It’s been a solid eight years since Australian label Altered States Tapes began “documenting the marginalised fringes of electronic experimentation” as they accurately sum up their unfaltering undertaking; largely delving in Melbourne’s local pool of talents but going international on a few occasions as well. Set to break the new year in with a full batch of tape releases, AST notably conjures up a pair of brill releases courtesy of Australian-born, Taipei-based producer Opal Beau and Finnish prospect Sunny Seppä aka Sansibar, both due out 8th March.
A longtime friend and crucial influence on AST owner Cooper Bowman’s then nascent taste in beat-driven music, Opal Beau delivers a mind-altering mini album of what he funnily labels “industrial bossanova“. Lifted from this intriguing package, we’re glad to share ‘Bronze Mirror‘ – a cut that plays ping-pong between out-there experimental electronics, raw-boned bassy-tech and further swarming droney accents. Not quite anything you could hear these days, ‘Open Window‘ is in Bowman’s own terms the “culmination of Altered States“; an assessment we can only second.
Stepping up next with the killer ‘Quadra‘ EP, Helsinki-based producer Sunny Seppä bursts in pedal to the metal, unleashing four cuts that meld bastardised electro, psychoactive trance’y buildups and mesmeric 303 pulsations for what results in a proper massive dancefloor workout that shall blow the tiles off the club’s roof in a snap. Addictive to the fullest, ‘Sun‘ finds Sansibar surfing lysergic synth-waves like a stoned Kelly Slater, attacking the crest fearlessly as ferocious reef breaks emerge from down rough panchromatic waters. Full-on heavy pumper!
Open Window and Quadra are released via Altered States Tapes on 8th March. Buy the whole bundle here.
TRACKLIST
Sansibar – Quadra
A1. Ecco
A2. Sun
B1. P-64 Surround
B2. Stereo Hemisphere
Opal Beau – Open Window
A1. Staying In Again
A2. Club Panopticon
A3. On The Water
A4. Stronger Pull Than Gravity
B1. Open Window
B2. Bronze Mirror
B3. Interactive Map Of The Sky
Discover more about Altered States Tapes on Inverted Audio.