'Dhermi Sunrise' by Sam Bangura opens the record in A major — the only major key on the whole EP — and the wink hardly feels accidental: Half Baked was born in late 2009 as a Sunday daytime party in East London, and that daylight DNA seeps into the first track before the EP sinks into minor-key territory. The label arrived in 2013 as a natural extension of those afternoons, with a stated remit of playful, colourful house and techno, a vinyl-first flag and a roster that has run from Ricardo Villalobos and Mathew Jonson to Margaret Dygas, Mike Huckaby and Shonky.
Four chairs at the same table
'Fully Baked' — catalogue number HB025, the pun on the house name sitting in plain sight — works as a statement of editorial line: four artists, one cut each, all inside minimal/deep tech and packed into a razor-thin 126-130 BPM band. No remixes, no guests out of key; just a cast. Bangura is no newcomer here: he already signed 'Walking Funny' (HB022) and put his name on the label's eighth podcast, so his opener plays like a host greeting you at the door.
- Praslea's 'Alterlood' is the centre of gravity: 9:46 at 126 BPM in G minor, the longest and slowest cut, back-room minimal that asks for patience.
- Sweely's '3 Dub TV' goes the opposite way: 4:37, the dub sketch of the lot, in and out with no ceremony.
- Jive Talk's 'Bad Ass Rug' closes by pushing to 130 BPM in B minor, the only moment the record truly accelerates.
Read as a whole, the tracklist says what Half Baked has been saying for years: their sound is not a genre but a house whose doors open at very specific hours. Four distinct voices, none off-script; on a collective release of just four cuts, that coherence is the signature.
Sources: RA · Bandcamp
