Not one to bow down before the music industry’s status quo nor fear challenging its listener into uncharted playgrounds, Australian imprint Altered States Tapes has been at the frontline of daring electronics ever since its mastermind, Cooper Bowman, gave his project the kiss of life nearly a decade ago. Players may have changed over the years but the imprint’s inimitably ballsy program remains intact.
Pursuing in their tradition of bold swagger and punk-minded take on the fringes of club and non-club music, AST round off 2019 with an ever excitingly diverse batch of pumped-up music to knock your senses askew and further dreamy, off-kilter delicacies sure to have the home systems wading in subdued psychedelia.
Lifted from Antonio‘s newest tape album, ‘High Voltage!‘, the title-track shall trigger off both intense muscular and emotional response from the dancers with its wistful string flights merging along brutal 303-flexing onslaughts, Arpanet-style, NASA-engineered computer talk and the most efficient breaks to whelm all in a state of seditious trance. Full-fledged brain-melting material, beware.
On a whole other note, Melbourne’s rising talent YL Hooi steps up with a mesmerising piece of opiated dub-folkism, reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane’s hallucinogenic ballads. FX-soaking wet drums thud loudly, soon dissolving in whimsical volutes, guitar riffs flowing with debonair ethereality as sino-infused melodic stabs and Ying’s enslaving vocals achieve turning the ride into a proper unreal, healing journey for the soul. Tune in and cast off to another world.
Untitled and High Voltage! are out now, order a copy from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
YL Hooi – Untitled
A1. Title
A2. Straight Through
A3. E Park
A4. W/O Love
A5. Stranger (Love Joys)
B1. When You’re Up There
B2. Strobe Lite
B3. Lucky
B4. Prince S Version
B5. Always In Jokes
Antonio – High Voltage!
A1. Adriatic Abyss
A2. Corto Circuito
A3. New Generation
A4. Strange Form Of Life
B1. Drive Into The Desert
B2. State Of Emergency
B3. The Dentist
B4. High Voltage!
Discover more about Antonio, YL Hooi and Altered States Tapes on Inverted Audio.