Mandingo is the alias of Monty Luke, a San Francisco producer who moved to Detroit in 2008 and wound up under the wing of Carl Craig (not bad). After leaving Craig’s Planet E, where he was a label manager, Luke started the Black Catalogue imprint in 2011, with the aim of repping Detroit talent; so far, the label’s spit fire from the likes of Fhloston Paradigm, The Carter Bros, and The Oliverwho Factory, with Chicago icon Larry Heard jumping in to remix Mandingo’s “Lonely is the Night” track last year as Mr. Fingers. Black Catalogue has been on a temporary hiatus due to vinyl production issues, but has releases in the pipeline from artists like Dave Aju, Slope 114, Stefan Ringer, and Sepehr.
Parallel Universe is Mandingo’s first release on Rekids, and the EP unfurls slowly over three trippy, slow-burning acid tracks. According to the producer, “Each of the three songs represents its own universe. You will notice similarities amongst them, but there are also differences in each version.”
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“This loosely follows the theory that parallel universes out there are similar to the one we’re doing this interview in now, but some things may be slightly or even radically different in each of them,” he continues. “For example, there may be a universe where THUMP is actually owned by peace and love hippies. Maybe there’s one where the ‘Amen’ break was never played and drum and bass is actually four-on-the-floor. Maybe there’s one where Detroit is the birthplace of polka and Juan Atkins plays the accordion.” You get the picture—now stream the release below, and watch out for a remix 12″ with a new Larry Heard mix before the end of the year.
Mandingo’s Parallel Universe EP is out now on Rekids. Get it here.
