There is a visceral, almost primal thrill in witnessing the birth of an endeavour that promises to champion the darkest, borderline abrasive, and yet utterly fascinating corners of the electronic music landscape. That is precisely the promise and immediate delivery of Breathing Records as they launch their label with the aptly titled and aggressively curated compilation album, “Inhale Vol. I.”
Beyond just curation, “Inhale Vol. I” is a definitive mission statement pressed onto dark cherry vinyl.
“Inhale Vol. I” serves as both a celebration of the boundary-pushing artists who reside in the often-overlooked realms of avant-garde, underground, industrial, and dark electronic scenes and the foundational launch of a label committed to service within that very landscape. It is the purest form of first impression, setting an uncompromising tone for a venture that places the artist and the scene above all else.
Featuring ten tracks from eleven utterly essential sonic architects, the album opens with a cyberpunk club anthem in “SouLless” by MATTE BLVCK before moving on to Pictureplane’s distinctively Gothic “glowing wounds.” William Bleak brings in the heavy machinery with the sadistic industrial piece “Skin Graft,” as things get darker still with “DISC.EXE” by Moon 17. The compilation is a masterful cross-section of the scene’s most challenging and rewarding voices. Like So Much Blood, Street Fever, Maelstrom, Louisahhh, and the more abrasive stuff really cut through when VCRHEADCLEANER, God Is War, and King Yosef show up to wrap the record up in the most hardcore way possible.
The album was released this past November 14th, with the physical manifestation being a gorgeous 140-gram dark cherry vinyl accompanied by an artist booklet, set to arrive in December just in time for a Christmas in Black. In a world saturated with ephemeral noise, Breathing Records has chosen to make its inaugural inhale a substantial, uncompromising landmark that hits like a knuckleduster hooked to a car battery.
