Fact Mix 844: A Psychic Yes

A Psychic Yes embarks on a winding trip through off-kilter sex grooves, humid shuffle and propulsive rattle.

“The name ’A Psychic Yes’ came about in 2018 when I met Rafael Gonzales-Posada, aka My Flower, at the club called Sounds on Zeigestrasse, Berlin,” explains Timothy Crombie, a London-based musician, carpenter and producer who has been making music forever, but only got around to releasing records over the last four years. “The name is lifted from a Jackie Wang poem, ‘I FOUND MY SOUL AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POOL,’ which still speaks volumes to me (it must be read aloud for full effect). We shared tunes and he proposed to release a record of mine, and thus I had to find a name fitting of the project.” The record in question not only inaugurated Gonzales-Posada’s reliably excellent and exceptionally named label, Tech Startup, but set the wheels in motion for Crombie’s two subsequent releases, Maze Dream for Kalahari Oyster Cult and That Swamp Feeling for Schloss, the label of DJ and producer Karima F and artist Ida Ekblad.

During that time Crombie’s singular sound has wormed its way into discerning ears, mixes and record collections all the way from Ladywell to Neukölln and beyond. “I am rhythm focused, he explains. “A lot of my tracks have live percussion takes on them, or use cut ups from drum recordings that I have made. In most of my compositions I am almost too loose with the structure, which is a strategy to come up with more interesting compositions, which tend to end up being A,B,C,D.” This percussive drive throbs through his Fact mix, a winding trip through off-kilter sex grooves, humid shuffle and propulsive rattle, interspersed with a truly lysergic passage of esoteric wigout in which he blurs together Scanner’s pioneering telephone surveillance cut-ups with the soundsystem séance of Laila Sakini’s haunting Princess Diana of Wales project. “I made the mix after going to a lot of parties in December and after New Year’s Day,” he explains “so it’s definitely inspired by clubs, with a few homage tracks, such as Aphex Twin’s ‘On’, which is a real teenage banger. I wanted to put in more nostalgic stuff, but I couldn’t get it in.” 

Taking a break from releases in 2021, A Psychic Yes hosts a bi-monthly radio show, The Oxbow Lake, on Lyl Radio. Stay tuned for new music in the coming months. You can find A Psychic Yes on Instagram and SoundCloud.

Tracklist:

Zone Motif – ‘1 4 7 6’ 
Mark Van Hoen – ‘It Is Called Peace’
Mappa Mundi – ‘Sexifari’
Cherry Bomb – ‘Trajectory’
Voices From the Lake – ‘Sentiero’
Ehua – ‘Silica’
Primal Code – ‘AI Calculator’ (Priori Remix)
Chekov (AKA Lara David) – ‘Math’ (Squared Mix)
Hannah Holland – ‘Sth London’
Ken Ishii – ‘Pneuma’
rRoxymore – ‘Forward Flamingo’ ( DJ Plead Remix)
Scanner – ‘Scanner 1’ (excerpt)
Princess Diana of Wales – ‘Cut’
Yolembi – ‘By The Sea’ (excerpt)
Aphex Twin – ‘On’
Ronan – ‘Abrazale’
PRIMITIVE – ‘Primitive Urges A1’
Carman Villain – ‘Observable Future ‘(Parris Remix)
Bambounou – ‘Hale’
Sputnik One – ‘Skindrum’
Human Resources – ‘Unreleased’ [Forthcoming Tech Startup]
Cherry Bomb – ‘Elastic’
The Business – ‘Unreleased’
Elmo Crumb – ‘I’m Still Dizzy’
Greetje Bijma & Oceanic – ‘Technicolour Memories’
Ehua – ‘Xantho’
Crystallmess – ‘Atalaku’
Cole Pulice – ‘Sleep Helix’
Olivia Block – ‘Axiolite’