Velocette ‎– Discotheque Saudades

  • On Jason Williams' first ever compilation, you can hear the tensions of Detroit filtered through West Coast spliff smoke.
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  • On "Memories For The Future," the chords sound like the Motor City, but the distorted roll of the snares and grumble of bass give the track an EBM menace straight out of Den Haag. There is a seediness alongside the track’s beauty. Originally an affiliate of Reflective Records, a label run by Jonah Sharp, Williams’ back catalogue is equal parts experimental and club-oriented, often hitting that sweet spot between ambient and techno. If you don’t count the New Age-indebted sitar in opener "Bound In A Nutshell," Williams doesn’t leave the floor until the ambient closer, "Microcosmik." The electro tracks in particular would sound outrageously good on any contemporary rig. "Quantum Mechanix" starts with a bee-sting of a bassline and an indecipherable vocal before sighing pads transition into a metallic lullaby. "Clockwork" feels like trying to wind a watch underwater. The track's synthline fights for air against a staggered rhythm. We get a second to catch our breath when some sparkling chimes arrive, but the remainder of the song is a drowned symphony of scattered percussion and bleeps. On "Time and Space," you can almost hear the synths being routed through a maze of effects as Williams uses a surgeon’s precision to dissect each sound. But this penchant for experimentation is tempered by his ear for melody. Nowhere does he do this better than "Stumm," the album's eyes-closed moment. A melody line pans across the stereo before chords ride the rhythm like hang gliders crashing into the sea.
  • Tracklist
      01. Bound In A Nutshell 02. Clockwork 03. Memories For The Future 04. Quantum Mechanix 05. Je N’ai Pas Une Parapluie (Edit) 06. Stumm 07. Time and Space 08. Microcosmik
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