Heirlooms is a colorful, refreshingly varied departure from the everyday, rich with emotion and as deeply rooted as they come, offering yet another side of Dave Aju’s kaleidoscopic musical world to explore.

Now Damien’s horns, Clements drums and Jaw’s voice are turning to a new venture where their bodies shall follow, under the banner of Les Fils Du Calvaire. Without the command of a relentless kick drum to obey, they are free to craft bittersweet nuggets of pop music; vignettes sung in French that celebrate the roots of their art with passion and flair, played live on instruments powered only by brain, muscle and imagination.

At times cute and at other times creepy, sometimes folky, occasionally synthy, but always organic, the songs they have already written share the same mystique that makes their dancefloor music so alluring. Only now, you can enjoy that same unique quality away from the blur and sweat of the club and connect with it in a wholly different way.

To herald the beginning of this project of discovery, Les Fils will be playing a ten-date tour around Germany, with Clement, Damien and Jaw joined by an additional guitarist and drummer to fully realise the vision of their band.

It’s always exciting to hear new music from Mr. Aju, as he consistently offers a fresh approach to the usual dance music formulas with an undeniable sense of soul and singular artistry. This is especially true on his new album, where Aju has really outdone himself with his most diverse, expressive, and personal work to date. Crafted with vintage recordings and instruments inherited from his late father, Aju taps into his roots and musical background more than ever on Heirlooms, taking us on a ten-song journey through past and present influences and a variety of moods, from proper heartfelt tributes to spaced-out bliss and straight-up funk.

Dave Aju uses his distinctive voice, a fixture in his engaging live performances and DJ sets, in various ways throughout the album – from inspired songwriting in the uplifting cosmic opener ‘Rise’ and the beautiful end of ‘Revealing’, to memorable character lines in the raw deep house cut ‘Away Away’ and soaring choral notes on the bass-heavy beatdown vibe of ‘Until Then’. Plenty of collaborators also appear on the album, including The Invisible Art Trio who bring the same p-funk-meets-free-jazz voodoo on the hypnotic ‘To Be Free’ that made their previous track ‘Be Like The Sun’ such a treat. Some fellow Circus freaks also join in as Jaw from dOP finds himself co-conducting vocals on the boogie train of ‘Caller #7’ and Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts lends a hand on the skins for the party-starting ode to tequila “Ms Reposado.” The Sol Percussion Ensemble, who last worked with Aju on his brilliant Two-Tone EP, also make an appearance on the irresistibly warm Brazilian-flavored jam ‘Brown & Blue’, while the club-approved ‘All Together Now’ shines as a unique tech-disco hybrid and will also be released with a remix from Amsterdam’s own multi-talented mad scientist San Proper.

Heirlooms is a colorful, refreshingly varied departure from the everyday, rich with emotion and as deeply rooted as they come, offering yet another side of Dave Aju’s kaleidoscopic musical world to explore.

If there is one artist in our family that displays this concept the best, it is the quiet Russian, Oleg Poliakov. Escaping his humble beginnings in the bitter wastes of Siberia, his evolution in the European dance music scene has seen him springboard deftly from smooth, Detroit-indebted deep cuts to raw and raunchy peak-time floor fillers with the confidence of a producer who can match the mood for any time of the night.

With many great EPs for ourselves as well as such well-respected establishments as Bass Culture and Eklo, Oleg is now a mature individual called upon for his expertise and wisdom in all aspects of 4/4 music, from the engineering to the management, the DJing to the promotion. First and foremost though, he is an artist in constant development, as the ‘Fabuleuse Nébuleuse’ EP perfectly demonstrates.

Across three tracks of crisp deep house, Oleg crafts shimmering synths, icy tones and glacial percussion, as if building the tracks from the very land he calls home. While the surface atmosphere is cool and calm, underneath the snow tempestuous bass and fiery kicks growl and groan, cultivating that essential dancefloor energy whilst the higher frequencies soothe the mind.

Within these dreamlike moods Oleg is pointing the way to the further development of his expression, inhabiting a space where the heat of the night meets the frosty glare of the morning, and capturing that ambiguous feeling that comes from too many hours in the grip of the soundsystem.

A Crystalmafia production
Directed, filmed and edited by Jocie Cox
2nd Camera: Stini Mimissonsdottir
Art direction and concept by Kieran Behan
Make-Up: Tanja Henning
Styling by Ivi Geist
Set and Production Assistance: Ashley Hayward, Marielle Huey, Nina Kharytonova
Production support by Jessica Bossuyt
Little Kids: Momo & Sofia