Francis Harris’ Thresholds album dropped on his own Scissor and Thread, garnering rave reviews for an album steeped in atmospheres, drone textures and electro-acoustic explorations. 

It’s an album far removed from the dancefloor, but he’s also managed to curate a remix package from some of the most talented and boundary-pushing artists active on the fringes of the electronic music space. 

First up is Manchester resident Hidden Spheres’ remix of Earth Moves, which is flipped into a pulsating slice of electronica. 

Yu Su, the up-and-coming producer currently living in Canada, takes the same track on a different journey, resulting in a slinky, affecting piece of music that eventually falls into a deep groove.  

Speaker Music - the moniker of ‘rhythmanalyst’ DeForrest Brown, Jr., delivers two reworks of the albums title track Thresholds. The Rhythm Remix focuses on the original’s brass washes, and adds a thick, playful bass rhythm. The Studio Soul remix is more a freeform piece of audio manipulation and editing, resulting in a transportative piece of work that fully compliments the original track. 

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Francis Harris’ Thresholds album dropped on his own Scissor and Thread earlier this year, garnering rave reviews for an album steeped in atmospheres, drone textures and electro-acoustic explorations. 

It’s an album far removed from the dancefloor, but he’s also managed to curate a remix package from some of the most talented and boundary-pushing artists active on the fringes of the electronic music space. 

First up is Manchester resident Hidden Spheres’ remix of Earth Moves, which is flipped into a pulsating slice of electronica. 

Yu Su, the up-and-coming producer currently living in Canada, takes the same track on a different journey, resulting in a slinky, affecting piece of music that eventually falls into a deep groove.  

Speaker Music - the moniker of ‘rhythmanalyst’ DeForrest Brown, Jr., delivers two reworks of the albums title track Thresholds. The Rhythm Remix focuses on the original’s brass washes, and adds a thick, playful bass rhythm. The Studio Soul remix is more a freeform piece of audio manipulation and editing, resulting in a transportative piece of work that fully compliments the original track.

Earth Moves

Francis Harris - Earth Moves (Hidden Spheres Rемiх)

On your mind

DEEP HOUSE MUSIC FOR LATE NIGHTS AND LONELY HEARTS.

“A THOUSAND TIMES AT NIGHT” 

OUT NOW

🕊️ PEACE 🕊️

A Thousand Times At Night

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More about the world has changed than not in the decade since dance production dyad Frank & Tony released their last full-length record, 2014’s You Go Girl. Despite, or perhaps in spite of, this shifting landscape, house music has managed to stay fundamentally reliable (either a bug or its greatest feature, depending on who you ask). Where previously, Frank & Tony have been celebrated for their contemplative, studious approach to the genre, with 2024’s Ethos, the Brooklyn/Biarritz-based duo return amidst metastatic cultural upheaval to prove out those scholarly credentials — with an album that serves to remind listeners why dancefloors and liberatory politics consistently share the language of movements and revolutions. 
"House music has always been an expression of political desire as it often was the only safe space for communities to come together in ways that society at large disallowed,” Harris enthuses. “The same energy in the ‘90s could be found in parts of the punk & hardcore scene. Countercultures exist to create temporary autonomous zones of desire outside of dominant narratives that are roadblocks to creation. We have always been inspired by these countercultural movements and the Frank & Tony project is deeply influenced by it."
Though the project originates from the relationship between house legends Francis Harris and Anthony Collins, the titular Frank & Tony were born of a fictional, happenstance meeting inspired by Harris’s experiences in the more liminal, amorphous dance and punk scenes of the late ‘90s/early 2000s (as exemplified in the early works of photographer Anouk Schneider, whose photographs feature on the duo’s first releases). In a world beyond dialectic, where bodies are simultaneously revered and decentered, Frank & Tony connect for one night on an imaginary dancefloor, vowing to make work together in the future; however, having exchanged no information, and with classic club kid garb obscuring any common identifying characteristics, they turn to the internet in hopes of reconnecting for a collaboration.
This origin myth hones in on the crucial history of the dancefloor as a stage whereupon individuals, regardless of background, enact political and socioeconomic desire to scale, highlighting such locations as the tertiary factor present in intimate relationships of all kinds, brought about when two individuals unite and produce that mysterious third thing that was never really possible without blurring the lines of identity so that collaborative creation can happen. 

In practice, it sounds like the record needed by fans of the genre, full of the lightness and space in rooms full of fellow revelators. “We’re only able to make house music because of the vast legacy of producers from New York, Detroit and Chicago who laid the foundation for what we do today,” Collins divulges. “In many ways it can never really live up to that legacy as our art is born out of privilege rather than necessity to create spaces of political desire in the face of marginalization. So what does this mean? We take that legacy very seriously and we want our stamp on this history to resonate with current and future generations as a bridge to the real history behind it."

Undoubtedly, Ethos is tremendously influenced by the multitude of projects originating from, and supported by, the duo and their label in the decade since You Go Girl– releasing records from a vast diversity of artists (including Nadia Khan, Gry, Villete, Darand Land, Alex Albrecht, Dj Sprinkles and CCL), and Harris becoming curatorial voice of Brooklyn’s premiere venue for audiophiles, Public Records, where he continues to amplify work across a global diaspora (and where the duo maintain a residency of wide praise).

Ethos

Ethos (with DaRand Land)

Frank & Tony - Ethos (with DaRand Land)

Hell Yeah series File Under Balearic Gabba continues its mission to bring some vital, previously digital-only Balearic Gabba weaponry to vinyl for the first time. This second volume has again artwork by Planet Luke and features Wallace next to new school stars SIRS and Pedro Bertho.

Tartan Records label head and British talent Wallace opens up with a remix of Sewell And The Gong's 'Better Words' that has been a real summer hit for label head Marco Gallerani.
The original came on Jason Boardman's fine Before I Die label and is one of those jams that transcends genre and wins over techno heads, Adriatic beach groovers and festival main stages alike. It is "proper Balearic Gabba" says Marco with its tropical percussion, humid pads and watery droplets all adding lush atmosphere to the dubby drums. The chords and reedy leads are beautifully delicate but get floors in a blissed-out, loved-up trance.

SIRS is an artist on fire right now and already impressed on this label with his remix of Aura Safari which is one of the year's standout Balearic house jams. He has a new single on the way for Hell Yeah but first flips label mate My Friend Dario's 'Tellaro' into a wobbly, psyched-out dub disco and breakbeat chugger. The zippy synths and shimmering keys are underpinned with a taught bassline and playful vocals that bring great fun and irresistible party vibes to any set.

Hell Yeah mainstay Verdo then has his 'Boulevardier' remixed by Pedro Bertho, a rising talent from Brazil with a steamy South American style. This one is a modern beach classic that unites both young and old heads with its frayed analogue drums and snappy percussion joining the dots between 80s Chicago house, new age and Balearic with its big piano chords and phased bass all getting hands the air.

Bandcamp

Sewell And The Gong - Better Words (Wallace Remix)

𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬: Mikhail Catan - Bliss [Tibetania Records]

Buy on Beatport
https://www.beatport.com/release/secret-garden/4536012

𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬: Mikhail Catan - Bliss [Tibetania Records]

BOX - indie pop hip hop instrumental beats

BOX - indie pop hip hop instrumental beats (9)

Untitled 5

James Hadfield feat Danny Linton - Soak (Axel Boman Dubb)(MMM#03)

A patient, poignant and dynamically sensitive 11 minute masterpiece from @joe-clausseel, remixing @scissorandthread boss @cfrancisharris. 

Enjoy the full, glorious 15 minute version by buying the record: http://www.stampthewax.com/2019/04/04/premiere-francis-harris-minor-forms-joaquin-joe-claussells-cosmic-arts-version/
Listen on Youtube: http://bit.ly/francis-joe

Listen on Youtube

Francis Harris - Minor Forms (Joaquin Joe Claussell's Cosmic Arts Version) (STW Premiere)

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Hidden Spheres is the alter ego of Manchester’s Tom Harris, who first made his mark on the underground circuit with his release 'The Bloos' on Moods & Grooves, before following it up with the much in demand ‘Waiting’ on Lobster Theremin offshoot Distant Hawaii.  

Here, Tom joins the Scissor & Thread family, the Brooklyn label founded by Francis Harris, and home to music that traverses a number of boundaries. Hidden Spheres fits right in - the five track 1985 EP blends house, broken beat, ambient, jazz and other elements into a heady brew. 

'King Tut' starts proceedings, a laid back jazzy groove, rich in textures and soulful flourishes.  

'My Names' touches on the UK broken beat legacy of 4 Hero and Bugz in the Attic - an off kilter groove layered with sweet jazz and house inflected licks.  

'Karl' is a much more direct dancefloor track, albeit with the deepness that we expect from Hidden Spheres.The penultimate track '1985' steps into the unconventional house vibes of Detroit's third wave.

'Soon We’ll' finishes up the EP - a supremely jazzy piece built around the sax, piano and washes of strings and ambient elements - a superb closer for a deep and heartfelt release.

1985

Hidden Spheres - 1985

Scissor & Thread is cut from a different cloth than your average dance imprint.