{"title":"Mesh","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"on-being","title":"On Being","description":"\u003cp\u003ePowerful works of art have traditionally sprung from some source deep within an artist and, if they strike the right tone, resonate with an audience to leave a lasting mark. But what if that equation were reversed: what if an artist were to draw their inspiration from deep within their audience, and use that to reflect those ideas, emotions, hopes, fears, pains and aspirations back to us?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver a two year journey, audio-visual artist and electronic innovator Max Cooper has inverted the creative process by collecting hundreds of anonymous quotes, posing deep but open questions such as \"What would you like to express which you cannot in everyday life?\" and \"What is it like to exist inside your head?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe goal: to understand what it is truly like to be human right now. The result: his new album \u003cem\u003eOn Being.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003cem\u003eOn Being\u003c\/em\u003e, Cooper aimed to probe under the synthetic surface of social media to \"create a snapshot of our minds these days,\" as he puts it by asking people to share anonymously what they dare not ever say publicly. The result is an emotionally raw and shockingly honest kaleidoscope of confessions, ranging from suicide contemplations to miserable marriages to simple pure loneliness, contrasting with hundreds of anonymous confessions of love and longing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I was interested in the way I interact with people for my writing process, which usually involves a one-way communication of feelings and ideas that I later find out whether they resonate with others or not,\" says Cooper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"With this I could start instead with people's thoughts and feelings, what resonates for them, and make my own interpretations of those musically and visually, and then send those back out to everyone. It's more of a collaborative approach to making an album, and more intense.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrief, hope, regret, joy, hurt and love form the basis for each track, taking Cooper's ever-evolving creative process in a completely new direction - with profoundly intense results.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Rendering the experience of being is at the core of what I do musically - but I hadn't realised the impact that other people's words on being would have on me until I started reading the database of thoughts,\" he says.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"It was like finding a secret window into everyone's minds, and discovering amongst the chaos, pleasure and pain, the experiences that we all share at different times of our lives, and overwhelming emotions and connections that call out to be explored.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite what we see in the maelstrom of rage in the echo chambers of society ‘On Being’ reveals that humans still have an innate need to trust one another and express communal generosity - more easily done from the safety of an anonymous portal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The quotes carried so much weight for me - I interpreted them with my usual musical tools, but as you can hear in the music, everything got more extreme as I dove into the depths of what everyone had to say later in the record,\" says Cooper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a unique work of art that demonstrates unequivocally not only the power of using music without words to express emotions, but the power of words to express what seemed to be inexpressible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOn Being\u003c\/em\u003e will continue to evolve as Cooper gathers more confessions to feed into this ecosystem of emotions and to create a new range of art projects and other accompanying works which hopefully will speak truthfully to humanity today - and of who we are and who we can become.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mesh","offers":[{"title":"3LP - Black","offer_id":51951080767819,"sku":"R8251-4462","price":43.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2000x2000bb_e0cc5438-da89-484e-b825-e702ec22d27f.jpg?v=1748944861"},{"product_id":"jackals","title":"Jackals","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNext up on Mesh is Throwing Snow’s ‘Jackals’, a five-track EP drawing on echoes of UK subcultures.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten in Ireland late last year with the London 2010s in mind, ‘Jackals’ is Throwing Snow’s love letter to his time spent there, tapping into a detailed web of sounds and styles through a personal lens, but skillfully produced to resonate with many. Locating memories in a transient city that is constantly reconfiguring itself, each track is an attempt at honouring fragments of recent, but seemingly distant, musical history. Taking us from DMZ at Brixton Mass to FWD at Plastic People, or Future Garage Fridays in Soho (IYKYK) to early days of NTS, the EP captures some of the fleeting moments that continue to play a significant part in the city’s sonic patchwork.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eProduction-wise, all the tracks share the same sounds twisted in different directions. The hats are vocoded with noise and random LFOs, and much like the chaos of London, every bounce has a unique pattern.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOpening track ‘Jackals’ walks the line between dub and UK bass, quickly overtaken by a wonky synth lead that spirals eternally upwards. ‘Ohnein’ jumps in with a massive pad swirling above a half-time step. In Throwing Snow’s own words, ‘I had to check with Martyn whether I'd ripped him off, turns out I hadn't, but it's a heavy head nod crossed with Un Vingt from my first 12\"’. ‘A Cloud Mountain’ - a nod to the timeless James Holden remix of Nathan Fake’s ‘The Sky Was Pink’, leans into a maximalist progression of deep chords and fractured synths. ‘Forged’ steps into a weightier space with sparse drums driven forward by a deep cut of bass and twitchy echoes. Rounding things off, ‘Path Dependency’ speeds things up with touches of DnB in the drums, distant echoes in the forefront and the occasional sub wobble holding things together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mesh","offers":[{"title":"12\" - Black","offer_id":52646420513099,"sku":"R0284-4974","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fd12a34b-ebce-0ebb-f93e-380a4b61c40a.jpg?v=1751626525"},{"product_id":"8-billion-realities","title":"8 Billion Realities","description":"\u003cp\u003eAcclaimed electronic musicians, producers and sound architects Max Cooper and Rob Clouth team up for a new collaborative EP; a dark, playful four-track dive into ambient, breakbeat and techno’s subconscious flow, featuring a standout vocal performance from South London rapper FLOHIO.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded over a series of spontaneous London sessions, “8 Billion Realities” channels years of creative exchange between two of the genre’s most quietly innovative artists and is a result of a decision between the longtime friends to refrain from conceptual overthinking in favour of instinct and joy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs long-time admirers of each other’s audio\/visual work, Cooper and Clouth collaborated in London together after both emerging from intense, idea-heavy album cycles. What followed was a series of exploratory sessions, half-improvised, half-built around half-formed thoughts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a club-ready EP that feels alive and human: imperfect and hypnotically rich.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Rob Clouth has been one of my favourite electronic music producers since I first heard his work in 2011,” says Cooper. “His work is more full of ideas and structure than anyone else.” “We were both coming from extensive conceptual studio albums and both in the mood for simplifying things and having some fun with the music, so that’s what we did”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor Clouth, no stranger to Max Coopers Mesh label having previously released an array of EP’s plus his 2020 debut album “Zero Point” this record marks a new chapter, both creatively and personally.“Something pretty new for me is collaborating,” he says. “You kind of have to when to stop, because if you develop an idea all the way to its endpoint, the other person has nowhere to jump in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first “A Moment Set Aside” began as a break from another idea, a live, unplanned improvisation based around arps and ambience. “The track was written in about as long as it took to play it,” says Cooper. “It was pulled from a 1 hour recording session, more or less as you hear it… the energy and excitement grew as the unplanned moment bore some magic.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The lesson being that sometimes it’s helpful to set aside a moment without forcing results, and let the subconscious have something to say.” What followed was darker, heavier. “Asymptote” is detuned techno. Subversive and euphoric in its descent. “We found a sort of brain mangling, half consonant, half wandering detuned techno pulse, which we started chatting about being a sort of pit of spiralling body parts we were falling into,” says Cooper. “It was a lot of fun to work on and let loose with bigger kicks than I usually ever get to unleash.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen came \u003cem\u003e8 Billion Realities\u003c\/em\u003e, featuring a standout rap performance from FLOHIO; an emerging figure in the UK grime and rap scene. The track was inspired by conversations about algorithmic echo chambers and hyper-personalised online worlds. Frantic, direct, and South London to the core, FLOHIO brings this tension to life. Her sharp, intense flow cuts through distortion and rhythm, landing the track somewhere between chaos and control instantly making it one of the most striking moments in either artist’s catalogue. “A different reality for all 8 billion of us,” says Cooper. “We weren’t sure if it would work… but there was something about the energy of the percussive idea and the story which felt like it might fit.” “Then FLOHIO had a play with it and straight off the bat absolutely killed it, not just with the lyrics and energy, but the harmonising too, it was a beautiful process.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe final piece on the EP “Candeleda” originated from Clouth’s solo experiments with a live rig made entirely of vocals and keys, using his self-developed “cheatbox” system. “He put forward a beautiful stumbling melodic sequence which we bounced back and forth adding harmonies and synth layers,” says Cooper. “It rounds off a collection covering some of the breadth of music that we both love.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mesh","offers":[{"title":"LP - Splatter","offer_id":53358540292427,"sku":"R4084-7381","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/5ba6e395-6ff6-c2a4-ec35-358519f3b7cd.jpg?v=1757518509"},{"product_id":"cicada","title":"Cicada","description":"\u003cp\u003eRob Clouth returns to Mesh with Cicada, a follow-up to his EP earlier this year and a continuation of his ever-curious approach to the outer limits of electronic music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn artist who has spent much of his career committed to a dialogue between scientific phenomena and music built for big soundsystems, Bichillo signalled a segue into a more free-running idea of creativity - one that didn’t pander to unrealistic expectations and, essentially, brought the fun back to Rob’s production process. A theme also explored in a link-up with long-time collaborator and label boss Max Cooper on their recent joint EP 8 Billion Realities, out now on Mesh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCicada, he continues to expand on this universe, prioritising experimentation over concept, and arriving at some of the funnest music he’s ever made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike a field of insects, ‘Cicada’ opens with cross-rhythmic layers of animated glitches, soon joined by huge bass swells that gradually build into a maximal tranced out build-up and a swarm of vocal chops. ‘Core’ builds a quietly dramatic symphony of machinist built sound - a soothing polyphony of computers singing. Leaning into an off-kilter 2-step, ‘Gummy Clusters’ swirls into a hazy blur of distorted voices and acoustic rhythms. Closing things off, ‘Grefuser’ puts pedal to the metal with a high BPM storm of pointillist drums and melancholic leads.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCicada is music that twitches and mutates, but most importantly, breathes fun into the circuitry.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mesh","offers":[{"title":"12\" - Splattered","offer_id":56245547336011,"sku":"R9549-6752","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2e3b1c09-a342-3b0e-5b92-bdb67d4d8329.jpg?v=1767787916"},{"product_id":"feeling-is-structure","title":"Feeling Is Structure","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFeeling Is Structure\u003c\/em\u003e explores the relationship between physical form and human emotion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcross 10 spatial audio-visual works, Cooper examines how structure in sound, architecture, biology and art, shapes the way we feel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album is built on the idea that our inner emotional lives are profoundly connected from our lived environment. Developed from a commission to create a live show for London’s Royal Albert Hall, expanding on this idea, Max explains:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m fascinated by architects who can imbue brutalist buildings with humanity, or artists who can paint a block of colour representing their soul.” says Cooper. “We have this remarkable capacity to spill ourselves into the world through form. When I began working on a show for the Royal Albert Hall, that connection between large-scale physical structures and feeling took over, and this album emerged from that process.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMusically, \u003cem\u003eFeeling Is Structure\u003c\/em\u003e leans into Cooper’s more intricate and deliberate compositional side. Rather than improvisation, the record focuses on carefully designed systems and processes that build evolving sonic architectures. Precise at the micro level, but deeply emotive in impact.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mesh","offers":[{"title":"3LP - Splatter","offer_id":56691798933835,"sku":"R0055-2982","price":49.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9a971893-a609-5e87-d753-e02c096d1c32.jpg?v=1772620722"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/mesh.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}