In the background of "Balk Acid," the fourth song on Speedy J's fourth album, you can hear a reminder of the music this Rotterdam-based techno producer used to make. A series of gently ambient synth chords deliberately cli... more »mb their way up and down the scale, evoking the placidity of a savanna at night. The foreground is where the wild things are. Breakbeats scurry about, flame on, flame out. Nasty breakbeats at that: clipped, tuned to pitches that scrape against the ear, distorted almost to the point of absurdity. But unlike the similar experiments of Mike Paradinas or Aphex Twin, they don't move at a frantic junglistic pace. They move ever so slowly, at the blunted tempos gangsta rap favored before Timbaland and the electrofied Dirty South redefined the game. J, a.k.a. Jochem Papp, juggles the formula a bit, emphasizing the ambient here or the industrial there, but the deliberation and painstaking effort that have marked his career (four albums in eight years--and that's not counting the decade he spent DJ'ing and learning his craft before he dropped his debut) is evident throughout. So evident, in fact, that the dance-floor culture that once spawned him most likely no longer knows what to do with his music. But that probably tells us more about dance floors than it does about him. --Jeff Salamon« less
In the background of "Balk Acid," the fourth song on Speedy J's fourth album, you can hear a reminder of the music this Rotterdam-based techno producer used to make. A series of gently ambient synth chords deliberately climb their way up and down the scale, evoking the placidity of a savanna at night. The foreground is where the wild things are. Breakbeats scurry about, flame on, flame out. Nasty breakbeats at that: clipped, tuned to pitches that scrape against the ear, distorted almost to the point of absurdity. But unlike the similar experiments of Mike Paradinas or Aphex Twin, they don't move at a frantic junglistic pace. They move ever so slowly, at the blunted tempos gangsta rap favored before Timbaland and the electrofied Dirty South redefined the game. J, a.k.a. Jochem Papp, juggles the formula a bit, emphasizing the ambient here or the industrial there, but the deliberation and painstaking effort that have marked his career (four albums in eight years--and that's not counting the decade he spent DJ'ing and learning his craft before he dropped his debut) is evident throughout. So evident, in fact, that the dance-floor culture that once spawned him most likely no longer knows what to do with his music. But that probably tells us more about dance floors than it does about him. --Jeff Salamon
CD Reviews
The Well Textured Killer
Dirk Hugo | Cape Town, South Africa | 11/02/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The exploitation of digital textures or "squelchtronica" may be all the rage these days, but very few releases elevate this genre to new levels by casting the uniqueness of the sounds into an innovative relief. The latest from Speedy J is an exception, where steadily morphing textures that nestle pleasantly between noise and harmonic convention are underpinned by solid yet unorthodox beats. It's an unashamedly agressive album which favours hedonism above nihilism, holding equal appeal on the dancefloor and in more intimate listening spaces."
The music of the future
Brian J. Roach | Brooklyn, NY United States | 09/29/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When musicologists in 15-20 years look back and start viewing techno/electronica/whatever you want to call it in a serious and academic way, this is one of the albums that they are going to call attention to. An absolutely brilliant, abrasive piece of work, Speedy J is taking the possibilities of this genre to new and exciting places. Using basic hip-hop beats, warping and distorting the surrounding sounds in an incredible fashion, while placing almost perfect touches of ambience vainly trying to push through the surface, Speedy J has created a work that challenges and rewards careful listening. Absolutely not for everyone, but for those who crave something that really pushes the limit, check this out. Great packaging too! A classic! Jochem, if you're reading this, please come and tour in America. I'd LOVE to see this stuff pulled off live!!"
Terrible poignancy
liberty janus | Seattle, WA USA | 10/19/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"As the mixed reviews for this recording attest, there is some music, like this, that performs personality tests more adroitly than other music. This is not music for the faint of heart. Nor is it music for a mind with pat, simple understandings of how the world works, for this music rips away veneers and propels the listener into a worldview that simply requires an understanding of how complexity and conscious understanding collide in a terrible liberating embrace. Good dance music has a wonderful role to play in some individuals' personalities, but that role (played by some other Speedy J recordings) is only distantly related to the almost horrific intensity of this probing, incisive electronic investigation of desperately intense sonic and emotional landscapes. Step in! Don't mind that heavy, viscous fluid that seems to flow over and around you; that clings to you and shimmers so irresistibly in some foreign light, making your skin and your very thoughts translucent with revelation. If your brain can't wrap itself around darkness and transform it into light, if you can't find softness in intensely harsh and unremitting aural assaults, if you can't grasp a totality that includes pleasure and pain, if you can't find enormous poignancy in a musical vision of life that performs liberation and a salvation out of radically acknowledging the difficulty and the complexity of the world, then this is not music that's likely to appeal to you, much less make the slightest bit of sense. There's a level of engagement required here to synchronize with music that by any conventional designations would be described as harsh, dissonant, abrasive, pulverizing, relentlessly aggressive, and just plain annoyingly noisy. To each their own. This recording is a transformation and an act of commitment given shape and form in sounds of terrible acknowledgement and revelatory power. There's great joy in the depths for those who won't fear the darkness."
A flowing album.
Shane Turner | Montreal, Canada | 10/20/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Good artists tend to move beyond their old original roots and try new things. One thing is clear, this album was not meant to patronize the masses: it tends to be anything from abstract sounds to completely atonal soundscapes. Sadly this will seem a bit alien to the ears of some, but its a refreshing change of pace for others.
When I bought this album I expected it to be almost entirely long abrasive noise tracks, from the other descriptions.. that is not entirely true. There are long sections of ambience.. many tracks morph from one to the next giving the album a very complete feel to it.
This album is like a long flowing dreamscape.. somebody compared it to coil, someone else to a movie soundtrack. Its a bit of both. Getting to know it, its anything but depressing. Its incredibly well thought out, introspective, moody and dark at times, and at other times fast-paced and playful. A great listen."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1