HATIHATI – Head

Bart Demey and Tania Gallagher have been operating under various aliases for years — music supervisors for avant-garde fashion label Kokon to Zai (Marjan Pejoski’s outfit, responsible for Björk’s swan dress among other things). Now they’re HATIHATI, and today they debut on DEEWEE — the label run by David and Stephen Dewaele of Soulwax/2manydjs — with a two-track, Whip It / Head.

“Head” is the one that earns its place here. The duo’s approach to sound design is the interesting thing: no sampling. Everything in their ever-growing library, which they call “Dear User”, is synthesized from scratch — recreations of sounds from nature, from kitchens, from everyday situations pushed until they become something else entirely. The result is dense and cinematic, the kind of electronics that feel physical rather than decorative. What caught my ear is how the texture shifts without losing weight — there’s a lot happening underneath, and it rewards the volume.

The DEEWEE connection makes sense. After previewing the project at the label’s 2025 Halloween event DEEWEEKEND and supporting Soulwax on their “All Systems Are Lying” tour, HATIHATI has been road-tested before the record even arrived. “Head” holds up as a debut statement — specific enough to suggest a real direction, not just a genre exercise. Worth your time today.