STM 247 - Oto Hiax

Oto Hiax emerged last year as one of the most intriguing new projects in the British experimental music scene. Mark Clifford and Scott Douglas Gordon craft rough-edged, hazy compositions that sit at the crossroads of Seefeel's futurist melancholy, the sharp, angular rhythms of Autechre-inspired IDM, and the intricate abstractions of musique concrète. Their self-titled debut on Editions Mego presents a collection of surreal, otherworldly compositions that weave an ambiguous and disorienting tapestry of mood and atmosphere. With lush undertones and unpredictable structures, these tracks hint at love songs from a distant future, crafted by visitors from realms unknown. Oto Hiax encapsulates the finest qualities of both producers, blending the jazzy, organic broken beats familiar from Scott’s Loops Haunt with the moody, dreamlike textures that defined Seefeel. With Oto Hiax, a sense of excitement about the future is not just warranted—it’s palpable.

Secret Thirteen Mix 247 delves into a soundscape akin to the duo’s own creations, constructing an intense ambient experience punctuated by moments of chaotic brilliance. Across 34 tracks, the mix unfolds as a complex sonic narrative, marked by a diverse and powerful expressionist flow. It strikes a delicate balance between leftfield sonic experimentation and a refined classical beauty. In this sound world, an avant-garde piano piece by Henry Cowell or the acoustic oddities of Basil Kirchin can fluidly segue into the climactic hoover madness of EVOL or the mechanised, synthetic experiments of Hecker. The mix’s organic quality shines through in its varied sound-creation techniques. For instance, Javier Bustos’ Aerodrones, which amplifies the sound of balloons, Tomoko Sauvage’s Clepsydra, with its crystalline water bowl resonances, Chris Watson’s evocative field recordings, and Fred Helliwell’s raw industrial soundscapes of British metalworks, all contribute to a kaleidoscopic auditory journey. The result is a vibrant mosaic of surfaces, locales, tones, and resonances, woven together into an experiential whole that shifts and evolves with every listen. The mix’s multilayered textures, physical sonic surfaces, and disorienting patterns bring to mind the enigmatic complexity of System 1 by Rodrigo Franzao.

“This mix we have typically chosen to move through various groups of sounds according to what we like.

Resonance, movement and dynamics, unique timbral qualities, contrasting sounds presented together that work, monolithic walls of sound, percussive synthesized sounds, synthesized emulation of organic sounds, sculptural sounds, anything on a cello, dissonance, microtonal sound, really claustrophobic aggressive sound, sounds that you have no idea how or what was used to make them, natural sounds, freeform composition, filters, unusual reverbs, Daxophones, subtle evolutions and progressions that seem to happen without you knowing, anything by lightning bolt, provocative introspective music.

Mark has included a couple of tracks from his forthcoming Playback Ep and I have included a track from my forthcoming album Relief Tours LP.

Also there’s a quite special track form a project I (Scott) have been working on for 3 years with a group called ESK, it’s Silo Mod Pattern, it features specifically composed music from S.Annand in a 100% real 40 second reverb from a 250 ft grain silo tower.”

Jozef’s eclectic selection is a really extraordinary journey across different audio landscapes, which helped to form his unique artistic wholeness and also influenced Jozef as an artist. It is amazing to hear a classical lute piece from the 17th century next to post punk/wave obscurities or modern minimalist compositions. The selection leaps across various centuries, aesthetic approaches, sounds and artists. They sometimes even seem to contradict each other, but here Jozef presents an engaging and sometimes challenging narrative or even collage of different aesthetic attitudes. The selection also has a special cinematic feel and reminds the soundtrack for some lost abstract movies with rapidly changing imagery or just could be used for wandering across the white winter landscapes or urban surroundings.