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TRANSMISSION TOWERS

Transmission Towers

Crooked Man Remixes Pt.1

    Released on Luke Una's E Soul Cultura label, in partnership with Mr Bongo, Crooked Man has remoulded, re-energised and completely reworked 'Everything' and 'My Shadow' from Transmission Towers' critically acclaimed debut LP, Transmission One . The result is a double dose of transcendental, tripped- out productions utilising every ounce of Crooked Man's experience and expertise. 

    A key fgure in electronic dance music since the late '80s, Shefield-born Crooked Man aka Richard Barratt released one of bleep techno's defning records back in '89. Landing on Warp, it came under the alias Sweet Exorcist with the late great Richard H. Kirk. Since then, Barratt has put out a slew of exceptional productions under a variety of different monikers from Crooked Man and Parrot, to Earth Angel and Athletes of God. He has released on DFA, delivered countless remixes for Roisin Murphy and reimagined the likes of JIM and Joe Goddard.

    For this release, Crooked Man frst takes 'Everything' and contorts it from a postpunk guitar trip into a cybertronic, new beat heater, aptly titled 'Everything (Gone Crooked)'. A percussive state of hypnosis leads the charge, building the tension for a rumbling kick drum and buzzing synth- line to twist their talons into your mind. Eleanor Mante's vocals take on a new vivacity, feeling like your head has been sucked into a psychedelic swirl away from reality. Afrofuturist, arresting and perfectly equipped to electrify any waning dancefoor into action.

    On the B side, 'My Shadow (Crooked Shade)' sees Crooked Man morph the original into a frestarter of galactic proportions . The crunched- up breakbeat drives the journey and fips what was once a hallucinatory machine soul number, into an intoxicating slice of club- focussed heat from another dimension. Spiralling pads and astral synths coil around Eleanor's reverberating vocals, as your body is willed to move in a trancelike state of cosmic motion.


    TRACK LISTING

    1. Everything (Gone Crooked)
    2. My Shadow (Crooked Shade)

    Transmission Towers

    Transmission One

      Aerials live, dials tuned, Transmission Towers broadcasting. On either side of the river Mersey, transcendental communications are traded back and forth. Two late-night revellers, one firing messages filled with music, the other returning them laced with lyrics. The result, a dopamine hit of oddball machine soul, melded with a highlife, Afrofuturist touch. Wonky and murky yet deeply emotional, Transmission One, is a debut album that also marks the first release on Luke Una’s É Soul Cultura label, encompassing expertly the off-kilter atmosphere the label sets to orbit.

      A synthesised landscape with a Northern charm, Transmission Towers marry the musical worlds of two artists that last collaborated over a decade ago. 10 years have passed, lives have been led, but a gravitational pull has placed Mark Kyriacou and Eleanor Mante back in each other’s spheres on opposite sides of the city of Liverpool. Energised with a newfound desire to strip it all back to the sounds that influenced their formative years in the late ‘80s and ‘90s - astral travelling, intoxicated on Motor City techno, Black Dog IDM and mystical Sun Ra.

      Mark half Irish, half Greek Cypriot, Eleanor half Nigerian, half Ghanian, the music contained within is an alchemy of those roots and the pivotal acts that buried deep into their minds. A cosmic contrast, part machine-made, part distinctly human. Take the opener ‘UP’, an ESG-channelling, sci-fi punk beatdown or the polychromatic hyperspace anthem ‘Roller Skater 23’.

      Transportive throughout, you ride the solar waves, pace and emotion ebbing and flowing. Tracks like ‘Go Slow Heart’ and ‘Cosmic Trigger’ step to a slower beat but hit with a punch. The former, a slo-mo blast of celestial tenderness, the latter an otherworldly, chugged-out lunar excursion, micro-dosing on whacked-out Wah Wah and Eleanor’s ethereal vocals. Beaming love letters to space and back, ‘Sparse’ marries the organic with the artificial, pianos and percussion circling around synth pads and broadcasting bleeps.

      Elsewhere, vibrations move faster. ‘Mega’ strikes, fusing sonic tribalism with psychedelic swirls, as ‘Everything’ sweeps you up in its extra-terrestrial new wave grip. Synth stabs and basslines fizzing from every angle.

      Demos of Transmission Towers music surfaced on Luke Una’s radar, making him stop in his tracks. Something magical was emerging, perfectly aligned with the E Soul guardian’s tastes. Guidance followed, quickly turning into conversations about Transmission One becoming the first release on Luke’s own label.

      Escapist and futurist yet grounded and relatable. Transmission One is synthesis meets sentiment with a deep, spine-tingling soul at its core.


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: Luke Una's É Soul Cultura compilations were a big hit in the shop, so it's a delight to be able to celebrate the first release on his eponymous label, from Liverpool's Transmission Towers. Smooth-af street soul and deep, snapping electronic synth lines come together into an LP that's perfect for the dancefloor but just chilled enough to make for a particularly rowdy front-room disco.

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Up
      2. Roller Skater 23
      3. Planetary Alignment
      4. Go Slow Heart
      5. Cosmic Trigger
      6. Mega
      7. Everything
      8. Sparse
      9. One
      10. Affirmation Of Love
      11. My Shadow (CD Only)
      12. The Universal Drift (CD Only)


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