- A return to barebones hypnotic techno from the New Jersey legend.
- Over a decade ago, Joey Anderson emerged as one of the most distinct voices in a new school of tri-state house producers that included DJ Qu, Levon Vincent and Jus-Ed. Even in the context of that group, Anderson's music was out there. As Jordan Rothlein put it back then, Anderson was making "a sort of house music that hardly sounds like house music at all."
Nearly a decade later, his sound reached its apex with 2020's Rainbow Doll, which was dance music in name only—an album that was like listening to the fossilized remains of an old Prescription release. It was a wonderfully strange record, but it also posed a question: where do you go when you can't make dance music any more abstract? Anderson's answer is to go back to the club. His follow-up LP, Exotic Sequence, is the most DJ-friendly release of his storied career, as he turns out eight icy-cool slabs of house and techno.
The most surprising thing about the record is how straightforward the drum programming is. With the exception of the full-on Chucky breakdown on "Stop," his 808s march with a reliability we don't typically expect from Anderson. "Sky Children," for example, is a straight-up jacking percussive track, letting a drum and synth loop ride with the only occasional sprinkling of fuzzy chords over the top. "Opix2" might be tense, but the funky hand drums in the second half are unusually moreish. Hell, even the closing "After The Rain" with its broody ambient textures, has a four-four kick pitched low in the mix.
The drums lend Exotic Sequence the shimmer of contemporary techno. Anderson has always been a master of conjuring eerie tension (just lock into all ten minutes of this sinister symphony), but on a track like "Monotheism," the cold reverb reminds me of the sleek sound design of someone like Fadi Mohem. And on the title track, acid squelches and ropy arpeggios hit like techno with a capital T. These tracks are probably a bit too weird and chuggy for the headbanging tempos of much of the European circuit, but don't be surprised if some of the more headsy selectors playing at Blitz or Berghain are pitching them up.
Don't get me wrong: all eight tracks are made with Anderson's usual impressionistic approach. Across Exotic Sequence he pulls from his usual bag of tricks, including smudged second-wave Detroit chords, brittle snares and labyrinthine basslines. But the LP as a whole is refreshingly back-to-basics, making it a welcome (if unexpected) entry into his discography. Anderson is a student of dance music in all its guises and this record underlines that even when he's turning out functional club cuts, they still sound completely singular.
Tracklist01. Monotheism
02. Behind The Valley
03. Opix2
04. Stop
05. Exotic Sequence
06. Sky Children
07. Formations
08. After The Rain