Description

Preston's first release on Boltfish Recordings is not only an album of beautifully constructed tracks from the artist himself, but also features remixes by a few new and familiar Boltfish faces too!

You can exclusively preview this superb album on Last.FM at:
http://www.last.fm/music/Preston/Aespatia

"...the entire 70 minute duration of Aespatia is full of cascades of sparkling melodies, floods of ambient texture, occasional ethereal voices and razor sharp beat excursions..." - Igloomag

THIS RELEASE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FROM THE BOLTFISH CATALOGUE ON CD. HOWEVER, YOU CAN STILL PURCHASE IT VIA DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FROM A RANGE OF ONLINE RETAILERS.

Tracklisting:

1. Syllogistical
2. Time
3. Giantoic
4. Gibotn (Test Pressing Remix)
5. Barry
6. Swerky
7. Deppendo
8. Dehoiay
9. Chordafloral (Mise en Scene Remix)
10. Ectives
11. Padroy (BTB Remix)
12. Gatok Vokof
13. Mendintime (Jash Remix)

All tracks © Preston/Boltfish Recordings 2007

Reviews

Igloomag - 20th Feb 2008
"Preston is a mysterious producer from Leicester in the UK who releases his debut album for the new home to all things melodic and electronic, Boltfish Recordings. Following in the footsteps of great labels such as Expanding Records and now sadly defunct counterparts Toytronic and Neo Ouija, Boltfish continues the tradition of releasing consistently mellow electronic music for the chilled generation. And chilled it is, full of lush melodies and slinky beats.

Preston’s music could be described as "melodic" or "ambient techno" but that seems to do it an injustice when it ventures beyond the confines of such definitions into deeper, more complex listening music territory designed to be absorbed and enjoyed. Indeed, the entire 70 minute duration of Aespatia is full of cascades of sparkling melodies, floods of ambient texture, occasional ethereal voices and razor sharp beat excursions. Together, the combination is a smooth luxurious mix of stabbing rhythms and chime-like melodies resulting in a relaxing mix of serene electronic beauty. So confident is Preston in what he does, Aespatia also contains remixes of tracks which do not even appear in their original form on the album. In fact, Aespatia works very nicely as a whole, almost like a continuous mix flowing in and out of ambient and rhythmic segments over the period of 70 minutes. At one end of the scale are the minimalism and glitchy flowing melodies of "Swerky" while at the other is the bassy dub of "Deppendo" and drum ‘n’ bass meets electronica fusion of "Gilbotn (Test Pressing Remix)." The Mise en Scene remix of "Chordafloral" even manages to maintain its luscious ambient qualities whilst treading tentatively towards tinny glitch and C64 electro programming. At times, such as the last two minutes of "Syllogistical" and "Ectives," Preston’s work even bears the hallmarks of an updated, redefined and considerably more relaxed Kraftwerk. Full of shimmering beauty right from the outset with cascading chimes, flowing ambient tones and layers of almost orchestral texture, Aespatia is the realisation of a serene flight into beat-infused melodic electronics. Harking back to the early days of Neo Ouija and Warp’s classic ambient series, Preston takes the perfectly crafted melodic ambience they pioneered and updates it, rewriting it in his mind and transcribing it into the album we have here. It has beauty, carefully measured degrees of varied rhythms and an abundance of luxurious textures that please the senses whilst gently holding the attention.

For those that miss the days when gentle melodic electronics were the order of the day, Boltfish is one of the labels adept at bringing the genre back in their own inimitable style. Very good they are at it too, introducing a long list of newcomers along with some more recognisable names from the mellower side of experimental electronic music. Preston fits nicely with both the genre and the ethics of the label as a whole. Another in a long list of quality releases from Boltfish."

E|I Mag - December 2007
"Preston’s offering, Aespatia, is another set of deep, lush electronica. Yes, "deep" and "lush" are de rigueur epithets for this variety, if you need the code crack. Boltfish is where you go for Geek Age kicks now Neo Ouija and Toytronic are defunct, and Expanding has contracted. Maybe even disenfranchized Merckers and n5md-men can join in the fun, now it’s almost hip to be IDM square. In there are sounds that mouth "mellow" and beats that beg for a "groovy" appellation, in a music that always remains on the best of melodic electronica behaviour. After a few nicely composed pieces, you wish it would either loosen up and get totally supine or phatten up and wig out a bit more. Instead of which, it potters around in a kind of 00s electronica update of 70s MOR. And Preston does tend to stay close to territory already staked out by other like-minds, there being a load of new electro-kids on this Boltfish block. You’ll know the neighborhood by now: soft-toned pads, ambient-inclined, backed by skitter-beats that playfully somersault over each other. Preston’s talent seems spread a bit thinly at this early stage in his development, and overall Aespatia lacks sufficient textural and variation to achieve distinction. In fact the notable variation here is in tempo, whether in the lullaby Isan-isms of "Swerky" or in the busier rush of "Giantoic" and the almost ambient-d’n’b of "Gibotn". The latter in fact turns out to be Boltfish colleague Test Pressing with a remix, of which there are others from label-chums, Mise En Scene, Jash and BTB. This latter reminds us that, where this variety of electronic music is concerned, the devil is in the detail, and BTB knows it and does it better."

Cold Room
Translated from original French Review
"Even though an incalculable number of new electronica labels have flowered over the past few years, some with surprising productivity, it hasn't prevented the ones that were established well before this from thriving. With one release per month and more than one forty titles to their catalogue, which are for the most part excellent, Bolton and Fisher are obviously past masters in unearthing little marvels (even when they are not themselves the authors). And if they present something new to us, it is extremely likely that it has more than one string to its bow. Released in June 2007, Aespatia is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable albums of these last months; full of grace and freshness, colourful, with dreamlike melodies to make better known artists envious. This disc contains thirteen tracks, including four remixes (whose original versions are not present on album) by other Boltfish artists (you may recall Mise en Scene and BTB who are particularly worth revisiting), to enliven the whole album. Preston is English, and was doubtless raised watching rain falling outside his window, before achieving the wonder of seeing rhythm in the drops and extracting some exotic melodies from the encounter, to echo certain tracks by artists such as Cheju (Padroy) or Isan (Swerky). One could even easily get carried away and be tempted to say that it is even better. Do you remember an advert for a well-known shower gel where girls on a sunny Pacific island dance around jubilantly when a downpour hits their heads? Well, that approaches the effect that listening to this disc causes, except that this lasts for 70 minutes instead of 30 seconds and that the girls in bathing suits don't come packaged with the disc! " Read the original review

Electronic Desert - August 2007
"Aespatia is a really good debut album on Boltfish by recording artist Preston. Clean beats and amplitude of nice sounds and well constructed melodies all fitting in the carefully carved out sonic holding place of the Boltfish label. Aespatia contains 13 high quality tracks including four remixes by label stable artists ensuring a nice listen and a welcome reminder that complexity not necessarily brings quality and reinforcing the truth that good music doesn’t have to be anything but that, good music. Track number five entitled Barry is an excellent example of the above statement. Blissful composition. The recommendation is that you investigate Boltfish’s 41st release and Preston’s debut album as soon as you can."

Smallfish Records - 28/06/07
"The Boltfish crew deliver their monthly installment of deep, beautiful and luscious electronic music here in the shape of Preston's Aespatia - a delightfully put together full length CD of melodic sounds par excellence. You'll most likely be instantly won over by the the lovely chords and tones that typify this release and there's a feeling of familiarity that does anything but breed contempt... sometimes it's good to sit back and listen to expertly produced music that's just plain good for the soul. Mellow sounds and groovy beats that always stay on the more accessible side of the electronic flavour are joined by a selection of remixes from Mise En Scene, Jash and BTB to add even more spice. Always worth checking out and another superb addition to Boltfish's expanding catalogue... this is the good stuff. Oh yes."

Vital Weekly - Number 579 - 05/06/07
"In Leicester in the Uk there is a city called Preston, but it's also the name used by a person unknown for his music. His first release is on Boltfish and that leads us by the hand to a specific area of music: the melodic techno oriented music, with a small and subtle touch of melancholic. Soft spoken keyboards, almost ambient like, but beats that roll over eachother, most of the time and which sound quite busy. Thirteen tracks is a bit much, since Preston doesn't always offer enough variation to make true differences between his pieces. But as one piece, this work offers a solid fifty or so minutes of nice, pleasant background music. It's a fine combination of busy beats and slow, melodic ambient synthesizers. As such quite alright."

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