Luke Slater
All Exhale

Left reeling at the turn of the decade, Close Counters 'explosion onto the live electronic scene in Melbourne was abruptly halted, leaving them in a uncertain and constant state of flow. After a move across the Tasman Sea a few short years ago from Hobart, the duo had expanded and enlisted a full 7 piece setup with live percussion, woodwind and stringed instruments joining the tour de force on stage which features dancers from their greater collective. Their most recent East Coast headline tour of Australia saw the team continue to sell out shows with an impressive 1,100 tickets across two shows at Melbourne’s infamous The Night Cat after gracing the Meredith Music Festival stage at midnight ahead of Liam Gallagher on the billing to which the amphitheater was left heaving and punters enthralled.Their new aptly titled ‘Flux’ EP, conceived originally in a Coburg studio, was moved due to a government enforced 112 day lockdown in Victoria. Studio space was traded in for online streamed sessions withAllysha Joy (30/70) Paul Bender (Hiatus Kaiyote) and JAYDEAN. A host of friends along the way also joined in various forms across the 5 tracker and the sense of community with their peers helped them overcome the challenging time, that has seen Close Counters create their most well rounded piece of artistry, that further showcases their diverse soundscape at the crossroads of house, neo-soul, hip-hop and disco.Their new wave of live dance music has been featured multiple times on Indie Shuffle and their original works have been widely supported by tastemakers Giles Peterson, NME, Pilerats, EARMILK, The Sound You Need, Stoney Roads and radio crews at BBC Radio 6, triple j, Worldwide FM, KEXP Seattle, NTS and Balamii.

Live from the duo’s peel session in July 1998 Peel Session broadcast on the British radio show, BBC Radio 1.

Under the Beard In Dust alias, Leonid Lipelis has produced some of the most inspired re-edits released over the last decade, often turning chunks of long-forgotten Eastern European disco, boogie, synth-pop and AOR into quirky dancefloor gems. He's at it again here, launching the Crudo Rircordi imprint via a trio of eccentric, mid-80s treats. With its driving, kick-drum driven beat, addictive bassline, foreboding synthesizer motifs and Mediterranean guitars, 'Senor Paraiso' is a Balearic proto-house gem, while 'Kirkovmoroder' is a cheery chunk of AOR synth-pop turned into a tongue-in-cheek dancefloor treat. 'Coconut Paradise', meanwhile, is an Italo-disco style slab of peak-time campness straight from the top shelf.