DJ Alex Corton – Good Looking Records

Good Looking Records

PHD – Haze / Contrast

1999

We turn our attention today toward one of the producers who generally kept hidden among the plethora of artists and DJs of the scene. It was during our reviews of the Ascendant Grooves label, a subsidiary of Good Looking Records and also run by this first-class producer, that we plunged into the details of PHD. He is Patrick Henry, and to me, one of the most underrated and important figures within the deeper sounds of this music.  We covered plenty on his Ascendant Grooves label around three and a half years ago, and I am not sure if this release came out as Ascendant Grooves was fading out after the labels 10 releases (9 official and the LP)? I presume this was the case as he was probably going to release it on Ascendant, but this was the switch onto Good Looking, taking less lime light (and probably less hassle). Either way, it was his only solo venture on the main GLR label. 

   ‘Haze’ on Side A has a metronomic Deep Blue vibe running through those mechanical beats. We have warm pads, soft strings and the fuzed mosaic of wisps within the wind ensemble, while a flotilla of jazz clouds sprinkle a light rain of purity and life into the tune. PHD brought such depth, but in a minimal way. That is not an easy thing to accomplish. While this one plays you can’t help but sit back and let the river meander its brain cruise within the tropics, effortlessly drifting through the coves of your mind. 

  This track is mixed by Artemis, which adds that special ingredient into the recipe for this delightful parade of wonder. The thing that stands out about this is that it doesn’t have that Artemis sound, which shows how PHD put down his own ideas with more of a backseat from Olly. Not a bad wingman though. 

   ‘Contrast’ on Side AA packs the crates with the most succulent sounds. We get the hypnotic, metronomic flair once again, and the way the beats and bass work take a fucking mind exploding journey across the ghosted civilizations of the night. The work in this track deserves so much more recognition than I feel has occurred since it was released. 

   You even have the fact that ‘Contrast’ is mixed by Intense, which explains its superb combination of sound, creativity and overall full-package of musical standing. Big up to Beau and the crew. PHD really put a couple of killer tunes out on this plate. The amazing thing is, that while there are two, top engineers for both sides on the mixing desk, it’s his personal sound that remains within the tracks. A brilliant 12” which should be in anyone’s record box if you’re into the chilled out bliss of that deeper cosmic flow. 

The artwork has an interesting backstory to it, as per Nick Purser’s input. “ I took that shot in the Italian Alps. I was gutted because I’d shot 2 full rolls of film of all this amazing scenery and nothing came out at all except this blurred low quality image. There was something I liked about it so I used it but I couldn’t stop thinking about the images that didn’t work out.”

Thanks to Nick as always!

That’s another of Good Looking Records complete. A big respects out to Patrick Henry. One of the true backbones of the music.