Impulsive and intuitive hardware house & techno from Vancouver duo minimal violence aka Ashlee Luk & Lida P. The five tracks on 'Night Gym' soundtrack urban landscapes; textured synths, heavy kicks, and dense polyrhythms come together to form the duo's own brand of outsider house. Citing influence from both minimal synth and Chicago house, Night Gym arrives hot off the heels of the duo's self titled ep on Dublin based First Second Label which closely examined the intersections that lay between punk and techno. Recorded in February/March 2016 in the duo's home studio, the instinctual nature of live work flow plays an important role in the duo's creative process. Utilizing hardware (SH-101, TR-606/505/707, Waldorf Blofeld, Juno-60, DX-21, MPC1000) in addition to sourced samples with final compositions compiled and manipulated in Ableton, Night Gym is an example of the duo's diverse interests and collaborative nature. The duo recruited visual support from Chicago based graphic designer Kevin McCaughey of NONPOROUS for the distinct imagery of Night Gym. As well he designed the poster that comes in the 12" and screen printed a limited run of long sleeve t-shirts available through Boot Boys Biz.
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Comforting warm blanket of an IDM 12” from NYC producer Luis aka Brian Pineyro, with four new tunes about distance and separation that take shape as street-lit electro drifters and ruminative breaks. Inspired by displaced persons and missing people to different degrees and building on his work as DJ Xanax, DJ Python and DJ Wey, Luis drifts deeper into the emotional side of headphone electronica hinterlands with moods evenly split between warmth and isolation, submerged alongside deep bass and unfading melodies.
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Illusory house and techno from New York native Image Man, following up a release on crucial newcomer label Sunal/Perabob with another four-track 12” of windy, paradoxical tracks built from samples and drum machine. “Glance” shifts further into a weirded out but druggily decadent realm where he’s found looping the reflections of disco, soul and ancient pop samples into his own spaced and primitive euphorias, starting out with the slowmo downbeat of “More” before the more apprehensive rhythms of “Else” end up filtering out into a pool of a reverberant samples that echoes out the second half. From the Image Man himself: “We trust in the sound we take for granted—the music wouldn't lead us astray, would it? Emotions can lead us astray, the wanting to feel, the wishing of forever lasting, the pleading for change, the expectation of ecstasy. Just a quick glance in the mirror.”
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Vancouver producer Sophie Sweetland (aka D. Tiffany) switches into new guise DJ Zozi for a faded, sample-based take on smoked out drum & bass. The “Mellow Vibe” 12” is four jumped up but dazed slants on soulful rollers More

Edmonton now Vancouver-based producer Khotin keeps his head in similar clouds as those on 2014’s “Hello World” cassette with a four track 12” of deep, reflective 707 house. “Baikal Acid” gets introspective on both sides—Side A features both a beat-focused and ambient rework of wintery, transitional zoner “Recycle”, and melodies are pushed similarly to the foreground on the B side where the EP’s title track and “Human Voice” further the dance-friendly lonerisms and sequenced realness of these late night hybrid moods. More

Max McFerren checks in for the third time (but first under his given name) on 1080p, taking risks and hittin’ on life over four tracks of weirded-out acid and funk-tinged elations on the “Sipps” 12”. Created in a time of complete uncertainty about the future in NYC’s Chinatown, McFerren explores the purity of the break and acid ecologies, utilizing a “take me to your dealer” type of alien funk vocabulary in order to explore and push his own voice into a stranger place.
“Sipps” is a survey of sorts; synthesizing his previous MCFERRDOG tape frivolities and a more real life / real name club-based language with thoughts towards of figuring out what is the most “you” in your music are clearly audible; touching down to earth for the first time, trying to make friends, and learning about yourself in the process
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