John Keys - Who's Afraid Of Virginia Tsedong - Minimal House Techno 12
12"

John Keys - Who's Afraid Of Virginia Tsedong?


Label: Crosstown Rebels
Catalog#: CRM 039
Format: Vinyl, 12"
Record is VG++
Country: UK
Released: 16 Jul 2007
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno, Minimal


Tracklist

A Torturing Lines 12:22

AA1 Rumba Triste 6:35
AA2 A Calor Por Manhatten 7:05



Notes
Rumba Triste in memory to Maria C. Hernandez
Torturing Lines is dedicated to all the international victims

Crosstown Rebels disjointed self-revival continues with this release by John Keys, aka Dandy Jack and Andres Garcia. Of course, the Crosstown stuff of late hasn't been bad, it just seems utterly impossible to have any idea who will appear next on the label, or where it is going stylistically.

Still, aesthetic concerns aside, this is a really great 12”. Dandy Jack seldom disappoints and here he and Garcia go for the jugular, first with ‘Torturing Lines’, an erratic and epic twelve minutes of psychedelic house music which is a little like Minilogue's ‘Elephants Parade’ from earlier this year. It's a long, long journey with many twists and turns, and layer upon layer of melody. Next up is ‘Rumbra Triste’, a polar opposite to ‘Torturing Lines’ with its shuffling simple groove. This one is a little more DJ friendly, and uses ethnic melodies and vocals over a sparse background to create a track with real character.

Finally ‘A Caballo Por Manhattena’, a stilted techno track, is probably the most uptempo and the darkest of the three tracks. It's a bass heavy, skulking groove that doesn't lay on the melodies as thickly as either of the other two tracks on this release, and suffers a little for it.

Still, if you're a fan of the Chilean sound and the increased ease with which it bleeds into house and techno these days, then some of the magical and haunting tones on this 12” are certain to please