#69 Feat. Staff Picks in Electronica

Our close friend and fellow Scot, now Ibiza resident, Pikes resident DJ and island favourite, For Mankind (Russ Forman) had talked about doing a studio collaboration for some time. Last winter, we finally managed to get in the studio and make some music. Drawn upon our mutual loves of house music, dub and weirdo dance music by the likes of African Head Charge, Larry Heard and Sun Ra. We also added sprinkles of influence from other oddball tracks that make up our more interesting sets. We spent hours just pulling and listening to records from all our collections and talking about music before hitting the studio. What resulted from the session is a beautiful and exciting blend of everyones taste - dreamy, minimal, almost techno synthscapes, New York oddball house that sounds like some lost Sleeping Bag test press to almost Musica Popular Brasileira. At one point Russ, (For Mankind) grabbed the mic and hit us with his best pidgin Spanish, this snowballed onto a few more tracks, so we felt it only right the LP should also bear his name. Russ vocal came as a surprise to us all, loose, funky, wild and carefree, (like the man himself), with positivity and a message: This music is for everyone. We should all work together, help and contribute. Our good friend Hanna (Philomenah) also brings her giant talent on Brazilian influenced I Cant wait, expect to hear a lot more from this Shetland-born singer on Athens of the North and elsewhere.

East Coast Love Affair, For Mankind, Philomenah