The Magus Project unveils two-part ‘Aerohead’ project

The Magus Project, aka James Banbury, is back with another time capsule of a project.

‘Aerohead DAT One’ and ‘Aerohead DAT Two’ were released on April 18 and May 9, respectively, via Banbury’s What Sonic? imprint—but the collection of tracks is more than three decades in the making.

This isn’t the first time in recent years that Tokyo-based Banbury has dug deep into his personal archives, with 2020’s ‘Shoss’ EP reissuing four hardcore tracks which were co-produced with Bryan Gee of V Recordings and released on a Rhythm King sub-label in 1991.

Also released in 2020 was the ‘High Counters’ EP which featured previously unreleased tracks from the same era that had sat idle on DAT tapes for nearly thirty years before being rediscovered in a storage box in his parents’ home.

Similarly, ‘Aerohead’ lay dormant on DAT tapes until being recently retrieved. Produced in 1994 on Cubase with a plethora of hardware (Roland S760, Yamaha FX500, Novation Bass Station, Waldorf Microwave Synth…), the project’s five tracks have never been heard until now.

Read this next: The Magus Project debuts EP on Silk Road Sounds, 30 years after his first release on Rhythm King Records

Written in the aftermath of the infamous Criminal Justice Act, ‘Aerohead’ was inspired by the strengthening of cultural exchange in dance music scenes between the UK and Europe that followed, bolstered by the opening of the Eurostar railway link.

Indeed, ‘Eurostar’ opens ‘Aerohead DAT Two’ with echoes of Moroder and, of course, an inevitable dialogue with Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express’. Meanwhile, acid textures and syncopated kicks lead ‘Wave Control’ on ‘Aerohead DAT One’.

Read this next: Mengzy Selects – 034 / April

It is the final two tracks of ‘Aerohead’, however, that resonate the most with the present-day listener. A sampled and pitched cimbalom (a defunct Eastern-European string instrument) lends ‘Drone’ a sonic Otherism that became a trope in big beat and a staple of some strands of deep dubstep.

Finally, the guttural bass on ‘Boomwa’ is so timeless that one is tempted to sample it for use under any number of genres.

Purchase ‘Aerohead DAT One’ here and ‘Aerohead DAT Two’ here.

Mengzy is Mixmag Asia’s Music Culture Columnist, follow her on Instagram.

Cut through the noise—sign up for our weekly Scene Report or follow us on Instagram to get the latest from Asia and the Asian diaspora!