Photo courtesy of Pressed And

As a writer for The Daily Tar Heel, the student-run newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I watched with great interest as a clutch of ambitious students started a record label. That imprint, called Vinyl Records, laid claim to some musicians now making waves around the Triangle — Lizzy Ross got her start in Lafcadio; T0W3RS‘ Derek Torres played in the label’s flagship electro-pop outfit Lake Inferior. But one thing I was consistently impressed with above all else was the dedication of the label’s support staff, particularly A&R man Andrew Hamlet, who worked tirelessly to promote Vinyl’s artists and attain credibility that student-run organizations rarely acquire.

Of all the acts with Vinyl ties, Pressed And seems most poised for success. The duo of Hamlet and Mat Jones bounces between North Carolina and Brooklyn and has a new EP to support. Hyper Thistle, the follow-up to last fall’s Imbue Up, builds on a collaboration that began while both members were  in school. When Vinyl had Jones’ It Is Rain In My Face play a live session, the two realized their compatibility and began recording together. With Mat working manipulations of his voice, the two added an array of electronic accompaniment. That technique is refined on Hyper Thistle with Jones’ dub-inspired vocal trickery evaporating into a wash of dreamy synthetic distortion. You can listen to Hyper Thistle cut “Komuso Flutter Kick IV” below, and the whole album is also streaming over at Pressed And’s website.

Pressed And is about to embark on a flurry of late summer tour dates along the East Coast including a stop at Raleigh’s Kings Barcade on Aug. 16. Check out the duo’s full slate of shows here. —Jordan Lawrence