INKSWEL

Former b-boy and self-confessed ‘drum-machine obsessive’ Inkswel first popped his locks downunder in Australia, where he began life as one Jules Habib, but his cosmopolitan outlook on music and life has taken him places, of late: he’s now as at home in London and Amsterdam as in Melbourne and Adelaide, all cities where he has put in studio time.
The Amsterdam connection was particularly fruitful, with early productions for Rush Hour subsidiary Boogie Bash immediately causing ripples in 2011. A spate of remixes followed, for projects as diverse as ‘lost’ soulmen Darwin’s Theory (for Lotus Land) , as well as new dance producers/artists including Japan’s (and house music’s) best-kept secret Rondenion, American Tevo Howard (for Italian label Rebirth), Turkey’s Onur Engin, Tiago (for Kinfolk), Alena (for ISM)and Belgian synth-pop duo Maseratay – an outernational roll-call of some of the hippest releases of the past few years.
Then, another slew of releases under his own name: the Ginseng Root EP on Dopeness Galore, with collaborative medicine from Tom Trago & Benny Badge; a ten-inch single that came out as part of cult UK label Firecracker’s Unthank series, featuring Chico Mann and Funkineven; and, reminiscent of his mix-tape roots, the mutant-house mini album Australaborialis on Faces/MCDE, the title track of which was featured on Brandt Brauer Frick’s 2014 DJ KICKS compilation on K7. There was also the release of a leftfield techno track on Rush Hour’s ‘Store Only’ series, now sold out and only available on Discogs.

2013 saw the launch of his new label Hot Shot Sounds (distributed by DC boogie label PPU), the initial release featuring a new track with Reggie B, and a b-side jam from his partner-in-crime Freekwency. The label then followed up with the much-acclaimed Cloud-Eaters EP, a collaboration with Merwyn Sanders of house legends Virgo Four, and backed by remixes from contemporaries Linkwood and GB. That one topped both the Juno and Rush Hour charts and featured as vinyl release of the week in Fact Magazine.

That year also saw him tour Japan, playing in Sendai, Marioka, Akita, and Tokyo, and return to tour Europe for the third time, playing vinyl-only sets at Bradley Zero’s Rhythm Section party and Lowkey in London, Wilde Renate in Berlin, the Denis Simachev bar in Moscow, and at Rush Hour’s in-store party as part of the Amsterdam Dance Event alongside Hunee and Kid Sublime.
In the past year, he has been as busy as ever, dropping his Nomoresuckas EP on Burek Records, featuring collaborations with Dave Aju and Isaac Aesilli and backed by mixes from DJ Nature, IG Culture, and Iron Curtis. Other releases have come on This Thing, Wolf Music, Kinfolk, City Fly, Lumberjacks in Hell and Dopeness Galore. Inkswel has also formed two new group projects, Earlybird Soul System with soul vocalist Charli James- and Uglyink with Cologne- based house veteran Ugly Drums.

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