- Steffi has an extensive interest in Detroit electro, but until recently it was rarely expressed in her music. Her second album, Power Of Anonymity, toyed with the squelches and crunches of Drexciya records, applying them to sleeker drum and synth sounds. "JBW25" was one of two tracks that tried to bridge the gap between Steffi's record collection and her studio. ("Treasure Seeking" was the other, also released as a single earlier this year.)
"JBW25" doesn't quite reconcile Steffi's rich melodic textures with the twitchy electronic bursts it takes cues from. The percussion doesn't sit well amid the track's springy chords: the claps don't smack loud enough, and the kicks awkwardly bargain between accommodating house and techno DJs and staying true to electro's nimble rhythms.
Further Reductions, the duo of Shawn O'Sullivan and Katie Rose O'Sullivan, turn in a discordant remix of the single—Katie Rose's half-sung, half-spoken vocal feels overly exposed against a barren drum track. Answer Code Request's two contributions stitch together the spasmodic surges of "JBW25" with more assured percussion. His "Revision" version fragments the 4/4 rhythm of his "Vision" remix, and in doing so assembles a more coherent merger.
TracklistA1 JBW25
A2 JBW25 (Further Reductions Version)
B1 JBW25 (Answer Code Request Vision)
B2 JBW25 (Answer Code Request Revision)