quête:acid scout

Minnesota-born, L.A.-based musician, mastering engineer, and co-founder of the Jungle Gym label Jared Carrigan records solo and in collaboration under a web of guises: V. Kristoff, Congo River Club House, Freaks of Nature, Easy Rider, Lac Seul, Las Cuevas, M.M.C.J., Scout Island, Twin Lakes. Of these, René Najera is his longest running and most liquid. One decade after the project's 2015 debut (as Jungle Gym's inaugural release, JG01), he presents his first vinyl full-length.

Painted Life took shape from the seeds of a 2023 set prepared for a string of shows in Japan. Elements were later remixed, finessed, and expanded by a cast of inner circle collaborators: Leech, Tile Plazas, Precipitation, Maria Minerva. Carrigan calls the album a “memory book” – each track a snapshot of cities and sessions, filtered through a fusion of club smoke, mood house, psychic acid, and sunrise electronica. It's music of movement and discovery, celebratory and semi-improvised, chasing the pure essence of fleeting moments.

A next salvo of big people dubwise out of the ITAL COUNSELOR stable comes on this, the label’s first foray into the 7” format.

This relick of the legendary Black Brothers 1970s dub plate is perfectly crafted for dropping at the deepest of sound system sessions or right on your home hi-fi for some front room skanking. This is in no small part due to the pedigree of artists who contributed to its creation.

Hughie Izachaar first started in the reggae business as part of obscure UK band, Black Brothers, during the heady days of the late 70s and early 80s. Only known to have recorded two legendary dub plates, the band never committed their music to plastic. A multi-instrumentalist versed in the art of playing the melodica and guitar as well as singing, Izachaar went on to join the band, The Original Rockers, with whom he recorded the underground classic, “Mountain Rock.” Into the 90s and through the 2000s he has been heard across a number of 7”, 10”s, 12”s, and LPs on labels such as Reggae on Top, Jah Warrior, Inner Sanctuary, and King Earthquake.

On this release, he is reunited with the equally esteemed Jah Warrior who was responsible for Hughie’s high water mark showcase, “Can’t Take the Pressure” in 1998. Jah Warrior’s usual hard and strident steppers vibrations are in attendance here.

Uniquely, this 7” represents the first time Hughie and Jah Warrior have been combined with the third ingredient in this musical stew. Another long-time music industry journey man, Gil “Tuff Scout” Cang, augments the sound with additional production and remixing. A veteran of Studio One, Riz Records, and Tuff Scout, not to mention innumerable soul, acid jazz, and pop productions, Gil adds that “little way different” touch that has become a defining character of ITAL COUNSELOR productions.

As the saying goes: If you don’t know, get to know. Neither your ears, your skanking feet, or your soul will be disappointed!

For their ninth iteration, Hamburg's The Press Group punches back in with the sizzling hot debut to a VA series bound to scout and shed a broader light on exciting artists from various territories and backgrounds.
Pulsating to the bone, "Future Prospects vol.1" showcases a quartet of heaters courtesy of Germany-based Robert Dietz and Aii PS on the A-side and Kyiv-based Vlad Stuparenko & Ghetto Sunrise plus Sasha Zlykh on the flip. Either sides of the
disc inbound for optimal and non-pareil impact on the dance floor. Dietz's "Salbung" paves the way old-school style, grinding everything from lethal breaks to rowdy drums, via lysergic synth flights straight out a wild sci-fi scenario.
Aii PS' bouncy and oneiric contribution "Donteven" is more of a low-slung affair with its mischievous fusion of filtered synths and acid-informed bass spurts painting the sky all shades of radioactive green.
Flip it over and Stuparenko/Ghetto Sunrise's stealth, aqueous weapon "Pine Water" ushers us in a corridor of groove-enslaved echolocation, delayed stabs and propulsive bleepin' n bloopin' from the depths. A further dusty, shuffling affair
blazing with clanky hats on a Chicagoan tip and futuristic electroid inflections, Zlykh's "Pidozepam" tops it all off in implacable fashion, casting a spell of exquisitely thrilling menace upon the ravers.

Hotrebor open this EP with a superb Acidcore fly over the hard kick creating an hypnotik dimension The Untitled sometime does nawaday... but mostly reminding me nevertheless than XMF ! Art Is Anal keeps on scouting the A side with his bending kick, bassy alert call ! The flip open with Fist Of Fury and his skills of clearness opoosites to his solid kick, both aerian and tellurik.... The ep finishes with a speedcore Armaguet Nad furious neveous maker... This is the best Go More Core for sure one of the best prods from the SODOM familly ! BIG !

B•O•M is the fifth album by freak electronic producer NCHX (NOCHEXXX). A percussive planet of acid-techno, UK bass, house and electro-phonk, hosed down with a chemical wash of post-dubstep and UK bleep contaminants.

Departing with a tube station screech, HUNTING HIDES signals a lone defender’s ride through the underground - trace amounts of musique concrete dart around the tunnel walls, while sub-low cushions the rumble. ENTERCOL is perfect 3am mix fodder; saturation hot-points push beneath a middle eastern theme, whilst SEVENTH GUN TERRITORY is pure rapid-fire bongo bizness - a concrete terrain punctuated with corrugated metal grids and moving shadows: distorted poly-metered brutalism! CYBERTUSH is the perfect OST to a club littered with vape pens, while B-Boi bots flirt with promiscuous A.I.

Arguably the most fierce cut is TEFLONTUAN - an ode to NCHX’s favourite pro Antuan Dixon - the Deathwish skater lands bolts with the illest of steeze. Side-chained 303 squelch rattles alongside x0x sequenced drums as wavetable pads float above kinked rails. A nights gallop over city curbs. The LP signs off with LOCATION SCOUT, a SpaceX sample-return mission heading back to earth with a fistful of deep house red planet crumble.

“A dance floor’s dream and a mixing engineer’s nightmare” - Resident Advisor

Acid techno, oldschool minimalistic UK style... New Tune from A.symetric members... A project that tooks 1 year and a half to buil up... First track goes classic progressive TB303 style... Slow and with a clean round kick... Second track is a scout of acidcore, bringing a light and speed kick... B side opens on a superb mental acid progression, served by a dry oldschool kick, hypnotic. Last track defenitly reminds the Kill it style, with an electronica sound, a vocoder and some dirty kicks... Well, this is defenitly something different to any otehr acid record... A superb EP fully realesed for this project. ENJOY !