United Kingdom native Mike Wallis is best known as one half of Crunch with Tipper and one third of the rowdy, hip-hop heavy K.L.O project, where he performs as Osmetic with Kursa & Lone Drum. During more than two-decades moving through the back streets of electronica, Wallis has released under “10 or 11” monikers and collaborated with dozens of producers. He also co-manages Colony Productions, an imprint that curates some of the world’s most prolific downtempo and glitch music from producers such as Vent, Kursa, Opiuo, Bogtrotter, and Dreamwalker.

Wallis began DJing at 15 years old and began producing at 18 in 1994. After releasing music as PSI SPY and Abstrakt Knights, a collaborative project with Sam Ashwell, he founded Colony Productions in 2001. Ashwell (a member of Vent) would join Mike in 2005 to co-manage the label. Primarily, Colony was created as a platform to release some of the first work from Crunch, a collaborative project with Mike’s childhood friend Dave Tipper. The minimal, textured and ambient Crunch sound served as a foundation for Colony. Over time, though the label came to embrace a broad spectrum of exploratory electronic music ranging from heavy and deranged to soft and blissful.

For this special thirtieth edition of Rusted Rhythms, this pioneer in broken beat electronica has prepared a “Colonization Mix”, one hour of selections from the Colony Productions catalog, spanning from 2001 to the present day. Colony has always been ahead of the curve, releasing work from Kursa and Duskky (now Seppa) in 2015, for example. From his lofty perch directing this label, and as a collaborator with some of electronic music’s most influential producers, Mike has been well-situated to witness the evolution of glitch-based music. By touring us through the Colony catalog in RR30, he enables listeners to bear witness to this evolution, too.

This mix also features a companion interview published in our Blog, where Mike discusses his musical journey and his first release as Osmetic, Lab Notes. This all comes ahead of Elements Lakewood Camping Festival on Memorial Day Weekend in Lakewood, Pennsylvania, where Mike Wallis will headline The Rust Music’s late night stage takeover (tickets).

Mike Wallis (Osmetic): SoundCloud / Facebook

Colony Productions: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Beatport / Facebook