The first Tri Angle release of the year maintains the label's unerring knack for the now, presenting the debut release from Lotic. To the uninitiated, Lotic is the Texas-born, Berlin based producer whose role in the Janus collective alongside PAN man M.E.S.H. and Kablam has been making serious waves. Last year's Damsel In Distress mixtape, a mix of all-original material and twisted club refixes of tracks like Beyonce's "Drunk In Love" marked Lotic as a most interesting talent. Given the acclaim for Damsel In Distress, it is perhaps unsurprising Lotic has aligned with respected label Tri Angle for the five track EP Heterocetera. Lotic fans will recognise elements of the panic-stricken track from Damsel In Distress, though it appears in a new and improved form.

There’s something painterly about 19 year-old producer Kai Whiston’s hyper-surrealist beat music, with each sound being contorted and manipulated to the point that would rather reflect the mark-making of a De Kooning piece than any genre-focused electronic scenes. After exploring the ideas of adolescent fury on ‘Fissure Price’ EP --Released on Big Dada last year-- and facing the dramas of the UK justice system after a brief false imprisonment, Whiston’s rupturing abrasion refuses to take it’s foot off the pedal. Across 40 minutes, his maximalist pastiche spans across the entire LP, drawing fractured influences from Arca, Hudson Mohawke, Death Grips, Timbaland, nu-metal and so much more. Whiston returns after a plethora of cosigns from the likes of Iglooghost, Noisia, Skrillex, Danny Brown, Kanye West, Anthony Fantano, Mary Anne Hobbs, Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park and many more. The moombahton inspired ‘Your Secrets’ features underground pop specialist Clarence Clarity, whose production was littered all over Rina Sawayama’s acclaimed 2017 project RINA. On his debut album, Whiston says “This is the collective pursuit of every irrational primitive desire and instinct that we all face.. Kai Whiston Bitch is my voice of self indulgence that develops beyond any evaluative insight, with every disregard of being civilised. Being a dickhead has never felt so romantic.”

Balancing contemporary house and techno with detours into footwork, gqom, and more, the Canadian musician’s mix reveals the range of influences behind her own singular brand of synth pop.