8 Tracks: Classic Records For Deep Thought And Astral Travelling With Andy Hart

Basic Channel’s Quadrant Dub is easily the most listened to record in my collection, pure perfection. For 20 minutes the record can feel like an endless loop, being soaked into the background as ambience but if you pay attention, it’s incredibly intricate and detailed. It also works on dance floors. I love this record.

In his own words, Iasos makes “Music that can function as a vibrational-gateway into celestial dimensions of Light & Love & Awareness and this album “is intended to sensitive listeners to the subtler, higher frequencies of this reality”. He believes his music comes directly from celestial beings who use him as a medium to communicate with the rest of us. Xosar interviewed him for EB and it’s well worth a read.

Alex and Sean’s Albrecht La’Brooy project is one of the most interesting concepts to come out of Melbourne in recent years and I’m humbled to have released this record through Voyage. Their live shows as well as their work is generally improvised, touching on ambient, IDM, techno and jazz. Analogue Attic is their record label which showcases “the gentle side of electronic music down under”.

One of my favourite artists from the Giegling camp, this pseudo live recording from Planet Uterus is an incredibly hypnotic journey, super stripped back, textural and polyrhythmic. You can download the mix here and now grab some of the tracks used on his album 8.

I love the nostalgia associated with UK rave culture from the 90s. A lot of the music is charming in its production with a sense of hope or defiance. It would have been amazing to be there during it all but the experience of going back through the history, listening to the records and reading the stories, blog posts and interviews is an experience in itself and this album from The KLF captures that feeling.

Unfortunately I don’t know a lot about AWM, all of his earlier music was released on CD although a lot is now available through his label Harmonic Resonance Recordings Bandcamp. Certainly music for star gazing, his albums always remind me of space and the cosmos. Some kind soul has created a huge playlist of his music on Youtube which I’m always returning to.

I wanted to include at least one record from Innovative Communication, their immense catalogue is superb and this was the first record I bought from the label. Software’s back catalogue is also worth exploring for tune-in, zone-out electronic excursions.

This was the most played album throughout my time at university and a real introduction to dub techno (thanks to Intrusion’s RA mix). Steve Hitchell from Echospace explained how the album was recorded during the cold, isolated winter months in Detroit and Chicago by sending tape reels of music ideas and field recordings back and forth with Rod Modell (Deepchord). The album has an incredible texture and is absolutely immersive when listened to in headphones.

Fans of Warp and IDM know how important Autechre is to the genre and although perhaps not as innovative as his other albums, musically Garbage overlaps many of my favourite electronic styles with elements of dub, ambient, techno and IDM.