- Marquis Hawkes is an especially versatile producer, but he's no doubt homed in on a couple specific styles since his debut, on Dixon Avenue Basement Jams. After 2012's Cabrini Green, an EP that wore its Chicago influence on its sleeve in more ways than one, Hawkes has oscillated between glossy house/garage hybrids and scalpel-sharp homages to Dance Mania, excelling at both.
On DVS1's Mistress Recordings, Hawkes debuted his Juxta Position alias in 2013. Juxta Position Vol. 1 presented the project as an outlet for taut club music. (Though his habit of catchy hooks survived on "Mercy"'s sing-speak vocal.) As solid as Vol. 1 was, Vol. 2 is even better: the record embodies big-room techno rather than merely wearing its mask. Amid laser stabs and teardrop bleeps, the percussion remains fluid and generous in spite of outsized kicks. On "Pacemaker," hi-hats flick out like cards from a dealer's hand, while other parts of the 909 kit find their space in the offbeats.
"Speaking In Tongues" brings out the best of both Hawkes and Juxta Position, making for a creepy, peak-time blockbuster that could work anywhere. Over a blanket of off-key melodies and revved synths, "Speaking In Tongues" tries on an icy, Drexciyan arpeggio. It's a sound mined by lots of house and techno producers these days, but it's rarely applied to anything this hypnotic.
TracklistA1 Speaking In Tongues
B1 Pacemaker
B2 Sweatbox