- Wales has a small but remarkable electronic music scene, and Steevio is at the center of it. For years he's organized some of its best underground parties, including Freerotation, the beloved festival at Baskerville Hall. Many Welsh DJs and producers fell in love with this music at his events, including Leif and Joe Ellis, the two friends who run UntilMyHeartStops. For the label's fifth release, the pair shine a light on Steevio's skills as a producer, packaging one of his twinkling modular jams with remixes from two other Freerotation alumni: Joey Anderson and DJ Spider.
"Cyfnos" is Welsh for "twilight," an image that nicely suits the record's lovely title track. A bouncy pulse is gently lit by colorful streaks of synth, always too fleeting to ever form a melody. After a while, these are replaced by what sounds like wood blocks and hand percussion, moving the track into its gently funkier closing section. Steevio's knack for ambience is underlined by "Taro," a languorous beatless sketch that drifts by like a wisp of smoke.
Rightly judging the occasion, Anderson goes off-piste with his remix of "Cyfnos." His version begins with a balmy, downbeat rhythm—a bluff for the brisk techno track it suddenly turns into. Steevio's winding half-melodies are catnip for Anderson; in his hands, they take on more of a Jeff Mills vibe, at once more cosmic and more sinister. DJ Spider's remix, like all of his music, is unmistakably DJ Spider, complete with a mechanical rhythm, kick drums on the offbeat and dark, vaguely sci-fi percussive loops. Both remixes are as inspired as you'd expect from those artists, but it's Steevio's original that makes this a great record.
TracklistA1 Cyfnos
A2 Taro
B1 Cyfnos (Joey Anderson Remix)
B2 Cyfnos (DJ Spider Remix)