Justin Robertson’s first solo album – his first full-length work since
Lionrock’s ‘City Delirious’ in 1998 – opens with ‘Count Crackle’, 39 seconds of
enormous, ominous run-out grooves.
A self-conscious homage to vinyl, it serves notice that this is very much a club
record from a working DJ. And a club record with a distinct emphasis on a pre-CD
era. Over 14 tracks, ‘Revtone’ cross-pollinates 80s clubland styles, taking in
the punk-funk multiculturalism of New York’s Mudd Club, New Romantic hang-outs
(synths as icy as the regulars’ stares) and, latterly, black, gay Chicago
warehouse parties where disco begat house and the walls ran with sweat, amyl and
sex.
Oddly, Robertson’s not alone in this. Acts as disparate as Trevor Jackson’s Playgroup, Fischerspooner
have all produced quality albums
this year by referring back to 80s club sounds through the prism of new
technology. Some people will find this hopelessly defeatist, but when the
post-modern mix’n’match sounds this good – and still this fresh and different –
why complain?
From the 23 Skidoo visceral sleaze of ‘Crawling To You’ through the dark, tribal
disco of ‘I Am, You Are’ to the twinkly-eyed Balearic gem, ‘The Brightest
Thing’, ‘Revtone’ is vibrant and alive, unpolished and urgent. A timely
reminder, in fact, of how human and evocative dance music can be.
Tony Naylor