for over 4 years, david coccagna aka chaperone has been a constant part of great circles, as musician, art director, and muse. with snapback balaclava he once again fully embodies all of those roles, delivering three inspiring tracks, selecting his remixers with specific attention to their musical histories, and designing his cover art. across the a-side, chaperone scrapes away at the grit – personal grit, the grit of anxiety, and philly grit. these are meditations on loops, and loops on meditations. each one appears on the surface to be a brief quote, but time dilation takes over, and minutes later we discover that chaperone has welcomed us into and back out of his own healing moment. like chaperone s p o n d release grcr-009, the b-side of snapback balaclava is a great circles extended family affair with a trio of diverse remixes that expose and exploit fragments of the chaos chaperone so carefully contained. hitoshi kojima thrive reinterprets pulse feels swells beating with relentless syncopated rhythms and synth lines that hang like massive string drones. m//r lays down a signature percussion ensemble palette, zeroes in on otherwise peripheral elements of grit neglect, and then deftly navigates sea change with both. matt korvette and sean mcguinness of philly punk band pissed jeans open up the pit and finish the story, taking femur baseball bat to its literal and brutal potential with monstrous vocals and kicks.

300 copies: hand&#8208,,,stamped metallic silver ink on black labels / black sleeves / screen printed white jackets. after a not&#8208,,so&#8208,,unusual quiet period, we re back with our first proper full&#8208,,length lp. plasmas by prefix moniker is an experimental electronic release that sets the stage for future great circles releases oriented more toward home listening than the dancefloor. prefix moniker is comprised of great circles mainstay jason carr (_moonraker) and johnny deblase (bassist in zevious, sabbath assembly & desertion trio). the duo has a musical relationship that dates back almost 20 years. the remote composition of plasmas began in 2013 with carr residing in berkeley, ca at the time, and deblase in queens, ny. each piece consists of arrangements of csound instruments (deblase) with layered synthesizer (carr). the curious product of this collaboration suggested to carr and deblase the fourth state of matter, plasma. all of the track titles were then contributed by jason s physicist brother, dr. jerry carr. page1image18192 pre&#8208,,release response to plasmas from musicians and label friends has been overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic, page1image19360 including karen gwyer s inclusion of two tracks (inductively coupled and helicons) on her recent fact mix (fact mix 610).

moving away from strictly white label/white sleeve packaging, great circles has widened its philadelphia-based collaborative team, with jacket designs created via video disruption by seppuku overwrite, and screen printing by mark price markpriceisafactory.net. dan trevitt and westov temple mark the transition into the next phase of releases with a split 12 inch.

pheaky acidic techno, mastered by dietrich schoenemann

one of our humble imprint s closest allies and a longstanding pillar of philadelphia s electronic music community, billy werner has been a constant presence in the booth at parties throughout the northeast corridor since 1998. we debuted his m//r alias in 2014 with the gathering response data 12- . since he s been busy bringing the grit to points beyond the city of brotherly love, putting in work for the likes of detailssound, l.i.e.s. and jackdept. most recently, he turned out a remix of karen gwyer s -why does your father look so nervous- for the rembo remixes on don t be afraid, as well as another for chaperone s -grit neglect- on the aforementioned snapbackbalaclava ep. written, recorded, and mixed over a period of 15 months, among the methods is in no small part a reflection of the affinities and sensibilities billy holds as both selector and producer. referencing a variety of influences from jazz to dub to electro, the album s allure stems from his deft ability to recontextualize those genres disparate aspects into a familiar–yet fiercely idiosyncratic–musical context. the end result is at once wildly fractured and precision-focused as among the methods finds its own seductive rhythm within a matrix of dub echoes and modulated low-end. it s heady ground,to be sure,as well as the most declarative aesthetic statement fromm//r to date. presented without further comment. the music is the message

nested structure is the first great circles release from artists outside of philadelphia. thrive are tetsuya yoshida and hitoshi kojima. they both grew up in the north kanto area of japan. they first met at the club run by tetsuya yoshida called sound a base nest, which is known as having the best sound system in the north kanto area. in 2007, the duo started their dj / producing unit thrive. previous releases have included a split 12inch with keia yano for japanese label struct, and recent solo releases by hitoshi for always human tapes and for his own label ambivalent deviation. this record almost didnt happen! — tetsuya and hitoshi were picking up great circles records in japan and, having periodically communicated with each other about music, they sent us the struct 12inch to check out. while cleaning out the back of the car a few months later, the presumably empty record mailer was about to land in the recycle bin when we fortunately discovered a demo cd of unreleased thrive material inside. we drove around listening to it and week later we agreed to release a 12inch. the music on the nested structure 12inch is dark, foreboding, even outwardly threatening. its hypnotic, textural and rhythmically complex.

wolf dem is a live electronics duo from philadelphia, conceived in the fall of 2012 by two longtime djs who bonded over similar musical backgrounds and a mutual desire to explore the bleeding edges of electronic music. using drawing on a highly diverse range of influences, wolf dem grew from its original concept-what your dreams would sound like if you fell asleep in an old warehouse where someone had left a dancehall station playing on the radio- into a focused aesthetic, at once chaotic and hypnotic, sitting at the intersection of caribbean music, techno, noise, and field recordings. past releases include tracks for compilations on new low and great circles grcr-010, as well cassette releases for vague audio tapes and end result

300 copies: hand-stamped black labels/black sleeves/screen printed black jackets
|| 12 tracks||12 artists||mostly philly people||a couple of out-of-town friends/collaborators||most are artists who have previously released music on the label

philadelphia-based producer chaperone has been working as a creative partner at great circles for the past six months, as well as collaborating with westov temple on an ongoing a/v project, seppuku overwrite. p o n d is his first 12 inch release on the label.

great circles is pleased to present another artist from the philadelphia underground - m//r magnetic resonance. with this debut 12 inch, m//r brings a new dimension to the labels sonic story. on the a-side, adjacent possible is warehouse primed, with its massive kick, rotating squelches and infectious claps, while texas acid patiently seeks you out and finds you huddled in the darkest corner of the room, its delayed synths turning percussive and pattering your theta state like acid rain. on the b-side, honey single deftly weaves dub fragments and metallic webbing into a padded electro structure. panthers 1 slows the pace and opens the doors to a phantom voice and lush melodic strains that slowly merge into a unified ensemble over the extended, hypnotic beat.

dan trevitt, long-tenured philly techno dj of the highest caliber and stalwart member of the inciting / great circles crew steps up with the missing, his first 12 inch for the label. trevitt spent most of the past year holed up with a rotating arsenal of hardware in the vacuum, a warehouse that not so long ago played host to a number of memorable parties. machine ghosts fight for freedom, trapped in the dark of smoke, spray paint, solder and ash. but no one s going home just yet.
limited edition of 300 handstamped copies.

philadelphias _moonraker follow up on their late 2012 *m_type* release with *remota instruere*, their 2nd 12 inch for great circles. 4 tracks of psych noise techno deviations. cut by dietrich schoenemann. hand-stamped and limited to 300 copies.

philadelphia’s _moonraker follow up on their late 2012 “m_type” release with “remota instruere,” their 2nd 12&#8243,,, for great circles. 5 tracks of psych noise techno deviations plus a remix by terrence dixon. cut by dietrich schoenemann. hand-stamped and limited to 300 copies !!

_moonraker is a continually evolving musical conversation that longs for escape from terrestrial constraints. the human participants in this machine dialogue are great circles mainstay jason carr, and kenneth_lay, who is also one half of metasplice. _moonrakers m-type 12 inch features extractions from a lengthy recording session held in philadelphia, documenting their fearless approach to live improv and hypnotic programming. the dirt, hiss and subterranean kicks of the basement aesthetic are juxtaposed with massive drones and cosmic synth movements. with the audio mastered by rj valeo and lacquers cut by dietrich schoenemann, this 12 inch brings the deepest sounds for the darkest lunar voyages.

great circles, the label run by the same people who host the inciting parties in philadelphia let loose their second 12 inch release. this one features tony g whose tous la part le même sort lures the listener in with a deceptive sleight of hand before locking in to a spacious groove. all jacking bass and dusted chord progressions, this is the sort of luxuriant burner perfectly primed for after hours dance floors. three diverse remixes from jason carr, andrew joseph and hero/victim demonstrate the vast talent thats been rocking philly warehouses and lofts for the past few years. limited to 250 copies for the world.