đ„ Watch "Second Foundation: The Short Film" on YouTube:
youtu.be/Si64jKPtg-s
đ Listen to the Photay Remix on BBC Radio 6 Music with Gilles Peterson (5/27/23):
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001m1h3
--
A central figure within New York Cityâs electronic music community, Phil Moffa brandishes many hats: go-to mixing and mastering engineer for house and techno luminaries, studio owner of the beloved hub Butcha Sound Studios, and revered artist/producer in his own right fluent in a range of club-oriented and texturally ethereal sonic languages, as exemplified by remarkable releases like Elevation (2014) and Rare Forms (2016).
Maybe most uncanny, however, is Philâs role as an educator and mentor. Now in his twentieth year as an instructor and lecturer in the studio production program at SUNY Purchaseâs Conservatory of Music, as well as teaching in the Sonic Arts MFA program at Brooklyn College, heâs long emphasized the importance of experimentation and collaboration. So itâs only fitting that his latest project should connect all of the aforementioned in perhaps the most organic way imaginable. The âSecond Foundationâ Remixes EP features Philâs own music as re-imagined by four remixers several years his junior - AceMo, Photay, Alredna and Zianni Orange - all of whom also happen to be former or current attendees of his production masterclass.
Culled from material originally released on Elevation and Rare Forms, the 4-track digital release represents a uniquely intergenerational creative exchange. Renowned as mainstays of NYCâs dance music scene, AceMo and Photay were students of Philâs in the mid-2010s when, as Phil has recalled, they were already making âthe most futuristic stuff I ever heard.â Tapped to remix Philâs furiously atmospheric âElevation,â AceMoâs treatment remains true to his one-time teacherâs appraisal, intensifying the trackâs rhythmic elements to their punishing limits while expertly interweaving mesmerizing synth textures as counterpoint over the course of its nearly ten exhilarating minutes. By contrast, Photayâs reinvention of Philâs âAlma Del Mundoâ is a more pronouncedly playful affair. Building off the core of Philâs original minimalist samba-tinged percussion, Photay perfectly places synth accents, rubbery bass, and layers of hooky, wordless vocals in an infectious arrangement that evokes Carnival in the cosmos.
Burgeoning artist/producer Alredna also attended Philâs class, graduating two years ago. Based on his contribution herein - a remix of Philâs âRoiling Boilâ finely orchestrated with a dramatic ebb and flow before settling into a plaintive piano coda - he possesses a command for merging relentless tracks and ambient sensitivity reminiscent of his mentor. Currently an enrollee in Philâs masterclass, artist/producer/instrumentalist Zianni Orange forgoes the formalities of lengthy build-ups on their remix of Philâs âVertigoâ (their first commercial release) and transforms the originalâs cinematic tension into a super-tight, frenzied flurry of drum & bass.
New York Cityâs Love Injection Records will be releasing Philâs âSecond Foundationâ Remixes EP in tandem with reissues of Philâs Elevation and Rare Forms EPs - both of which have been out of print for years. In addition, a short documentary film about Philâs mentorship will accompany the release. Taken together, the composite picture not only tells Philâs story, and charts the impressive paths of his former students and the promise of his current ones, but leaves us with at least one lingering truism: that learning in its purest form is an act of reciprocity.
released June 9, 2023
Alma Del Mundo (Photay Remix)
Written & Produced By Phil Moffa
Remixed By Photay
Contains a sample of âSoul Cha Chaâ performed by Van McCoy. Courtesy of Tommy Boy Music.
Published by â Ringer Racket (ASCAP), â Van McCoy Music (STEMRA)
Elevation (AceMo Remix)
Written and Produced Phil Moffa
Remixed by AceMo
Published by â Ringer Racket (ASCAP)
Rolling Boil (Alredna Remix)
Written and Produced Phil Moffa
Remixed by Alredna
Published by â Ringer Racket (ASCAP)
Vertigo (Zianni Orange Remix)
Written and Produced Phil Moffa
Produced by Phil Moffa
All songs mastered by Phil Moffa at Butcha Sound Studios aka Holoverse Research Labs, Long Island City, Queens, New York
Distributed by !K7
Artwork and Animation by Hisham Akira Bharoocha
PR by Studio De Meyer
Photography By Filipe Zapelini
Liner Notes By Jeff Mao
Film Shot & Edited by Filipe Zapelini
Directed by Paul Raffaele & Barbie Bertisch
Assistant Madeline Benfield
Titles by Paul Raffaele
â Ringer Racket (ASCAP)
© Love Injection Records 2023
loveinjection.nyc