- Gavsborg and Time Cow hark back to the earliest, weirdest Equiknoxx releases with this bewitching collection of leftfield club music.
- There's a whiff of homecoming to this new EP on Jon K and Elle Andrews' MAL label, even if the imprint is relatively new. Jon K helped connect Equiknoxx to Demdike Stare for their breakthrough releases, and now core Equiknoxx producers Gavsborg and Time Cow return the favor with a release of some of their best, and weirdest, music to date. (And that's saying something.) Writings Ov Tomato in all its wobbly, dubby glory, calls back to the time when Bird Sound Power blew everyone's minds. It's a deceptively stripped-down collection of leftfield dance music reduced to a few powerful elements, infused with the personality and humor that colors the best of the Jamaican producers' work.
Writings Ov Tomato opens with an odd track titled "Childish House Mafia," which outlines the sound palette here: backwards drums, odd vocals (in this case, chants) and brittle synths. The whole thing sounds like it was recorded in a vacuum chamber, the air still and dead, which makes the electroacoustic sounds—crisp drum samples, glassy chimes—sound all the bolder. Fans of classic Equinkoxx will find a lot to love in "Appinness" and its dubstep-style swagger, as different parts of the drum kit are splayed across the stereo spectrum in a seasick churn. The title track sounds like it's being turned on a hand crank, with its hard-swing and rattling marbles percussion. "No Sweat In My Sweatpants" is another dead ringer for the Bird Sound Power days, essentially an elliptical chime pattern buoyed by skipping kick drums that float in and out, pulling the rug out from underneath you just when you get comfortable.
The most exciting parts of the EP are the bits that feel new. "Pig Pilot" is unlike almost anything in their discographies, a hissing, pneumatic techno track that reminds me of old Tobias Freund. The rhythm is unforgivingly stiff and the sounds are chirpy, as if the duo decided to try a parody of a techno track but then actually made it really, really good. It's ultra-minimal, but there's a moment of respite when the goofy vocal sounds return for the final few bars.
And then there's "A Yow Jon K," which approximates electro with the funk sucked out. Like "Pig Pilot," the rigidity is mesmerizing, as the duo's slightly dubby touches—a vocal grunt here, a glitchy stutter there—make it feel livewire and unpredictable. As seemingly influenced by post-punk as it is dancehall, Writings Ov Tomato is another stunning entry in the catalogues of two producers who constantly reshape different dance music styles in their image, working in a storied tradition yet somehow tracing an entirely new path within it.
Tracklist01. Childish House Mafia
02. Writings Ov Tomato
03. Appinness
04. No Sweat In My Sweatpants
05. A Yow Jon K
06. Pig Pilot
07. Brent Bird