A lot has happened since Fixate released his last full length record, ‘What Goes Around’, on Exit Records in 2017. After putting out two Bandcamp EPs (‘Glare’ & ‘Confusion’) and several remixes—including his ‘Ripgroove Refix’, which famously went viral on Sherelle’s 2019 Boiler Room set and was eventually released as official remix on Ice Cream Records—he now presents his self-titled debut album ‘Fixate’.
Developed over five years, the project showcases Fixate’s sound palette in all its variety, a diversity of taste that’s reflected in his supporters: he’s garnered attention from icons like Andy C, Goldie, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, as well as underground tastemakers like Call Super, Toddla T, and Skee Mask. Ross From Friends closed off his 2020 Room Isolation set with Fixate’s breaky acid number ‘On Edge’; Sicaria Sound spun the dub-influenced album opener ‘Ruminate’ in their sets; and Madam X had sub-heavy track ‘Gristle’ doing the rounds.
The LP also sees several collaborations: Fixate worked with DnB legend DRS on ‘Down’, pairing his dark instrumental with equally dark subjects. On percussive hard-hitter ‘Backpedal’, he experiments with halftime grooves alongside fellow Exit artist Itoa. Dubstep producer Cimm makes an appearance on eski-influenced ‘Back to BC’. Finally, ‘Programmed To Fail’ sees the artist teaming up with label boss dBridge to create a soundtrack for AI world domination.
Almost a year ago, dBridge reached out after hearing a self released album I made in the summer of 2020. I’ve been a fan of his work since I started listening to electronic music ten years ago, and still stand by a comment I posted stating that Inhibited LP is the best album of 2020. Naturally, I accepted the offer to work together. Over the following three months we exchanged text messages, often, sending music back and forth in an effortless work flow. He challenged the way I thought about music, questioned what the meaning was behind the music, showed me how to develop a small idea into an evolving track, and most of all, treated me with kindness and generosity throughout. There was no sense of ego, we just wanted to create something new. Our styles couldn’t be more different, I’m a film composer who makes ambient/orchestral soundscapes, while his enigmatic ‘talking drums’ are mechanical, dislocated, groovy and continuously mutating. While we compliment each other through our difference, it felt like we shared a similar musical sensibility. And it was completely unspoken; the entirety of our relationship carried out through text messages, the entirety of the album being made in silence.
The benefit of this silent messaging was that the music felt incredibly personal. I revealed that I was going through a break up which left me feeling liberated and free, after a toxic relationship had shattered my confidence. You Set Me Free began with the dark, heavy beat dBridge had sent to me, which inspired me to vocalize how I felt. The vocal sample is an honest voice memo recording of how I felt at the time. dBridge responded by adding a beat at the end of the track after the break, “to represent you moving on.” The chords are hopeful because I was grateful I had my life back. Sometimes the person you think you’ll spend your life with turns out to be the worst thing for you. It was incredibly empowering to realize that I was grateful that this person in my life had said goodbye.
One Note began with a piano part, a whole track constructed from one repeated note. After sending it to dBridge, he gradually built up this evolving distorted break, as if it was revolving around the note. Similarly with Pulse, the strings have this onward moving journey while the metal bowl sample has a lightness that compliments dBridge’s polyrhythmic percussion and bass. Words I would use to describe Pulse are aspirational, progressive and spiritual.
The music video for One Note is apocalyptic. It was filmed just after lockdown, using places of travel as an indicator for our dystopian ‘new normal.’ The video tells the story of someone going on a journey, to a place she remembers and feels nostalgic for, but is gone when she arrives. It’s that feeling of striving toward a goal in life, only to realize when you get there, the destination is not as expected. The filmmaker likes to remain anonymous but goes under the alias name Ruma, and uses old super 8 family videos to create the feeling of nostalgia and memory, combined with the character’s realtime journey.
of poor quality; "cheap" (figurative) Tastelessly showy; cheap, gaudy, or tacky. Chincy was made on a kitchen table using an Akai MPC3000, Moog Sub37 and a Korg Minilogue for hardware; plugged into a Midas Venice mixer, Crane Song STC-1, Thermionic Culture Rooster and Focusrite pre-amps for recording. Vocals by Chicago. Subs by car system tests. 808 by 808. Fingers by Landstrumm, bottoms by Brazil.
The tracks are live jams but they aren’t that cheap to make. No hunching over a computer for weeks on end. One take, one mistake. Just jamming on gear after listening to Mantronix , Dre’s The Chronic and many many UK hardcore records. Pizza Pie on speed dial and Mr X for nighttime sessions for added UK swagger. Recorded in a forest with a swampy back garden. 145 is the common thread of ‘Chincy’ and ‘Eighty Four’ with a 160 diversion for equal measure on ‘Cutlass’.
The first Exit Records release of 2020 sees borderlandstate_the best kisser in l.a join forces for an EP that traverses through different shades without compromising on identity. The collaboration between the pairing came to being very organically according to Borderland State: "Me and The Best Kisser in LA started messing about in the studio a few years back. No intention to finish anything, let alone play it to anyone."
dBridge then heard the tracks and the result is EXIT088, a debut on the label and a great way to start the new decade. The label owner picked ‘Hello Mainframe’ out as his key track from his recent Essential Mix.
The guys go on to shed more light on the creative process:
"Our music develops chaotically. We add things and add things and throw most of them away. We use synths, pedals, and delay units and record them into a laptop which, against all odds, continues to struggle on. tracks live across three or four project files because the layering of sounds is dense. we sample ourselves back and forth, not knowing where things will end up, looking for the right texture"
The significance of dBridge, Exit and Autonomic shouldn't be underestimated for Borderland State and The Best Kisser in LA, we're told that "Our influences are disparate but Autonomic was a constant. without him (dBridge) and Instra:mental, these tracks would not exist."
EXIT088 is a new interpretation of the Exit sound by borderlandstate_the best kisser in l.a, the branches have stretched further and the roots have become stronger as the label continues its unstoppable growth.
a1. borderlandstate_the best kisser in l.a - The Happy Goose (And Friends)
a2. borderlandstate_the best kisser in l.a - SE17
a3. borderlandstate_the best kisser in l.a - Pattern Collapse
b1. borderlandstate_the best kisser in l.a - Interlinked
b2. borderlandstate_the best kisser in l.a - Hello Mainframe
The 'Your Moves EP' will be Workforce's third release overall and the first release to appear on a different label other than his native, Must Make Music outlet.
In a short time Workforce has already carved out a strong identity in the music he is releasing. There are values, details and characteristics that set his work apart from anyone else. This singularity is of course underpinned by a strong sense of function, the sense of function is something that connects all of his work.
On Your Moves EP, we are given six tracks that further the Workforce mission, a confident and assured release from Jack Stevens that will no doubt be held in as high regard from peers and listeners alike.
In the last few years, Lewis James has gone from being an artist on the rise to establishing himself as one of the most exciting act to emerge from electronic music. His debut EP on Exit Records backs this statement up without question. The features on the EP speak for themselves: Lorn, dBridge and Alia Fresco. Aesthetically Lewis James has put together an EP that traverses different shades of electronica whilst not losing a sense of identity, an identity that is truly Lewis James by way of Exit Records.
Gantz debuts on Exit Records with two tracks that set him apart from his contemporaries. This release sits perfectly on the label, Gantz has captured the essence of what Exit Records is whilst also moving his artistry further. He delivers two vocal tracks, Garam ft Amos and Rabid ft. Elif Dikec. Amos is a part of A/T/O/S, a duo with a discography that included an album on Deep Medi, Elif Dikec is a classically trained musician and a producer in her own right.
Steve Spacek aka Blackpocket is a relentless creative. It's truly woven into the fabric of his soul, create by any means necessary.
The debut Blackpocket project was also the Debut release on Exit Records, a truly family affair as Steve is the older brother of dBridge. The album acted as a signal of what was to come for the groundbreaking label & artist. Any expectation of tempos and sound pallets were treated with a respectful disregard in order to reach another place of design.
Blackpocket now gives us his second offering- ALAYLY, seven tracks that remind us who is the king of electronic soul music, comfortably existing in a space that is hard to deny or indeed replicate.
This is a project fully created via iOS apps. It's here where we will remind you of the relentless creative, one who creates by any means necessary. These iOS tools serve a very direct purpose- they enable Steve to create where ever he is and in turn, he is able to bring life & soul to the digital landscape.
ALALY is another triumph for Blackpocket AKA Steve Spacek and Exit Records.
Exit Records expands on dBridge' sophomore album A Love I Can't Explain with two new interpretations by The Fear Ratio (James Ruskin & Mark Broom) and Kahn. In keeping with the label's ethos the artists were left alone to deliver remixes without any stylistic requests and as a result we have two tracks that are personal & uncompromising.
dBridge has been a firm supporter of both Kahn and TFR so it's very fitting that Exit Records releases TFR's debut remix and Kahn's rework, which repurposes what you thought you knew about him as an artist. The ALICE remixes are another leap forward for Exit Records.
a1. dBridge - Nachtlus (The Fear Ratio Remix)
b1. dBridge - They Loved ft. They Live & Poison Arrow (Kahn Remix)
Ltd 12" vinyl housed in a custom sleeve. All tracks written by N.Andrew. Track A2 Remixed by Darkhouse Family. Track B1 and B3 remixed by dBridge. Vocals by Guilty Simpson. Mastered by Beau at Ten Eight Seven. Creative direction by Simone Sebastian. Photography by Erlam Robinson. Layout by Christian ‘Woodsy’ Wood.
a1. Dolenz - Pull (feat. Guilty Simpson)
a2. Dolenz - Pull (feat. Guilty Simpson) [Darkhouse Family Remix]
Fracture returns to Exit Records with his first release on the label since 2016. In what has become tradition for the label and the artist, the barrier of what's known as Drum & Bass is pushed to the outer edges. Familiar sound pallets have been recontextualized as Fracture sets out his stall for the coming years.
The storied music producer readies his sophomore solo album for release, ten years after his first album, The Gemini Principle.
The ten-year gap between solo albums has seen dBridge releasing landmark collaborations and projects as part of the Autonomic movement, Module Eight, Heart Drive and exploring other Bpms as Velvit.
dBridge's journey within electronic music has seen him at the front and center of electronic music culture and then by design, as the seasons change, he has retreated to his own world to work on his next statement.
A Love I Can't Explain is the sound of dBridge making music for himself. As a man he finds himself in a new phase of his life- in love, married and a father that is no longer concerned with previous constraints and this has led to a new freedom in creation. An artist looking at the same sculpture but now from a new perspective.
a1. dBridge - Gen 19
a2. dBridge - Broadcast Pain
b1. dBridge - Depersonalised
b2. dBridge - Syncofated
c1. dBridge - Monitored Meanings
c2. dBridge - They Loved ft. They Live & Poison Arrow
d1. dBridge - Violent Circuit Autonomy ft. Lewis James
d2. dBridge - Your Bit Crushed Heart
e1. dBridge - Nachtlus
e2. dBridge - Lost In A Memory
e3. dBridge - Filtered Scenes
f1. dBridge - Wij Zijn ft. Lewis James & Kid Drama
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