Sam Von Horn (L) and Justin Jay (R) in high school. Photo courtesy of the artists.
Earlier this year, Los Angeles producer Justin Jay launched a record label, began a house party series, and released a new album. All were named Fantastic Voyage, and all put the spotlight on Jay's talented group of friends such as his college buddies Ulf Blonde and Josh Taylor.The latest release on the label, the Zone EP, comes from fellow Angeleno producer Sam Von Horn, whose friendship with Jay dates back to their kindergarten days. As Jay tells it in a press release, they went to school together through the 12th grade; when Jay booked his first DJ gig, Von Horn was also on the lineup. "Despite going to school together for years, we'd never realized that we were both strangely obsessed with underground dance music!" he writes. "It was hard to talk about weird minimal techno at time when most normal kids exclusively listened to pop and hip-hop."After graduation, Von Horn headed to the East Coast for college while Jay stayed local at USC, and they eventually fell out of touch. An unexpected reunion last year—at a Fantastic Voyage party, no less—reignited the fire, and Von Horn's artist debut was born. "The EP came from a feeling that it was time to share music with people," Von Horn tells THUMP over email. "I've been at it a while, and finally reached a place where it felt right to put myself out there."Today, THUMP is premiering one of Zone's tracks, "As You Are," a shimmering, mellow club cut made for the dancefloor's earlier hours. Propelling forward with a brooding bassline and a deluge of chopped vocal samples, it culminates in a strangely satisfying bubbly slurp, courtesy of Jay himself. "[Justin's] input made me want to make something fun, more explicitly geared towards the dancefloor," says Von Horn. "He and I share a fascination with making people dance, always have."Listen to Sam Von Horn's "As You Are" ft. Justin Jay below ahead of its release on December 15 via Fantastic Voyage.