Personal Computer Music, 1997-2022

Jeremy Dower briefly appeared on the electronic music landscape with a handful of releases during the early 2000s on labels like Plug Research and Chapter Music which brought to mind the Muzak-inspired easy listening mood music of Curd Duca, but with a surreal touch of ambient techno glitchiness not unlike Uwe Schmidt/Atom Hearts various monikers. Since that time, hes become much more well-known as a visual artist, film director, and lecturer, and he contributed a chiptune-inspired rendition of Danny Elfmans iconic theme to The Simpsons for a pixilated version of the shows opening couch gag, which went viral on YouTube and was then used in the show itself. Soon after Chapter Music made Dowers brief discography available on streaming for the first time, the label issued Personal Computer Music, 1997-2022, an archival compilation mainly consisting of previously unreleased material from throughout Dowers career. The first half consists of tracks recorded under his own name, and its in the gentle, fuzzy, lounge-friendly mode best described by the song title "Faux Jazz." The songs are filled with synthetic reed sounds and occasional dubby echo, and theres a slight swing to pieces like "Double Transgression." While the tracks are generally pretty chilled-out and easygoing, theres still a slightly haunting air to selections like "Aesthetic Memory," though theyre much more chipper than Twin Peaks-style dark jazz, and sound somewhat closer to the Caretaker in dub. The second half of the album consists of Dowers more beat-driven ambient techno work under the unpronounceable and nonsensical name Tetrphnm. These end up being a bit more experimental than his eponymous tracks, switching things up with different time signatures and indulging in whimsical moods on tracks like the racing, spritelike "Transmodal Projection." A few of these are wintry, subtly detailed minimal techno tracks along the lines of Jan Jelineks Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, but theres also an extremely pleasant, pastoral downtempo cut called "Shareware," as well as a groovy Balearic house jam called "Peak Leisure." The whole set reveals Dower to be an unheralded visionary whos been quietly crafting gorgeous music for decades to little notice. ~ Paul Simpson