Imagine a parallel universe where Arthur Lyman and Link Wray meet in the studio after an ugly night at the dive bar, while Philip Fullwood fiddles with the knobs like he’s trying to fix a broken radio.

This is dub music for the final round at an abandoned resort – highlighting the dark side of Exotica: Being trapped in the liquor-soaked, blurred delusions of a world that only ever existed on the front cover of a Martin Denny record.

On "Cocktail Hour in Purgatory", a Euclidean rhythm’s geometric patterns collide with the raw, human touch of clattering shakers and loose, clinking beats – teetering on the brink of collapse. “The Last Sip’s Bitter” leans into a classic half-step beat, driven by a 70s preset drum machine rhythm, while hand-played percussion infuses the mechanical pulse with a somewhat wonky energy.

The whole mess is bathed in overdriven, warbly tape echo; a Jazzmaster winds its way through the mix, its lines dripping with reverb, whilst the ghostly sounds of a vibraphone patch contribute repetitive chords that build upon the solid, slow groove of the bass.

The result? A sound that’s as hypnotic as it is unsettling and a reminder that paradise was always a bloody lie and the slow realization that the escape was always just another kind of cage...

Credits
All instruments & production by Martin Werner

Mastering & Lathe Cut by Michael Lawrence / bladudflies.com
Artwork by Philipp Knöbl