MINO by Minotaur Shock

The Bristolian producer Minotaur Shock returns with his first album under that much-loved moniker since ‘Orchard’ in 2012. On ‘Orchard’ Edwards embraced the "folktronica" tag that had previously been a burden, but, nearly seven years on, he has renounced the acoustic guitars, drums and woodwind instruments to make ‘MINO’ - the sound of a man getting to grips with his machines without relinquishing his innate musicality and ear for joyous melodies.

Although electronica was integral to the Minotaur Shock sound (he has also released purer excursions in the form as Principal Participant and Oligos), Edwards felt that he'd never got to grips with the basics of production. "I knew what effect certain knobs on a synth had, but had no idea why they did that or what was really going on." So he embarked on a prolonged period of experimentation, “basically dicking around in my studio, focusing on the process of creating tracks and sounds, rather than the end result, trying to grasp the fundamentals of synthesis to better understand how it worked. Occasionally I did press record or save, and these experiments formed the basis of ‘MINO’.”

‘MINO’ is an idiosyncratic collection of captivating electronica, metallic funk and wobbly techno, the result of simple processes such as trying to make a track using only one synth, basing tracks around step sequencers or just improvising a track and recording it in one take - all methods that took Edwards away from his previous ways of making music. From these experimental, “suck it and see” origins, Edwards has created an album of singularity and emotional heft that hangs together as a cohesive whole.

‘MINO’ is the first release from Bytes, a new heterogeneous cassette label and offshoot of Ransom Note Records.

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