- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- The New Normal
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- 5060845320379
- Release Date
- September 24, 2021
-
Vinyl 2×LP, Limited Coloured
UnavailableTransparent vinyl
Read More- + WAV / FLAC
HTH149
- Mastered and cut by Tim Xavier at Manmade Mastering, Berlin
-
CD
$14.49Read More- + WAV / FLAC
HTH149CD
- Limited edition
- Gatefold sleeve
-
Download
$9.99320 kbps, LAME-encoded
Genres
Coming through as a producer in the early 2000s, nothing much seemed normal. The whirlwind of 90s dance music innovation had given way to a lack of focus, with increasingly innovative and accessible technology making the sounds heard on dance-floors more eclectic but at the same time the parties had started to feel less inspired, as if it was too hard to keep hold of the magic that had swirled around us for the last 10 years.
Against this backdrop, Mark Hawkins immediately stood out by how grounded he was compared to most of the space cadets floundering with their musical calling. Watching one of his staggeringly raw live sets, ripping up the floor with a combination of jacking Chicago house and bare bones techno was to see a pragmatic idealist carving out a unique space, unashamed to reference his inspirations with humour and bombast.
It was perhaps inevitable that Mark’s boundless spirit would see him push through the barriers of the UK’s more experimental audiences to gain greater presence with his entrance to a more underground House sound. Releases followed on Dixon Avenue Basement Jams and Clone before arriving on Houndstooth, blending together House and Techno in a way that reached for the sky even while their roots were clearly planted firmly in the ground. Whilst always tough-as-painted-nails, the music progressed from being identifiable through its keen rawness to displaying increasing sophistication.
During a lost year that’s been anything but normal, it’s no surprise that Mark has dug deeper, gathering his influences and ideals into a more experimental, yet relevant and cohesive whole. The Twelve tracks on this new album represent a blossoming of Mark’s creativity; freed from the constraints of immediate dance-floor delivery they explore new territory, rampaging over a landscape of electro-funk, body-rocking house, experimental electronica, euphoric pop and reflective chill out all underpinned by his accomplished melodic sensibility.
Opening track Can’t Let You Do This sets the tone perfectly, so stridently optimistic it will surely become a staple of 2021’s (hopefully) unstoppable deluge of summer parties, whether they’re held in fields to an audience of thousands or in the kitchen of a one-bedroom flat. 100 Percent’s dreamy, delayed vocals and classic House riffs are simply joyous, whilst the disco flavoured ‘No One Can Find Us’ demonstrates a twisted sound design that wickedly plays with perception & emotions. Lazy Sunday’s cheeky organ stabs and You Bring The Sunshine’s woozy melodies both revel in sun-drenched possibilities of a summer spent forgetting the past year’s hardships.
Elsewhere, the atmosphere draws on the reflection that long periods of relative isolation has bestowed on us all. I AM’s subtle acid riff and synth drones evoke personal eyes-closed dance-floor revelations. Title track The New Normal is achingly beautiful, promising hope and succour to weary bedroom ravers and desk-workers who’ve forsaken their weekend release, whilst Second Born features a hazy vocal sample from Hawkins’ own daughter, phasing through panoramic, muted hoover bass then breaking into a grainy broken beat drop before returning with the subtlest of buried melodies, opening up a new emotional vista. Conversely, Never Stopped Loving You’s has a consistent pulse, benevolently imbued with a real sense of longing, a yearning for sanctuary in the nocturnal city street lights.
But there are other moments that perhaps point us towards a different future for Mark’s music. Shape The Way You Compromise marries Soca rhythms with merciless bass tones and staccato acid bleeps, chewing up echoes of West London broken-beat via stuttering IDM styled edits.
And then leading the charge away from the old ways and into the new is Let It Slide, his second collaboration with Jamie Lidell (following 2018’s “We Should Be Free”) that tears up the rulebook. Beat’s stumble and stutter, resolving in angular B-boy grooves while the bass line sounds like it’s being slapped out by a P Funk-addicted robotic jackhammer. In its sheer disregard for musical conventions, it reprises Lidell’s previous work with Cristian Vogel in their genre-destroying freakbeat combo, Super_Collider, and perfectly sums up an album that challenges what ‘normal’ from now on should be.
Written by: Paul Gannaway.
Digital Tracklist
-
1
Can't Let You Do This
Mark Hawkins
3:46
Buy
Can't Let You Do This
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
2
Second Born
Mark Hawkins
4:20
Buy
Second Born
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
3
100 Percent
Mark Hawkins
5:55
Buy
100 Percent
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
4
Shape the Way You Compromise
Mark Hawkins
5:29
Buy
Shape the Way You Compromise
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
5
No One Can Find Us
Mark Hawkins
3:41
Buy
No One Can Find Us
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
6
Lazy Sunday
Mark Hawkins
5:16
Buy
Lazy Sunday
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
7
You Bring the Sunshine
Mark Hawkins
6:22
Buy
You Bring the Sunshine
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
8
I AM
Mark Hawkins
5:55
Buy
I AM
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
9
Never Stopped Loving U
Mark Hawkins
7:03
Buy
Never Stopped Loving U
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
10
Let It Slide
Mark Hawkins featuring Jamie Lidell
3:46
Buy
Let It Slide
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
11
The New Normal
Mark Hawkins
5:48
Buy
The New Normal
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
-
12
SE5
Mark Hawkins
6:58
Buy
SE5
-
WAV / FLAC
$1.99 -
MP3
$1.35
-
Mark Hawkins
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- Time & Space
- Label
- X-Masters
- Catalogue Number
- 8718723254472
- Release Date
- April 26, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- Let U Fall
- Label
- Aus Music
- Catalogue Number
- AUS188DL
- Release Date
- October 20, 2023
- Download
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- How Do I Know
- Label
- Aus Music
- Catalogue Number
- AUSLP017s03DL
- Release Date
- May 26, 2023
- Download
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- Venn Diagram
- Label
- Aus Music
- Catalogue Number
- AUSLP017DIGI
- Release Date
- May 5, 2023
- LP
- Download
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- Siegfried Benaultibaum (Contactless Remix)
- Label
- Aus Music
- Catalogue Number
- AUSLP017s02DL
- Release Date
- April 14, 2023
- Download
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- L.O.V.E
- Label
- Aus Music
- Catalogue Number
- AUSLP017s01DL
- Release Date
- March 24, 2023
- Download
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- I Can Feel It
- Label
- Aus Music
- Catalogue Number
- AUS179Dx
- Release Date
- August 5, 2022
- Download
-
- Artist
- Mark Hawkins
- ReleaseProduct
- Sanctuary
- Label
- Hot Haus Recs
- Catalogue Number
- HOTHAUS077
- Release Date
- June 24, 2022
- Download
Houndstooth
-
Pre-order
- Artist
- Aïsha Devi
- ReleaseProduct
- Aethernal Score (Live with the BBC Concert Orchestra)
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- HTH163D
- Release Date
- May 2, 2024
- LP (special)
- Download
-
- Artist
- Hinako Omori
- ReleaseProduct
- foundation (claire rousay remix)
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- 5060845324568
- Release Date
- April 10, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Hinako Omori
- ReleaseProduct
- foundation (claire rousay remix)
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- HTH179B
- Release Date
- April 10, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Hinako Omori
- ReleaseProduct
- foundation (claire rousay remix)
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- 5060845324551
- Release Date
- April 10, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Throwing Snow
- ReleaseProduct
- Apricity
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- HTH178B
- Release Date
- April 3, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Throwing Snow
- ReleaseProduct
- Apricity
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- 5060845324254
- Release Date
- April 3, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Throwing Snow
- ReleaseProduct
- Apricity
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- 5060845324452
- Release Date
- April 3, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Hinako Omori, Joe Goddard
- ReleaseProduct
- cyanotype memories (joe goddard remix)
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- HTH179D
- Release Date
- March 14, 2024
- Download
Experimental Pop and New Wave
-
- Artist
- Sega Bodega
- ReleaseProduct
- True
- Label
- ambient tweets
- Catalogue Number
- at001D
- Release Date
- April 22, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Sega Bodega
- ReleaseProduct
- Dennis
- Label
- ambient tweets
- Catalogue Number
- at001
- Release Date
- April 26, 2024
- LP
- Download
-
- Artist
- Bullion
- ReleaseProduct
- Affection
- Label
- Ghostly International
- Catalogue Number
- GI429DIGITAL
- Release Date
- April 26, 2024
- LP (special)
- CD
- Download
-
- Artist
- Gaussian Curve
- ReleaseProduct
- Winter Sun / Fever Dream
- Label
- Music From Memory
- Catalogue Number
- MFM067
- Release Date
- August 2, 2024
- 12”
-
- Artist
- Björk and Rosalía featuring Olof Dreijer
- ReleaseProduct
- Oral (Olof Dreijer Remix)
- Label
- One Little Independent Records
- Catalogue Number
- 1941TP7DL
- Release Date
- April 10, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Ruth Mascelli & Mary Hanson Scott
- ReleaseProduct
- Haunted Hearts
- Label
- Disciples
- Catalogue Number
- DISC23.75DL
- Release Date
- April 9, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Reyna Tropical
- ReleaseProduct
- Malegría
- Label
- Psychic Hotline
- Catalogue Number
- PSY040DIGITAL
- Release Date
- March 29, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Eartheater
- ReleaseProduct
- Powders
- Label
- Chemical X
- Catalogue Number
- CHMX016
- Release Date
- September 20, 2023
- CD
- Cassette
- Download
Limited Editions
-
Pre-order
- Artist
- El Michels Affair
- ReleaseProduct
- Enter The 37th Chamber
- Label
- Fat Beats Records
- Catalogue Number
- FB-5127-2
- Release Date
- May 7, 2009
- LP (special)
-
Pre-order
- Artist
- FONTAINES D.C.
- ReleaseProduct
- Romance
- Label
- XL Recordings
- Catalogue Number
- XL1436DA
- Release Date
- August 23, 2024
- LP (special)
- Download
-
Pre-order
- Artist
- Paul W. Teebrooke, Stasis
- ReleaseProduct
- Time Sensitive: Unreleased Sounds From The Otherworld Archives
- Label
- De:tuned
- Catalogue Number
- 5414180240470
- Release Date
- May 31, 2024
- 12”
-
Pre-order
- Artist
- ENC
- ReleaseProduct
- Surreal Estate
- Label
- ENC
- Catalogue Number
- ENCSE1
- Release Date
- May 10, 2024
- LP (special)
-
- Artist
- Röyksopp & Robyn
- ReleaseProduct
- Do It Again
- Label
- Dog Triumph
- Catalogue Number
- DOG007
- Release Date
- May 23, 2014
- LP (special)
- Download
-
Pre-order
- Artist
- Actress
- ReleaseProduct
- Statik
- Label
- Smalltown Supersound
- Catalogue Number
- STS428DIGITAL
- Release Date
- June 7, 2024
- LP (special)
- Download
-
Pre-order
- Artist
- Simon Fisher Turner
- ReleaseProduct
- Instability of the Signal
- Label
- Mute
- Catalogue Number
- ISTUMM504
- Release Date
- August 2, 2024
- LP (special)
- Download