https://9128live.bandcamp.com/album/session-one
Genre: Minimalism
Rating: 5/5
released on bandcamp August 20, 2021
Hopefully I’m wrong but I can see this as potentially not receiving near the credit it deserves. This is a dense forest of music that is in no way static. While it’s smooth and never jars the listener it’s also surprisingly eclectic and borrows from various traditions. I can hear echoes of early Tangerine Dream, recent recordings by Tim Hecker, and the compositional stylings and organization of Philip Glass. It also has that slow natural progression perfected by William Basinski. And all of it from the first second to the last is top tier. It’s right up there with the best of the best.
And I’m not going skip over Jo Johnson’s history with a the legendary riot grrrl band Huggy Bear. This clip: https://youtu.be/lfP5HNvsWAo alone should make it clear to anyone with ears their staggering greatness. That’s a clip that simply can’t help but age well. I like that clip enough to say, at that time and place at least, it’s right there with X-Ray Spex and The Slits. It’s music that instantaneously redefines the parameters. Or I should say corrects the parameters and is every bit as revolutionary as it sets out to be.
Johnson’s legacy continues. Get on board if you’re not already.
Warmth Highest 