this is giles armstrong s debut ep, so we ll leave it to the man himself: -i’ve been dicking around the scene in some shape or form for the past twenty years or so. djing, promoting, dancing (you needed to have been there) eetc. but a couple of years ago i decided do the one thing that was missing from that list. to try make what the whole shebang is meant to be about, music. the thought of making tunes had crossed my mind down through the years but i was always too scared to start or never had the time. there was always a excuse handy, always.

initial programs is a new project by respected ambient producer mick chillage. it is also micks first ever vinyl release and sees the irish artist focus on deep, acid-tinged techno and melodic electro. the background to the release is a simple one, first cut boss richard be was a long admirer of mick’s music and discovered an electro project he did as the shape. over the course of emails, pints and coffees, the music for initial programs first record came together. the resulting three tracks are melancholic, late night jams, the soundtrack to high speed cruises on the streets of south dublin.

for their tenth release, first cut delivers the labels first split release with tracks from tr one, lerosa and giles armstrong, 100 copies only

giles armstrong returns to first cut. 100 copies only!

deeper shades of techno from themisto man. 100 copies only

limited stamped white-label repress. originally released in 2001 on first cut records berlin.

super lush house and techno from our pals in ireland. 100 copies only.

matt flanagan has been making music as defekt, ess and tinfoil for the past few years, so who better to put out the debut release on first cut? we decided early on that there was no point in repeating his admittedly fine back catalogue, so matt went off one evening and did a 30-minute live jam on his machines. there was no real plan, but between us, we picked the three best bits, which you now own. then we had to come up with a name. initially, we toyed with the idea of calling it ‘fekt’ but then decided that only a local audience would appreciate the joke and that it wouldn’t travel well. octal step then emerged as the clear favourite. we sealed the deal to release ‘toner head’ over a cup of takeaway coffee on a bench in the stephen’s green cente in dublin. and why is gunter walraff on the other side of this sheet? well, he seems like a cool guy. plus he’s german and has a moustache - what’s there not to like about that?

by day he guides lasers into position using precision equipment, at night he crafts raw house music. welcome to the unusual world of reflection port assembly. we got to know one another through a few brief, slurred encounters in the smoking area during the fabled forza italo night or at the aptly named gary’s gang. pretty soon it was clear that he had impeccable taste, like that record that featured coil and ice t. one sunny friday afternoon in june, he tore himself away from guiding the lasers and we met up in the city centre. the light breeze did nothing to dissuade the office workers from gathering outside the pub for sneaky post-work pints. surrounded a sea of grey and blue business attire, we agreed to make ‘retribution’ the second release on first cut. featuring three cuts, it spans house, electro, boogie and even some detroit techno influences. but ’retribution’ is more than the sum of these parts. unlike his precision-based day job it’s rough and imperfect, flawed but warm, messy and charming - like a snapshot of every day life in dublin.