POLTERGEIST by ASOK

Hot on the heels of one Liverpool producer making his debut on MOS (John Heckle) is another Merseyside producer, ASOK, also making his label debut.Born Stu Robinson, he is the man behind cultured and burgeoning house and techno label Scenery Records, has released on Deep Space Orchestra’s Use of Weapons and, though he has firm roots in d&b, has proven himself adept at crafting raw analogue jams that fuse house and techno together into compelling new forms. Opening up his Poltergeist EP is ‘Project Poltergeist’, a fizzing brew of incessant hi hats and prominent acid lines that duck and dive between nicely roughshod claps. It’s misty and mystic and immediately feels at home on this label given its heritage. ‘Smash Dimensions’ is a little more stripped back, again placing lots of focus on a lively acid wiggle, but this time dealing in a more serene sense of mood that loosely chucks open and closed hi hats into a grainy arrangement that gentle jacks throughout. On the flip, ‘Walker’ takes us on a cerebral voyage through raining melodic droplets, crushed percussion and lumpy drums before final track ‘Captain Blood’ pairs a dirty, gnarly bassline with crisp cowbell tinkles and more nicely frayed percussion. This is hugely textured house music with a sombre sense of soul that really manages to take you places.