Texas-based label Warm Communications returns after FD’s eclectic early-2012 release and Sun & Bass favourite, ‘Blue Sky Research’ / ‘Stripped’, bringing Astrophonica’s pioneering sound to the table with a 12” of assured quality from label boss Fracture.
Aficionados of Autonomic, the futuristic and minimal offshoot of drum & bass pioneered by dBridge and Instra:mental, will recognise the name Mode from his inclusion in the seminal Mosaic Volume One LP. His track Stepping Stones was one of the stand-outs on the compilation, exhibiting an extraordinary individuality and production value that intrigued and entranced us. We’ve been keenly following his output ever since - which is how we heard word of a new project the Mancunian producer is developing. Under the alias Until Silence, Jonathan Mitchell is taking his music in an entirely new yet equally exciting direction, delving into the sounds of tough techno and acid house.
Having already had one of his unreleased tracks - The Affair - included by Scuba on his recent DJ Kicks mix and a debut release on Warm Communications’ sister label, Pushing Red, back in January, Until Silence is already making significant movements in the UK house & techno scene, as well as internationally.
His latest release, also on Pushing Red, displays a mesmerising array of styles and influences, from the analogue, Detroit-esque swing and acidic, discordant melodies of That Shine, to the euphoric looped vocals, trance stabs and stomping 4x4 groove of Hands Tied.
Until Silence is a name you’ll be hearing a lot more of in the future, so we thought we’d catch up with him for a chat, though we hope it’s not true what he says about the Autonomic scene coming to an halt!
Watching Halogenix’s rapid ascent within the scene in 2012 has been eerily similar to Stray’s emergence in 2009: both came out of nowhere with exciting debuts, both had breathtakingly original releases on Kasra’s Critical Music, both have considered, faultless discographies at this early stage of their careers… it would seem this parallelism and time would eventually bring the two together. Oblique’s wild success only further enhanced the worth of their compact yet explicit, subtle yet immediately appealing oeuvre of work, so it is with no great surprise that their next release should appear on a label committed to vibrant variety and processed simplicity with a guaranteed, uniform quality of sound: Texas’ very own Warm Communications, who present the irregular and meticulous The Pursuit / Poison.
