Potions

Tom Owens has issued an assortment of tracks under the Potions name that stretch from casual, self-made house rhythms to expansive ambient exotica. Cassettes account for most of these releases, frequently appearing on his own Pretty All Right imprint, whereas the smoother and more refined MIDI Jazz Bass arrived on vinyl during 2013. Later efforts such as Phased in 2015 and Ostinato in 2018 incorporated tighter dance rhythms while retaining an easygoing, open feel.

A lifelong Chicago-area inhabitant, Owens pursued jazz guitar studies during his college years. He founded the Pretty All Right label in 2005 and began issuing guitar-oriented lo-fi electronic pieces under his own name alongside sample-laden instrumental hip-hop credited to DJ Owns. Following his 2007 relocation from Western Springs to Chicago itself, he grew more involved in the local underground circuit. Through his role in Distractions he performed an unusual strain of surf- and lounge-tinged indie rock. His earliest Potions material, which surfaced in 2010, came across as airier and more open-ended than prior work, occasionally unfolding across 20-minute improvisations. Additional cassettes surfaced on Pretty All Right and Teen River, sometimes listed under the Roland Potions alias.

Over time the music grew more groove-oriented, channeling an affinity for disco, boogie, and house while steering clear of literal replication. Lake Paradise Records put out the MIDI Jazz Bass LP in late 2013. Potions next surfaced on the Los Angeles house label 100% Silk via the 2015 album Phased. The more abstract Light and Dark followed shortly afterward on Chicago’s Hausu Mountain. A second 100% Silk outing, Pushing the Cuboid, emerged in 2016, after which Potions revisited Hausu Mountain for 2018’s Ostinato.