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Phace and Misanthrop

Prepare yourselves for Phace & Misanthrop's From Deep Space LP.

The title track, as the name suggests, is influenced by space, technology and Hollywood. Whilst it's obviously geared for the dance floor, you can still appreciate it at home on a laptop because of the obsessive production behind it. Phace & Misanthrop regard the album as more than the sum of its parts: "For us, the album is more then only a collection of tracks," they tell us, "but more of a coherent journey. I think it has an overall vibe and atmosphere of a deep sci-fi journey. We have been working on some of the tracks for nearly two years and it sometimes felt like an endless rollercoaster, but overall joyful!"

Flo, one half of Phace, agrees: "Personally I think it is essential for a good LP to transport and transfer an overall feel and mood, it has to be as timeless and authentic as possible. I think we managed this with From Deep Space quite nicely and hope that people are going to have fun and excitement listening and dancing to it."

Good friends away from music, the trio work in a flexible manner when in the studio. "Each of us has his own approach to things, so you never really know where the track is going to take you in the end," they reveal.

The artists attribute hard work and dedication to them finishing the LP, while pointing out that the manipulation of poor samples is a non starter: "To mix a track is actually no magic, but just art and science. It's the sum of many factors you've got to take care of from scratch. You've got to invest time listening to different music so you can to teach your hearing. Also, reading about all of the different approaches of mixing a track to develop a general understanding for the process and sound itself. Then you should sit down and practice as much you can. You've got to develop the understanding of music as a three dimensional room; you want each track's spectrum of balance and depth to be as structured and as good as possible. So you've got to work as clean you can from the start, rather than trying to clean a mess up later."

Phace previously released the highly acclaimed Psycho LP on Subtitles. Since then, much like the continuing progression of the scene, the duo have changed. "We wrote Psycho when we were young and rebellious! It was quite a dirty and angry LP, we wanted to leave a stamp on the scene. From Deep Space represents both the journey our sound took over the past years after Psycho, and the starting point of a new direction it is going to take."

And with the future very much in mind, Phace and Misanthrop have a busy DJ tour to support the album. Releases and collaborations with Spor and Noisia beckon.

Phace & Misanthrop have just launched a Neosignal newsletter to keep fans up to date and supplied with fresh mixes, and they're also launching a Neosignal podcast simultaneously with the album. You can sign up for both here.

Words: Owen Goldser

Here are our Top 10 Most Anticipated Drum & Bass Albums of 2010.

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