Alex Kassian steps up for his first solo 12” on Love On The Rocks with ‘Oolong Trance’, a driving, tropical-tinged uplifting acid trip in ‘Club’ and ‘Paradise’ mixes and a supercharged ‘ADHS’ mix from Telephones.
Kassian is no stranger to the label, which celebrated its fifth birthday last year with the 4-part ‘Supergau’ compila-tion that opened with Kassian’s ‘Chopstick Romance’. He also remixed Ghost Vision in 2018 on their Love On The Rocks debut, ‘Shakuhachi’.
Young Kassian from Kyoto, who has the silkiest hair in house, has recently been enjoying success alongside his longtime collaborator Hiroaki OBA as Opal Sunn, taking their live show on tour around Europe and Asia with stops at Field Maneuvers in the UK and Panorama Bar in Berlin. Their first releases on their own imprint, Planet Sundae, got the attention of the late Andrew Weatherall (RIP) and early support from the likes of DJ Sprinkles and Nick Höppner, who released their last two EP’s on his label, Touch From A Distance: ‘Parallax’ in late 2018, and ‘Laika’, earlier this year.
As well as being Kassian’s debut on the label, ‘Oolong Trance’ is the first Love On The Rocks record for 2020, so, what’s in the tea?
The Club mix is classic Kassian: big kicks, driving percussion, swirling pads, a tropical sunrise, a celestial organ and a large dash of acid. The Paradise Mix is what you get when you let it brew a couple seconds longer: off the charts trance levels and Alex delivering some truly ecstatic piano work, channelling the spirit of a young George
Michael, truly intoxicated on the Oolong drank.
Telephones also delivers a hell of a brew, with his 9-minute, 90s house and garage inflected ‘ADHS’ remix taking the keys off in yet another direction and delivering a energetic, Chicago-inspired oddball rework with hints of De-troit and more than a few drops of old school, classic house spiritualism. The tea, as they say, is particularly good
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