I Feel Like feat. Brett Barton

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki from Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Mazi from Audio Soul Project is not exactly a beginner. He’s been a DJ for over two decades and released music on beloved record labels since 1994.

The EP, “Beginner’s Mind”, moves Audio Soul Project’s sound into different territory. The music is playful and unassuming. The EP openers, Endless Version and SH-101 Dalmatians, are uplifting party cuts. The first booms with early Rabbit City style breaks underpinned with a four-four kick drum and bouncy analog bass-line. Eris Drew has blessed Endless Version as a “Motherbeat track” and is supporting it on tour. The Audio Soul Project Version of MANIK’s SH-101 Dalmatians lives in two worlds. Morphing breakbeats, layered Roland SH-101 bass-lines, a three-chord groove and ARP Solina strings are sown together to build something that echoes UK Garage and ecstatic Rave. I Feel Like, in the B1 position, is a collaboration with singer/songwriter Brett Barton (aka Mean Sea Level). With stacks of overdubbed vocals, chords, subsonic bass punches and painstakingly intricate drums, I Feel Like is the EP’s most ambitious effort – but, even here, Brett and Mazi deliver a song that is raw to the bone, energetic and stewed from the subconscious. The last track is a sweet disco cut-up named 1billionhappy (name inspired by this moonshot). Samples have been lifted from Mass Construction’s Welcome to Our World, pinned to cacophonous beats, and floated under Roland JP-8000 squelches. The resonant lowpass filtering comes courtesy of a vintage Electrix FilterFactory.

This is not a cohesive four track EP – but that’s the point! Contemporary house is too expert, it is calculated and surgically designed. Audio Soul Project is recapturing a moment when music was made because it felt good and satisfied the mind and body. Music doesn’t need to make sense and it doesn’t need to please everyone.