Audiopile Review: Spooky’s beloved 1993 debut gets its first vinyl reissue in a generation, perhaps marking the start of a re-evaluation of the much-maligned progressive house genre? Beginning in the UK, the subgenre’s underground cache and relevance was seemingly short-lived, its pop-centric leanings were quickly co-opted and branded into lifestyle music for the upwardly mobile, stripping it of what made it progressive in the first place. Some point to the world dominating EDM sound as having its roots here, its blank and formulaic euphoria geared towards mass consumption parallel perfectly. If the genre has a negative connotation for you, it’s worth plugging your nose to to hear what the genre’s early years were like before it became a watered down facsimile. Which is where we come to with Spooky, one of the most notable purveyors of early progressive house alongside Leftfield, William Orbit and Andrew Weatherall. Spinning off the big-room feel of rave culture and the psychedelic edge of early trance—another maligned genre that’s had the record correct recently—, Gargantuan is loaded with liquid grooves, big tent beats and vocal samples aimed directly at the pleasure zone. While this might be a bit of a nostalgic trip for some, this just might be a revelation for the uninitiated. Comes recommended for fans of Safe Trip’s Planet Love comps!

So we’ve been keeping this under wraps for a bit but there’s some Spooky news. We are reissuing Gargantuan the first Spooky album on double vinyl. Conceived in a bedsit in Streatham and recorded at William Orbit’s studio and Boundary Row Studios this record started me and Charlie on our journey and with encouragement from some close friends from it we built a live set with all our synths drum machines, hardware sequencers etc and the music took us far and wide meeting and making many friends along the way. We were and are blessed to be able make music and continue to do so. Thank you and bless you all who have supported us along the way. There’s some surprises to come around this but that’s for a later tale but for the moment I’ll leave you with this reissue coming out on the Summer Solstice 21st June and in a world in turmoil may the music and love shine through the darkness ….