Release Title – PHZ004: Sedgwick – Rhythm and Isolation

Release Date – October 2nd

Label Name – Potatoheadz Records

Release Track list:
1. Metal Detector
2. Exit
3. Pleasuresque
4. Blue Print
5. Bermuda Dream

The word ‘Isolation’ undoubtedly has a new weight to it. For any person, within communities, it has the ability to starve us of something essential OR positively re-calibrate an individual whose introspection can lead to creation. The title & concept of this release is simply an acknowledgement of a creative process in which going inwards can lead to the discovery of something unique.

We as people move alongside technological advancements & this has the power to ‘connect & isolate’ Our personal relationships with one another also take on new forms as our tools for communication change. This inspires creative action. The human response to modern devices can result in surreal and unfamiliar expressions. In terms of music, our instant access to information from the past & engrained intuitions lead us to revisit atavistic rhythms of the past & reinterpret them with new sensibilities. We create music from the ‘Now’ that traverses the ‘Past’ with sights set on the future!

Bonds created from this expression can withstand and even strengthen even when inter-continental physical distance is imposed – forcing us to look inward to investigate the true depth of relationships forged out of creative expression. Rhythm has been used for millennia to locate the deepest parts of the soul & to re/connect spirits – this is true also in the modern age. Certain feelings cannot be expressed via digital text-communications nor with words alone; Music is the answer. Connection through disconnection.

The Artwork on the B-side of this record is a symbol of the individual, isolated & pinned down by the spindle, falling, spiralling, a metaphor for whatever turns you inward. The needle on the record emanates the rhythm”

PHZ004 – Sedgwick’s first return to Vinyl since PHZ001’s Digitale Djungle. Five cuts of proper underground material for dancers and deejays alike. Sedgwick’s homecoming is aplomb with hot, headsy electro interposed across a lewd landscape of tripped-out transmissions. We get straight to it with ‘Metal Detector’, a bewitching, twisted work-out delivered with such conviction it could be straight from 1997 Anthony Rother. With elements of breaks, electro and techno – ‘Exit’, the A2, is a pulsating peregrination around the geography of underground sound; hybrid heads – take note. On the flip of the record we are greeted with ‚Pleasuresque‘ a quasi-old school breaks track which delivers a vibey electronic grit, balanced carefully with serene pad work and sparse moments in the track – it’s the masterful arrangement here which allows Sedgwick to push the musical tension to the next level. Elsewhere, ‘Blue Print’ is a beautifully paced synthetic trip, one for the “sun coming through the shutters” crew. Closing things is ‘Bermuda Dream’, a markedly poised, high-octane dreamscape of emotional intelligence and a confident gaze ahead. Welcome to the future.

Words by Jack Anderson

Artist Quote: “I’ve spent the last few years moving from computer based production into hardware-reactive composition. Following cues from each piece of gear, prompting different directions often dictated by the limitations of each device. A lot of the time I have found the driving force to be a longing for friends who have moved to other parts of the globe. Potatoheadz Records started with a group of us living in close quarters and gradually moving outwards to our current countries of residency. The last time we were all in a room together was around 5 years ago. It feels important to cultivate these bonds as we all share a deep creative relationship. This release is a message, to accept distance & to elevate our connection inwards. I like to think that the spiritual content in these recordings exists in that inward realm & within that a part of our bond also exists.“

 

Artist Bio – Sedgwick, part founder and regular contributor of Potatoheadz Records has been quietly and diligently crafting his way onto dance floors across the world, his music reaching the bags of notable selectors worldwide. Sedgwick’s sound has been shaped from the Labels collective relationship, forged through various bedroom studios throughout Melbourne. With close affiliation to YS (Leon Wan & Nipuna Jayasekera) Sedgwick takes the collective’s wide range of influence and ethos into his own territory informed by both his earlier upbringing studying percussion into his current foray into electronic music production. The sound of technology and propulsion is a strong signifier in his work, always surging forward, like a machine taking flight towards journey. This translates into his live hardware-based performances as well as his releases.