Overmono^UK

Overmono channels fragmented transmissions from decades-old techno and hardcore—resurrecting rolling slabs of percussive groove from the raveyard collective unconscious, they gel euphoric breakbeats, chopped amen breaks and broken 2-step patterns into entrancing, foggy mutations of their original form.

Raised in a household of orchestral music enthusiasts, Ed and Tom Russell grew up practicing piano and French horn, only to later eschew their classical upbringing to embrace making techno from a piece of software that came packaged in a Weetos cereal box. Tom went on to craft corrosive techno squelches as Truss and squealing minimalist earworms as MPIA3—while his anarchic participation in the genre-resistant Blacknecks project felt like a playful middle finger to the very concept of genre-categorization. Meanwhile, Ed's Tessela project was instrumental in ushering in the hardcore renaissance with tracks like "Hackney Parrot" and "Nancy's Pantry", broadcasting the searing power of effectively warped breaks. It wasn’t until 2012 that their separate musical pathways crossed—and they turned in an acid-tinged stomper to the collaboration-minded Brothers white label series, alongside Perc & Randomer. Overmono’s formation took shape years later, after the discovery of a dusty box of dance records sitting in Tom’s brother in law’s basement which they used as a sound palette for the first of 3 exploratory EPs on XL Recordings. While the body-centric energy of the 90’s is central to Overmono’s work, it sidesteps pure revisionism or nostalgia for single era or genre. And while a surgical attention to sound design is evident from their daunting studio setup and tendency to dissect the structure of their shows after every set, there’s a raw emotionality at the core of the project—a reverent, almost obsessive attempt to unlock the power of rave’s uplifting effects on the heart and soul.

Following Tessela's sizzling debut at AVANT_MUTEK in 2016, both Russell brothers will grace the stage for MUTEK 2019 to deliver their keenly paced, sub-rattling frequencies and skeletal percussive patterns. Equally adept at crafting moments of ambient tranquility and thundering energy, Overmono's work thrums with a somatic immediacy that transcends time and place.