Not the first time we’ve shouted about Reel Torque in these pages. The catalogue’s been an interesting one with a partially mixed split from Chris Menist and Awkward Corners, a few studio mixes from the likes of Delroy Edwards and Slackk’s incredible grime mix; and then my personal favourite which is the raw live recordings, the style of which Hieroglyphic Being captured perfectly when he christened the Reel Torque back in March 2013.
With Jon K stepp
ing up to this one, I really can’t believe there’s not been more noise made about this from the chinstroke massive. For those that don’t know, Manchester legend (though Leicester born) and Hoya:Hoya resident Jon K is the DJs DJ, your favourite DJs DJ in fact. Ask anyone who cut their teeth around the UK in the last decade, or those that relied on him to pull records to stack their crates when Fat City was still a store.
An all-round selector, Jon K’s known for his selection and deck skills as much as his deep crates and record knowledge. His mixes to date have thrown up all-sorts, oddities of wax mixed in with club joints and hip-hop beats. And while we’ve come to expect everything from him, he still manages to pleasantly surprise us.
It’s so wrong that there’s so little physical available from Jon K, but being a DJ of his calibre it’s part and parcel I guess. The man’s al about the live mix, playing tunes for the club. But that’s what makes this cassette even more special.
Loukanikos’ Dance is a 100-minute mix cut down the middle for the cassette format. Not even going to try and train-spot, but take our word that this is probably the best mix you’ll ever pay for. Decades of wax digging tied together with themes and styles, from industrial to chilled techno to beats and live joints – it’s all on there and seamlessly makes sense. No track list, and the man Jon K, despite being one of the nicest chaps I’ve come across, isn’t about to give it away. Dude’s a proper DJ, and you can’t blame him for protecting his tunes.
There’s no previews either, but some of Manchester’s finest music purveyors (Boomkat and Piccadilly) are stocking the tape. Get on it quick, this shit’s amazing.
via Piccadilly Records
Over the two sides, Jon K keeps us more than on our toes, a schitzophrenic mix of all the the parts that make the man, flitting with ease and finesse between minimal wave darkness, post-punk obscurity, punishing industrial throbbers, primitive future bass experiments and lashings of acid when deemed fit. The ongoing theme between tracks seems to be rhythms, with little attention to grouping together tracks of the same genre of style, instead preferring a continuous stream of influences held together by the tiniest nuance, whether its a similiar conga sound, a key-matched synthline or simply a complimenting rhythm. I couldn’t ID a single track! A testimant to Jon’s crate digging and inginuity, but don’t think this is a self-indulgent fancy, there’s not a single tune on the mix that you don’t NEED to own, and for me tells a thoroughly legit story of all things counter culture. A soundtrack to the underground from the last 30 years or so. You could call this a punk mix tape, although there’s probably only one or two ‘punk’ tracks on there. Jon K is a punk through and through! And whether its his indiscriminant selection, his completely uncompromising mixing style or the sheer snotty audacity of some of these selections, you can’t help to picture a plethora of died mohawks, studded jackets and black eyeliner thorugh this mirage of sound. Most excellent. Highly recommended.