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Junkie Sartre & Hexaquart: Jonestown / Lost Weekend Unfamiliar with Junkie Sartre & Hexaquart? If so, chances are you're probably more than a little bit familiar with the producers behind the moniker, Ulrich Schnauss and Richard Davis. Schnauss is, of course, well-known to electronica fans for his City Centre Offices releases, Far Away Trains Passing By and A Strangely Isolated Place (among others), while Davis garnered praise for his 2005 Kitty-Yo collection Details. If on paper the two don't seem to be the most likely of collaborators, the two tracks on this digital EP—club cuts that use a Berlin-oriented minimal house style as a springboard—indicate that they're clearly simpatico on musical grounds. “Jonestown” immediately digs into its pumping, hyperactive pulse and having locked that into position, shifts its attention to a wealth of textural filigrees, dubby percussive touches, and string washes that wrap themselves around the tune's driving core. Throughout its eight- minute run, blurry waves advance and recede and patterns drift in and out of the mix without arresting for a moment the track's momentum and thrust. Looped vocal fragments send “Lost Weekend” on its way, after which a crisp house pulse establishes itself and dubby chords echo across funky keyboard burble. Unlike “Jonestown,” which bolts from the gate, “Lost Weekend” develops more laconically such that its slow burn gradually grows ever deeper as the cut unfolds. Chattering keyboard patterns add to its sparkle, but the track is ultimately more about caressing the listener's ears with homogenous and soothing atmosphere. Incidentally, the Junkie Sartre & Hexaquart outing is the second release on False Industries, the Tel Aviv-based label managed by Yair Etziony, who also founded Interval Recordings. Needless to say, the house-based vibe of the new EP is light years removed from the experimental electro-acoustic style associated with Interval's releases. May 2010
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