Designer Anthony Burrill releases a limited edition acid house record

A little over 35 years ago now, Nathan “DJ Pierre” Jones, Earl “Spanky” Smith Jr., and Herbert “Herb J” Jackson changed the face of history forever. The Chicagoan trio found themselves dicking around with one of Roland’s TB-303 bassline synthesizers and the eventual result was acid house. Acid house – that squelching, rumbling, still alien-sounding sound that shakes warehouses to this very day – was instrumental in the rise of rave culture here in the UK and beyond, and those halcyon days of rave were the foundation for youth culture as we know it today.

One man seriously interested in what acid house was then, and what it is now, is he legendary graphic artist, print-maker and designer Anthony Burrill, who has spent the past few months working with DJ/producer Andrew Claristidge on Future is Now, a pair of suitably sub-heavy acid screamers that’ll likely turn your local discotheque into the sweetest thing this side of a Saharan sauna session.

Anthony threw raves back in the day, and Andrew records under the alias Acid Washed, which gives you some indication of his club-ready pedigree.

Described as “sitting at the intersection where Chicago house meets the East Sussex countryside; where analogue print processes write a love letter to analogue synths; and where Hacienda nostalgia meets fever dreams of the future,” the record is “a journey into sound led by one guy you’d expect to be chaperoning you, and one you might not.”

Given Anthony’s background, it should come as no surprise that Future is Now comes housed in a pretty nifty sleeve. Limited to 300 editions, each unique sleeve has been individually screenprinted and comes bundled with a one-colour, signed and numbered fold-out poster.

Future is Now is available, well, now. Check out a Paul Plowman directed video for the track, and some WIP shots from Anthony’s studio below.