T4T LUV NRG presents the title track from Eris Drew's forthcoming debut album "Quivering In Time", weeks ahead of the full album's release on October 29, 2021. Mid-tempo breaks, throbbing bass and applied tremolos are the foundation for Eris's song about finding hope amidst chaos.     

Available for pre-order!!! https://erisdrew.bandcamp.com/album/quivering-in-time

About the album... 
In 2020, after the release of Trans Love Vibration (NAIVE, 2018) and Transcendental Access Point (Interdimensional Transmissions, 2020), Eris moved from her hometown of Chicago to rural New Hampshire and recorded the nine beautiful songs featured here. Her first album feels something like her DJ sets, with stacked layers of vinyl samples and turntable manipulations serving as a fast-moving foundation for hand-played keyboard riffs, walls of percussion and sampled, scratched and strummed guitar tones. On each song for the album Eris expresses the anxiety and hope of her present. She wrote, recorded, and mixed the album as she stared into the forest through her studio window, collapsing present and past into future, her memories and body literally quivering in time.

The songs are cast with Eris’s experiences and intentions. The plucky progressive Loving Clav is in the form of an evocation (“good times come to me now....”), while the tracks Time to Move Close and Show U LUV express Eris’s longing for togetherness. The hardcore Pick ‘Em Up (“...and it might be a different story”) and organ-heavy Ride Free are funky odes to psychedelics, hard dancing and the subjectivity of real lived experience. The twinkling house of Howling Wind and the tempo-shifting bop of Sensation capture the mystery of the forest cabin where Eris spent most of the last 15 months. Two booming hip house dubs round out the album, Baby and Quivering in Time, each an itchy track about hope and personal resilience. As with her prior work, Eris’s approach to music making is unique and genre-dissolving. Ultimately, her special sound is a metaphor for her main message, which is that every person deserves to be themself.

Eris Drew - Quivering In Time

Available on Audio Cassette and digital download directly from the label’s Bandcamp @ https://djbeige.bandcamp.com/album/amen-vol-1

T4T LUV NRG is proud to present “Amen! Vol. 1”, a breathtaking DJ mix tape conceived and blended by Detroit’s DeeJay Beige. “Amen! Vol. 1” is a singular presentation of a sound developed by Beige that is very personal and deeply connected to their history. Beige’s mix is an amalgam of ecclesiastical breaks and gospel house delivered with intensity and soul power like only they can do. Prepare to be enthralled with one of the most exciting DJs currently burning their way through the American underground. From the Holy Ghost TO YOU, this is Beige! Be not afraid…

ARTIST STATEMENT:
In the strictest sense, Amen! Vol. 1 is the result of more than a year’s worth of obsessive brainstorming, digging, planning, arranging, re-arranging, and countless discarded takes. And in another sense, this mixtape has been in the works for the six years since I started DJing, the ten years since my baptism as a teenage club rat, and for my entire life, which for better or for worse has been shaped by The Church and church music since birth. 

My mother was a promiscuously Christian divinity school dropout who pushed my family through a run of increasingly conservative churches: Unitarian, Episcopal, Baptist, Presbytarian, Charismatic-Evangelical, and probably a few others I forget. My fathers family on the other hand were career scientists and committed atheists who also all happened to sing in church choirs for fun. I cannot remember a time when Beethoven, Bach, folk hymns, old negro spirituals and gospel were not playing in my house, day in and day out. 

Cutting ties with both family and organized religion in my early teens left a void of community and belonging that wouldn’t start to be filled until my first experiences with clubbing (sometimes with drugs, sometimes without) years later. And when I started collecting records years after that, I gravitated heavily towards any music incorporating the familiar imagery, themes, musical motifs and language of church (especially Liberation Theology) which remained kind of bittersweetly comforting long after I stopped trying to believe. This might sound heretical, but over the last several years “gospel” has become much more of a feeling to me than a genre or even a sound. As far as I’m concerned, the rave, the club, the congregation, the choir, are only different ways to experience a many-sided mystery. 

For this project, I wanted to challenge myself to imagine going beyond just using a little soulful house to end the night or the mix on an uplifting note, and instead program a fantasy “gospel rave” for a thousand of my closest friends dancing in a field on a moonless night. How would I do my best to deliver a powerful, meaningful, salvatory collective experience from midnight until sunrise? Amen Vol. 1 is a snapshot of that imaginary night. 

The need to use contrasting peaks and troughs to create a sense of narrative for your audience includes emotional or spiritual contrast just as much as it does changes in BPM or a kick pattern.  So, it was important for me to try exceeding simply the emotions associated with “praise” music (like joy) because encountering the truly divine should also inspire fear and awe. Disregarding genre as much as possible, each piece of music was chosen for the sensation or sentimental meaning it inspires for me personally: you probably wouldn’t call most of them “rave tracks”, and plenty aren’t explicitly religious at all. Finally, of course I had to make sure that Detroit and Chicago were properly (but not exclusively, that’s for another mix) represented in the tracklist. Where I’ve ended up, grounded by a repeating classic “anchor track” for each side, is an attempt to simulate Genesis and Revelation, the Good News and the Flood, the dark night of the soul and the moment of salvation–whatever those might mean for you. Can I get a witness?

Beige - AMEN! Vol. 1

****Physical Cassette Mixtape Available Our Bandcamp****
https://octoocta.bandcamp.com/album/love-hypnosis-vol-2

I heal myself weekly with the music I play. I listen deeply to the words buried within; the intention behind the lyrics either peppered-in or chorused. So much of the house music I connect with is rooted in love. It’s rooted in desire and hope. It’s rooted in narrative, “Do you want to trip with me?”, “I’ll outstretch my hand”, “I won’t forget about you, you won’t forget about me, we won’t forget about love vibrations!”. I listen to the messages to remind myself what I need and why I continue to move forward.

Vol.2 is represented in two mixing styles; long-melded blends (Trippin’ On Love) and fast, tight radio-style cut mixes with overdubs (Slammin’ With Love). Both convey the deep need for connection to one’s body and to others. It’s this connection energy that I find so powerful about house music’s healing magic.

Xoxo Octo Octa

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎ 50% of the profits the mix will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), which works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. ♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

Octo Octa - Love Hypnosis Vol. 2 Mixtape

Pre-Order the 12" Vinyl & Digital Release (out Sept. 15 2023) on our bandcamp:
https://octoocta.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-of-a-dancefloor-ep

 - “Dreams of a Dancefloor” is the latest EP by Octo Octa (aka Maya Bouldry-Morrison) on her label T4T LUV NRG. Maya spent the last 3 years perfecting her engineering on these three sensual, beautiful and enveloping songs. For the opening track, “Late Night Love”, we hear Octo Octa capturing not just the subjective experience of dancing together, but also what happens after the party, making love and holding her partner close. It has none of the formalism of “big trance” and is instead an extended house-trance missive all her own with beautiful resonances that evoke Motherbeat and the ineffable softness of true connection. The second track “Let Yourself Go!” raises the tempo but maintains the mood of the record. The song is a classic Octo Octa ecstatic breakbeat acid jam written for building heat in the body and for speaker-dancing under a starlit sky. The E.P. closer, “Come Here, Let’s Commune”, is an invitation to explore togetherness. The essence of the track is a gorgeous piano theme, grounded in Maya’s belief that the dancefloor experience can be not only exciting and ecstatic, but also deeply moving and generative—a reminder that underground dance culture offers permission for connections unsanctioned in the dominant society.

Octo Octa - Dreams Of A Dancefloor Clips

Available on Audio Cassette and digital download directly from the label’s Bandcamp: https://cclurl.bandcamp.com/album/a-night-in-the-skull-discotheque

Side A: Bass is Eternal
Side B: 2-step Mutual Dream

A Night in the Skull Discotheque by the beloved underground selector CCL is the latest offering in the T4T LUV NRG label’s highly limited DJ mix series of cassettes. This immersive journey through a wonderland of proto-dubstep sounds from the late 1970s through the year 2000 is a sonic sibling to CCL’s acclaimed 2018 mix Ode to Queer Steppas.

Inspired in part by Eris Drew’s use of “old records to create new styles out of fragments” on her Raving Disco Breaks Vol. 1 mixtape (T4T LUV NRG, 2019), CCL approached this recording with a parallel frame of mind. Created with 3 CDJs, one Turntable, and a Boss Digital Delay 200, the tracks included in the mix are deconstructed from their whole, and constituent parts are intertwined, sampled, and dubbed out while being further stretched beyond their physical limits. CCL mixed many tracks at the 'wrong speed', pitched beyond their original recognizable tone; others are recontextualized through imaginative layering.

With a solid nod to seminal mixtapes of the early 90s, CCL references the namesake for Side A, Bass Is Eternal, an unreleased 1992 mixtape by influential Bristolian producers Smith & Mighty, an important sonic fulcrum amongst the musical tributaries of the hardcore continuum that continues to reverberate to this day. CCL experienced the after-effects of this ‘proto’ sound genesis in 2008, while living in Bristol, by which point its emergent whispers had coalesced into what became known as dubstep. Tracing a rich history of reference through the samples, basslines, moods, and drum patterns emanating from Bass Is Eternal while looking for connections that predate it became a long-term fascination for CCL. The result is a DJ mix that connects the oft-forgotten dots between proto eras and modern developments in bass and dubstep.

For the resulting sonic ride on A Night in the Skull Discotheque, CCL leads us to a fantastical place of timeless surreality – a majestic haunted dancehall soundtracked by a giddy rush of steppers and dubbed-out delights. Subs rattle through syncopated percs, and moody synths glisten in macabre glory. Fantastical dancers wriggle in wispy eternity, liberated from their corporeal forms in all their greatest spiritual wonder. Both extravagant and dusky, A Night in the Skull Discotheque is a world of seductive in-betweens, a place caught between the moodiest depths and the highest exuberance – A love letter to one of the most impactful formative sounds of the last decades.


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A portion for the proceeds from this release will go to fundraiser "SUPPORT PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY IN EUROPE!". You can also directly donate via:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-palestinian-solidarity-in-europe
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Tape design: Nina Muro
Mastering: TJ Hertz
Additional tape mastering: Eris Drew
Photography: CCL 
Linear notes: Nevan Jio

A Night in the Skull Discotheque [T4T015]

CCL - A Night in the Skull Discotheque

** You can buy a cassette or digital download of the mix on our bandcamp**
https://erisdrew.bandcamp.com/album/raving-disco-breaks-vol-ii-rock-the-house

T4T LUV NRG is about to rock your stereo this spring with a sequel to the label’s first release “Raving Disco Breaks Vol. I” (2018). Eris Drew wanted to create a new sound for the second volume of her acclaimed mixtape series instead of simply retracing the pure disco vibes of the original. Setting her sights and intentions on creating a rock ‘n’ roll infected house mix, Eris worked on building crates for the last five years, finally reaching an inflection point—a moment of concrescence—when she was ready to put the needle on the records and let the beats flow. “Rock The House” was born, a concept for Volume II built from musical fragments, memories, and synchronicities. There are no classic Big Beat tunes on Volume II, instead Eris kicks out the jams for this mix with non-stop house and breaks cuts featuring plenty of rockin’ vocal vamps, as well as the likes of Janis Jopin, Joe Strummer, Ramones, and Led Zeppelin—all sampled, scratched and dropped along the way. Both sides of the mix include some of her most personally coveted recordings. To gather these records, Eris spent decades identifying tracks from older mix cassettes recorded by her DJ heroes, such as Terry Mullan and Mystic Bill, as well as discovering many of the featured tracks through happenstance and countless hours digging through dusty bins and YouTube rips. Each of the tracks on Volume II are at least 20 years old—some much older—but fresh is the word here, and the word is freeeesh!

Now, as the snow melts and the flowers of rave romance start to bloom, T4T wants to know one thing…Are U ready to rock right?

Eris Drew's Raving Disco Breaks Vol. II - Rock The House

For Eris’s mixtape “Raving Disco Breaks Vol. 1”, she uses old records to create a new style out of fragments. Many of the selections have been featured heavily in her live DJ sets, including her b2b sets with Octo Octa. Eris accumulated these records slowly, over decades, but it wasn’t until touring last year that she realized a “sound” coalesced in her bag. What does a rave at the disco sound like? Kinda like everyone took ecstasy at the roller rink. On her ecstatic mix, Eris colleges together a genre by scratching-in breaks with horn samples, mixing Disco House with broken beats, dropping Miami Bass jams with Boogie keys and blending Rave tunes with disco vocals. On the mix Eris utilizes turntable techniques such as “doubles” tricks and “hot mixing”—a fast-paced mixing style inspired by her beloved B96 Mixmasters, Chicago’s most popular 1990’s radio DJs. Like all of Eris’s mixes, she weaves strong narratives of embodiment, defiance, cultural transcendence and personal triumph (a classic disco emotion) into a flow of body rockin’ beats, scratches, drops, and sweet melodies. The result is a bass heavy summertime house mix for the psychedelic bad girls, boys and enbys. 

A limited run of Raving Disco Breaks Vol. 1 cassettes are available now exclusively from the label’s Bandcamp - http://t4tluvnrg.bandcamp.com

 The recording can be streamed on the T4T LUV NRG SoundCloud for free and hi-resolution versions are available for download on the label’s Bandcamp (donation requested). All profits  from Eris’s mix will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), which works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence.

Eris Drew Raving Disco Breaks Vol 1.

“Resonant Body”, the third studio album by Octo Octa (Maya Bouldry-Morrison), is her most spiritual and nature--connected work. Maya recorded the songs at her cabin in New Hampshire inorder to channel the resonance of the forest, the beauty of the river, and the energy from the rituals she conducts within it. The album was written and produced at the end of December 2018—after a year of near constant touring—in order to process through art an intense and magical year of change. 

“Resonant Body” is the second release on T4T LUV NRG, the label co-run by Maya and her partner Eris Drew. It draws on the same themes of togetherness (“Power To The People”), embodiment (“Spin Girl, Let’s Activate!”), love (“Deep Connections”), healing (“My Body Is Power”) and survival (“Can You See Me?”) that animated her acclaimed “For Lover’s EP” (Technicolour, 2019). The album’s art was created by Maya’s partner Brooke, who painted two canvases after a magical day-trip Brooke, Eris, and Maya took earlier this year on the “Sweet Trail” in New Hampshire. 

Octo Octa’s live performances and DJ sets are known for calling the dancers to move their bodies to a message of love. The dancefloor can be for all of us. It is a communal space that can provide healing when respected, where the dancers can actualize if they can let go and embrace themselves and each other. When we engage with music that heals, through dance or deep listening, we use an ancient technology for its original purpose. Octo Octa believes in the healing power of her music. “Resonant Body” transforms her life and intentions into healing art. 

50% of the profits from the album will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), which works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence.

Octo Octa - Spin Girl, Let's Activate!

Track 6 from Octo Octa's third album "Resonant Body"

Octo Octa - Can You See Me?

“Love Hypnosis” is a message.

It’s a narrative meant for personal empowerment; to become the person you want to be. I’ve conducted a few “Love Hypnosis” rituals as extended six hour sets broken into three segments that signal my intentions about love, body, and spirit. For this tape series, they will be shorter missives meant to build upon one another and show a growing idea of how music can explore the magic and actualization of ourselves.

The act of DJing itself is to cast a spell. Dance music as an art form that sends an immediate direct statement into one’s body. It can shift and evolve over time to reveal information, but first it will move you. This message is meant to move you both physically and emotionally. “Love is the fire I need”. I believe it’s what we all need these days. We’re here together. Nobody can stop us now.

A limited run of Love Hypnosis Vol. 1 cassettes are available now exclusively from the label’s Bandcamp and hi-resolution versions are available for download on the same page. 50% of the profits the mix will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), which works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. 

xoxo Maya (Octo Octa)

Octo Octa - Love Hypnosis (T4T003 Mixtape)

** 12" Vinyl Available For Pre-Order - https://octoocta.bandcamp.com/album/shes-calling-ep **

For our forth release, T4T LUV NRG present an e.p. of two beautiful songs and one evocation by label co-founder, DJ, and producer Octo Octa (Maya Bouldry-Morrison). “She’s Calling” is the third piece in Octo Octa’s two-year exploration of the connection between music and ritual, closing the loop on themes explored on her “For Lovers” ep (Technicolour, 2019) and full-length album “Resonant Body” (T4T LUV NRG, 2019). 

While many describe dance music in terms of escape, for Octo Octa and many others like her, dance music is about connection. The connections we feel on a dancefloor are transformative, but in time spent alone, dance music remains a powerful tool for connection with nature, with ourselves, and with something ineffable that feels like magic. The title track, “Goddess Calling,” captures a moment of such revelry, a result of the union of sound and ritual.  

Maya wrote the second song, “Find Your Way Home,” in early 2020, a few weeks before she cancelled her tour and headed back to the States because of the pandemic. She originally intended the title as a metaphor, the journey being internal, but the title would prove to be prescient. She made the song in order to take a trip into herself, to bring herself peace during an intense time.

Many religious and mystery traditions employ the use of uttered word formulas as a way to bring something into your life. “Spell for Nature” is Octo Octa asking in her own voice to connect with nature personified in the form of a goddess. The recording is about the moment when she saw something she knew was there all along. When she peaked behind the curtain and found something enveloping and eternal. 

Poem:
There’s a light in the center of the woods
A bright fire seen through the trees
We’re around it gazing into the flames
She’s brought us here
A bell chimes
She’s asking you to come as well
We’ve heard her voice since the beginning
And You’ve been listening your entire life
She’s calling

50% of the profits from the album will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), which works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence.

Octo Octa - Find Your Way Home (from She's Calling EP - T4T004)

T4T LUV NRG will release limited edition alchemical objects for use in DJing, dancing, kissing and crying. Co-created by loving partners Eris Drew & Octo Octa.

T4T LUV NRG

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