Charging through new bits of music and had to pull back to give this a shout-out. Coming in limited edition wax and download at the end of the month comes is this six-track LP from Austin Cesear, titled West Side.
Austin Cesear debuted on on Public Information back in 2012, coming straight out with the much-loved Cruise Forever full-length, turning a few heads before dropping off the release schedule until earlier this year. The There’s A Crack In Everything 12″ appeared back in February on Anthony Naples’ Proibito label, nice slabs of chill-house for summer, and was followed up by a more experimental split release with Stefan Jós on Opal Tapes.
With the gift of hindsight you can now see how the Californian producer was gearing towards his most interesting work to date.
On West Coast Cesear has seemingly effortlessly given us a thirty minute record that stands out from the pack by having such brilliant personality. The faceless techno pieces that were once the anomaly are now overcrowding a market where tracks with strong presence such as this are the ones we want more of.
West Side’s got swagger and style, and while Cesear’s not reinvented wheel he’s got a really nice lo-fi approach towards dusty house that we can’t fault.
It’s a pretty even split between your proper leftfield experiments of looped crackles and field-samples pounded in to tracks, and the less organic ones that get you moving. Unlikely to hear this in the club, but there’s just so much about it to get you hooked in to listen start to finish, and then go back and pick it apart.
Plate drops 29th of September, limited to 400 and bound to sell out quick so keep an eye out for it. Big ups Austin Cesear and Public Information – a pretty perfect pairing. Check out a clip below and press release from the label just underneath that.
via Public Information
And so we present a second record from our NY via San Francisco family, a blossoming talent, Austin Cesear. Primed and fresh from a 12” on Anthony Naples’ Proibito label and an Opal Tapes cassette, he surfaces again over a year on from his widely revered Cruise Forever LP – welcome to West Side.
Heavily inspired by the dockside location of Oakland Port, CA. This is Austin Cesear beside black water in the darkest hours, white sodium light bouncing across the surf. Searching across the bay, industry stands proud in the early morning haze. Cargo, containers, machines. Cranes pierce the sky, gulls scream, motors grind – the rush and roar of a new working day in his ears.
Back in the studio these sounds, these sights manifest. Track One – La Paloma, the liquid blue dawn, loops into the horizon. Whilst track two – Ain’t It So (Necessary) becomes a twitchy techno shuffle that soon breaks down into the disused mechanic sludge of Cloven Hoov. Easy Bend is then a lesson in the sublime. A machine rhythm in mourning, an aching drone, the soundtrack to ships rolling out of the Bay, toward new worlds. Then the growl of Samareda… a storm of insects hammering against a kick-thump that grows and grows before a shower of voices sweeten the mood to take us home in a blaze of light. Stunning tackle. Bee Free (Warlick Mix) is the endgame – a rugged swagger of moody bump n’ beat. The funkiest thing on here.
And so we leave Oakland, we leave Austin Cesear… until next time. This young producer is steadily becoming a mature soul, an exceptional sound, a moment of calm in an ever breathless, over crowded market.
A1 La Paloma
A2 Ain’t It So (Necessary)
A3 Cloven Hoov
B1 Easy Bend
B2 Samareda
B3 Bee Free (Warlick Mix)