As the younger brother of Cobblestone Jazz founder Mathew Jonson, Canadian producer Nathan Jonson received heavy exposure to electronic music from an early age, though in truth his wonky, contorted productions reveal an influence more indebted to the likes of Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, compared to the more streamlined techno stylings of his older sibling. As Hrdvsion (pronounced ‘Hardvision’), Jonson’s released a steady stream of 12”s on Wagon Repair and Itiswhatitis since 2002 whilst also remixing the likes of Milanese and Dominik Eulberg, though this latest release on Wagon Repair Where Did You Just Go? sees him only just now getting around to releasing his ‘proper’ debut album. It’s certainly an ambitiously eclectic collection that manages to cover an impressive range of divergent territory over its seventeen tracks. After opening track ‘Orange Juice’ offers up a suitably bizarre contorted and pitchshifted vocal intro that sees Jonson extolling the virtues of orange juice, the jittery, off-centre sounding ’842 Colours’ sees glittery ping-pong synth fragments bouncing over a shuffling backdrop of elastic bass-pulses and sudden drop-outs that hints towards a fractured Luke Vibert-esque sense of digi-funk at points.
By contrast, ‘Betrayed’ flirts with dancehall-meets-garage rhythmic stylings as it places flickering monophonic synth stabs against scissoring steppa breakbeats, before the head-scrambling ‘Bonker Brainss’ sends hiphop rhythms and grinding synth tones through a mass of treacherous pitchshifting and DSP trickery, only for delicate Plaid-esque synth melodies to drag proceedings out of the dark morass in favour of calmer waters. Dancefloors are also certainly well catered for here, with the spectacular ‘Closed Eyes’ going for maximum late night effect with its spectral blend of eerie delayed-out synth arpeggios, powerful techno rhythms and sudden spinbacks, while ‘Cause I Love You’ easily providess one of this album’s biggest highlights as it takes things out into seven minutes of glittering tech-y synth grandeur that nods as equally towards classic Italo-house as it does the Warp label. If you’re into robust dancefloor techno stylings given a headtwisting dose of mutated DNA contortion thrown into its system, Where Did You Just Go? is well worth seeking out.
Chris Downton
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