Track of the Day: Huxley - Widow

This week's mix comes from my good friend Tom Astley founder and purveyor of L'Affaire Musicale. It was no surprise that his mix would be top notch and stitched together with some choice tracks; new, old and forthcoming. It was hard picking one and the winning ticket came in the form of Huxley's recent release 'Widow' off of the EP of the same name for AUS. I'd heard of this UK producer a few times since about 2012 but when he released 'Oil Spill' in 2014 I was forever hooked.

Huxley - Widow

'Widow' opens up with a superbly FX'd, rattling, metallic loop accompanied by a host of synthesized bell chords that chime in and slowly fill the auditory space and decorate the upper registers with an effective ping pong delay. Huxley has always been known to approach his beats with a simple but effective collection of percussive elements (synthesized as well as field samples) narrated by organic drum patterns. A heavily filter snare hit runs for a few bars solo before a quick looping hit-hat pairs with a high to low Tom roll join the rhythm section. A tambourine sample peels back its phased effect to eventually round out the percussion layers for the first section of the composition. A very cool zipping, hoover pad is the final touch to this entrancing intro that provides character to the build. What comes next is a surprise but in all the best ways. The energy of the track shifts completely as an array of sine wave bass stabs pulsate mercilessly with a meaty kick drum. Atmospheric synths bring some diversity to the first bridge and carry through the second chorus before we start to hear those hypnotic bells breaking through again. After the main breakdown we're thrown right back into the thick of things but this time, and very cleverly, Huxley adds a clap to the percussion group and it provides the perfect differentiator to the first part of the song's arrangement adding some extra energy to the tempo and carrying us the rest of the way home.Check out the full EP release below:Huxley aka as Michael Dodman has been calmly amassing a robust collection of work going from strength to strength across the spectrum of house and beyond. The Brit, for the better part of 7 years has seen a healthy portion of those releases end up on the acclaimed AUS imprinnt. Others have taken notice such as the masters and purveyors of abstract techno, Hypercolour, the quirky sounds of Leftroom, Nick Curly's Cécille, and powerhouse 20/20 Vision. 2012 marked a big leap for the producer when he dropped the 'Out The Box' EP via 20/20 and since then his profile has been on a steady rise. Growing up with his roots engrained in the early Garage scene but it wasn't until he met his future production partner Tim Ethel who trained him on to more house orientated beats and sounds. Through his own imprint Saints & Sonnets Huxley continued to explore and push the boundaries of his production and music discovery and knowledge and range of sounds to this date reflect his passion.For those that live under a rock, AUS is part of the K7 Collective who also represent Crosstown Rebels, Crew Love and David Byrne's Luaka Bop. The collective itself demonstrates an extremely diverse collection of labels and imprints that put out everything from Afro beats to disco to AUS's minimal techno and dub releases. AUS has been home to some electronic music's up and coming pioneers such as Joy Orbison, Scuba, George Fitzgerald, Midland, Dusky and of course Huxley. Between Will Saul and Fink (Ninja Tune) the duo have built a superb discography over the past 10 years that has stood the test of time as genres shift and change, while also remaining relevant within the tracklists of today's busiest DJs.If you haven't had a chance yet, make sure you dive into Astley's latest guest mix for us which features this track ;)Enjoy,MR PUZL