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CD
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UNDRTW 004CD
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Matt Preston, aka Phaeleh, reprises the sounds of his 2014 album Somnus with Illusion Of The Tale, a long player of ambient deviation. Intended as a soundtrack to explore the perception of self-importance, Illusion Of The Tale operates with a reduced sonic palette of effected live synthesizer workouts and experimental recording techniques infused with worldwide field recordings. The majority of Illusion Of The Tale is based heavily on live synth recordings, recorded live with inherent human mistakes and imperfections kept in to avoid the heavily repetitive process of working "in the box". A selection of tracks are recordings using Phaeleh's live show setup, which resamples and manipulates existing material. Some are constructed using more traditional composition - "In The Emerald" is a live piano recording and live doubling of that part with classical guitar - whereas others are strongly experimental - "Origins" is made from his thumb holding the end of a cable running through a pedal board, then looped and pitched down. Layers of field recordings were added to the tracks to create a sense of noise or the real world. Recorded over a few years, collecting these sounds took Phaeleh from Bristol cemeteries, libraries in Wiltshire and Welsh rock pools to getting lost in the Costa Rican rainforest, riding the Hong Kong MTR underground, walking through cicadas in Colorado and watching Melbourne skateboarders. Ideas for the album's cartographic artwork, evocative of the minimalism movement, started flowing after the music was mostly finished; informed from the idea of recordings from around the world and the travels that accompanied them. Since his debut release in 2008, Phaeleh has developed an inimitable style of electronic music, cementing his position as one of the most consistently exciting producers to emerge from his hometown of Bristol. Illusion Of The Tale satisfies the demand for new music from his incredibly dedicated fan base and cleans the palate for a new full artist album currently in development. Phaeleh on the album: "The album title is my polite way of saying we live in a world of bullshit and bullshitters... I feel that the music provides a chance to pause and escape the illusion of the everyday lie we present not only to the world but also ourselves... I want the album to be an escape from everyday lives. I want it to be a soundtrack for people to let go."
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2LP
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UNDRTW 001LP
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After the carnival of chaos that was his Tides worldwide tour and the online explosion caused by his remix of Ludovico Einaudi's "Walk" (over 750k Soundcloud plays + reaching no.1 on Hype machine), Phaeleh retreated to his hidden Bristol HQ, immersing himself in classic dub-techno and garage; cleansing his palate and returning to his roots. "City Rose" features major folk voice Sam Brooke and is a concrète-hued modern blues number, inspiring day dreams of past El-B drum excursions and excerpts of garage's most emotive era. "Pulse" is strictly dubplate material, digging deep into the roots of dubstep and extracting a relentless techno steppas anthem for the FWD heads. On "So Real" he enlists the haunting Fifi Rong for the daylight sibling of "City Rose," a classical MJ Cole-esque two-step riddim underpins splashes of color and sundown atmosphere. "Alignment" follows with an exquisitely-textured Kubrickian opening scene with sweeping tremolo effects and ominous atmospherics. The one omnipresent factor with all Phaeleh compositions is bass-weight: "Relics" is a hi-tech dubwise slab with lung-collapsing pressure and super-wet percussive details a Bristol-Berlin soundclash. "Neon Melt" sees Phaeleh joined by Chord Marauder's Geode, both injecting the traditional dubstep genome with some smoked-out jazz-broken-beat DNA. On "Ochre" he sates his hungry fanbase with trademarked delicate melodies and guitar work that skips alongside two-step rhythms atop a mountain of low-end. "A World Without" is the perfect end-scene; riffing on the mystery of late '70s sci-horror soundtracks, building with intricate guitar work and strings into a classical Phaeleh epic.
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2x12"+CD
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AFTR 002LP
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Double LP with CD. Since his debut release in 2008, Phaeleh aka Matt Preston has developed an inimitable style of cinematic electronic music, which floats between the shifting tempos and timbres of dubstep, garage, electronica, and house music. Phaeleh's last two full-length releases on Afterglo records -- Fallen Light and The Cold In You -- have cemented his position as one of the most exciting new producers to emerge from his current hometown, Bristol. Phaeleh's downbeat and heartfelt sound honors the tradition of Bristolian forefathers Massive Attack, Smith & Mighty, and Portishead, with a fresh outlook and penchant for sub-sonics. This time, he's skirted round the easy option and stepped away from any formulas that seemed too comfortable. Tides is very much an album that Phaeleh wanted to listen to, rather than one that he thought people wanted to hear. Aiming to achieve a more cinematic, musical experience while still retaining the same emotional content of the early releases, he's filtered in influences ranging from Philip Glass to Massive Attack and Boards Of Canada but maintaining a sound that is distinctively Phaeleh. His back catalog has already seen him establish a strong fanbase. Fallen Light and The Cold In You have sold over 200k downloads and contributed to a staggering tally of more than 2 million monthly views on YouTube. This is supplemented by 65k+ Facebook fans and a Soundcloud following that turns over 75k plays per month, while he has also been readily embraced on the airwaves as well, picking up support across Radio 1, 6 Music, 1Xtra, Kiss, and Rinse FM. He's also risen to prominence as an in-demand remixer, reworking artists as diverse as chart-topping dance outfit Rudimental to classical composer Ludovico Einaudi, via much-hyped pop acts such as Charli XCX and Niki & The Dove. His second album proper, Tides, is an evolutionary step with taut songcraft and melancholic tones. It features vocals by Jess Mills, Soundmouse (who collaborated on his most popular songs), and Augustus Ghost (one-half of Snow Ghosts with Throwing Snow), who will also be performing alongside Phaeleh on his live dates in the U.S.
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CD
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AFTR 1004CD
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Since his debut release in 2008, Phaeleh aka Matt Preston has developed an inimitable style of cinematic electronic music, which floats between the shifting tempos and timbres of dubstep, garage, electronica, and house music. Phaeleh's last two full-length releases on Afterglo records -- Fallen Light and The Cold In You -- have cemented his position as one of the most exciting new producers to emerge from his current hometown, Bristol. Phaeleh's downbeat and heartfelt sound honors the tradition of Bristolian forefathers Massive Attack, Smith & Mighty, and Portishead, with a fresh outlook and penchant for sub-sonics. This time, he's skirted round the easy option and stepped away from any formulas that seemed too comfortable. Tides is very much an album that Phaeleh wanted to listen to, rather than one that he thought people wanted to hear. Aiming to achieve a more cinematic, musical experience while still retaining the same emotional content of the early releases, he's filtered in influences ranging from Philip Glass to Massive Attack and Boards Of Canada but maintaining a sound that is distinctively Phaeleh. His back catalog has already seen him establish a strong fanbase. Fallen Light and The Cold In You have sold over 200k downloads and contributed to a staggering tally of more than 2 million monthly views on YouTube. This is supplemented by 65k+ Facebook fans and a Soundcloud following that turns over 75k plays per month, while he has also been readily embraced on the airwaves as well, picking up support across Radio 1, 6 Music, 1Xtra, Kiss, and Rinse FM. He's also risen to prominence as an in-demand remixer, reworking artists as diverse as chart-topping dance outfit Rudimental to classical composer Ludovico Einaudi, via much-hyped pop acts such as Charli XCX and Niki & The Dove. His second album proper, Tides, is an evolutionary step with taut songcraft and melancholic tones. It features vocals by Jess Mills, Soundmouse (who collaborated on his most popular songs), and Augustus Ghost (one-half of Snow Ghosts with Throwing Snow), who will also be performing alongside Phaeleh on his live dates in the U.S.
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12"
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AFTR 12004EP
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After the uncharacteristically quiet six months leading into his second highly-anticipated album, Phaeleh momentarily sates his huge fan base's appetite with some handy re-rubs from two of the hottest new producers in bass music. Kahn ups the ante as usual with a string-sampling urban barnstormer. Conversely, Djrum takes us on an esoteric house journey through a dystopian Berlin of tomorrow. Hot record!
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