Mike Bentley - Stand or Fall - Critical Elements

"Critical Elements label co-owner Mike Bentley is a progressive stalwart. Behind the decks, on the dancefloor or in the studio, Mike's exceptional talents have been in the scene for over 25 years. That's a vast amount of experience in the sound.

With that experience in mind it's a huge honour to welcome Mike's first studio album to his home label. Production has been a big part of what Mike does for many years, this is a culmination of the experience gained in that journey, and a journey is what this album is built on.

10 tracks await the listener, from the early night warming tones of Gravitation and Hazy Pale through building grooves on We Wunt Be Druv (a Sussex dialect motto, Mike's lifelong home and a nice link to the famous Bedrock @ The Beach nights in Brighton back in the day, a halcyon location for Mike and the soul of his sound). The Old Lion is a track which encapsulates that traditional Bedrock warm up sound perfectly. The album has gear changes too and dives to the depths of atmospheric dub techno in a way that's become Mike's late night signature, Skye at Night and Notes of Neptune creating a mesmerising rhythm. The chilled breakbeat of Endlessly Floating and the ambient title track Stand or Fall are ones to close the eyes too.

Mike's first album is a rich work of talent and an individual sound. We're incredibly happy to release it on Critical Elements."