Eros EP

Today sees the release of a new four track EP, intended as a companion piece to the self-titled LP, released back in April. Eros EP is a collection of recycled and reworked tracks from the Catford Gyrations LP and the A205 EP. This time, taking an excursion through 90s rave, dub, kosmische and various crate digging obscurities. It is available to stream across all major platforms, and can be downloaded via Bandcamp.

Links to all listening options can be found here.

The opening track, Eros (Loved up) draws inspiration from acid house and early 90s rave. Whilst I was working on the original album track, it emerged as a clear candidate to be remixed. There were plenty of unused ideas left over, as well as various maleable elements of the original arrangement. As a result, the remix came together fairly quickly and I probably got a bit carried away.

I’ve also done a really lazy video for this one, made entirely out of WinAmp Milkdrop visualisations.

Parakeets (More melodica) is a dub style remake of the album track, of which a version first appeared on the A205 EP. In fact, a shorter (and rougher) version of this remix was included as a bonus track on the Bandcamp download version of that EP. Although, I was quite pleased how that turned out, it was literally put together the weekend before that EP was due to be released. I’ve always intended to go back and do a more refined and extended version, which can now be made more widely available.

London Cheesecake (Percy Ingle version) is another reworking of a track from A205, inspired by the likes of Neu, Harmonia etc. I’ve had longstanding plans to return to this track and steer it in this particular direction. It’s only since the completion of the LP that I have been able to start to put these ideas into practice.

The EP signs off with Winslade (Diggin deeper). This is pretty much a “Part 2” reworking of the original album track. By that, I’m referring to the common practice for soul and funk 45s, where a part 2 version of the same song would be put out on the b-side. For example, this might just be a continuation from where the a-side faded out, or a slightly different arrangement. For my take on this, I’ve drawn inspiration from the mysterious bonus beat tracks that would sometimes appear on bootleg cratedigger compilations from the mid 90s (yes, that’s very niche).

So there you go, hopefully there’s something for everyone here (unless you hate remixes). I’ve quite enjoyed putting this together, playing around with some different approaches, and hasn’t been too much of a slog to finish.

For me, this also marks a milestone for the Catford Gyrations project. For the next EP, I’m keen to start with a clean slate and move away from some of the hyperlocal themes that have characterised my musical output so far. So don’t expect any 8 minute ambient meditations on that large puddle that sometimes appears around the back of Catford JD Sports, I’m done with all that. As per usual, please feel free to follow me on your preferred channel of choice for further updates.