Opal Tapes figurehead Stephen Bishop has pushed a lot of boundaries with his label and his own music under the Basic House moniker since bursting onto the scene a few years back. The label in particular carved out a deep niche early on and its momentum seemingly can't be stopped. Caim in Bird Form originally appeared as a very limited cassette on Digitalis earlier in 2013 and now finds its proper home on wax. Basic House is never static, always burrowing toward the center of the earth but missing by a few degrees. "Caim in Bird Form" is gritty, while stilted beats crawl on "I Found You," leaving tonal wreckage in its wake. Bishop ups the ante with the bleak futurism of "64 Bummer" -- synths float skyward blacking out the sun underneath a veil of heavy bass making for one of the album's best moments, along with the caustic sonics of the title-track. And then, just when the darkness gets out of hand, the circus comes to town in the form of "Ultra-Misted" to massage your ears. Features gorgeous artwork by Savwo, cut to vinyl at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
