Spencer Brown - Stream of Consciousness (2020)

18 months after the release of his debut LP, ‘Illusion Of Perfection’, San Francisco’s prolific Spencer Brown releases his new mix album on Anjunabeats: ‘Stream of Consciousness’. Providing a deeper insight into his creative world than his first extended outing ‘Illusion Of Perfection’, Spencer has once again delivered a fresh take on a classic format - the mix album. Few artists put such emphasis on allowing their DJ craft to inform their studio output. With a passion for extended live sets, Spencer blurs the lines between deep house, progressive and trance to keep those performances fresh and clubbers locked in from start to close.

From the angst of ‘Long Way From Home’ (alongside label heads Above & Beyond), to the driving energy of underground hit ‘Windows 95 On Acid’, Spencer is making waves: the former becoming a playlisted record on Sirius XM BPM, the latter a record box mainstay for Eric Prydz, Calvin Harris, Sasha and Deadmau5 and a number 1 techno release on Beatport.

Meticulously crafted through no fewer than 329 revisions, ‘Stream of Consciousness’ is a wide-ranging exploration of Spencer’s sound in 2019. From the serene soundscape of ‘SF to Berlin’ alongside label-mate and regular studio partner Ben Böhmer, to the peak-time progressive energy of Wilt Claybourne collaboration ‘Womaa’, the energy ebbs and flows, but never loosens its grip. Spencer applies his own spin to breakbeat with ‘Chance On Us’, while ‘Pursuance’ with rising Anjunadeep star Marsh is a 90’s-flavoured rave cut.

Spencer explains his love of the mix format… “The mix album took 329 revisions to finalise. I’m a control freak with my mixes—it’s deeply ingrained in my creative process. With that in mind, I didn’t send any tracks to anyone for mix help, and I created and mixed 100% of the final product. Creating an album of radio-edited singles has never interested me creatively. I prefer to craft music that keeps my listener in a flow state—working, studying, traveling, exercising, dancing, whatever it may be. I conceived my album as one carefully mixed piece: an hour and change of continuous music. It’s a collection of tracks I wrote from 2015 to 2019, inspired by the majesty of nature, missing a loved one, and the ups and downs of touring—all bundled into a single Stream of Consciousness.”