Right, have been meaning to mention this since it’s release, which was a few weeks ago now. Ah, but as they say, better late than never.

So, back in November welsh brothers Somatic Responses released their 42 track compilation – Photon Collisions. It’s an intense, visceral, diverse, noisey, and all told, great collection. Featuring tracks from Ontal, Christoph de Babalon, Savier, Roel Funcken, Mad EP, Rain, Alpturer, TonalVerges, DeadFader, Dimentia, loads more, and of course the Welsh brothers themselves – Somatic Responses.

Photon Collisons was put together to raise funds for charities Cancer Research UK and NSPCC with all the proceedings going to charity. All the artists involved have donated their track to the cause. John and Paul explain –

The original idea for this compilation came about in a quite simplistic and natural way, we were down the park with the kids, and as usual we were discussing music, current track ideas and good music we had heard by other people. The magnitude of these elements became almost overwhelming to the point we thought we had to do something, bang the idea was born and quickly moved forward. We have been inundated with excellent music and the compilation could have been even bigger than the colossal 42 tracks included if we hadn’t turned it around so quickly, but we have to stop somewhere (and possibly do it all again in the future).

After nearly 20 years in the electronic music scene there as always been constant bombardment of views. A lot is made of the current state of the music industry with illegal downloads, changing formats and people making music to satisfy a particular audience. Whilst a lot of these factors remain a talking point and in many ways a constant frustration the fact remains;

There is a huge amount of great music in varying genres being made by people who do it because they have to, its what drives them!
So looking forward in a positive sense, the social media revolution has meant continuing strong networks of like-minded people and enabled scenes and various forms of electronic music to continue (even if they don’t thrive as they once did).

Also there is an assumption that the listeners just want the sugar coated well-produced junk they hear day to day, we don’t believe this.
So here we are 20 years down the line with a similar ethos we started out with, exploration, experimentation, and escapism with the added bonus of meeting great people and forging great relationships along the way. Some great old friends and some new friends appear on here and it’s a privilege in many ways.

Each track we (all artists) write, each record that gets pressed, each download (illegal/legal) each listener hearing something different for the first time, each soundcloud, facebook and twitter connection is an exchange of energy; A Photon Collision.

It’s important that this compilation is a purely positive package. This wouldn’t have happened without the superb artists who gave music without question or contract, they just wanted to be a part of something, to create a Photon Collision of their own.

The brothers appreciate that 42 tracks of electronica is quite a time investment – particularly if you’re only curious at this point. So to address that they’ve drafted in two promotional mixes. A 31 minute preview from Blackmass Plastics and Diskore‘s 1hr 15 minute all track selection bombardment.

Full tracklist is below.

Tracklist
Sub Space Distorters – A Collection of Pathetic Humans
Bambule – Black Hole Singularity
Micromelancolie – Endless Loops
Rain – Carion
Key – Selves Unimaginably Mine
E115 – Three Band Gentle Tube
Ken Utterson – Ballet Mècanique
Caustic Sunshine – Watch1n the sky fallin
Dust – TX4
Christoph de Babalon – The Odd Ghost
Savier – Alright Moldies
RENEGADE ANDROiD – Dreampost
Millipede – The Night Falls Farther Than The Stars
Zxyt – Basic Info Monkey
Alpturer – Antar
Keef Baker – Thumb Ducker
Generate – Overdose
Roel Funcken – Satt Mubjex
Meatsock – djudjdhjdjd_3
DJ Controlled Weirdness – I’m the Govnor
Mad EP – Damage Control
The Xynomorf – Urn Breat
Baseck (feat Joy Through Noise) – TWIN BRAIDS
Tonal Verges – Landsbelang
DeadFader – Brick Wall
ONTAL – IKLWA
Oneirich – In Memoriam
Electric Kettle – Photon Torpedo
Enduser – I’ve Been Here Before
Speak Onion – Tiger Fight (remix)
Raab Codec – Crytic MkII
Vulpine Smile – Hiveminds & Heartache
Tomoroh Hidari – Then Cruelty Knits a Snare
Nedule & Warren Peace – Aminta
Somatic Responses – Thrash and Disappear
Dimentia – Data Register
The Open Consortium – Ennui
Pure – A Brief History of Stigmergy
Low Entropy – Symphony of Creative Destruction
Fracture 4 – Tara v Shadow Man
Coexsystems – Level Five Experience
Fiend – Pinch Point

artwork by Mattia Travaglini