PUNCH006/PUNCH007
Punch Up Records are proud to announce that “Fly Safe”, the debut single by Spiderthumb, will be released on all digital platforms on Saturday 29th May 2021.
It will be followed by ‘Kashmir’, released on Saturday 12th June.
Contact Details
email Ian & Ed at punchuprecords@gmail.com
instagram: @punchuprecords
twitter: @punchuprecords
soundcloud: punchuprecords
Spiderthumb
Spiderthumb is the stage name of Manchester’s Ben Jenkins.
Ben has been a musician since the age of 12, when he picked up bass and guitar. He spent a large part of his teens bouncing between indie, rock, funk and metal bands, with none of them quite satisfying him musically. Realising that he needed to forge his own path free from distraction, he started writing his own music while at University of Salford, utilising what he had available to him - bass, guitar and basic analogue synths and drum machines. His current run of musical output came about when he dove deep into Ableton, which allowed to him to be as open and experimental as he wished. He found his musical home in House and Techno a couple of years ago, and it’s given him a fuller appreciation of electronic sounds and the scope of what can be achieved. Recognising he is still right at the start of his electronic music journey, Ben continues to experiment, always pushing forwards towards new forms.
Ben says:
“Spiderthumb to me represents experimentation and release. I try not to approach any track conventionally, so I always make an effort to involve unconventional instruments and elements as much as possible. So many sounds are now synonymous with particular genres that using pre-loaded sounds feels so restrictive and stereotyped. Music to me is a wide landscape, and you have to pluck inspiration from all parts of it in order to explore it properly. It’s a constant journey of discovery for me, and hopefully I can bring some people along with me so we can find new ways together.”
Spiderthumb Links
Fly Safe
Label Copy
Artist: Spiderthumb
Release Title: Fly Safe (cat. no. PUNCH006)
Tracks: 1. Fly Safe [5:54] - ISRC: UKVWT2000036
Formats: Digital download
EAN/UPC: 5054285 867099
Release Notes
'Fly Safe’ is Spiderthumb's debut release on Punch Up Records. Manchester's Ben Jenkins pulls together syncopated percussion, marshmallow basslines and tripped out 90s synths to create a breathing, morphing, ever-evolving sound. Shunning squeaky clean, hi-def production techniques in favour of the earthy, lo-fi sound of dance music's origins, Spiderthumb is part of a new generation of house producers who are looking to take the music out of the VIP area and give it back to the people.
Listen Here
What Do We Think It Sounds Like?
Genre: Deep House, Lo-fi House
For Fans of: Mall Grab, Jamie XX, Ross From Friends, Theo Parrish
The track starts with an analog drum machine, lo-fi and energetic. A distant female vocal sample signals we are to begin. From this point onward phasey hats bring the energy and swooping, modulating, sliding synths massage the ears.
At 1 min in, a bass enters that somehow manages to be both woozy AND clanky, both dubby fingerstyle AND hard-picked punky P-Bass.
The tune then dips and swirls, breaks and sets off again. Distant, blissed out vocal samples punctuate the arrangement. A synth that sounds like a processed kalimba syncopates with and winds itself around the bass. Tuned percussion, sparkling chimes, noises like unseen cicadas in the brush all feature in turn, and at around 4mins a chiming rhodes piano plays a simple, spacious melody.
At the end the tune breaks down into jazzier harmonics, flirting with discordance and dissonnance, before the whole song wafts away on the warm breeze.
Press/Radio mentions
https://radio3s.org/ Full Moon playlist
https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/club-der-republik DJ Mike Litt. Played on 29th May show.
Kashmir
Label Copy
Artist: Spiderthumb
Release Title: Kashmir (cat. no. PUNCH007)
Tracks: 1. Kashmir [6:25] - ISRC: UKVWT2000035
Formats: Digital download
EAN/UPC: 5054285 909621
Release Notes
Hot on the heels of 'Fly Safe' (PUNCH006), Spiderthumb continues to explore all things house and lo-fi with his second release 'Kashmir'. This time out Manchester's Ben Jenkins takes his lo-fi sound towards a more relaxed headspace; retaining the gritty production values of his first single but blissing them out with poolside introspection. File with current crop Mall Grab, Jamie XX and Ross From Friends, luminaries such as Theo Parrish and all those pushing, and dreaming of, a 'rootsier' house music.'
What Do We Think It Sounds Like?
Genre: Deep House, Lo-fi House
For Fans of: Mall Grab, Jamie XX, Ross From Friends, Theo Parrish
The track opens with familiar Spiderthumb territory - analogue electronic drums to get your shoulders going, gradually joined by lo-fi hazy rhodes piano.
Signature percussion loops and accents lift the energy and at 1m30 deep, deep bass, playing around with the jazzy keys, making chords and harmonies that flirt with dissonance.
A female vocal floats in from above. “This is where i am” she sings, flicking the ends of words into breathy reverb and delay spins. Later, she reappears in an extended breakdown that lifts you up into a blue-sky and cloud-filled space, far away from the hustle of the city down below.
At 4m40 we’re brought back to reality by what sounds like a recording of a subway train entering a tunnel, snapping us back from our dream-state into inner-city life - the sound of the streets and the boxpark and the loft party.
This is where I am.