
1. Test Tubes
2. Bone
3. Manufactured Consent
4. The Cut
5. Freedom for the Fifty
6. Extinct
7. Laboratory Conditions
8. Five Degrees
9. Opposition Division
10. Intelligence Fetish
11. Caibu
12. Into Consciousness

Release Info:

Scuba continues his uncompromising SCB moniker with 'Caibu', a twelve track LP of cerebral techno, darkened disco and broken beats out April 13th on Hotflush.

Paul Rose's career has enjoyed a unique trajectory that affords his reputation as one of the scene's most forward-thinking artists, label heads and promoters. Always the risk taker, his Hotflush imprint is credited as a key force behind the evolution of bass music, whilst his ground-breaking booking policy for the sub:stance night at Berghain opened up one of the world's most revered venues to new sounds and musical possibility. Today he continues to challenge the status quo of electronic music through a packed touring schedule, various artistic projects of his own and a weekly radio show platforming new material.

'Caibu' is his first album as SCB and incorporates material from the 'Below the Line' and 'Old Media New Society' EPs of last year. Preceding the release, a third EP - 'Engineered Morality' - will drop 16th March, continuing to explore the fictional narrative in which a climate-related disaster corrupts a hypothetical timeline. The title of the album itself refers to an imagined surgical procedure where cognitive ability is augmented through transplant from one brain to another. As such, 'Caibu' and its accompanying EPs invite the listener to forge their own ideas on the development of society in the context of crisis.

Within this dystopic setting, 'Caibu' draws strength from introspection. At times trapped in a pressurized container, at others floating through vast spaces; SCB merges subdued hypnotism, syncopated basslines and visceral ambience to find his centre. Metallic surfaces are moulded into polyrhythmic patterns replete with ricocheting drums, whilst unfamiliar acoustics provide a backdrop for the unfurling narrative.

Artwork for the three EPs and album commissioned by Jonathan Lawrence.
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