Basic House

Basic House is the production alias of Stephen Bishop, founder of the lo-fi electronica label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Opal+Tapes%22">Opal Tapes</a> and lead vocalist in sludge-doom outfit Drunk in Hell. After immersing himself in the noise and D.I.Y. cassette scene as a collector, the Teesside, U.K.-based artist took to producing himself with his first release, the 2012 cassette Cryptid Binaries, appearing on the Newcastle-based label Washy Tapes. As a member of the Newcastle scene at the time, Bishop's sound developed from harsh, industrial D.I.Y. to include moments of broken house and techno. His next release came a few months later on his own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Opal+Tapes%22">Opal Tapes</a> label -- which had already released cassettes by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:0Wy3xgOTkgtDlT9wJsOQjy">Huerco S.</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2IP71LH7CbwddhsEXBI0fy">1991</a> -- and saw him continuing with his broken down mix of house and techno. The cassette, Ambrosias, Vol.1, rounded out 2012 for Bishop, a year which had seen his own work and the work of his label become a firm fixture within the D.I.Y. cassette and broken electronics scenes. 2013 saw Bishop focus on his label -- with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Opal+Tapes%22">Opal Tapes</a> releasing over 20-odd releases in just one year -- while also maintaining his own productions. The split release Mirror & Gate, Vol. 1, with fellow noisenik <a href="spotify:artist:1DKUneyjVPVItlq51YKYQ5">Prostitutes</a> appeared first, followed by Caim in Bird Form on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Digitalis+Recordings%22">Digitalis Recordings</a>. Toward the end of 2013, Bishop released Oats, his first fully formed album for <a href="spotify:artist:4vgGgW0EX7CeEU7WZzhbsx">Helm</a>'s experimental label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alter%22">Alter</a>. ~ Rich Wilson, Rovi