Stereo Ferment merges sounds from around the world in their latest groove compilation

Ten producers and DJs feature on the label’s newest release

Toronto-based label Stereo Ferment has released its compilation Fermented Grooves Volume One. As the label’s fourth release, this collection of tracks keeps at the pace of their afro-centric inspired grooves and what they call a ‘psych-tropical disco-dub-boogie’ sound. The label is operated by producers Oreku (Cayden Mowbray) and Coy Haste (Brad Weber) and collaborates with artists from around the world to produce experimental sound.

Stereo Ferment released Coy Haste’s EP Apicultura earlier this year. The songs on this album represent the artist’s interpretation of a San folk origin story from the Kalahari Desert. The album blends electronica with folk recordings and 70s inspired afro synth. In 2020, the label released ia ia ia by Oreku which is a collection of three tracks inspired by Kabyle folk of Algeria, Baul folk of West Bengal, and radio recordings from Indonesia, all mixed with dub and disco sounds. 2020 also saw Stereo Ferment’s debut release Quorum Sensing I, an EP named after the cell-to-cell communication in bacteria.

Fermented Grooves Volume One features ten tracks from ten DJs and producers from around the world. Contributors include Hiatt dB, The Pathchouli Brothers, FOC Edits, Frank Agrario, André Laos, Souldade, Jules Brennan, Kheodo Turner, Oreku, and Coy Haste. The sound on the album is in keeping with their usual funk and merges international genres and eras like 80s Bollywood, Afrobeat rhythms, Filipino disco funk, and Turkish boogie to produce a fun, danceable, detailed electronic sound.

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Thanks for Understanding and Fermi Lekunde come together for a debut collaboration

Two new tracks by these Toronto-based artists produce innovative sound

‘Donovan Birds’ is the first collaboration between Toronto-based musicians Thanks for Understanding and Fermi Lekunde. The former is the alias Ali Awah who brings an indie sound to the two-track collaboration. The latter, Fermi Lekunde, brings the other dimension to the sound; he was classically trained in piano before turning to experiment with electronic music beginning with FM synthesis, deconstructed analog beats, and Space FX. His inspiration comes from the emerging Toronto techno scene that he saw growing up, including Jeremy Greenspan, Ciel, and Daphni.

Thanks for Understanding released Year of Uncertain Gods in 2021—his second album after Kevin Nishri Tape from 2020. Additionally, he has released singles including ‘Milk’ in 2019, and ’Kulish Helu’ in 2020. A live set from 2020 featuring Thanks for Understanding can also be replayed via Biblioteka Records. Fermi Lekunde has released two EPs in collaboration with Toronto-based label Doubt & Uncertainty: Hydra in 2020, and The Once and Future in 2019. Prior to that, he released the EP Comess in 2019.

Thanks for Understanding brings his self-described androgynous and genre-less sound to Donovan Birds. He adds the elements of real-life-sound, voice, and bubbly disorientation. Mixed with Fermi Lekunde’s warm techno feel that combine ambient sound textures, glitches, and rhythmic beats, the collaboration arrives at an unpredictable set of jazzy, techno, acoustic music that leaves the listener in an auditory cliff hanger.

See more from the artists:

Thanks for Understanding
Spotify | Bandcamp | Instagram

Fermi Lekunde
Spotify | Website | Instagram