Sympathies is a series of self-published releases by Furtive, showcasing an extensive genre-agnostic catalog of colorful original production. The fifth release in the series has the polychromatic producer revisiting and re-tuning their familiar psychedelic murk, making forays into exquisite and sappy new territory, and - inevitably - delivering fearsome acid. Enclosed are nine tracks of kinetic low-end energy, trippy textures, soaring n’ dreamy moments, and crunchy tuff stuff - all for maximum dancefloor wiggliness.

https://furtivetrax.bandcamp.com/album/sympathies-v

Plunging straight in with shifting propulsive bass movement is Repudiation: a crowning highlight of rippling acid arpeggiation, this track is for when sincerity and gentle dancefloor drama don’t have to come at the expense of high-impact techno kinetics.

The dripping Dendrobatid lowers us into familiar Furtive territory - murky, warping, trippy textures. Dendrobatid is a steamier rendition of this sound, with chunky percussion and leafy breakbeats between the moist, twisting sound design. Profligate submerges us in louring, uneasy warped textures that churn up into slippery, dubbed-out cascades, as the slightly more upbeat Scofflaw pulls us through oil-slicked whirlpool wetness. Both of these trippy, dissociated tracks share sharp, frothy percussive accents, low-slung and steadily progressing synthoid patterns, and a sure case of lost-in-the-fog stumbling.

Furtive fires off a proper fracas with the punishing Pit Dragon and cimmerian Brandstifter. A ferocious fizzed-out acid scorcher, Pit Dragon is a start-to-finish intense fire-breather of a track for high-yield dancefloor detonation. With heavy kicks and slugging bass, Brandstifter has similar intensity, but opts for benthic black-out drum’n’bass sound design of dubbed-out claps, simmering rolling percussion, and uneasy flickers.

For needed levity, Potion Slurper is a somewhat silly sliding bin-rattler for sleepy steppers - either for those still snoozy in the early bits of a night, or for those swirling in the drain in the soporific last morning minutes, once the potions have all been slurped and burped away.

With Gerbera and Dawnpeel, Furtive ventures into the more melodramatic and melodic side of romantic deep techno, weaving soaring, glittering synthesizer movement between heartbeat basses. Gerbera balances the psychedelic with the saccharine, including a warping mycelial overtone texture alongside gossamer pads, while Dawnpeel leans into a glowing, all-smiles warmth for more tender dancefloor moments.

Sympathies is named after a series of portraits, experimental photographs, and weird VHS footage incidentally produced during a wild, debauched studio session - an experience long-since surpassed with all-the-more saturated and riotous adventures.

Sympathies is a blur of emotions, experiences, sensations, relationships, and the psychedelic fragments between. 
credits
releases March 8, 2021

Album art and text by Furtive
Production, mixing, mastering, cheeky grand-standing, etc by Furtive

Snag it on Bandcamp

Sympathies V

Dawnpeel

Gerbera

Potion Slurper

Brandstifter

Buy on Bandcamp

Pit Dragon

Scofflaw

Profligate

Dendrobatid

Repudiation

Producer/DJ/Promoter/Organizer/bonehead/etc - they/them - PHL
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For booking, production, remix work, promos, or any other inquiries, please write to: furtivetrax@gmail.com
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Upcoming Dates:
8/5 - Bounce House, PHL
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Learn more here: https://www.attackmagazine.com/features/introducing/furtive-the-astronaut-in-a-pool-of-mermaids/
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Furtive is a full-gonzo polychromatic rave conjurer and relentless creative tinkerer. A Philadelphia-based producer, DJ, and event organizer with over a decade of experience in the studio, Furtive's production wizardry has allowed them to land releases on a variety of local and international labels, along with a slew of tracks on VA compilations and dozens of self-released tracks. Furtive’s body of work comprises psychedelic warphole-diving techno, quirky and muscular electro, acerbic acid tracks, crooked bass bits, moving ambient atmospheres, and drum & bass bin-rattlers. Furtive cut their teeth as a DJ and promoter/DIY organizer in Washington, DC’s warehouses, where they played a turnkey role in putting on some of the District’s zaniest techno parties. As a DJ, they’ve supported internationally celebrated no-nonsense acts and held court in dingy local watering holes with eclectic selections and a steadfast focus on pacing and dynamics, regularly jumping genres to build moving, impactful sets. Beyond the fog and strobe lights, Furtive creates art in a variety of mediums, including linocuts, render art, inky drawings, and tattooing.

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Furtive grew up as a bit of a perpetual cultural outsider: born and raised somewhere in Southern California’s sun-weathered and dusty Inland Empire, but spending many formative years in Berlin, Furtive grew up between three languages and even more histories. Furtive’s musical arc zigzags wildly: from classical music, Russian pop, and a formative, fateful exposure to trance in childhood, to trashy metalcore and gabber in high school, and later to the transcendental worlds of gloomy experimental metal, Cascadian singer-songwriters, and the thrill of exploring obscure vinyl collections on sunny afternoons. 

Furtive’s production is fundamentally techno refracted through these aesthetic and conceptual sensibilities and some wacky studio idiosyncrasies, with these disparate influences coming together in their DJing and production via a sort of academic, tongue-in-cheek desire to connect all of the music that has moved and influenced them. 

As a closing note: the journey can be summarized in their own words (or, a cheeky amalgamated existential portmanteau): “I aim for the stars, but sometimes I land in a pool of mermaids.”

https://furtivetrax.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/furtivetrax
https://www.instagram.com/furtive.sasha/
https://ra.co/dj/furtive