Double LP bundle, featuring both Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 EPs served in a PVC sleeve w/ sticker.

Changing Channels is the new album from Pangaea, AKA Kevin McAuley, his first since 2016's acclaimed debut LP In Drum Play and a jolting reminder that functional doesn't mean complacent. The seven tracks here are galloping, infectious and hypnotic, capturing Pangaea's skill at constructing bangers that reflect an innate experimental tilt without sacrificing impact. Tested across his international DJ sets, and developed during a healing period of introspection, these cohesive tracks attack and retreat with an urgent and emphatic focus on the dancefloor, and a precision so undeniable as to seem predestined.

Set for release October 6th, Changing Channels is the culmination of several years of exploration and refinement and has a natural home on Hessle Audio, the label McAuley co-founded in 2007. The album has formidable, unstoppable grooves – a key part of Pangaea's intentions as DJ and producer – and gleam like marble set against concrete: sleek yet rough, attractive yet abrasive. His music has always felt more twilight than dead-of-night, where mysterious elements can emerge without feeling like a threat, and that holds here, with a warmth permeating the darkness.

TRACK LISTING

1. Installation
2. Hole Away
3. If
4. The Slip
5. Changing Channels
6. Squid
7. Bad Lines

The compilation exists as a way to unite the entire Hessle roster, as well as allowing them an avenue to put out work by friends and producers they have been unable to work with so far. On the CD the first disc is all new work plus a second has a selection of choice cuts from the back catalogue (the vinyl version features all new cuts). There’s also work from producers who they feel have shaped the label’s aesthetic, like D1’s "Sub Zero", whose sub bass stabs were a staple of the early DMZ sets back in 2005. Addison Groove's anthem "Footcrab" has done so much to bring the tough tempo of juke to the world’s dancefloors. The subtle pitch-shifting of a looping hip hop vocal and the polyrhythmic patter of rim shots and cymbals on "Fuk Tha 101" are unmistakably his. Bristol’s Peverelist brings us "Sun Dance", whose synth chords bring to mind the dystopian drum & bass of DJ Krust, the track driven forwarded by paper-like hi-hats and cymbals. The spritely chimes and shuffling beat of Elgato’s "Music", whose muted vocal chant was used to such beautiful effect in Kennedy’s recent Fabriclive mix. Untold bring’s detuned chords, jangling glass and a cheeky synth line, breaking down into mutant funky house. Blawan’s "Potchla Vee" reveals some unexpected instrumentation: the skittering of what sounds like the cogs of a clock gives little breathing room to the assault of tribal drums and processed grunts. Pearson Sound's "Stifle" seems to slow things down, with an adenoidal vocal snippet acting as counterfoil to the percussive snap of the drums, delicate EQing and synth washes providing characteristic texture. Pangaea’s own contribution is a rave homage; oscillating between synth stabs and a filtered ragga MC sample, the track is layered with a bouncy acid bassline, creating a phantom jump up effect. Romania’s TRG was Hessle’s first release and here builds on his mutant garage template, with a reverb-soaked drum kit jostling against some analogue pads and a seagull-sounding distorted warble. James Blake, re-edits an earlier Hessle release, bringing the processed vocals to the fore much in the style of his recent album. It’s soul music that’s undecidedly electronic, the vocals screwed and chopped into the background, a virtuoso display of arrangement ordering a lacklustre pair of cowbells, a chorus of shuffles, croaks and pads into an infectious slow burner.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting:
CD1:
1 Elgato – Music (Body Mix)
2 Untold – Cool Story Bro
3 Blawan – Potchla Vee
4 Pearson Sound – Stifle
5 Joe – Twice
6 Randomer – Brunk
7 Pangaea – Runout
8 Cosmin TRG – Bijoux
9 D1 – Sub Zero
10 Addison Groove – Fuk Tha 101
11 James Blake – Give A Man A Rod (2nd Version)
12 Peverelist – Sun Dance

CD2:
1 Pangaea – You & I
2 Untold – Test Signal
3 Blawan – Fram
4 James Blake – Buzzard & Kestrel
5 Untold – I Can’t Stop This Feeling
6 Joe – Rut
7 Ramadanman – Blimey
8 TRG – Put You Down
9 Joe – Level Crossing
10 Pangaea – Why
11 TRG – Broken Heart (Martyn’s DCM Remix)
12 Ramadanman – Don’t Change For Me

Vinyl LP Tracklisting:
A1. Elgato – Music (Body Mix)
A2. Untold – Cool Story Bro
B1. Pearson Sound – Stifle
B2. Blawan – Potchla Vee
C1. Pangaea – Run Out
C2. Randomer – Brunk
D1. D1 – Subzero
D2. Cosmin TRG – Bijoux
E1. Joe – Twice
E2. James Blake – Give A Man A Rod (Second Version)
F1. Addison Groove – Fuk Tha 101
F2. Peverelist – Sun Dance