NTTG proudly presents the limited 2LP version of Controller 7’s Exhale 02: Moments, limited to 300 copies with an exclusive bonus disc uniquely crafted for this release. Beautiful gate-fold layout design with a full color 11”x11” insert. According to Controller 7: “This record is perhaps the most “me” record I have ever done but is also me trying things for the first time.”

Needle To The Groove’s recent reissue of Controller 7’s opus, Left Handed Straw, originally released in 2000, quickly sold out. On it were opera samples, dour strings and piano, all underscored with vicious, breakneck drum programming. A project of its time, it’s been able to age well, outlasting an era where many of its contemporaries have fallen by the wayside.

Exhale02 – Moments comes on the heels of a reemergence by the Bay Area producer. After a lengthy sabbatical from music, he recently released a gaggle of projects (Couch with Mestizo and Billy with Buck 65, amongst others). He’s found renewed inspiration and Exhale is his most introspective project to date, replete with vignettes and broken dialogue, another quirky chapter on his humble path to instrumental hip-hop esteem. “This record is a series of escapes… it is more a collection of individual moments. The ding clears your ear as you move on to the next moment. It’s hopeless and hopeful. Broken and fixed,” he says.

Exhale was made as a challenge to himself. While this is something artists tritely announce come album promo time, Exhale indeed feels different yet retains trademarks of his past work. A sample-based artist and pastiche producer of the highest degree, here we find Controller 7 playing a lot of his own instruments. It was primarily recorded between June 2020 and May 2021 during a dark life phase, but the music offers a wholly different outlook—sunny backdrops with exuberant changeups. Originally released digitally in 2021, this is its first proper vinyl release with incredible bonus tracks; a collection of outtakes, demos, and ideas from the same time period that are exclusive to this vinyl release. Exhale is a full statement, a homespun art project with the gatefold image also completed by Controller 7.

Says Controller 7: “This is a series of meditations and broken- hearted fumblings.”

Produced, recorded, and mixed by Controller 7
Studio Less Music (ASCAP)

Mastered by Deeskee for Weightless Audio Productions
Art/Layout by Controller 7

RIYL: DJ Shadow, Clutchy Hopkins, Tommy Guerrero, Jel, Instrumental hip hop, Lo-fi beats