- When Pye Corner Audio was still an unnamed artist, Head Technician was the mysterious character behind it all. He was the fictional man who encountered fictional tapes, scraping together bits and pieces to make those first evocative digital-only releases. Since appearing in 2010, Pye Corner Audio has floated between formats, plucked out of obscurity like errant radio waves picked up between stations. First, the Black Mill Tapes were made into actual tapes by Further Records, before being picked up by Type for a vinyl release. The same happened with the third and fourth installments. Then, last year, the enigmatic Head Technician emerged from behind the scenes to put out his own music. It started out as a six-track tape called Zones, and now the album has been given new life and two extra tunes with this vinyl release from Ecstatic.
Martin Jenkins' project brings together distinct strands of nostalgia—English hauntology, old movie soundtracks, Boards Of Canada-style daydreaming—into a sort of sepiatone kaleidoscope. The music takes a set of worn-out signifiers and creates an artifact of both a non-existent past and the not-so-distant future. So it makes sense that the Head Technician character wouldn't be able to simply reproduce something so idiosyncratic. As Head Technician, Jenkins turns to the classic toolbox of the dance music producer (Roland's TB-303, MC-202 and TR-606) to recreate the Pye Corner Audio aesthetic, like a sketch artist using a pencil to replicate paintings from memory.
With his three machines, Jenkins veers towards the dance floor. He conjures a thick, heady sound, exaggerating the textural qualities of his instruments and making every element as fulsome as possible. Imagine Black Mill Tapes' brooding tones shaped into jagged, swirling lines. Zones is built on a foundation of throbbing low-end, and often dips into lightly squelchy acid house. The first two tracks are straightforward thumpers that seem almost rudimentary at first, until they grow into psychedelic climaxes as Jenkins carefully modulates the textures.
"A Future" is where things get interesting, with a background of woozy synths set behind the jacking rhythms. On "Zones," Jenkins pits a quasi-orchestral melody against a synth lead that gurgles and sputters, referencing acid house, hauntology and krautrock all at once. Even when making straight-up techno, Jenkins is working no less than three angles.
Finding depth in a limited framework is a touchstone of Jenkins' work, from Pye Corner Audio to his ambient music as The House In The Woods. Zones is no different: with just a few pieces of equipment, the producer still finds small ways to stamp his personality on familiar blueprints. On the surface, Zones is a solid exercise in dance floor music from a non-dance producer. But more importantly, it shows how easily Jenkins moves across form and genre.
Tracklist01. Divergent
02. Exit Strategy
03. A Future
04. Escape
05. Zones
06. Soar Door
07. Echo Blooms
08. Emerging