Facta’s GULP Is A Kinetic Nervous Rush
Alex Waespi
Oscar Henson’s early material as Facta orbited the post-dubstep diaspora of the 2010s, landing on venerated UK labels including Livity Sound and Idle Hands. An East London native, Henson lived in Bristol during a formative era for the city’s electronic underground. He picked the moniker Facta at random from a history textbook — an obscure reference to Italian politician Luigi Facta. “I thought it just looked like a dubstep DJ’s name because it had the ‘a’ at the end — like Hatcha and Youngsta,” he tells me over Zoom, chuckling. “It turns out that he’s, like, probably the most pointless character in all of Italian critical history. I go to Italy and say, ‘I’m named after this prime minister Facta’ and get laughed at massively.” European bureaucracy aside, Henson’s output is no joke.
With time, Henson has traversed more varied terrain than bass music. His 2021 record, Blush, caters to daylit optimism; the Incienso-issued 2023 EP, Emeline, was one step ahead of the curve on the minimal revival; and 2024’s So Is The Sun is as verdant as the glitchy flower adorning its cover. When asked what defines a Facta piece, Henson describes a push-pull between lushness, simplicity, oddness, and instrumental earworms. Symbiotically, he manages the exceptional label Wisdom Teeth alongside teenage best friend and frequent CDJ co-pilot Joe Gladwell (aka K-Lone). Wisdom Teeth has platformed elven rhythms from Jorg Kunig, Tristan Arp, Salamanda, and others. “The warmth comes from my tastes, really,” Henson says. “Me and Joe and the label, in particular, we’ve always been really into organic sounding stuff. As much as we love super electronic types of music, I think we’re still drawn to stuff that has that warmth in it.”
On his latest, GULP, Henson repurposes choppy tech house. These seven brisk cuts — which clock in at 27 minutes total — squarely cater to bustling dance floors. Fifteen years in, he and Gladwell have infiltrated the festival circuit. The transit of touring cracked Henson’s new process, subconsciously influencing the track titles “Jets” and Terminal.” GULP predominantly came to life on a laptop, and many of the wonky timbres were generated with the DAW Logic’s built in synthesizers and FM randomization ability. An interest in freneticism further beams through the cover by Boston photographer Pelle Cass, which brims with Where’s Waldo?-esque motion. A tapestry of places viewed in passing, the album never overstays its welcome.
For Henson, the word GULP represents the nervous rush of letting something go without preciousness. “I’ve been DJing for 15 years; I’ve been making music for 15 years; I’ve been running a label for 10 years. But this was a real period where I was just getting into music that was super functional because I was playing bigger stages than we had done before,” Henson remembers. “Outside DJing, at home, I listen to lots of non-dance music. I got really, really obsessed with the idea of working out what makes a really functional record. That started feeding into my writing in a way that it hadn’t done before because I was basically making these tracks on the move to play that day.” Though he was not worried about how they would all sit together, GULP is cohesive and kinetic.
GULP steps into an accessible realm and is already getting rinsed by Objekt and Ben UFO with festival season barely in swing. But Henson does not feel pressure to conform to industry trends. “In a way, we’re quite set in what we do,” Henson muses on the philosophy that he and Gladwell share. “As much as it’s nice to get attention for certain records we put out, or to go through periods where we get more bookings, that’s honestly lovely. But I don’t think it really massively changes what we do in any short term sense.” Larger crowds and prominent flyer positioning do not dilute the infectious curiosity of Facta.
PEAK TIME
Fields Of Mist - "Deep In The Mountain"
It is okay to judge Fields Of Mist by their alias. Maintaining a mysterious profile, the California-rooted producer occasionally pops up on Munich’s austere Ilian Tape label with a collection of cosmic hardware jams. The latest Fields Of Mist EP, Secrets Of The Nebula, is wispy and gold flecked. “Deep In The Mountain” is bookended by washing chords and faint kicks, overlaid by a clacky electro groove. The elusive fingerprint of the Ilian Tape roster is infused with celestial brightness.
SSLIP & Beton Brut - "Pigeons (Noti Remix)"
French label Grid churns out reliably chunky tunes. The latest EP on Clad’s imprint arrives via UK producers SSLIP and Beton Brut, who flirt with glowering half-time on Transit Limb. On an icy reconfiguration of “Pigeons,” Noti hands in a forward-bound flip that contrasts sharp hi-hats and monstrous synthesizer quakes. The original “Pigeons” features MC Trim on tough verses, and both versions provide a spin on grime for 2025.
Yazzus - "My Lipgloss My Rules"
Ghana-born, Berlin-based DJ Yazzus is a resident at Berlin’s Mala Junta queer party. Away from the booth, she delivers greasy uptempo bangers. Her new EP for Roza Terenzi’s Step Ball Chain imprint, Rebel Royal, offsets proggy bounce and discombobulating darkness. “My Lipgloss My Rules” unfurls with a mouthful of robotic vowels, escalating to a zippy, maximalist summit. Modular experimentation is rarely this ecstatic.
Car Culture - "Coping Mechanism"
Daniel Fisher’s Physical Therapy alias is a staple of the global circuit. Since the 2010s, the New Jersey-born producer has managed the label Allergy Season and he held a residency at Queens mainstay Nowadays for roughly six years. Physical Therapy’s tracks span blissful house and gritty breaks. But Fisher’s Car Culture moniker is a home for more atmospheric sketches. His new EP for Francis Latreille (aka Priori) and Adam Feingold (aka Ex-Terrestrial’s) glittery Montréal imprint naff recordings, Nothingburger, skews slow burning and earthy — enhanced by remixes from ambient dub darlings Purelink and indie rockers Hotline TNT. “Coping Mechanism” is the show stopper, its wiry guitars, watery piano doodles, and faded vocal samples conjuring a transient mood. It lingers between a sultry slow jam and ‘90s downtempo.
Simo Cell - "Rushin'"
Like one-too-many sprays of citric cologne, Simo Cell’s new EP, FL Louis, is hulking and gaudy. Across four cuts, the French producer and TemeT label boss, born Simon Aussel, nods to the French Touch and bloghouse of his youth. On “Rushin’,'” his neon sonics are slightly menacing. Throaty fomant filter timbres — supposedly voiced by the cursed, titular puppet on the cover — are icing on an utterly ridiculous cake.
Henzo - "Rustica Slump"
Manchester-based Henzo’s dancehall-laced dubstep is feisty and demonic. Releases on labels including aya and BFTT’s YCO and DJ Python’s Worldwide Unlimited have been sludgy and growling, as if intended to draw blood from speakers. Henzo’s full-length debut for Sneaker Social Club, The Poems We Write For Ourselves, favors structure without sacrificing grit. “Rustica Slump” opens with a four-on-the-floor kick so thick it borders on garishness, until a catchy voice sample offsets the tension. For six minutes, “Rustica Slump” dovetails between saccharine heights and menacing lows — almost goofy in its extremity.
Introspekt - "Respect"
2-step’s heritage is distinctly British, but Sage Hunt (aka Introspekt) champions the style from Los Angeles with effortless authenticity. Transcending West Coast DIY queer raves, she has now shared bills with forebears such as Horsepower Productions and Conducta. It is fitting that her full-length debut, Moving The Center, is out on the storied London label Tempa. “Respect” is shuffling and hyper, with compactness that shrinks to the scale of a snow globe.
ex_libris - "#32 (walrus)"
Dave Huisman’s projects, A Made Up Sound and 2562, were quiet fixtures of the late 2000s post-dubstep boom — broken beat discs appearing on the Trilogy Tapes, Delsin, and Huisman’s own A Made Up Sound imprint. Yet the low end legend lay dormant for nearly a decade, upon proclaiming A Made Up Sound dead in 2016. Returning with two EPs under the fresh alias ex_libris, Huisman seems to have mellowed in his time away from the decks. ex_libris 001 and ex_libris 002 hover in silvery ether that reminds me more of Actress than Hessle Audio. The second EP’s closer, “#32 (walrus),” is centered on gauzy pads and muted, microhouse percussion. A steady snare thwack serves as insistent glue.
Black Sites - "FLIKK"
Terminally offline vinyl DJ Helena Hauff and mastering engineer Kris Jakob (aka F#X) found their footing in the 2010s Hamburg scene. The Golden Pudel club residents unveiled their duo Black Sites in 2013, delivering a handful of scowling singles on Berlin experimental institution PAN before quickly evaporating. Now, Black Sites have resurfaced on Tresor with the full-length R4 — 10 taut, fiery hardware jams that were laid to tape with almost no editing. “FLIKK” calls to mind EBM mangled with guitar distortion, all brittle snares and ratty synthesizers. R4’s liner notes mention a shared interest in punk music and Jakob has performed with the kosmische act Circuit Diagram. “FLIKK” pulls as much from the trippiness of Dungen as the craggy aesthetics of a techno dungeon.
Nick León - "Metromover"
Nick León is having difficulty evading the spotlight. The Miami-rooted producer veered into poppy, Y2K topography with the 2024 Erika de Casier breakout collaboration “Bikini.” León’s hotly anticipated full-length debut for Colombian powerhouse TraTraTrax, A Tropical Entropy, is melancholy, romantic, and apocalyptic, inspired by Joan Didion’s essays on Miami. The album elaborates on León’s accessibility, packed with guests ranging from Ela Minus to Jonny From Space to Casey MQ. “Metromover” — with Esty and Mediopicky — is futuristic and dubby, emerging with sensuous talk-singing that gives way to a throbbing climax. León exploded with a formula that felt straight out of Three Points, but A Tropical Entropy evokes the catharsis of a somber jet ski ride through the Magic City’s canals.
THE AFTERS
