Gravious
Futurist EP

hpll036 | Release Date: 2009-05-11

Gravious, otherwise known as Alastair Jackson, is one of Glasgow's finest proponents of a fresh take on dubstep. Having recently returned from his first ever Autralian tour, he is full of energy and excitement as he talks about the ideas and sounds behind his latest release, the 'Futurist EP', which is already gaining radio support and exposure from DJ's such as Mary Anne Hobbs and Ikonika (You can find 'Jupiter Jazz' on Ikonika's recent mini-mix for Vice magazine - http://www.viceland.com/music/2009/03/ikonika-mini-mix/).

The EP was originally inspired after reading William Gibson's short story "The Gernsback Continuum" (from The Burning Chrome anthology) in which a photographer, on assignment to shoot 1930's futurist architecture, finds his reality blurring and fading into an alternative future that never was, full of flying cars, monorails, jetpacks and Jetsons style towering cities.

After investigating the title of the story, named after Hugo Gernsback (creator of the first ever science fiction magazine "Amazing Stories" in 1926) he was intrigued and delighted with the now dated visions of a space-age future from pulp magazines, filled with sleek elliptical curves, chromium surfaces, and long horizontal lines all indicative of speed, motion, urgency and progress - a drive to dismantle the past, a theme which tied in nicely with his ideas of a modernist sound, yet retaining a warmth, musicality and humanness.

Ali began making music in 2001, following a friend's brief crash course in DIY production. Initial experiments led to a variety of styles, however after hearing the selections of DJs such as J Da Flex and Femme Fatale in early 2004, he was converted to the fresh sounds of Dubstep, Dark Garage and Broken Beat. From this starting point, he quickly discovered the bass-heavy productions of Kode9, Digital Mystikz, Horsepower, Skream, Groove Chronicles and Ghost – and was instantly hooked. Taking inspiration from these sounds, Gravious also brought in elements from his wider musical tastes in both electronic and traditional music to add new perspectives. Artists most inspirational to him include The Future Sound of London, Boards of Canada, LTJ Bukem, Kyuss, Aphex Twin, and Autechre.

This is Gravious' fifth release, with 4 previous records under his belt through the HotFlush imprint, on both the main label and the Scuba sub-label.

Other releases by Gravious: