With an almost lightning-fast Kickstarter campaign* in its tail-lights, Edinburgh’s Hobbes Music label follows up the success of Jacksonville’s ace FON EP and Gaming’s quirky (and no less ace) debut album, Scenes From A Deserted City with a new release from Leonidas & Hobbes, the label’s 15th release.

Leonidas & Hobbes make a timely return with Aranath EP, 3 years after Web Of Intrigue (from 3rd EP The Rags Of Time) was voted No. 1 in Bill Brewster's 2017 DJ History poll. Delivering a follow-up to many people’s 2017 summer anthem has been something of a protracted process, not least due to Covid and the 400 miles between them.

Aranath features the hugely talented multi-instrumentalist Riad Abji and his virtuoso cello & tanpura raga, which inspired the duo to create 4 mixes, combining Riad's Eastern lament with classic house and ambient techno. The full release is complemented by the tropical flavours of Into It and Out Of It**. The previously unreleased ambient mix of Web of Intrigue rounds off what can certainly be described as a 'deep' release.

The sleeve art was inspired by a 19th Century Indian Jain painting and created over the course of many obsessive evenings at the height of lockdown (as was some of the audio). Needless to say, the whole project has helped to keep everyone sane through these crazy months...

*The vinyl issue of this release was funded via Kickstarter, hitting its target in a fortnight.

**Digital only bonus track - not on the 12”. Download code included with 12” for all bonus material (3 tracks).

Selected Feedback:

‘This is excellent... it involves a sort of Spaghetti Western Pinball Wizard bit about two minutes in’ GIDEON COE (played ‘Web Of Intrigue’ twice on BBC 6Music)

'Ah fabulous cheers. Yes I’m a big fan of your work’ JUSTIN ROBERTSON (Soho Radio, LDN)

‘Oh yes to all of this please really nice deep heavy . Really curious about the instrumentation – amazing’ JIM STANTON (Horse Meat Disco, LDN)

‘I like Aranath. [Into It] is very very good.’ BILL BREWSTER (DJ History, LDN)

‘I particularly dug the ambient mixes, especially ‘Arantha’. Mmmm, that cello!! Beautiful. Top work. I dug it all but that was the stand out for me’ JD TWITCH (Optimo, Glasgow/INT)

‘Love it all. Great production. Great music’ DICKY TRISCO (Disco Deviance, Maxi Discs, Home Taping, UK/INT)

‘Really like it – my fave are the ambient mixes. Great stuff’ KENNETH BAGER (Music For Dreams, DK/INT)

'I really like the Ambient versions and Web of Intrigue is A M A Z I N G ! ! ! Sounds like an Alfredo / Leo Mas secret weapon at Amnesia during summer of 87 :) I’m compiling a mixtape for Beats In Space and this WoI ambient version is perfect for the first minutes. Other tracks are great :)' BAWRUT (Silencio, Ransom Note, Hard Fist, Madrid/SP/INT)

‘Really like Ara, Arantha and the Web Of Intrigue version’ PHIL MISON (Cantoma/Reverso 68, LDN/INT)

‘Sounds good mate. Please send best quality files’ NICK THE RECORD (UK/INT)

‘I like these. I will try to play something on my next show’ RED RACK EM (SWU FM, Bristol/INT)

‘I like Aranatha best. The tripping synth is really cool’ KAY SUZUKI (Time Capsule, LDN/INT)

‘I really like all the versions, great job, congratulations, you have all my support’ LEO MAS (Balearic legend, IT/INT)

'It is EPIC, that... The EP is so worth a deeper listen... The excellent Web Of Intrigue' NEMONE (on Lauren Laverne's Breakfast show, BBC 6MUSIC)