Today sees one of London’s most exciting new talents, ABSOLUTE. (aka Anthony McGinley) announce his debut mixtape Wonderland, due for release on May 7th via Skint Records/BMG. Alongside the announcement, tickets for ABSOLUTE.’s headline show at London’s Islington Assembly Hall on Saturday 19th June are on sale now. 
 
Buy tickets for Islington Assembly Hall here: https://skint.lnk.to/AbsoluteLivePR  
 
Wonderland is a whirlwind ride through dance music as heard through ABSOLUTE.’s ears: emotive house, hard-edged techno, divine disco, and euphoric rave bring the party, while more cerebral downtempo and textural ambient tracks wind things down. It’s party music for a time without parties, all shot through with McGinley’s message of hope and equality for all.  
 
Speaking on the Mixtape, ABSOLUTE. explains: “Writing this album brought me back to life, I was writing music that helped me feel certain ways, freedom and connectedness to something I and many others were missing, longing hard to be around people, or needing a dose of raw euphoric rave energy which gave some release at the sheer desperation to dance and feel joy. Even if just for a short time, to feel transported to 90’s UK raves or New York’s underground gave me some life, and I hope it does for you too. Welcome to Wonderland…” 
 
The mixtape album came to fruition as a result of the recent lockdown where ABSOLUTE., and the rest of the world, was forced to a standstill. Anthony was determined to turn his frustration into art and participated in a creative workshop that helped open his mind to new ideas, taking his music in exciting directions. The title of the mixtape takes its name from Wonderland Arena, a now obsolete rave space in East London that played host to live performances from the likes of Frankie Knuckles, The Prodigy, and Carl Cox during the halcyon days of acid house and early rave, and that is now converted into apartments where Anthony currently lives and works. 
 
ABSOLUTE. Is a project that has steadily gained momentum over the last couple of years, deftly choosing the right path for long term success rather than quick gains. Coming from the vibrant LGBTQ+ club and rave space where he promoted influential events in London, Anthony wanted to make sure foundations were solid before making the break into the live arena with this incredible body of work. He’s DJed at a wide array of parties and festivals from Glastonbury and Creamfields to Fabric and Razzmatazz but performing live has always been the goal. As lockdown came into effect he was packing his equipment to go on the road supporting dance legends 808 State on a 10 date UK tour.  
 
Despite a total shutdown of the live sector during the pandemic, Anthony still managed to perform his debut live set for Radio 1’s virtual Ibiza weekend during the summer and has just announced a headline live show at Islington’s assembly for March next year in partnership with underground gatekeepers Percolate. 
 
Alongside his musical accomplishments, Anthony is a passionate activist for human rights and has a longstanding track record of work supporting issues including climate, race, and LGBTQ+ justice. After attending the first Extinction Rebellion action in London, McGinley wrote “Rave Against the Machine”, a track that sampled a speech by Greta Thunberg which resulted in XR later inviting him to programme the music line-up of their International Rebellion at Trafalgar Square, while at Glastonbury, he played at Greenpeace’s Rave Tree.

Sage Comme Une Image (Good as Gold)

🎶 Afro & Melodic House, Trance & Hard Techno

📍 Based in Luxembourg

🇧🇪 Belgian DJ

Management: terry@turbomgmt.co.uk
Bookings: laetitia@decked-out.co.uk

With hardcore support from Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Gerd Janson, Tiga and The Blessed Madonna, who correctly noted that he has “the hardest working hair in show business,” ABSOLUTE. has raised himself above the rabble of contemporary dance music with stone-cold hits “Follow ur <3’,”Ride”, “Don’t Ya Want it’, “Papi’s Pumping Piano” and an official remix of Kylie’s anthem-of-the-decade ‘Padam Padam’ that will ensure free Fuji water in his green room for the rest of his life. As the London-based DJ/producer is a virtual lock to earn the kind of clout that will allow him to scrub the internet of all biographical detail, it seems wise to revisit his early days and career-to-date while we still can. 

As a child, ABSOLUTE. was enthralled by dance music, to the extent that he took the money his father had given him to buy clothes and spent it on a single turntable. While initially furious, once his dad heard the music, he calmed down and said, “Son, that is a low-slung floor-filler, and I have no choice but to respect it.” Later, ABSOLUTE. honed his DJing skills by using the lone deck to beat-match to Pete Tong’s BBC Radio show, a fact that will take on eerie significance if you read this bio backwards. 

A teenage ABSOLUTE. found his chosen family among club kids and drag queens in East London queer spaces, eventually going on to promote and curate spaces like these himself. "For whatever reason, the people in the queer scene hadn’t found liberation in pub trivia nights held at Wetherspoons breeding pits," he says. “So they had to create their own world instead. At this point, my politics are actually less progressive than the British Airways twitter account, so things seem to be moving in the right direction."

These experiences led to ABSOLUTE. to notice that queer spaces are largely dependent on the viability of human existence. As such, his nascent activist streak led him to sample climate icon Greta Thunberg on the track “Rave Against the Machine”, despite the fact that the 40-and-over conservatives who regularly challenge Thunberg to debate and/or wrestle on social media make up a huge part of the acid house market. The track led to a collaboration with the Extinction Rebellion collective, for whom ABSOLUTE. curated the “Rave Against the Machine” queer stage at the activists’ event in London. Unfortunately, the stage was promptly shut down by police. While many of the cops had no opinion on the political message, they were reportedly pissed that the event was overshadowing an after-hours the local station had been promoting.

To the extent that there is a habitable future for anyone at all, ABSOLUTE.’s is looking bright. With official remixes for icons Fever Ray and Tony De Vit, and a mass of original music including EPs on Shall Not Fade, DJ Haus’ Hot Haus, New York Queer stalwart Chrissy’s new label Maximum Airtime, a Radio 1 Essential Mix live from Glastonbury and named 6Music ‘Mix of the Year’ by The Blessed Madonna and a recently completed fourth U.S. tour. “Whether my music helps inspire the advance of cold fusion technology or I end up DJing the Emerging Artists Stage of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, I’m going to keep bringing the same BIG NEON ENERGY intensity to everything I do. 

So the next time someone tells you there’s no absolutes, give them a knowing grin and say, 'There’s just one, honey. Just one.’"