#PREMIERE 'Ziplock Weaponry' NIQH
Listen to 'Ziplock Weaponry' by NIQH taken from 'Familiar Rift' out digitally and on limited compact disc via Plasma Sources on 29th September
Following on from J-Shadow and Hypna’s A2I, Plasma Sources offers up Familiar Rift, the debut EP from NIQH (pronounced ‘NEE-KEEH’). Weaving together grains of garage, ambient and club, the release places a heavy emphasis on sound design like its predecessor to create an immersive world-building experience.
The EP is a sharp juxtaposition to the label debut - where A2I was dark and heavy, Familiar Rift feels light and skittering. What links these two releases together is an emphasis on sci-fi, world building and high-fideilty, laser sharp sonics. Through these shared aesthetics, Plasma Sources intends to fully cement itself as an imprint which will not simply be tied to one sound or genre.
NIQH’s process is determined by chaotic serendipity - Familiar Rift was fashioned into shape from a colliding together of captured sounds and experiences, before being assembled into new, mutated forms. Heavily inspired by the work of Moebius and the visual style present in Aeon Flux and many 80s/90s anime, the body of work here represents a dynamic, ever-shifting environment of sonic contortion.
Despite the chaos at play, the release still feels focused to NIQH. 'I finally feel like I’ve got to a point with my music making where ideas feel aligned, concentrated, focused, in a way they didn’t before. Each of the tracks here fuses the chaotic serendipity I love with the notion of keeping the core musical ideas and patterns simple. I’m trying to marry these two pretty disparate notions into a concentrated, highly detailed style of music-making which feels more like a flowing environment than a series of musical actions.'