Fairfax Sake

A large number of techno producers who got their start in the mid-to-late '90s started shedding styles -- whole genres, even -- from their banks of inspiration as the 2000s wore on. Some even began to confine their listening habits to two-year periods of a particular substyle from a particular country. This has not been the case with John Tejada and Arian Leviste, two West Coast-based producers who have been cranking out tough-to-pigeonhole material for several years now. Tejada's been prolific enough on his own (not to mention all of his other collaborative work), but the duo had already amassed a career's worth of material before they released this LP of all-new tracks for Playhouse. In just under an hour, the two stitch together a hybridized sound that bridges the slinky subtleties of microhouse to the fluid warmth of Detroit techno, all the while referencing so many other things at the same time that the sources are virtually untraceable. Only "Syntax Free," in all of its hiccupy blippiness, resembles someone else's sound (in this case, the sound of the Perlon label). Like most of the other full-length releases involving Tejada's work, this album is well worth tracking down; whether you've been following Kompakt or Delsin the past few years, there's plenty of moments that are worth cozying up to. ~ Andy Kellman|