Ensemble Entendu

Ensemble Entendu is the collaborative project of Astro Nautico co-founder and co-owner Sam O.B. (f.k.a. Obey City) and label artist Photay. 

Since July 2014, inspired by back-to-back deejay sets at Astro Nautico parties and around New York, O.B. and Photay have been linking their individual production styles between Brooklyn studios in order to create a form dance music that centralizes the timeless power of the drum. 

With a track entitled ‘Cause ‘N’ Effect,’ the oldest (c. 2014) collected on the Ensemble’s debut release Selected Rhythm Works, Vol. 1, the duo raises the question: who in this collaboration is causing what effect on whom? There are rhythmic and melodic idiosyncrasies of both artists present on each track. Footprints stepping in footprints. And beyond or behind the artists are the sound signatures of house music, new jack, African polyrhythm, dub reggae, ‘80s prog (roto toms!), P-funk, dancehall, and much more. This flurry of styles stitches a Trans-Atlantic tapestry of drumming across generations and seas, with a center nowhere but the dance floor. 

Ensemble Entendu’s debut is sampling notions of library music and rhythm tracks. The duo’s name refers to deju entendu, the psychic phenomenon that occurs when you hear something you think you’ve heard before, even though the sound may be being heard for the first time. Selected Rhythm Works, Vol. 1 (a nominal reference to Aphex Twin) loosens the threads of connection between then and now and tomorrow, allowing listeners to weave their own journeys in historical time through body movement.

Selected Rhythm Works, Vol. 1

Close The Gates

Pluggin

Pull Da Plug

Centri Petal

Eye Of The Storm

Jah I See You

Cause N Effect

Peel Back

Roll credits! Ensemble Entendu - a collaboration between Evan Shornstein (Photay) and Astro Nautico co-founder Sam O.B. - return with their first piece of music since Selected Rhythm Works Vol. 1, the duo's debut album released almost 2 years ago exactly. We all feel the passing of time, for better or for worse, but in this case it’s marked with celebration for the past, present and future. A jubilant romper, 'Time Is Certainly Passing' pays homage to stadium pop legends like Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel in a balearic adaptation more suited to intimate, fluorescent dancefloors. Driven by a rhythm at once tropical, disco and afro-beat, painted with soaringly cosmic synth orchestration washed through grand canyons of reverb, Ensemble Entendu have announced their re-arrival here underlined and bold, a testament to the confidence both artists have achieved together over time with their sound as a powerhouse creative tag-team. Keep your ears to the ground for more to come!

Sax written & played by Jaedon Alvira 
Artwork by Pete Ford

http://hyperurl.co/sib1fl

Time Is Certainly Passing

Ensemble Entendu - Time Is Certainly Passing

Ensemble Entendu (Photay and Sam O.B.) return with futurist library music for the dance floor and, in this case, yacht sound system. Azalea Chuva is the second single (after last year’s Time Is Certainly Passing) to be culled from the first of two EPs from the Brooklyn-based powerhouse due this year on Astro Nautico. A soft ‘80s synth palette interlocks with 3 over 4 percussion ostinatos in slowly building wonderment. Melodies played by two-octave synth leads sound like they’re made of plucked and whistle tones. By the time the triplets of kosmische-style drums roll through you’re already delightfully caught up in a mesmeric, summery haze. Grab some shade and a cool drink. Settle right in.

Ensemble Entendu - Azalea Chuva

'Big Break' is the 3rd single from @ensembleentendu's forthcoming EP, 'Music For The Densely Populated, Vol. 2' due out 7/26 via Astro Nautico.

Music For The Densely Populated, Vol. 2

Big Break

Ensemble Entendu - Big Break

Music For The Densely Populated, Vol. 2' is the second official release from Ensemble Entendu (Sam O.B. x Photay) and is the first of two EPs to be released on Astro Nautico this year.

Ensemble Entendu - Flat Real Talk

Ensemble Entendu - Flat Talk

Ensemble Entendu - Up To No Good

Photay and Sam O.B. collide once again for the second of two EPs this year under the moniker Ensemble Entendu. Pastoral Dusk Themes EP evokes images deep and rolling. Lead off ‘Hully Bully’ portrays a nighttime landscape turned into electric jelly jiggling to the beat of forlorn drums. Ensemble Entendu’s take on library music here expands to include the stoic cumbia inflections of ‘Ritmo Antiguo’ and the fourth world ambient reflections of ‘Loon Interlude’ and ‘Mascoma.’ Each track brings a palpable imagined geography, a space within which to think and feel emergent states of departure. ‘Lakeview’ finishes the release with a colorful, astral spaciousness, something like aurora borealis converted into synthesized sound.

Ensemble Entendu began as a collaborative project of Photay and Sam O.B. They set out exploring library music and the tradition of rhythm tracks, emphasizing driving drums and basslines in their stripped down productions. The Brooklyn-based producers are now shaping a music uniquely situated between their already unique solo artistic voices.

Pastoral Dusk Themes EP and its recently released companion Music For The Densely Populated, Vol. 2 are available for digital download via Astro Nautico.

Pastoral Dusk Themes, Vol. 3

Ensemble Entendu - Lakeview

Ensemble Entendu - Mascoma (ft. Chris Decato)

Ensemble Entendu - Wasp Jam

Ensemble Entendu - Loon Interlude

Ensemble Entendu - Ritmo Antiguo

Ensemble Entendu - Hully Bully

Brooklyn/Philadelphia-based record label run by Paul Jones, Sam O.B. and Bennett Kuhn.

All releases before Fall '13 available free here or <a href="http://www.astronautico.bandcamp.com">http://www.astronautico.bandcamp.com</a>