Chicago’s affinity with hardware-driven dance music dates back to the mid ’80s. Jamie Saunders to Frankie Knuckles and Chip E., producers repurposed undesirable and affordable electronic instruments for the cutting-edge dancefloor creations that would eventually become known as house music. Engendering a sense of ingenuity and fuck-off attitude still felt in 2020, two of Chicago’s modern day vanguard demonstrate how drum machine-powered workouts remain a staple of the local scene.
Enter Mutant Beat Dance member Beau Wanzer and late Chi-Town veteran, Dan Jugle, whose final collaboration ahead of the latter’s untimely passing is set for release on Illinois label, CLEAR. Old Reliable is the closing chapter of the Juzer story – an anxious suite of cuts at the intersection of noise, techno, house and EBM, the title track sets the tone with a clamorous, 100 BPM beatdown of steel fisted heft and queasy electronics.
Old Reliable is out January 20th on CLEAR Records – pre-order here
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