Potions

Ostinato

BY Bryon HayesPublished Aug 8, 2018

7
By day, Tom Owens curates the Chicago-based Pretty All Right label, but by night he becomes Roland Potions, a one-man modern funk machine. Potions is focused on laying down only the deepest, most sweat-inducing grooves, which he produces without the help of a computer.
 
His rig is an electronics-only machine that somehow becomes cybernetically linked to his body and mind as he sets about to unleash his signature brand of torso-moving goodness.
 
Not surprisingly, Potions is also a DJ. His extensive collection of house and electro records informs his own productions. Heavy, heaving rhythms bleed into each minute of Ostinato, Potions' latest cassette, and second for the Hausu Mountain imprint. Yet there's an air of kosmische synth wizardry at play, particularly in the extended romp of "Snake's Vamp." Clocking in at over ten minutes, this piece is the spiritual centre of the cassette. Snake-like synth lines gurgle and weave around a chugging guitar backbone. The ultra-funky drum machine beat almost smacks of space age bachelor pad music, adding another signifier to the already deeply informed sonic stew.
 
Roland Potions, or Tom Owens, is certainly gifted with deep crates. Not only that, he has the skill and the chops to throw a plethora of seemingly disparate musical elements into a heady brew of sound that is sure to get any room rocking. Invite him to your next party and it's sure to be a banger.
(Hausu Mountain)

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