Glasgow imprint Broken20, run by the three-headed beast of TVO, Production Unit and Erstlaub, has steadily built up a firm reputation for classy electronica outings that always step slightly to the left of expectations and are all the better for it. Key releases such as PU’s “There Are No Shortcuts In A Grid System” long-player and TVO’s “Red Night” have established them as one to be taken seriously in a world full of fly-by-night imprints and their recent gargantuan Chris Dooks retrospective was a must have for pretty much anyone with a working set of ears.
The Broken60 offshoot cassette label launched in January 2012 with 10-20’s “Magnet Marsh” and releases that followed from the likes of Shifted’s Covered in Sand moniker quickly proved it to be far more than a gimmick with the format leading the sound of the releases and shaping them.
The latest tape-based outing comes in the shape of a double header with mysterious producers Dour Tonic Input & DJ Votive taking to the controls for “Yagyakarta” and “Dead Roads” respectively. The former delivering nine gamelan packed slices of hip hop filled with punchy kicks, flowing sub bass and just the right amount of space between the sounds. The latter turns in a uninterrupted 30 minutes of airy electronica with dubby techno meanderings and hooks a-plenty in amongst the smoke.
To give you a wee taster of what to expect, the label have offered up a couple of freebies, one related to each side of the tape for the “Edge Of Away” EP.
First up it’s the bass heavy Bonus Beats version of Dour Tonic Input’s “Good Low Rumbles” followed by the deep and slightly more club friendly edit of Votive’s outing, cutting the material down to 10 minutes of percussion packed goodness with a ridiculous amount of low end.
Stream the tracks above and pop on over to Bandcamp to grab the EP on a pay-what-you-like basis before also stopping by to pre-order the full cassette release ahead of its arrival on the 23rd of June.
Keep an eye on the official Broken60 site for further release info.
