Justin Robertson : Justin Robertson presents Revtone

Lionrock man's homage to vinyl...

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

and Felix Da Housecat

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

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