- Yuji Kondo's first release of 2017—"Whip Blow," a scuffed up banger on Leyla Records—was an example of the kind of rollicking techno he's known for. But Kondo is an artist capable of going in any direction. One of his best club wreckers, Radiate The Ocean From My Back, landed on Perc Trax in 2014. Records as Steven Porter (his partnership with Katsunori Sawa) have explored grainier forms of techno. Then there's Ducerey Ada Nexino, Kondo's most used and wide-ranging alias.
Faces Past is Kondo's first full-length, and while it doesn't sound much like anything he's released to date, the clues to his touch are there. The urgency of his sound is stripped away, revealing the shrewd sound design that's been underneath all along. You can and should take your time with it. "Juniper" sounds as if it's being flooded. Another standout, "Hacking Infinity," teems with so many tiny details that you can find yourself ignoring the beats to revel in the spaces between them.
"Linger" and "Armour To Paper" are the album's clubbiest tracks, though they're subtle compared to what we're used to from Kondo. Both deploy chilly, hypnotic 4/4 rhythms to hook you into the dance. Kondo saves the best for last. "Human Chord" is a modernised, electrified mutation of trip hop bristling with menace and gasping vocals. "Suicide Ocean" concludes in dreamy neo-classical ambience. On Faces Past, Kondo's experimentation makes for an album that's wild yet weirdly cohesive.
Tracklist01. Vanishing Curvatures
02. Juniper Fox
03. Linger
04. Feigning Death
05. Hacking Infinity
06. Armour To Paper
07. Human Chord
08. Suicide Ocean