The Crucible is Kabuki’s laboratory to develop new creative processes. Broadcasting live daily on his Twitch channel, the veteran Frankfurt producer established a new routine using a similar sound palette and structure for a month straight, leading to spontaneous interactions with long-time fans and strangers discovering his music for the first time.

For The Crucilble’s second month, which Kabuki dubbed the »Blue Phase«, he selected the following set of instruments:

- Minimoog
- Farfisa Compact Deluxe
- Mellotron (featuring the M400 voice & flute reels)
- Roland Jupiter 8
- Arp 2600
- Modular Synth
- Acoustic Piano
- Buchla Music Easle
- Rickenbacker Electric Bass
- Acoustic Piano

The formula of deep hip-hop beats and yearning vintage synth melodies has been used before, but here it's executed in perfection and with enormous emotional depth. The late Florian Fricke would have loved »Part One« as it features the M400 voice reel for Mellotron, immortalised by Popul Vuh in the opening scene of Werner Herzog’s masterpiece »Aguirre, the Wrath of God«.

If »Part One« was an introvert alone in a gallery, admiring the romantic paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, »Part Two« is his spiritual sibling, a curious character that rides the subway reading Jules Verne. Both compositions are incredibly well-crafted, each carrying a distinct character – together they are proof that focusing on one sound palette for a month can bring out new and unexpected insights.
Carrying an indestructible sense of hope and positivity, this is headphone music for resilient humans in the age of the long descent.