Via Astro Nautico: Ensemble Entendu is the collaborative project of Astro Nautico co-founder and co-owner Sam O.B. (f.k.a. Obey City) and label artist Photay.

Since July 2014, inspired by back-to-back deejay sets at Astro Nautico parties and around New York, O.B. and Photay have been linking their individual production styles between Brooklyn studios in order to create a form dance music that centralizes the timeless power of the drum.

With a track entitled “Cause ‘N’ Effect,” the oldest (c. 2014) collected on the Ensemble’s debut release Selected Rhythm Works, Vol. 1, the duo raises the question: who in this collaboration is causing what effect on whom? There are rhythmic and melodic idiosyncrasies of both artists present on each track. Footprints stepping in footprints. And beyond or behind the artists are the sound signatures of house music, new jack, African polyrhythm, dub reggae, ‘80s prog (roto toms!), P-funk, dancehall, and much more. This flurry of styles stitches a Trans-Atlantic tapestry of drumming across generations and seas, with a center nowhere but the dance floor.

Ensemble Entendu’s debut is sampling notions of library music and rhythm tracks. The duo’s name refers to deju entendu, the psychic phenomenon that occurs when you hear something you think you’ve heard before, even though the sound may be being heard for the first time. Selected Rhythm Works, Vol. 1 (a nominal reference to Aphex Twin) loosens the threads of connection between then and now and tomorrow, allowing listeners to weave their own journeys in historical time through body movement.

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