Junk 01, "Yeah Yeah Yeah Whatever", features 4 tracks by Aphasic, with some assistance by Dutch producer Bong-Ra on one cut. The opening piece introduces the Junk label aesthetic- rave air-raid sirens, ragga basslines, dub echoes, sliced-up breaks and bleeps. The whole maintains a sense of order and a deeper groove especially compared to the more recent spate of spastic amen-mashers. "The Healing Power of Doubt" (with Bong-Ra) slips a stolen ragga vocal intro under buzzing synths, eastern-tinged percussion loops (tambura?), and a bit of sitar. A midtempo stuttering dancehal-ish beat emerges as an indian female voice moves to the forefront, with ragga vocals still swimming underneath. A carefully (almost delicately) assembled mix. The B-side opener adds diva voices ("take me to the top!!") to the air-raid sirens, sped-up two-finger synth sequences and massive breakbeat explosions. Ecstatic female moans mix over guitar-riffs punched out on a sampler. Aphasic has toned down the white-hot noise distortion that caked his Ambush records (and still survives to a certain degree in I-sound/DJ Scud/Wasteland) and the whole affair moves with a much more orderly sense of dance-floor logic than the frantic speedfreak jungle of "Bass and Superstructure". The EP's final piece, "Get Lost", blends tabla, doomy synth washes, and some dangerous-sounding feedback whistles kept safely under control. A sluggish clanking percussion break slowly emerges as echoes drift in and out in dubbed out bliss. The dub + tabla mix works very well- I love this track. I played it at 45 and it still makes beautiful sense- the synth bass line moves so slowly, it doesn't sound excessively fast at that speed.
Junk 02 is "Owleygirl" by Belgium's prolific Sickboy, whose debut 7" "Ganja Bullet" was one of the better amen-break tunes i've heard in a long time. A 12" on Peace Off continued to develop his sound but I thought Sickboy's "Shake Hands With A Clenched Fist" LP (on Mirex and Tigerbeat6) was a bit too spastic and abrasive- if you can imagine anybody within this genre objecting to that. But after hearing this excellent 12" I will have to relisten and re-evaluate that release. The title track which opens the disc is fast chopped-up rave noise full of sped-up hardcore-styled vocal snippets, kickdrums, handclaps, and distorted bass stabs. "Junkcats & Alleyrats" is slower and funkier, with lots of hiphop vocal samples (played at "real" speed) and then overlays of sped-up voice fragments. Underneath the voices are many, many short sound clips, creatively mangled and effected, sequenced in a way that doesn't disturb the groove. The flip opener "Trio Inferno" brings us clipped speed funk, more helium hardcore vocals ("work that body!") and a hard raving feel without too much cynicism. The final piece, "Owleybass"is my favorite- a magnificent dub cut that sounds just as good at 33 (maybe even better) than the 45 the rest of the EP plays at. Dub bass and echoes move at one speed (slow churning menace), chopped up breaks and clicketty percussion works around that at an almost-too fast speed (which is why I tested it at 33)- simply superb and worth the price of the 12" for this track alone.
Junk 03, "We Are Junk" is four more tunes by Aphasic. A-side begins with "Junkfunk", a super-catchy stomping gabber-rave monster, full of bleep squiggles, sirens, and bass synths galore. Extremely dance-floor friendly and along with Sickboy's "Owleybass" my favorite Junk moment so far. "Junkrock" deploys a cut-up break loop and stop-start stutter as sine tones rise endlessly in pitch. bleeps and synth explosions fade in and out over a slow and abstract anti-groove as hard distorted kickdrums appear and disappear. The B-side opens with "True Shots", as a strange flanged out vocal intro leads into a stop-start dancehall-ish beat that is viciously interrupted by some dense breakbeat explosions and not a little bit of white-noise. But the mix pulls back constantly into cleaner shinier sounds, retaining the skank feel, adding hoover bass tones, bleep intrusions, and zooming loops. A bit like a spaced-out, IDM-aware take on the old Aphasic Ambush sound. EP closer "Several Directions" is abstract outer space echoes over stark richly textured loops that insinuate a dub and reggae skank. Stretched out vocal moans and subtle breakbeat incursions flow through a skeletal, head-nodding dubbed out mix. Dub is the key here- reggae-derived rhythms form the structure and are embellished by judiciously chopped-up breaks and the whole is tweaked by careful attention to texture. Less density of sound gives the tracks that spaced out feel that is very attractive and listener-friendly.
Just out on Junk is a 12" by Patric C (Din-st) which, needless to say, is on my shopping list.
Junk
Junk records can be purchased at Wrecked (USA) and digi/tal:net (Europe)
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