Sound Colour Vibration (Music | Art | Film | Technology | Science | Culture)

Pressed And’s latest EP Hyper Thistle on Mush Records is a portrait of beautiful musical pictures that is as soothing and colorful as it gets. The multi-talented duo of Andrew Hamlet and Mat Jones comprise Pressed And and have been with Mush Records since their debut album Imbue Up. They have been created a lot of buzz in the world about their sound and with just reason. Andrew Hamlet layers a lot of the guitar parts on Hyper Thistle with effects laced sheets of the guitar that bring tones you can’t get from anywhere else. Mat Jones cuts up his own vocal recordings into samples that are layered into the music with the approach of a synth. The two join forces on all other productions and I can’t put into words the type of majestic aura that runs through every track of Hyper Thistle.

The dreamy essence of Hyper Thistle leaves me lost in a meditative mood. The guitar is gently molded into the music, adding in subtle layers that are endless. “Tusk In The Rock Flowers” begins this journey and is a really beautiful piece of work to begin an album with. Synth and a guitar sample that is soulful and wraps around intense patterns of drums and bursts of vocal samples. The guitar create a glowing aura as it shimmers into a drifted presence, almost in wave like patterns. The synth line that comes in a little over a minute into the song really aligns the piece for the rich, lush percussion that is to follow. It sounds so alive and ready to pollinate the world with tones that are much needed in the heaviness of the world. “Andross To Aneki” builds itself on a really sublime guitar pattern that is washed over in cascades of synth. The interplay unfolds into the rhythmic aspects when the song fully realizes itself and the vocal samples are prominent. Guitar is shot into the front of the mix with wavering lines that move from one side of the mix to the other. It’s one of the few electronic albums where some of the musings of Hendrix and his subtle additives in guitar sheets comes to mind.

Only two songs into the EP Hyper Thistle and I am already transfixed, awaiting the rest of the album to shower me in the presence of futuristic and adventurous music. The guitar is a very special instrument, one that allows itself to move with the musician during creation. When processed into a state that it has been with Hyper Thistle, it becomes something that goes far beyond its conventional use. Every piece of sound on Hyper Thistle has this shared relationship and is stunning on so many levels. I feel like I did when I first heard the beats of Odd Nosdam, Teebs, DJ Nobody and many others who have given the world very beautiful music in the modern production spectrum.

-Erik Otis

Order a copy of Hyper Thistle from Mush Records HERE

Check out a preview of the album HERE

Conceived during their first US tour, Pressed And return with Hyper Thistle, their second EP of processed vocal and complex electronic experiments. The release is a bridge between their sound-defining debut, Imbue Up, and the more performance driven sound of their recent Daytrotter Session which is infusing the music they are working on for their first full-length. The tone is quickly set as a chopped vocal and double-time breakbeat propel the EP forward. Chiming guitars interplay with delays and propulsive percussion before cutting to a slice of glitched out hip-hop that throws out the rules to transcend all well-worn electronic micro-genres. Ambience creeps back into the fold with etherial atmospherics and light drum-and-bass beats until a demented vocal chop and equilibrium throwing groove changes the mood completely. Finally pitched down vocals complete with higher register electronic wizardry creating something both future-sounding and soulful. With their second release Pressed And once again prove that they refuse to be trapped by tradition of genre in their quest for electronic bliss.  – Mush Records