- Buying into the notion of a divide on geographical grounds denies one of the main reasons why electronic music became a culture with global appeal in the first place. After all, surely it's impossible to assert that a certain city or country has ownership and others don't on variations of largely instrumental, often abstract rhythms? While such misguided prejudices might be easier to understand (but never excusable) during a time when, in the pre-internet age, it required a lot of work to seek out new music, it sounds positively disturbing that such frankly antiquated opinions still exist in the technology-enabling world we now live in.
Unfortunately, such ideas still have a following—whether or not the internet actually cultivates them is an entirely different debate—but the reality is that our world is more connected than ever before thanks to technology and like it or not, this has a knock-on effect on culture. Irrespective if you come from Berlin, Baltimore or somewhere in between, no one place has a monopoly on great music and few find it hard to remain immune to outside influences.
Perhaps that explains why US producers like Levon Vincent and Jus-Ed capture the zeitgeist so perfectly. Vincent's productions are characterised by a freeform approach, an openness to fusing often seemingly disparate sources. Unsurprisingly, "Games Dub" on this split EP, goes off at a tangent, its ominous chugging groove, metallic drums and monochrome riffs sounding like a collision between the menacing repetition of Basic Channel's "Q 1.1," the eerie side of Nu Groove and Dettmann's steadfast relentlessness.
Jus-Ed's "Project 225 GV Deep Tech" doesn't exactly epitomise deep house fluff either and takes an unexpected approach: underpinned by a minimal Chicago bass, Jus-Ed lays down freaky industrial riffs and off-the-wall, discordant jazz keys that splutter a path through the arrangement. In contrast, the atmospheric techno of "Get It off My Chest" comes across as subdued, but it's the ideal counterweight to the preceding flights of fancy.
From their minds to ours? Sure, but they took the scenic route to get there.
Tracklist A1. DJ Jus-Ed - Project 255 GV Deep Tech
A2. Levon Vincent - Games Dub
B. DJ Jus-Ed - Get It Off My Chest