US BEATS stable Loot Recordings has welcomed Indian producer Aditya Prabhu to its roster.
Recording as Filtergeist, Aditya has begun to carve out a name for himself in the past couple of years with a brace of mixes and a series of individual tracks for Quilla with trademark geometric videos.
His debut release for Loot, the Invocation EP, presents as a six-tracker: three originals, each paired with a guest remix.
Hear opener and title track “Invocation” and you can see what an appropriate name Aditya has chosen for himself. An old-skool trancey wash is the primer on the canvas; the kick drum sits just so in the mix, propelling ever on, but not up in your face; while disincarnate voices, all layer and echo, and gamelan-style bells wash across in free time. You have to burrow in. It’s got a real echo of Berlin IDM overlords Monolake: hypnotic, ever moving, layers shifting. INVOKER takes the track and nudges it right out into the middle of the floor, all tough, fuzzy synth builds and wordless, breathy vocal hooks. It’s got muscle.
“Deja Vu” again builds from percussive rain and thundery roars to form into a bell-led and spacey groove. You’ll shuffle, eyes shut, a small smile playing across your lips. There’s Lifeforms-era FSOL buried in the code; there’s landscape to this one. Without you even noticing, there’s a massive 90s-style anthemic synth hook right up at you. Roi Okev takes the original by the hand and takes it for a spin in spacy trancer country.
The EP closes with “Wisterian Waves”, and we’re back into Basic Channel territory with that clicky kick drum and wide, wide sound washing you ever on.
Me, I’m happier with the brilliant, propulsive ambience of the three straight originals; but then I hung up my 5am shoes too, too long ago. There’s suddenly a little slot on my shelves for the 12” of this.
Filtergeist’s Invocation EP is released on Loot Recordings on July 17th: https://soundcloud.com/lootrecordings
