silent servant
Sandwell District – Fabric 69 [FABRIC137]
Over the course of ten active years, Sandwell District were responsible for disarming and destabilizing the structures that gagged free-form expression, drawing upon tenets of DIY-post-punk culture to disrupt accepted ideas of exactly what it meant to be an artist, label, DJ or producer. During this time, the collective’s core members, Function (Dave Sumner) and Regis (Karl O’Connor) (along with label partner, Silent Servant), played a key role in broadening the link between early electronic, post-punk, and noise; an influence which continues to resonate in the burgeoning, and shape-shifting, modern-day techno scene. With this mix, another genuine artefact has been added to the Sandwell legacy, a document of their skewed presence and existence, a treasure guaranteeing the kind of quality that electronic music compilations rarely achieve. In 1 hour 15 minutes, the pairing of Regis and Function succeed in presenting and executing some of the most potent flourishes in the Sandwell catalogue, distilling them into a coherent body of work that masterfully defines the current techno zeitgeist. Few contemporary producers have bettered the merciless techno blueprint laid down by this collective, and few ever will.
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Asma – Zwartjes [MRECLTDGS003]
The third of M_Rec Ltd’s vinyl only Grey Series comes from Asma, a new collaboration between Ascion and M_Rec boss Max_M. Supposedly inspired by Dutch experimental filmmaker Frans Zwartjes’ 1968 short film of the same name, “Birds” offers some expectedly atmospheric techno; opening with tribal, rolling, warehouse-sized drums and foggy strings in the background, the track soon gives way to a heady concoction of bristling static and plucked textures played over a sonic void. Sandwell District alumnus Silent Servant’s remix is a stark contrast, pairing some vintage chord stabs, snare rolls and drum machine percussion to create a basement ready house jam laced with spectral atmospherics that is possibly one of the more club-ready tracks he has produced to date.
Silent Servant @ Moog (Barcelona) 17.10.2012
Hipodrome’s 2012 Review (Part III)
Finally we are at the last part of the 2012 review. In the first part of our review, the preferences of our followers are shown, according to the number of click and stars. Top 3 albums of the years, top 3 EPs, compilations and mixes loved by our followers can be seen here.
In the second part, I presented some of my favorite events and performances from last year. For more details go here.
Terrence Dixon – Minimalism Re:Vision [THEMA033]
Thema announce Minimalism Re:Vision, featuring remixes of Terrence Dixon’s groundbreaking Minimalism Part 1 from 1995. Revising it is a tough task to tackle, thus, Thema present three equally reverent mixes by today’s finest techno figures on a full EP, Mike Huckaby, Silent Servant, and DVS1.
Silent Servant – FACT mix 349
Silent Servant – Negative Fascination LP [HOS357]
Silent Servant (aka Juan Mendez), a member of the now-defunct minimal/dub techno collective Sandwell District, makes his stunning album debut with the poised fusion of epic techno, primitive post punk, and industrial electronics on Hospital Productions. Now nine months since he stopped recording with Sandwell District, Mendez has explored his divergent yet compatible tastes to their fullest, recognising and reconciling their congruent rhythms, atmospheres and intentions with alchemical ability. If you’re familiar with his previous trajectories you’ll no doubt be seriously impressed with his balance and contrast of time-honoured elements, from the bellicose sci-fi romance of ‘Process (Introduction)’ to the full flight techno escapism of ‘Utopian Disaster (End)’, and if you’re new to his sound – whether you’re a noise freak wondering what the f*ck Hospital Productions are doing releasing a techno album, or a techno head who’s baffled by the raspy drums – you should be quickly realising that this stuff is the way forward. From the wave-scanning intro he spins a bleakly noirish narrative, slowly building tension with ‘Invocation Of Lust”s acid hypnosis and the stoic deployment of drones and agitated drum machine slaves on ‘Moral Divide (Endless)’ that resolves with gritted techno determination on ‘The Strange Attractor’. Yet perhaps our favourite moment is ‘Temptation & Desire’, sounding like the converged darkroom visions of Front 242 and Stephen Morris, but if any cut shocks us the most, it’s ‘A Path Eternal’, revealing SS at his most unreservedly sublime and vulnerable without his usual, armour-plated chassis of beats. It all surely adds up to one of the most impressive examples of modern industrial techno you’ll hear this year, one which doesn’t merely pay deference to its roots, but nourishes and augments them with the kind of vision that imparts the strong feeling that he’s really been biding his time, ’til now…
“Negative Fascination” is a 7-track affair said to couple Basic Channel vibes with post-punk and shadowy industrial cues.
VA – So Click Heels [DOWNWARDSCLICK001]
Downwards’ collect the best of their DO series, together with a handful of exclusive aces on ‘So Click Heels’. Since 2009 the label’s affections for the miasmatic drizzle, sonic innovation and repressed violence of post-punk and shoegaze has manifested itself in some twelve releases veering between the scuzzy basement noise of Collin Gorman Weiland, the blissful feedback blooms of The KVB, and swaggering rock’n’roll from DVA Damas. A good proportion of them feature here – including Richard H Kirk’s droning remix of Tropic Of Cancer’s ‘Be Brave’, the desiccated drum machines of Sandra Electronics (Regis), and Pink Playground’s powdered-glass shoegaze bloomer ‘Ten”. Unreleased bits: the phet-clenched twitch of Deathday’s ‘Dropped Into Obscurity’ or V West’s ‘Catching Me Cold’; the excoriating sludge of The KVB’s ‘Dayzed’; a mighty slab of monochrome, motorik punk from Silent Servants (Juan Mendez); the psychoactivated rock ‘n roll of Green Screen Door; and not least an insidious Electro cut from Antonym, or the graphite surfaces and choking dust of Six Six Seconds’ ‘Tearing Down Heaven’.
Function vs Jerome Sydenham – White Light (Remixes) [IRC1096]
One of Ibadan’s most popular releases of 2010, resurfaces with three stunning remixes from a trio of artist who’ve been been defending the free world of underground Techno: Planetary Assault Systems, Silent Servant and Xhin.
VA – Kontra Music Mixes [KMCD003]
A very special compilation of 11 tracks of selected Kontra-Musik remixes. Featuring artists like Scuba, Shed, Marcel Dettmann, Substance, Move D and Silent Servant to name but a few.
Svreca – Obscur. Final [SEMANTICA018Z]
The final part of Svreca’s “Obscur”series with 2 new tracks and old ones remixed by Silent Servant, Skirt, Regis and Orphx.
Planetary Assault Systems – Remixes: Silent Servant & The Black Dog [OSTGUTTON053]
Ostgut Ton presents two remixes for PAS. Silent Servant transforms Bell Blocker to a slow burning hypnotic techno ride. For their remix The Black Dog combines their brooding melodics and dancefloor oriented production skills to create the perfect counterpart to the flipside of this 12”, somewhere between plain scary and profoundly deep.
Pacific Blue – Industry (Remixes) [PCB001.1]
New mixes from the Pacific Blue / Avian camp. Rrose and Silent Servant pull no punches with these insistent takes on the brilliant original.
VA – 5 Years Compilation (Part Four) [SEMANTICA030.4]
Part 4 of this special series, celebrating 5 years of Semantica Records. Tracks by Inigo Kenedy, Aiken, Silent Servant and Coushin.
Silent Servant – Hypnosis In The Modern Age [SD017]
A solo return EP from Sandwell District mainstay Silent Servant. The EP includes two tracks, that sticks to Juan’s trademark sheering sound-scapes and clattering lo-fi drums.
Cio D’or – Magnetfluss Remixes [PRG023]
Prologue presents a remix package of Cio D´Or’s Magnetfluss EP, involving three of the hottest techno producers today: Silent Servant, Milton Bradley and Shifted.
VA – Revisited EP [MODULARZ004]
Modularz returns with another split 12″. The Revisited EP opens with the wonderfully unhinged techno of “Revister” by Developer. Also on the A-Side is a boasting remix of Developer’s “Edificio” by the aforementioned Silent Servant, which chugs along with rasping hats and cavernous low frequencies. On the flip side, Fanon Flowers presents the moody late night jack of “Prado Obscuro” and this is accompanied by the thick loopy melodies of Developer’s “More Seduction”.
Silent Servant – El Mar (Svreca Remixes) [SEMANTICA021.5]
Label owner Svreca remixes this earlier Semantica release from Silent Servant. Two deep ‘n dusty techno works that will make any dancefloor sweat.
VA – Entrada EP [MODULARZ003]
Truncate, Silent Servant, Santiago Salazar and Developer with four rocking techno tracks on the American techno label Modularz.
The Hipodrome Of Music 