X-Altera

Tadd Mullinix crafts material as X-Altera by drawing from atmospheric jungle alongside early-'90s Detroit techno and IDM, yet the results emerge as an original creation rather than a revival. The project's sweeping compositions feature intricate, time-stretched breakbeats paired with rich melodies and lean more toward introspective listening than dancefloor use. Ghostly International, Mullinix's longstanding label home, issued the first X-Altera album in 2018.

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the artist absorbed techno and drum'n'bass throughout the '90s before mixing jungle 12-inches as SK-1 beginning in 1995, well ahead of the style's wider American audience. Alongside Todd Osborn he established Rewind Records and launched a series of hard ragga-jungle outings under the Soundmurderer & SK-1 banner, opening with the 1998 single "Dreader Than Dread." Additional sought-after singles followed, later gathered by Aphex Twin's Rephlex imprint on the 2003 collection Rewind Records.

During the same period Mullinix maintained an active schedule under multiple other names, issuing abstract IDM under his own name, acid techno as James T. Cotton (later abbreviated to JTC), and experimental hip-hop as Dabrye. While readying Dabrye's long-planned Three/Three, he returned to overlooked '90s pressings that included early work by broken-beat innovators 4hero plus key Warp releases such as Detroit producer Kenny Larkin's Azimuth and the Artificial Intelligence series.

From those sessions he developed elaborate, forward-thinking pieces that echoed the earlier material while charting fresh ground, choosing the name X-Altera to honor Underground Resistance side projects X-101 and X-102. Following the project's introduction via the debut single "Check Out the Bass" and a live appearance at Ghostly International's Movement festival kickoff event in Detroit, the self-titled X-Altera album appeared on Ghostly International in June 2018.