I’m not the best at keeping up with mix podcasts week-to-week, but, fortunately, I was alerted to the incredible mix UK garage / house artist Graphics dropped on XLR8R at the end of June. The reason I want to mention it here is it’s comprised entirely of original and unreleased works by Graphics, functioning as tight, continuous patchwork debut. And it’s kind of unbelievable. Like debut-of-the-year unbelievable. The liquid dark atmosphere of the mix is incredibly immersive amongst its ghostly vocal samples, skittering percussion, and Chicago house synth hooks. It gets more remarkable the further in you go, anthemic, skyward melodies and climactic vocal centerpieces abound. Not to mention its warped, clanging experimental tendencies. “Black Ice” (I think that’s the track – the one with the vocalist and hand drums) is worthy of a cut of the year contender. Gah, it’s just so good. Head over to XLR8R to grab the thing right now.
