8-Bit Culprit Launches New Label Earth Tapes With EP 'Feral'

Faraz Ehsan aka 8-Bit Culprit just launched a new record label called 'Earth Tapes', outlining its vision musically with a 3-track EP entitled 'Feral'.

"Earth Tapes started out of need — a need to release music that felt personal, genre-fluid, and rooted in feeling rather than function. I’ve always been drawn to the darker, moodier corners of rave and electronic culture, and I wanted to build a home for that - something that feels like both a time capsule and a portal forward," says the Kolkata-rooted producer, DJ and now, a label-head as well.

The standout opener starts with a classic junglist treatment of the amen break as it's chopped apart and reversed behind a foreboding bed of low-end and choral voices – all the proprietary elements of 90s' jungle, but freshened up through the kookier central melody that gets replaced by acid arpeggios and, soon after, the four-to-the-floor thump of techno. The closer 'Belter Avenue' too explores this common meeting point of techno, jungle (or in this case UK Garage) and acid house, while the title track replaces the latter with Goa trance – succeeding in paying homage to the puristical representations of the genres while outlining the label's genre-fluid vision.

Listen to 'Feral' EP below and follow 8-Bit Culprit for more.