Oast is a heavy release for Second Circle. It’s only the label’s third LP, and this one’s a double. Four sides of vinyl. Each containing a long-form, 20 minute-plus electronic analogue improvisation. The music has been rescued from the archives of Kommune, a trio made up of Kyle Martin, Jonny Nash and George Thompson. Martin and Nash had been recording together as Land Of Light, while Martin also collaborated with Thompson, using the name Spectral Empire. They were super familiar with working alongside one another, and even shared equipment. The 3 friends laid down the sessions for Oast over 48 hours, isolated, away from all outside distractions, in a secluded, converted barn. 

On Part I, they click into place like cogs in a powerful industrial machine. Bass-line pounding. Feedback flickering. It’s sorta dub, subjected to delay and reverb, but roots reggae’s skanking rhythms are far removed. It’s sorta techno, but more Cabaret Voltaire than Detroit, Carl Craig or Jeff Mills. A monolithic, metronome mediation the piece holds serious psychedelic potential for stoned heads, who have a high chance of getting lost / trapped in the whizzing and whirring details between the maze / labyrinth-like beats. Kosmische kinda. Cosmic definitely. As the track evolves it invokes a sense of ceremony. It could come with a health warning: Caution. Bottomless K-hole. 

Part II is similarly stuffed with mind-bending subliminal texture. Summoning drama as elements zoom in and out of earshot. Sequences passing, speeding like spectral express trains. Leaving distorted bells and whistles in their wake. The rhythm is initially funky 808-driven electro-motorik. However, this falls away to leave a rush of acidic ripples, an ocean of oscillation, before returning as a booming and buzzing. The gear gurgling, bubbling. Filtered and phased frequencies fizzing. 

Part III creates a sonic chasm caught between colossal clanking and tiny, metallic, mercurial, tinnitus twists in the treble. Sinister scraping in its shadows. Humming and ringing like a hundred alarms going off, it builds to a hypnotic head-fuck, but then drops to a deep, dark drone. A TB-303 gently tickling temple gamelan gongs. 

While any of the tracks, when played loud, would set a scene, make a statement, give a club a distinct atmosphere, Part IV is Oast’s most dancefloor-directed moment. A closing epic shot of stripped back, tribal, banging, no-nonsense, brain expanded / blown boogie. 

The whole set showcases 3 mates, totally in the zone, inducing trance states, and, musically, communicating telepathically. The their transcendental machine meditations tapping into something primal, ancient, shamanic, similar, say, to The Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia, at their most out there. Exploring inner space, pumping down Dr. Timothy Leary’s LSD-loaded veins and arteries, encouraging Altered States and out-of-body experiences (1).

Kommune’s Oast can be ordered directly from Music From Memory / Second Circle. 

(1) Oast was recorded in 2014. Jonny and George would both later further experiment with electronic rites and rituals on their albums produced for Bali’s Island Of The Gods.