Beyond by DJ Strawberry

Released in 2022, the debut album "Cycles" by Turkish producer DJ Strawberry brought a surprising mix of genres. The tracks, which were kept at 160 bpm, combined the Chicago footwork tradition with its hybrid formula inspired by Japanese minimalism and spacey dub techno in a highly inventive way.

Two years after the release of his debut album, DJ Strawberry, returns with a follow-up to "Cycles" entitled "Beyond". The process of making the album was accompanied by many difficult moments. In February 2023, his country was hit by the largest earthquake in its history that significantly affected his family and loved ones. What brought the producer respite from these hard times was to dive into making music. "Beyond" is therefore a story about suffering, anxiety, but also about the process of coming out of these difficult emotions towards something constructive that brought joy and relief.

The album begins with crystal and delicate sounds in "following you". We see some idyllic and jittery imagery, which lightly jumps to the rhythm of complex rhythms. The character and atmosphere of the album transform with the second track. In "soyut", a noticeable tectonic shock is triggered by nervous percussion loops and the deep intensity of the infra-pulse. This physical aspect of experiencing sound and the vibrations it generates constitute the primary foundation that binds the music of "Beyond". The low-pitched, rough bass that appears in "soyut" also resounds in the next anxious track "çıkmaz", its dirty, earthy sound referencing footwork productions dedicated to competing dancers. The change in atmosphere doesn't come until "euphoria." After the first half, echoing the emotions of earlier tracks, the second half of the piece, DJ Strawberry, transports the listener into a space of liberating relief and affirmation. Ending the album, "feedback loopjuke" is a minimalist coda with swirling looped drums and juke claps fired off in the final part of the track.

The therapeutic aspect of the music contained on "Beyond" places DJ Strawberry's actions in close proximity to the similar sonic practice of another representative of the outlines, Jana Rush. Her album "Painful Enlightenment", released on Planet Mu, also used footwork to deal with difficult emotions. Once again, then, a musical genre whose prior function was mainly to "serve" competing dancers has transcended this traditional format to become a vehicle for DJ Strawberry's personal narrative.

outlines is a searching label. It starts with Chicago Footwork and aims at new forms, outlines and intuitions.

guides, is the more frivolous branch of outlines, where releases are characterised by greater freedom of form.

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