Nochexxx – ‘Thrusters’ 2LP [Ramp Recordings]


So here’s a surprising fact I just confirmed on Discogs; dropping officially this week, Thrusters is actually the debut LP from Nochexxx aka Dave Henson. In fact, prior to this there’s only three official 12″ releases and a handful of cassettes, them themselves released mostly through his CHXFX alias.

The Cambridge associated producer had a history of label curation (check Tripel Records) and nights around his town well before we discovered him in 2011 through the Savage Herald / Charro 12″, which sent us straight back in to the two releases from the year before. We’ve been hooked ever since. Fellow analog genius Nick Edwards aka Ekoplekz was also on the rise at the time, and their CHXFX / PLXFX collaboration on tape in 2012 was a definite tipping point for a few heads and critics who had been holding off their first purchase of a cassette since the early ’90s.

The last 12 months has seen Nochexxx drop four cassettes – two CHXFX solo outings on Further Records and Feral Tapes, a self-released mixtape under that guise (shipped with a blue rubber third-eye) and the return of Tripel for Greatest Record. So while on paper the Nochexxx catalogue might seem a bit sparse without an LP to date, the man certainly keeps busy. When they do come however, they definitely carry an esteemed weight, enough to cause excited ripples and keep the producer as an oft-dropped name of producers pushing things forward.

So we’ve finally got a full-length (on wax and CD) that we didn’t know we were missing, and Thrusters is a brilliant record, well worth the wait. It sounds like Nochexxx is having a ridiculous amount of fun in the studio, discovering and rediscovering what sounds he can get out of his analog synth collection, and subsequently whether or not they’ll play nice together.

That’s one of the great things about Nochexxx, and which comes together on Thrusters. Like good Italian food, the obsession is in fewer ingredients done supremely well. I’m not saying the unexpected changes in sound and step or game-layered patterns aren’t complicated, but his skill with sound is so uncannily on point, and like the few truly great composers, he knows how to craft a complete track of complex make-up and make it seem so simple.

And there’s a whole album of it – four sides and eleven tracks clocking in at around 50 minutes of music. I can’t emphasise enough how great this is, as we get a full taste of the wires and plugs that pull together to make Nochexxx tick. From Mark Fell algorithm-styled floor work to Carpenter influenced beatless numbers to straight Drexciyan styled techno, Nochexxx in some ways defines his own way of working while showing the unlimited possibilities of the electronic world.

Pick this one up quick, it may very well dictate your purchasing patterns for the year ahead. Press release below, just after a bit of madness in video form that’s becoming a bit of a tradition for the producer. Nochexxx seems to find animators to capture memorable interpretations of his work, in this case a teaser for the 2LP. The mexican bandit was a definite favourite, but still one of the most brilliantly off-the-wall clips I’ve seen on the internet is the video to ‘Orange Orbit’ – which you can check out later at the bottom of the post here.

via Ramp Recordings
We are ecstatic to announce Nochexxx’s debut album ‘Thrusters’.

Beginning his career in 2010 with ‘Smashing Your System’ featuring Jungle Brother Sensational on Werk Discs, and ‘Ritalin Love’ / ‘Timepiece’ for RAMP, NCHX has kept his discography lean. Keeping his head out of the scene, NCHX has built a castle of delirious arpeggiators and intertwining basslines which recollect the rich synthesised lexicon of Drexciya and the prismatic glory years of Zomby.

Throughly funky and and profoundly nasty, ‘Thrusters’ is a producer pushing himself to the next level, generating a kaleidoscope of sound that is all his own.