Hobbes

13/07/2024

1, Grenoble, c. May/June ‘96. Perfecting that gangly move…. 😉

The tail-end of an incredible year, playing out for the first time while “studying” (thank you, Erasmus scheme, RIP), throwing parties in the city’s bars & clubs with one of my best friends (“James et Andy presente….”), buying records from Ozone records, serendipitously just around the corner from our flat (!), getting to know ‘la scene techno Grenobloise’, invited to DJ at wee raves in the mountains, introducing dnb to confused locals… 🇫🇷🗻

2, The vinyl I’ve pulled out for tonight’s old school set for Pulse at the Bongo’s Summer Closing Party* alongside Shaun Resist, Sean Laird & Darrell Pulse. 🔊

All informed by life-changing nights at Pure, Final Frontier, the above etc etc… 🤯

Magical times!

*[last night at Bongo until after the Festival]

20/06/2024

The full Tape Mix of our Pockets of Light album is up on streaming platforms now, if you fancy a deep(er) dive: 80 minutes of ambient, downtempo, electro, house, dub, space music and more... 🌊📡🛸

As per the physical cassette, it’s a continuous mix, with two different versions from the 12”. 🎧

This is the antithesis of today’s music consumption models: bite-sized singles, fast product shat out as ‘content’ for the algo etc etc... 🤖⛔️

But it seemed churlish not to make it available in this way, regardless. 🙃

Links via bio, as usual. 🔗👀👆

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.🌞✌️

13/06/2024

Slightly belated post to share a few snaps and say a very BIG thank you to Dave Waugh for having us all on the air at Limbic TV last week… 🙏❤️

Everyone played an absolute blinder 🔥

And I had a wee chat with each act between sets, which was fun. 🗣️

Also, huge thanks to .hit.3 for making it all look so sh*t-hot, in spite of h/w failure etc… 🙌

Plus Scott 'Scotch Broth' whose videos for Sarah/Shaun made their set even more special. 📹😍

The archive should be up on YouTube for a few more days… ⏳👀

See bio to get a wee snapshot of HM in 2024. 🔗

Hope to do another session before too long with more HM acts, including (potentially) some international ones…. 💻🤞

Big up also Shaun & Alan for the images. 👊

03/06/2024

Tuesday 4th June

First ever HM *online* live showcase via Limbic TV 📺

Performing live:

Exterior ⚡️
Gaming 👾
George T / George Demure / Allnoise presents Accident Machine 🎙️🥁
Sarah/Shaun 🎤🎹🎸💻

Watch live on YouTube from 8pm (UK) 🖥️👀

🔗see comments

02/06/2024

Summer is here and so are the new Rags of Time Tees, to accompany the 12” re-press we just did…. ☀️

Had an intensive print session last week and *really* happy with the results - all the details from this intricate design came out so well. 🎯

Lush soft-feel cotton shirt with a loose neck; 100% Organic ring-spun combed cotton, 150gsm. 💯

Royal Blue print on Vintage White or Sky Blue cotton.

Each colour is a limited run of 35, with no plans to re-print. ⏳

Many thanks as always to Ryan for his invaluable guidance... 🙏

Full back story below...

—
The Rags Of Time EP first came out in 2017. We made 100 copies on 10”, all beautifully screen printed (many thanks, Lindsay Todd / Firecracker)...

Leo Mas, Nancy Noise, Sean Johnston and all called the lead track, Web Of Intrigue, their Summer Anthem.

Andy Weatherall (RIP) declared it was “going to be massive”; Tony Humphries said “it reminds me of Chic”…

Kenneth Bager made it Hot Track Of The Week on radio in Denmark…

And just about everyone else from the international house/disco/Balearic scene seemed to fall in love with it, too. The 10” sold out before the vinyl was even finished. We’d never seen anything like it! 🤯

And then it ended up being voted #1 Record Of The Year by all those DJs and many more on Bill’s DJ History podcast... 🤯🤯

We had repressed (12”) that Autumn but those disappeared a while back, people still seem to love/play this record, calling it a classic, so here it is again, some 7 years later, with a brand new pair of Tees, to boot....

Many, many thanks to *everyone* who got behind this record at the time and helped us to create our own wee slice of what now feels like dance music history. 🙏

03/05/2024

Latest wares.

Swipe for more (recent back cat). 👀

Some things in v short supply now…. ⏳

23/04/2024

Huge thanks to Matt and the crew Manchester for the incredible support on the new HM 12”s. 🤩🙏

2 x Records of the Week on their website:

debut EP, It’s True What They Say?

and

& Hobbes EP, Pockets Of Light (from the eponymous debut album)

Ace wee reviews too - swipe 4 words. 👀💥

This kind of thing makes all the blood, sweat and tears of releasing vinyl & running a label worthwhile - proper boost in these lean times… ❤️

22/04/2024

A few snaps from the last HM x CN party with Brazilian ace

From the second she took over, she was in complete control of the decks and the room, then delivered an absolutely flawless set. 💥🤩

What a boss! “Every day is a school day” etc… 👨‍🏫

Everyone else was great too. 💯

We’re back on Saturday with Glasgow duo aka & Bonzai Bonner. 💃

Expect Hi NRG, Italo plus some classic (and tuff!) 90s house bangers. 🧨

Limited free b4 11.30pm available via RA. ⏳🏃🏿‍♂️

18/04/2024

Last week’s shipping… 😅

Mainly Bandcamp purchases of the Sarah/Shaun debut 12” - also did another v large mail-out of these on Monday… ooft! 📮🥵

Thanks to everyone who’s ordered. We have about 50 x coloured vinyl & riso print left now… 🙏🚀

Wee box on top -> Piccadilly Records Manchester (fair few titles)…. ✨

The BIG box underneath (back pile) contains current, recent and selected back cat. bound for the ace For The Record Ibiza 🇪🇸🏝️

VERY happy to hear it arrived safely! They’re having a big fair this weekend for RSD and the start of the season. 🙌🥳

Scroll to see some of the HM swag now available on ze Balearic Isle. 👀

Not pictured but also available (IG photo limit!):

Gaming, Scenes From A Deserted City 2x12” LP
Jacksonville, FON 12” EP
Exterior, Plagued Streets Of Pity 12” EP
The Off Key Hat, Shot At Dawn 12”
DALI, Voynich / STCFTHOTA 12”
DALI, Leviathan / Electric Sheep 12”

Support your local independent retailer! ✊

14/04/2024

Sarah/Shaun's debut EP, 'It's True What They Say?' was released on limited edition 12" vinyl this week.

14/04/2024

Intensive session at the print studio on Friday eve, to get these bad boys done! 😅

Fair bit of trial and error with the test prints (last slide but one):

Sarah/Shaun, ‘Kill Them With Kindness’ T-shirt. 👕

100% organic; hand-made. 🌳

Screen printed with sleeve art by Jamie Walman (Fourteen Admirals) plus band’s slogan on back. 👩🏻‍🎨

24 made - only 7 left - these sizes only:

S: 36/38”
M: 38/40”
L: 41/43”

NB Please DM if your size isn’t available - *might* do another run... 📥

Purchase includes download of debut EP ‘It’s True What They Say?’ 🎧🍫

T-shirts don’t cost much to ship, wherever you are.... 🙃

Follow ze link in ze bio for more info... 🔗👀

Many thanks to Ryan at Goccomatic // The Out of the Blue Drill Hall for essential help & guidance, as always… 💯🙏

06/04/2024

Great review of Sarah/Shaun's debut EP, It's True What They Say? April's issue of The Skinny. 👀

EP out next Friday on 12" & Digital. 🚀

"Dust Tears is immediately captivating with its driving beat, warm chord progression, arpeggiated synths and hazy, bittersweet vocals. Keep Your Eyes Closed gives off a similar feel to Flaming Lips’ Do You Realize?, although it sounds more like something you’d hear in Twin Peaks’ Roadhouse after some spooky goings-on in town. An accomplished and dreamy debut."

Many thanks to The Skinny for including Sarah/Shaun in April's New Music Round-up. Swipe for clipping. ✂️👀

Great to see much going on in the Scottish music scene currently. We’re proud to be a part of it.

Read the full round-up via the link (usual spot!)

https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/new-music/scottish-new-music-round-up-april-2024

24/03/2024

Sarah/Shaun is 'Under The Radar' Artist Of The Week in today's Scotsman/Scotland On Sunday.

TODAY’s Dragon Soop Artist of the Week in The Scotsman / Scotland on Sunday is Sarah/Shaun their debut EP It’s True What They Say? is released via Hobbes on 12 April full info ➡ https://www.newfoundsound.co.uk/blog/sarahshaun-scotland-on-sunday-24-march-2024 listen ➡ https://bit.ly/ScotlandOnSunday

22/03/2024

Obligatory ‘holding up the queue at the post office’ image. 🙄

Thanks to everyone who’s ordered Pockets Of Light already (vinyl, tape or DL!). First batch en route…. 🚀📮

We also got a review, from the ace Monolith Cocktail

‘A debut album of epic cosmological proportions...Like one long set, a voyage of peaks, beats and more trance-y and contemplated ambient pieces, this album goes from literal takeoff to drifting untethered in the void and back to the inner mindscape. Pockets of Light channels Leonidas and Hobbes’ worries and prophecies into a reflective existential soundtrack.’

Swipe to read in full or hit ze link...

19/03/2024

Dust Tears by Sarah/Shaun got a spin from Nemone on the Mary Anne Hobbs show on BBC Radio 6 Music yesterday. 🚀

The "It's True What They Say?" EP is out on 12" vinyl, 12th April.

15/03/2024

Hello everyone,

Hope you’re well.

Our debut album, Leonidas & Hobbes - 'Pockets Of Light', is finally out today! Triple whoop!! 🥳

This project has taken well over three years from conception to realisation, so it feels like a bit of a miracle that we’ve finally made it to this point…! 😅

Honestly, we’ve been bowled over by some of the feedback! Many thanks to ALL supporters, esp. purchasers. 🙏

L&H
x

‘Excellent EP’ LAURENT GARNIER
‘Nice!’ JD TWITCH (Optimo)
‘F**king brilliant’ SEAN JOHNSTON (ALFOS)
‘It’s so good, really, just loving all the tracks. I can’t even pick a favourite as you seem to have presented an album of all A1s! I just pre-ordered the vinyl’ DAN CURTIN (Metamorphic)
‘Very nice. Both tracks doing it for me’
‘Music to float in space with. Ambient goodness of the cosmic kind. Cracking release. Favorite track: What Is In Space?’ PHIL COOPER (Nu Northern Soul)
ROLANDO (UR) re ‘What Is In Space’ / ‘Space Symphony’ (single, Feb ‘22)
‘Really cool textures, as usual. Slick production. My two favourite tracks are Reboot - sounds like a modern, percussive E2E4 and a production from Rone. Love the unusual structure of Keep Livin’: cosmic, slightly broken. Takes its time to settle in but when it does….!’ CYRIL aka BELLE BETE (Beauty & The Beat, LDN)
‘Warm and lysergic soundscapes. Absolutely love!’ S/A/M (Music For Dreams/DK, Cafe Del Mar, Pikes, Playasol Radio and many more, Ibiza)
‘I’m playing this at BATB’ CEDRIC WOO
‘Quality’ DRIBBLER (Pikes, Ibiza // Openlab; Paradise Lost, Red Light Radio, Pure)
‘There is a real maturity to the Leonidas & Hobbes sound coming through now. Deep electronic music at the intersection of soul, electro and deep house. Love it. Well done.’ FX10K aka FELIX ORAM (Temenos Dance Collective)
‘These tracks are 🔥🔥🔥’ JAMIE THOMSON (Radio Buena Vida, Glasgow)
‘I’m really loving all of these tracks. And they’re great. Much more electronica vibe - beautifully crafted and sonically captivating’ ALAN BRYDEN (Gaming)
‘Likin’ dis…A LOT! Experimental tracks and solid deep, techy sounds for the heads’ YOGI HAUGHTON

12/03/2024

The artwork for the Leonidas & Hobbes album features a photograph of the Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria by Evgeni Dinev Photography. 📷

Pockets Of Light is finally out this Friday. 🥳 🚀

12” vinyl 'taster' EP with the full double album available on cassette & digital.

Thanks to everyone who has been supporting this release in any way already, it's very much appreciated... 🙏

-
Buzludzha:

Currently in ruins, it was originally commissioned in 1971 and opened in '81, designed by Georgi Stoilov, "influenced by the Brutalist style then popular in Western Europe, and in particular Mies van der Rohe, Gropius, and Le Corbusier.

Stoilov’s idea was to create a monument that could become timeless, by incorporating both ancient and futuristic motifs into his design. He lists both the Roman Pantheon and the sci-fi films of the 1950s amongst his inspirations for Buzludzha. The circular form appealed to him also as it seemed to symbolize infinity, and thus echoed the popular communist theme of building an eternal future; eternal glory." (from website)

01/03/2024

Looking forward to getting back behind the decks at Bongo this weekend! Our last party with was big fun and Saturday night with looks set to feature yet more good times... 🔥

Ended up pulling out some properly (g)old classics i’d not played for an absolute AEON last time but *no* HM tunes (see tracklist in last slide)... 🪩

So I should be airing some of the new & Hobbes album (out in two weeks!), a few HM exclusives, some new releases i’ve been loving, a few 90s favourites and *potentially* this 80s jam i’ve been kinda obsessed with of late... 🌞💃🏿

Will be warming up the main room B2B with the , 11pm-1am. 🧨

Tickets have been flying, so don’t leave it to the last minute if you need to let loose... ⏳🎟️💨

01/03/2024

Over the moon to announce the debut from brand new duo Sarah/Shaun

4-track EP ‘It’s True What They Say?’ will be out 12.4.

- ‘Rave Glow Stick’ yellow vinyl w/‘Obi Wrap’ Riso Print
- Stand-alone A3 Riso Prints
- T-shirts
- Black vinyl

Pre-order now via Bandcamp.

09/02/2024

Many thanks to everyone who has supported the new George Demure album, Ear Candy Dandy already, not least the vital Monolith Cocktail for another astute and in-depth review.... 🙏

It’s now fully available on digital - bonus album Dandy In Dub is a Bandcamp & Cassette Exclusive - and we have a wee handful of cassettes and tees left. ⏳

Swipe for the wares plus more words! 👀

Otherwise, noise up Edinburgh’s wonderful Underground Solu'shn or Thorne Records

Also available from Juno Records Decks.de Horizons Music Boomkat so far….

NB This album *really* suits the tape format. Honestly, it sounds great! 🎧❤️

But you do get a download with the cassette (and the T-shirt). Also, both are much cheaper to ship than records, esp. abroad. 📮🙃

And, once again, big up Bernie Reid for the wicked artwork. 😍

—
“The very epitome of the Hobbes label’s remit in delivering leftfield unique visions of now techno, house and club sounds.” MONOLITH COCKTAIL
“There’s a playfulness to the tracks here which all feel markedly different from one another as they pogo through a plethora of genres and moods” THE SKINNY
‘Wow, this is off the scale.. easy one of the best albums I have heard coming out of Edinburgh in a long time, I had to check it twice just to get my head round just how good it is’ JOSEPH MALIK
‘Love the album and the Late Again dub is mega’ LEO MAS
‘Love the LP. Sounds really together, production is awesome. I love the aesthetic.’ THE MAGHREBAN
‘Lovely stuff’ S/A/M (Music For Dreams/DK, Cafe Del Mar, Pikes, Playasol Radio etc, Ibiza)
‘Sounds great’ AUSTIN ATO
‘He’s so talented!’ JD TWITCH (Optimo)
“A sheer work of art and an absolute joy from start to finish. Cannot recommend this enough!” DANNY GOFTON

RADIO plays from
ANDY WILSON (‘Balearica’, Ibiza Sonica Radio)
DJ DRIBBLER (Pikes, Ibiza // Paradise Lost, Red Light Radio, Pure)
SILVER RAIN RADIO (Moscow, RU)
U:LOOKS (St Petersburg. RU)
PAT BENSBERG (The Eccentric Selection, Phonic FM, Exeter)
SNIDE RHYTHMS (EHFM)

—

09/12/2023

This guy Marc Masters has just written a book about why cassette tapes were (and still are) cool… 😎

How much cooler is it to share your favourite new album/artist with a friend by sending them a wee gift like a cassette than just via a digital link? 🔗 / 🎁🤔

Cassettes are the cheapest way to support an artist while getting a physical product which actually contains their music. 💰🤝🎧

This is because it’s also the cheapest way to make/release a physical album. 💯💰

Due to the economic crisis, the costs of making, selling and shipping* records are pretty exorbitant now. 😱💸

*especially to anyone in the EU who now has to pay tax as well…. 🇪🇺💸🙄

BUT tapes are really cheap to ship… ✉️ ✈️🚂💰

This why more musicians/labels are making cassettes again right now than for years (decades even)… 🧑‍🎤👩‍🎤👨‍🎤💯

And sharing music brings people together…. 👫👭👬🙃

Slides above feature extracts from an interview by Raymond Cummings plus some pix of the new George T / George Demure / Allnoise album (on cassette obviously), ‘Ear Candy Dandy’👀

‘Ear Candy Dandy’ plus bonus album ‘Dandy In Dub’ exclusively available on cassette (or with a T-shirt) until its general release (on digital) in February...

Limited Edition of 50.

🔗in bio

09/11/2023

Having another wee party to celebrate 10 years of running my label at The Bongo Club this Saturday, after kicking things off with Optimo's JD Twitch and Exterior (live) last month.

Leonidas will be up from London and Jacksonville (aka Chris Lyth aka 'The Best Set Of Ears At Bongo') is bringing out one of his storming live sets.

Between them, these two have taught me just about *everything* i know about studio production: HM couldn't have come this far without them.

I've made and released a fair few records with both Leo and Chris now and this clip features audio from a couple of new ones with Leo (coming soon)...!

You can expect more groovy, feel-good vibes like these from our set on Saturday.

Video ID: Leo DJing for HM at Bongo (2022)
Audio IDs:
1, Leonidas & Hobbes, 'Funky Joint'
2, Leonidas & Hobbes, 'Together'
(both forthcoming via HM in 2024)

Full line-up etc below.

x

--

ROOM 1:
Jacksonville (LIVE)
Leonidas & Hobbes
playing house, acid, electro, afrobeat

ROOM 2:
Nameless Bros (playing house)
Uplands Roast
(playing dub/breaks/jungle)

Tix via RA /// Bongo

--
NB Free b4 11.30 & Early Bird Tickets SOLD OUT.
1st Release Tickets (£6) available until Friday night (21:00)
2nd Release Tickets (£8) available until doors open