Ekoplekz

Ekoplekz stands as the creative outlet through which Nick Edwards fuses an eclectic range of touchstones, from the industrial innovations of Cabaret Voltaire and experimental dub to techno and the pioneering electronic work of the BBC Radio Workshop. During the early 2010s his jagged, dark electronics first surfaced on a succession of self-released CD-Rs and cassettes that quietly built an audience by word of mouth, prompting releases on Mordant Music and Punch Drunk; his most approachable work has appeared on Planet Mu, notably the 2015 album Reflekzionz.

Edwards, born and raised in Bristol, started home-recording experiments in 1988 with vintage analog synthesizers and issued occasional material throughout the 1990s. In the 2000s he became known as the music blogger Gutterbreakz, a platform he has asserted was the first to provide downloadable MP3s. The Ekoplekz moniker itself derives from an Eko organ discovered in a charity shop in 2010. Punch Drunk issued his official debut 12", Stalag Zero, that same year, a record that merged the experimental loops of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop with the restless drive of early dubstep before submerging both in delay and reverb.

Later in 2011 the Baron Mordant imprint put out the double-cassette album Memowrekz, while Punch Drunk followed with the long-player Intrusive Incidentalz, Vol. 1, an effort that drew on early electronic soundtracks, '70s punk, library music, and shadowy dub. Echoing the early-'80s post-punk habit of documenting live shows on cassette, Edwards issued several performance tapes from 2011, among them a widely praised set at East London’s Vortex Jazz Club. In 2012 he reunited with Mordant Music for the more avant-garde double-cassette Skalectrikz; around the same period the limited C45 Mildew Riddims surfaced on Planet Migration, reinforcing his standing as the underground Ron Geesin of distorted electronics in the early 2010s. That year also saw Plekzationz, credited to Nick Edwards, appear on Editions Mego.

He extended the Skalectrikz premise under the alias Ensemble Skalectrik, issuing the LP Trainwrekz on Editions Mego and a split 12" with the Durian Brothers on FatCat Records, both in 2013. A partnership with Mike Paradinas’s Planet Mu label began in 2014 with Unfidelity, a comparatively accessible yet still experimental set of dubby industrial electronics; additional vinyl that year comprised Influkz on More Than Human, Rock la Bibliotek on WNCL Recordings, and the limited double LP Four Track Mind on Planet Mu. Entropik followed on Planet Mu in 2015, presenting two hypnotic side-long pieces, and was succeeded by Reflekzionz, which foregrounded Edwards’s melodic inclinations. Cryptik Stepperz, a 2016 digital compilation drawn from a scarce 2012 cassette plus previously unreleased material, came next.

For his fourth Planet Mu album, 2017’s Bioprodukt, Edwards turned to the '90s, combining 303 bass synths with the murky lo-fi approach developed on earlier releases; the tape Cassettera appeared on the same label. Impressionz, a 2018 collection of Reflekzionz outtakes, was offered online at no cost, while the 10" EP Radiochronikz, featuring short loops and experiments, emerged on Library Tool Kit later that year. Three Ekoplekz cassettes arrived in 2019: Kirlian Visionz on Seagrave, Metabolizm on Zona Watusa, and In Search of the Third Mantra on Front and Follow.