METRO AREA

Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani’s METRO AREA project laid new ground in 1999 when the first pink-and-green 12″, Metro Area, hit record stores. A synthesis of the duo’s influences, it was a weird-sounding oddball record (new wave synths, rocky acoustic drums, echoing disco claps, live strings) cast out into a sea of disco-house loops and nascent electro-clash plastic. 500 records were pressed and Geist, the owner of the Environ label, fully expected them to end up as returns collecting dust in his apartment. Thankfully, he was wrong, and nearly 15 years after the first 12″ was recorded, Metro Area 12″s are still being played by DJs young and old. This summer, METRO AREA will return to playing live shows. To commemorate the reunion, Environ is proud to present STRAIGHT A’s, an analog re-mastered 2X12″ package of the first four single’s A-sides (get it?) that started it all. For marketing purposes, we’d love to call these “classics” - but that term is reserved for the disco, house and techno 12″s that influenced Metro Area in the first place and made their career possible. Instead, we will describe them as the undeniable high points in the duo’s extremely limited recorded output. Four songs, four sides, four very different dimensions to Metro Area’s core: Atmosphrique, The Art of Hot, Caught Up, and Miura. We hope this package opens up Metro Area’s sound to a new generation of listeners and DJs, while providing crisp new remasters for MA’s original fans. Enjoy - and please play loud and often!