Charles Ballas is a name that I want you to write down. He’s a stealthy figure here in my hot-as-hell-right-now home of Denver, CO, quietly creeping his way through the town’s glittery, glitchy electronic underground. In addition to being a sometimes-member of the shifting live iteration of Howling Hex, and now a cornerstone of the quartet Dan’l Boone, he’s also sweating out some pretty sweet tapes here in the throes of summer with his Obsolete Future imprint, including this excellent, deep-IDM collection, House of Mutes.
Compiled by Conor Walker and including a number of contributions from Ballas (particularly on side B), this mix is dim, darklight-lit with glowing electronics zapping off the bass floor in lightweight polyrhythms… I guess I should point out that Ballas was also a member of Gemini Trajectory, too, (remember them?) [Editor’s Note: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!], and that’s important because it’s the vibe you can imagine when you’re thinking about how the comp shapes up. It’s true to its name in this way: not a single breath of a human passes through the headphones, although the beats do whisper an enticing spell in your ears anyway, summoning your own little private dance party for whenever you want.
Thug Entrancer is the one name I really recognized on the track list; the others (aside from Ballas himself) are all pretty much new to me, but the way in which they’re skillfully woven together through this c42.5 tape makes each a bold coordinate on the graph worth zooming in on. I’m remiss to post the Bandcamp stream below here, because it’s not how I want you to hear this. Best consumed in one workout, a flip between A and B for a nice water break opp. Pure cassette tape mix perfection, and it could be yours, easily.
• Obsolete Future: http://obsoletefuture.tumblr.com
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