In a stellar couple of years Bintus‘ Power Vacuum label has established itself as one of the finest purveyors of the harder club-flattening side of techno. JoeFarr brings us the label’s ninth release; having shared a track with J.Tijn on the labels’ eighth release, the four way split Vectors EP, this one continues Power Vacuum’s consistent tradition of unmistakable warehouse acid. JoeFarr has had a busy half a year, releasing EPs on Belfast’s DSNT (complete with blistering Truss remix), Origami Sound, and Tiga‘s Turbo. With his release on Turbo exploring a less abrasive sound than his DSNT release, JoeFarr returns to the darker sounds of the latter. Power Vacuum then seems like a perfect fit and Sentry doesn’t disappoint.
“On Your Life” as a title, sounding like someone threatening your very existence, is rather appropriate considering the feedback that resonates through the track makes it sound like some kind of electronic animal breathing its last. Title track “Sentry” doesn’t hold back either, pulverising and screeching that make you unsure whether you should be listening to it at a rave or it should be soundtracking dodging bullets from a sentry gun in the most intense Goldeneye 64 level ever. The workout doesn’t stop with “My Sixth” which serves a straight up amelodic pulsing late night club tool. Like the rest of the EP it’s loud and mechanic, made for the warehouses and factories. “Rampart” takes up a similar mantle with the piston-like growls permeating the track, again the lack of melody showing a marked change from JoeFarr’s relatively tuneful Llarose EP on Turbo. Similarly, there’s little that resembles vocal samples, apart from in the final track “What Time Is Now”, where an exasperated robot-like voice calls out over the Farr’s relentless machine funk. It’s a highlight of the EP and ekes out every last bit of sweat in the listener regardless of the context its listened to.
It’s not really been too much of a secret that there is a slew of techno artists over the last couple of years embracing the abrasive; Perc, Truss, Tessela, Inigo Kennedy, all showing that you can make techno hit hard without having to sacrifice the fun. Power Vacuum are very much proponents of this ideology, you only have to look at the cover of label owner Bintus’ Live* & Locked to get a sense of this. JoeFarr continues this tradition and has created five tracks of equally satisfying basement tracks. With this release he’s treading a now familiar path but make no mistake, with Sentry, JoeFarr will make every effort to floor you.
Stream: JoeFarr – Sentry EP Preview (Power Vacuum)
