JPLS - The Depths

JPLS - THE DEPTHS (M_nus)

 A point I’ve made in the past is that little of today’s ‘minimal’ is really all that minimalist.  Whether shuffle-funky tech-house, atmospheric dub-techno, glitchy micro-house or the round stomp of the Berghain/Ostgut set, minimal is better defined by commitment to an angular, clean design aesthetic than to stripping off the ornate and unnecessary. This contrasts to the pioneering work of producers Dan Bell and Robert Hood.  1990s minimal, though, was never so much an articulated intellectual movement as a reaction to the ‘busy-ness’ of contemporary Detroit and Hardcore techno.

For the most part, then, minimal has lacked the musical equivalent of Bauhaus: internally consistent, uncompromising visionary minimalism.  In musical terms, a maximum of architectural concept from a minimum of notes, tones and textures.   

The one exception has always been Richie Hawtin’s groundbreaking work as Plastikman, and particularly the three albums released under that moniker during the years 1993-1998.  During this period, Hawtin utilized a precise and limited set of tools—a 303 Devilfish, an 808 and a simple set of effects—to produce techno of still unparalleled minimal vision. 

JPLS, aka Jeremy Jacobs, picks up where Hawtin left off on ‘Consumed.’  He is, arguably, even more austere and precise than his mentor, on whose label ‘The Depths’ has been released.  At several points in the album, Jacobs doesn’t appear to be using any sound source other than his 808.  While arresting early on, his uncompromising vision grows tired as the album progresses, and lacks the range of ‘Sheet One’ or ‘Musik.’ 

The best moments come early, particularly on the dark, atmospheric “Reset,” which teases listeners with a crescendo that never quite arrives, and the two-part “Zero-Point/Displacement,” marked by dissonant bells and undulating, atonal atmospherics.  The more dancefloor-oriented two-partner “Basis/Fold” is also strong, though perhaps less creative.  By “Collapse,” though, the dark-industrial-minimalism formula grows tired, and I found myself longing for some melody.  “Convolution” offers more of the same: solid, but not as inspiring as the early selections.   

There is, of course, much to admire in ‘The Depths,’ and I certainly hope to hear more from JPLS.  But I also wish that he’d been a little looser with his vision, and taken more than just his sound design cues from Hawtin.  ‘Sheet One’ and ‘Musik,’ after all, manage to be both sonically concise and melodically inventive. 

Gustav Brown