Blank Mind Vinyl, CD & Tape 4 Items

The inaugural Blank Mind — a jab jab carnival banger from Grenada — revisited by Shake Shakir, Harmonious Thelonious and Alan Johnson.

Sam Purcell's Blank Mind is always juggling curve balls with what he releases, and we are really excited to catch this latest release BLNK008, a four track Gqom EP from Durban's AudioBoyz. It has taken Purcell several years to get the AudioBoyz on to wax, after discovering them several years ago online, and with this four track EP, it has been worth that wait. Coming from Riverdene in the Newlands West suburb of Durban, AudioBoyz are a crew of four, Fatonic, Motion, MudPunk and Njeh, who use tuned percussion and thundering clash electronics, to create raw and energetic music that is intoxicating and hypnotic. This South African scene has been lighting up the dance across the globe recently, championed by Kode9, Mumdance et al, as well as being released on Grime label Goon Club Allstars and the excellent Gqom Oh!, so we are looking forward to hearing these tunes deep on the dance floor someday soon.

Hot on the heels of the label's Gqom scorcher, this compelling cabinet of oddities bundles together four different artists, both familiars and newcomers. Blank Mind founder Sam Purcell kicks off, with some orchestral music flanged to giddy abstraction, heralding the return of Alan Johnson, to test its weighty dynamism in freer, surreal mutations. On the flip, a two-drum-kit jam blazes with propulsive yet disintegrating energy. And, to close, the recording debut of Variete, put down on a Scandinavian Christmas Eve morning: a gently purposeful, reflective ascent.