Joey Anderson - 1974

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  • The arrival of yet another Joey Anderson release suggests that 2015 will see no let up from the New Jersey producer. Anderson's nose has been pressed firmly to the grindstone for at least a couple of years now, and last year's solid debut LP, After Forever, showed that the hard work was paying off. Much of what followed felt like a consolidation of Anderson's cryptic house style. 1974, his return to the Dekmantel label following the album, is a step beyond it. This is down to a subtle shift in focus, away from nimble, unresolved melodies towards more static textures. For a ten-minute track, "1974" gives up its charms rather easily, with most of the melodies bubbling to the surface in the first couple of minutes. That's because it's not trying to go somewhere, rather demonstrating what can happen when you try to stay still. The longer its thick synth soup persists, the more emotionally rich it seems. Bright chord-blasts, clunky pads, a morose Rhodes loop—each seems to be tugging in a different direction, and Anderson exploits this tension expertly. Elsewhere, "Under Water"'s focal point is a glutinous low-end drone that, no matter hard they try, its various skittish melodies can't quite shake off. "Black Draft," meanwhile, is a return to Anderson's old habits. The main constant is its chords, but they don't settle into a graspable pattern; the grubby sound effects daubed haphazardly about the place don't help, either.
  • Tracklist
      A1 1974 B1 Under Water B2 Back Draft
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