Newrhythmic Records is a León, Spain based label from Jose Angel Palacios Robles aka Joton. He recently released what appears to be the album of his life titled Casting Out Nines and it has garnered support from producers like Ben Sims, DVS1, Danny Tenaglia, Samuli Kemppi, Pfirter, Joseph Capriati, just to name a few. I decided to have a deeper look into some of the tracks…
Two single notes looping with an amazing delay are the first sounds to appear, and while astute filtering down introduces the beat for “Gray Matter.” The shots that perform as a pad shortly in, welcome the expected kick. Compact bass notes set the groove and wasting no time the track is already rocking. Ride shakes immediately, awakening the beeping melody and… lift off!!! Voice stabs with different top combinations deliver space for the melody to work with the ongoing loopy pad that expands at length. I really like this constant and euphoric tune.
Spawn a broken beat and claps drawn in it, “Quantum Algorithm” is a bit more of a dramatic journey. A dynamic pad widens up the space and repeated short synths set the groove with intelligence, the top consists of a steady ride while a mid shaker gets in the mix too. Synths conduct the way toward the break and the pad that becomes an enjoyable chainsaw massacre takes over the track, what an outstanding finale.
“Clean Skin” maintains the minimalistic approach, but promptly expanding hats welcome the melody, in this case resembling a train passing by. A kindly distorted alarm responds in the mids, achieving new levels of consciousness, the constant hats rolling on top conceive and incredible dynamic pace, that quickly boost the dance floor. While the angry melody screams, groovy percussion controls the beat from the beginning making this track one of my favorites of the package.
Best described by its name, “Hidden Pulse” has an intermittent low tom between kicks that works great, delayed notes from an organ synth massage my brain with elasticity and the incoming hat has an interesting echo toward the right side also. The melody on the mid range makes the most impact on this one with a delayed pulse response with a kind of shimmering tail. A short breakdown alters the release on the melody notes… intensifying the feeling and let’s the huge kick breathe and sound thunderous. Clearly there is a bright mind behind this production trying new ideas.
I much more mellow vibe from this next one. Well-adjusted rotating pads with clean clicks set a wonderful ambience and developing low frequency notes from the bassline excites the easy listening break-beat. “Metabolize” is a fresh vacation, where shakers contribute to the picture and filtered closed hats appear here and there for highlights. The breakdown is about pads which have a feeling of being alone in the dark and very atmospheric. The beat draws you back into the groove, this time with extra panning on the now developed notes from the synth. It sounds so smooth from start to finish.
After several years, Joton has managed to include a well studied variety of his work in this album, travelling through ups and downs, highs and lows, we found a well-organized and creative package which demonstrates his unique talent and a true pleasure to listen too.
- Reviewed by Juan Trujillo for deathtechno.com
