Florian Kupfer's first memories of music launch from a dimly lit German church in which he sang soprano in a children's choir. For six years, Gregorian chorals in frankincense chambers were his daily discipline. After such an austere grounding in sound, it's not hard to see why music isn't a laughing matter for him today. In the few interviews he's given, Florian's thoughts on art seem concise and deeply sincere: a personal journey to produce artefacts that are timeless and 'real'. It's a kind of meditative asceticism that translates into music that's both quietly meditative and strangely 'other'.

This shadowy fringe appeal made him a natural magnet to Ron Morelli's (equally misfit) label Long Island Electrical Systems and allies with obscure tastemakers like Willie Burns. It landed him under the banner of Outsider House too, a not-so-subtle tag that grouped any DIY producer who seemed to mistrust the shiny simplicity in most mainstream dance music.

Florian's 2013 breakout track "Feelin" proved to be the subtlest knife for opening up peak-time dancefloors of that year, if not the sharpest — and probably the nearest thing to a hit for L.I.E.S. to date. Infectiously dissonant and obliquely melancholic, it summed up Florian's counterintuitive appeal. Two or three years down the line, his sound has only grown more adventurous and engrossing. Feeling out the territory beyond specifically club fare, this mix peers into the next chapter in his creative evolution.

Gladly it means the 50th edition of our Upfront series is every bit upfront: 100% unreleased material, all composed by F. Kupfer and delivered in a one-take hardware jam. It's a journey that starts tentatively, creeping through beatless ambience and droning tension, and one that closes with a trademark passage of tape-saturated techno. It’s dark, brooding – and really quite beautiful – chaos.

Stay tuned for Upfront 51, also landing this week & every bit the photo negative of this one // Tune in on January 23rd to watch Florian play our stage at Sugar Mountain Festival.