Eddie C
For The People

Phonica White’s first release gets a long-awaited reissue with a previously unreleased Lord Of The Isles remix!As the first release on Phonica White back in 2009, ‘Galaxy’ by Japan’s Iori is an expertly crafted piece of dance oor-focused Techno, led by a rolling bassline and crisp hi-hats, with hypnotic melody patterns skittering off the surface. As we described it upon release, it’s a trippy but accessible heads-down affair that has the depth and the bite to do damage at peak-time and in the after-hours alike. A decade later, those words still ring true and as it’s now one of the most sought after records on Phonica White it’s the perfect time to revive it - with a twist.This time we have freshened up the record by swapping original B-side ‘Urge’ with a previously unreleased remix of ‘Galaxy’ from Lord Of The Isles, the producer behind two of Phonica’s best received 12”s on the main label; ‘Year Of The City’ & ‘Greane / Gigha’. Countering the original’s functional sonics, his remix takes the track in a deeper, widescreen direction, swirling the original’s components around immersive pads and piano.To keep collectors of the first pressing happy as well as to differentiate the two versions, the label artwork is the same Pedro Carvalho de Almeida design yet inverted and slightly tweaked to re ect the new tracklist and catalogue number.

‘Twoism’ retains a cult status elevated above even Boards of Canada’s sought after albums and the pressing to vinyl of this early EP as part of the duo’s series of repressings from Warp seems long overdue. From the opening distant chiming synths of ‘Sixtyniner’, which settle within faded hip-hop beats, this is music that exerts a rare and magical power through sounds that suggest and entice.‘Melissa Juice’ displays a sense of depth one would have thought impossible to achieve with the naïve sounds employed, as two Tomorrow’s World synths delicately wrap around one another and a degraded shuffle pins down this ambiguous and understated texture. The title track allows the percussion to dominate more, with slowly undulating synth pitches inducing a sea-sick melancholy, while in ‘See Ya Later’ melodic elements appear to be continually receding into the distance with synths so saturated by tape decay that they sound like memories of orchestral brass. It’s tough to pick highlights from such a commanding set of tracks, but, if pushed, one might turn towards the destroyed breakbeat stutters of ‘Basefree’ or closer ‘1986 Summer Fires’, which must rank as one of Boards’ most powerful ambient cuts, where a plaintive synth chorale appears to decay on itself as tape distortions subtly accumulate.