Jonteknik - The Satellites of Substance

Jonteknik is the solo project behind Jon Russell, an electronic music enthusiast who has been in the field since the late eighties. Having a long spanning career with several of his early demos winning "demo of the month" in various magazines, you could say this man was born to make digital music in the electro field. Under his own personal name of Jonteknik, however, he has been releasing music since 2008, starting with Tones From Home, a compilation of tracks that he made between 1994 and 1999.

Kick it up a few years later, and we're here now with The Satellites of Substance, a fantastic album filled with wonder and excitement. It really does sound fairly sci-fi, but not violent in any sense of the word. It sounds as if it belongs well within a journey into uncharted, beautiful, and friendly territory.

This is a fifteen track instrumental release, with fairly limited samples here and there. You'll find most of your enjoyment coming from the enthralling beats that never cease to amaze and inspire. People At An Exhibition is perhaps one of the best songs on the album, and the title of the song fits perfectly well. A robotic voice goes on randomly throughout the song describing what these people are seeing, or doing, in such lines as , "Strangers brought together; By the reality of the imagination; Photograph sculptures and paintings". As the lyrics to the song do sound fairly boring, I can assure you that the peaceful and upbeat music will leave you in a state of wonderment.

And, for those of you who are not necessarily looking for a light album to go through, there are a few more harder songs on the album that should be able to catch your attention, such as Music By Machines. The beat is definitely kicked up more, becoming faster and sounding as if it belongs in a side scrolling retro game.

To say that there was a song on this album that I did not enjoy would be a huge lie. Sure, some songs I think could have been better, such as Who Are You?, which was a one minute and nine second song which made things a little creepy with it's noise influences. In other words, it really didn't fit too well in this album.But, still, the rest of the album I found really damned good. This is a fun album to delve into, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for some retro sounds or anything of the like; it's truly a pleasure to listen to this album.

Mar 03 2014