BLACK GIRL / WHITE GIRL are back on Hardgroove with 'Higher Power', and it is out now. Ben Sims has been running the label since 1999. It has outlasted Theory Recordings, the imprint he started with Tony Dax and closed in 2014, and it now sits alongside Symbolism in his stable.
We have been round both houses before, through Trunkline's 'Hex EP' for Hardgroove and Seddig's 'Kartharsis EP' on Symbolism, and through Sims' ASSAILANTS project with Truncate. The duo's last record for the label was 'Fluid Humanism', back in 2022.
The pair are Ty and Karin. They met in 2012 and have worked together ever since. The early run of records went out through Green Velvet's Relief, starting with 'Space Cookies' and carrying on through 'Mind Warp' and 'Twilight Zone'.
That earned them a tech house tag they have since told Beatport they never wanted: "Having started our careers labeled 'tech house' artists, we have never felt completely at home in that scene." What came after landed on Truncate, Symbolism, Super Rhythm Trax, Warehouse Music and HE.SHE.THEY.
They have run their own thing since 2023, and HYBRID SPASM now carries most of their output. It operates out of Amsterdam, where Karin also handles the label's artwork, and the house line for it is "hi NRG music for delusional minds".
The pair put the monthly BODY SIGNAL show out on Love Will Save The Day FM on top of that, and they hold an artist residency with PAG, a multimedia collective in Tel Aviv.
This record came out of a bad year. Ty was diagnosed with leukaemia, and the four tracks were written after her recovery. The duo are plain about what that put into them.
BLACK GIRL / WHITE GIRL: "The trax on this EP came naturally because this is what we love making, music from the heart. Hardgroove feels like the perfect home for them. Nobody does what Ben does, and he's believed in our music for years. We've always followed our own instincts rather than chasing charts or popularity, and Ben understands that like no other."
Clamp onto yours straight from the label on Bandcamp, where the rest of the Hardgroove catalogue lives too. It is up on Beatport as well.
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