Reviews 073: Len Leise / Jura Soundsystem
Isle of Jura is one of my favorite reissue labels and new offshoot Temples of Jura seeks to apply the same level of quality and eclecticism to original artist material. I can think of no better way to start than this adventurous split 12” from Len Leise and Jura Soundsystem (aka Tsuba / Isle of Jura maestro Kevin Griffiths). Len offers up a frigid and slightly paranoid dub exploration that doubles as a paean to riddim master Adrian Sherwood, while Jura Soundsystem’s “Udaberri Blues” explores an exotic and spacey guitar lead across three entrancing versions.
Len Leise / Jura Soundsystem - ‘For Adrian’ / Udaberri Blues (Temples of Jura, 2018)
The drums underlying “’For Adrian’” are skeletal and thin, with a harsh kick drum, snare under cold digital reverb, and jittery 16th-note cymbals that rush in and out. All sorts of deep space transmissions, rhythmic noises, and backwards drone fx fly through the mix, while underneath the main melody is carried by icey and melancholic chords. These glacial pads are joined by tropical bending synth leads and pillowy synthbass that is felt more than heard, while the outerspace detritus continually threatens to overtake the mix. Abstract percussive interludes, just drum and bass, are overlaid with strange sounds like old modems, broken fax machines, and shortwave static…the kind of cosmic slop zooming through a Sun Ra track. The groove wants to be relaxed and zoned out, but its a constant fight pitting new age atmospherics and enveloping bass tones against clouds of paranoid sonic fx and anxious stuttering rhythms. I have to think Adrian Sherwood would be proud of such a far out journey.
The B-side starts with the skanking slow-mo rhythm and bass of Jura Soundsystem’s “Udaberri Blues (Original).” Things get pretty far out here, as spacey echoriffs percolate in each ear and hallucinatory sunshine vocal snippets trail through the mix alongside swelling bass clouds. This spellbinding guitar hook soars over the mix, an otherworldly mystical melody evoking some faraway galactic desert. And the rhythms continue to just move and flow, with shakers and percussive dub chords hovering in the air, the head-nodding vibes only enhanced by celestial chimes cascading all around. The “Dub Version” adds crashing waves and outerspace synthesis to a downtempo breakbeat. The cosmic chimes still fill the air with sparkling incandescence, swirling and floating over the naturalistic samples. And at some point a gorgeously gooey dub bassline emerges, grooving along with the downbeat rhythms in that classic 90s dub techno style, while the intoxicating guitar lead from the original is mutated through choppy waves of tremolo, so thick and cerebral...seemingly sustaining to infinity. The “Space Mix” ditches almost all the rhythms and douses the guitar under so much reverb and delay it is hardly visible. The whole thing is a vaporous drift anchored by glowing aquatic electronics, with wind and water intertwining with mesmeric synths and bright neon bubbles drifting to the surface.
(images scanned from my personal copy)
