A return to my recent NEIN Records haul, this time showcasing From Beyond aka Alex Wastnidge.
Alex is a frequent contributor to the NEIN catalogue, with a ton of releases and remixes as From Beyond dating back to 2019. I first discovered the label during lockdown and I've been following with interest since then.
When browsing for an image that I could use for today's post, I stumbled across Alex's LinkedIn profile and his posts for The MCAT Blog at the University of Oslo. This is lifted from the former:
I am a Music Technologist/Researcher with a background in Music Production, Audio Engineering, Audio Programming and Education. I developed "Deep Steps", a MIDI step sequencer with an integrated user-trainable generative neural network. Deep Steps was presented at The International Conference on AI and Musical Creativity 2024. This work covered AI in Music, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-AI Interaction, Co-Creativity and User Experience.
As someone with an - at best - rudimentary understanding of music technology, my mind was boggling at that paragraph alone. However, you can read more about Alex's work on the MCAT Blog here.
What got me here in the first place though is the music and, contrary to what the above may suggest, the appeal for me of Alex's work as From Beyond is it's warmth, it's - dare I say it - humanity. This is electronic music designed for the dancefloor, but it never feels clinical or perfunctory.
Prior to my big purchase, I would buy NEIN releases on a regular basis and anything with From Beyond attached was pretty much guaranteed to be of interest. Today's selection provides 10 examples of this, at just over an hour.
All releases on NEIN between 2019 and 2025, with an accidental bias towards the 2022 Datamaskin EP, and reciprocal remixes between From Beyond and Viper Patrol, I think it gives a good account of what Alex is about and why I like the music.
It tickled me to start the selection off with a track called Welcome and wrap up with the ironic Q&A of Where2Now and Not The Future, as that is where we are inevitably, inexorably heading, whether we like it or not.
1) Welcome (From Beyond Remix): JG Outsider (2021)
2) No Rest (Single Version): From Beyond (2019)
3) Night City (Single Version): From Beyond (2022)
4) Murky Waters (From Beyond Remix): Viper Patrol (2025)
5) Villa Straylight (Viper Patrol Remix): From Beyond (2025)
6) Found Again (From Beyond Remix): Lusca + Tronik Youth (2020)
7) Datamaskin (Single Version): From Beyond (2022)
8) Axial Tilt (Single Version): From Beyond (2023)
9) Where2Now: From Beyond (2022)
10) Not The Future (Single Version): From Beyond (2024)
2019: No Rest EP: 2
2020: Cash Us EP: 6
2021: Together EP: 1
2022: Datamaskin EP: 3, 7, 9
2023: High Orbit EP: 8
2024: Not The Future EP: 10
2025: Slow Is Smooth EP: 4
2025: Villa Straylight EP: 5
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