Now, for the first time in nearly thirty years, the archives of this pioneering platform have been opened. The result is a seven track album: Time Sensitive: Unreleased Sounds From The Otherworld Archives.
The archives of this pioneering platform have been opened
Otherworld Recordings existed between 1994 and 1997. It was dedicated to the U.K. brand of techno, continuing the IDM traditions that had just taken root while journeying in other directions. Ran by Steve Pickton, the imprint showcased his specific style of machine music and his many monikers. Paul. W. Teebrooke. Phenonyma. Stasis. Now, for the first time in nearly thirty years, the archives of this pioneering platform have been opened. The result is a seven track album: Time Sensitive: Unreleased Sounds From The Otherworld Archives.
The principal pseudonym of the collection is Stasis, Pickton’s best known and most prolific nom de plume with appearances on B12, Peacefrog and, most recently, his own Fencepiece. Under said name he opens with the textured toms and rich patterns of “Crystal Plateaux.” Wide expanses dominate the track, beats tethering the burbling bass and astral lines to terra firma. Space was a major influence for Pickton, what lies beyond our own world depicted in Otherworld’s artwork and track titles. “Out of the Unknown (Alt. Version)” is an unheard edition of the first piece from the imprint’s debut compilation. Warm pads are cooled by glacial currents, strings ascending into the heavens as influences from both Britain and Detroit come to the fore.
Maintaining that sense of movement ::
The percussive force of the motor city is plain to hear in the Phenonyma remix of “Express.” A chugging groove is cut through with a warbling beam and crisp snares, melody being sidelined in this minimal tribute to locomotion. Maintaining that sense of movement is “Face at the Door” by Paul W. Teerbrooke. Eerie lines streak across the windscreen, steady rhythms allow noodling notes of neon to glisten and glow.
The remainder of the album is by Stasis. Tenderness seeps from speakers in “Do You Remember.” Clean beats support fragile keys, a dauby bassline shorn by sheer metallic slices in this voyage into low earth orbit. Sheffield, a hotbed of British electronics in the 1990s, echoes in the rhythm structures of “Revealed to None.” Bumping and rumbling, the clicking and clanking of machinery is threatened by off-kilter keys before mechanical wildlife colonizes and soothes. An unreleased version of “Sol-ar” closes, the original appearing on the mythical Disco 3000 EP in 1993. This unheard take is true to its thirty plus year old predecessor. Stripped back, the listener is drawn in by complex textures as a staggered melody is superimposed onto a shimmering backdrop of liquid lines as bass billows on solar winds.
Time Sensitive: Unreleased Sounds From The Otherworld Archives is emblematic of the timelessness of Pickton’s music. Under his many monikers, the British musician explored new and exciting ideas. Thematic productions were further refined by elements of ambient, jazz and the silver-screen being adopted. This collection of seven works is a fitting tribute to an artist and a time, it also is a triumph of audio archaeology with De:tuned once again proving the past is alive and has something to tell us right now.
Time Sensitive: Unreleased Sounds From The Otherworld Archives is available on De:tuned. [Bandcamp]
