Jacksonville, ‘FON’ 12″ EP OUT NOW
13 March 2020
Photo: Charlie Barnes (Packaged Sounds)
Continuing a run of highly eclectic and quirky but consistently individual releases, we are very excited to welcome Jacksonville aka Yorkshire-born, Edinburgh-based artist Chris Lyth, to the fold. He has carpet-bombed the last few Hobbes Music events at Edinburgh’s Bongo Club with his excellent live sets and this release has been in the pipeline for some time.
The ‘FON’ EP (caps intentional) combines a love of classic electro and techno with dub reggae, sound system culture, the UK’s contemporary bass scene etc. Mastering was done by Optimum in Bristol, who did a really lovely job, with loads of width in the mix.
This release follows Jacksonville’s ‘Machines Of Loving Grace’ EP which dropped in November via Inner Shift. He has a pedigree spanning some 20 years plus via releases for the likes of 2020Vision, Hizou, Doppler, Thug, Plastic City, Leftroom, A.E.R, Shanti and Dan Curtin’s Metamorphic. This record’s a bit of a departure for him.
While we’re deeply saddened by the knowledge that there’s no chance now of us ever hearing Andy Weatherall play it out, we’re kinda heartened by the idea that he would have probably dug it…. RIP.
DJ REACTIONS etc:
‘Really digging the grooviness’ AVALON EMERSON
‘Yeah that’s nice. Great DJ Tools!!! These will come in very handy… :)’ ROLANDO (UR)
‘Thanks for sending, I like all 3 tracks. Will play in my DJ sets’ SURGEON
‘Love it Thanks!’ JD TWITCH (Optimo)
‘Very cool release indeed. Thanks a lot for that. Will play for sure’ LAURENT GARNIER
‘They are nice. I do like them. I especially like Orienne’ RED RACK’EM
‘I love all of this, the electro realness, the glitches, the dubby vibes! Yessss thanks so much’ VIOLET (Naive Trax, PT)
‘Really cool release’ JEROME HILL
‘Love it’ INTERGALACTIC GARY (IFM, NL)
‘I really like Orienne, is great’ LEO MAS (Balearic legend, Milan/IT)
‘The music is really nice. Glad to see Chris getting busy with releases over the past months. I’m definitely enjoying this’ DAN CURTIN (Metamorphic)
‘Great stuff, will buy the record’ XDB
‘Sounding good, really like Orienne’ DOMENIC CAPPELLO (Sub Club)
‘Thanks for these. In terms of club play, Orienne is the one. All three tracks are good’ GARETH SOMMERVILLE (Athens Of The North)
‘Nice one, love it!’ SKILLIS (Headset, SSL)
‘That bassline is ACE’ (re FON) SIMON HARRISON (Basic Soul)
‘This sounds absolutely tremendous and it’s a shoo-in for March Bandcamp roundup. Love “FON”, it reminds me of classic Peverelist before he went more techno’ JOE MUGGS (The Wire, Bandcamp, Guardian, VICE, BBC etc)
‘Sounding great! Top work!’ JAMES THOMSON (Ornate)
‘I will definitely play Jacksonville on EHFM’ COLVIN CRUICKSHANK (Snide Rhythms, Thinktank)
‘Really dig this one, there’s a sense of aesthetic wholeness to the whole thing, down to the artwork too. I like all three: the immediacy and urgency of FON and the glacial chords of Orienne; there’s something about the juxtaposed elements and downright distortion of Varadi that I find especially compelling though, so it’s my pick of the bunch.. and the fact the track is named after an obscure Hungarian footballer just enhances my enjoyment of it’ PENCIL (Rebel Art Centre)
‘FON bangs AF so defo will play it out’ FAULTLINES (Ciarki)
‘Loving this EP. Played FON on the show on Monday with a view playing Varadi next week. Excellent stuff as always’ PAT BENSBERG (The Eccentric Selection, Phonic FM, Exeter)
REVIEWS:
“Focussing on stepping rhythms and dubbed-out bass, Varadi shimmers effortlessly, while the electro-influenced Orienne also impresses. 7.5/10” RICHARD BROPHY (DJ MAG)
RADIO/PODCASTS:
TOM RAVENSCROFT played FON (BBC 6MUSIC) 28.2.20
PAT BENSBERG played FON (Phonic FM) 2.3.20 & Varadi 9.3.20
SPATIAL AWARENESS (Funky.sx 103.7FM) played FON 2.3.20
SIMON HARRISON (Basic Soul) played ‘FON’
24.2.20 // 09.03.20
SNIDE RHYTHMS (EHFM) played FON 5.3.20
