Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Brain Plate
Yes, we did miss this one. And by a considerable margin.
But we forgive ourselves because this double vinyl from a Swedish producer Henrik Jonsson came out in 2010.
We wouldn't have known about it all but recently we wrote a short review piece at Substack about a Pitch Black event and this album has been relaunched through Dubmissions Records (which also releases Pitch Black and related music).
Anyway we are glad to have found it all because it is frequently dark, downbeat dub electronica from Jonsson (who apparently now works as Porn Sword Tobacco, I hope you are following this!).
It was mostly recorded at night in his attic in Gothenburg – we might have guessed the time and location, but not the city – and while it can be heavy it also has a kind of escapist ambient quality.
Very much “smoke 'em if you got 'em”, and turn off your mind, relax and . . . .
There's a gloriously relentless tread to the eight minute space-shifting dubbery of Emotion Trakker; there are disembodied voices woven through (Time); launching pads into deep space (Special Dish, the clanking mechanics and windswept sound of Nature) and it can be more upbeat (the mesmerising VC Don't Lie).
Stealth Wallpaper is a bit unsettling and Lextorp owes a little to Philip Glass albums like North Star, but . . .
This album is 70 minutes which will remove you from the present.
A key point about dub music of this kind is that it refers to nothing outside of itself so is not time-locked in a moment or period. It can be appreciated, in this case, 15 years on because it comes at you fresh and existing in its own time and space.
So yes, we did miss this in a way. But it is here now and still prepared to take you away into some different and dynamic headspaces.
.
You can hear and buy this album (download or double vinyl) at bandcamp here
Elsewhere has quite a bit about Pitch Black (and separate pieces on Paddy Free and Mike Hodgson who are PB) starting here.
post a comment