Founded back in 2004 in Bristol, Subtext Recording has a long tradition of releasing experimental music in its broadest sense. The label was launched during dubstep’s rise with early experiments by Vex’d (aka Jamie Teasdale, the man behind Kuedo, and Roly Porter), resulting in two brutal jungle-informed EPs. At the beginning of this decade, after a 7-year-break, Subtext picked up the threads with spacial sound explorations and chamber-music-like ambient-experiments by a small group of people including Porter, Paul Jebanasam and James Ginzburg. While the latter presented Demiurge (2011) and Medium (2012) as part of Emptyset, both Porter and Jebanasam handed in solo projects for Subtext with their respective releases, Aftertime (2011) and Rites (2013).
In recent years the Subtext-roster took in some fresh names from all over Europe. Just think of Stockholm-based composer Ellen Arkbro—whose brilliant album For Organ And Brass is one of the label’s most exciting releases to date—, Turkish percussionist Cevdet Erek—who’s not shy of providing super-intense live performances—, or Berlin’s Yair Elazar Glotman—an artist who has delivered various releases on Subtext under his given name and as Blessed Initiative.
In line with those recent developments is Subtext’s upcoming release: Gonçalo Penas‘ Ego De Espinhos. Twenty-two-year-old Penas was trained in Music Production and Technologies at Porto’s School of Music and Performing Arts. Thus, it’s no surprise that the record’s sound design is striking. The nine tracks—some of them featuring some sort of rhythm, some don’t—are heavy (power-)electronics- and noise-pieces with a crystalline quality. Ego De Espinhos is Penas’ official debut album. And we are eager to hear more from this up-and-coming producer. As for now, “A Besta / Quanto Mais Me Bates,” one of Ego De Espinhos’s highlights, is all you get, however. Ahead of the album’s release tomorrow, we’re premiering this track exclusively:
Gonçalo Penas’ Ego De Espinhos is out on January 18, 2019 via Subtext Recording.
