The techno masters join up to venture ever deeper into electronic sound

Both John Tejada and Natan H each have extensive experience in electronic production, both in a personal creative capacity and as a part of their respective careers. Now the two have come together to create a new partnership, fuelled by their passion for music and infused with decades of shared experience.

Tejada is well established as an artist, having worked on releases for a host of labels including industry favourite Kompakt. His own label ‘Palette Recordings’ has been running since the mid 90’s. His colleague Natan H has been producing under the moniker Gauss, and brings his own left-field attitude to the collaboration.

‘Machine Lab’ focuses on the realms of techno and minimal house, cultivating tones and themes that experiment with futuristic noise capable of coaxing the listener into a new landscape. It’s a project which still feels fresh and promising, with just two tracks currently released.

The essentialist ‘SVF’ opens the EP, playing with tweaks of electronica and found sound style samples which wander from the physical to ethereal. ‘Thru Zero’ is a more downtempo release but no less polished in its ambience. The house influence in the track keeps the rhythm crisp and impactful, but it’s the samples which dart through the background which keep the sound so vibrant.

Remixes present an opportunity for separate talents to cross paths, blending their sound and style to view already successful work from new perspectives. The compact three track EP recently dropped by composer and DJ John Tejada provides exactly that kind of chance, passing over his track ‘Moving 909s’ to the London based electronic duo Plaid.

Plaid is a project of Andy Turner and Ed Handley, who have been getting things done since the late 80’s. Founding members of ‘The Black Dog’, a group which helped to pioneer Techno in the UK, the pair has undeniably claimed their space in the electronic scene. Plaid was formed back in 1995 and has been their main focus since.

The release itself references back to Optical’s 1997 track ‘Moving 808s’, with the two tracks sharing an essentialist style and a core bass line. Tejada infused a minimalist atmosphere, respecting a gradual, premeditated progression which left room for both silence and contemplation. It’s a methodology which stays true to his favoured approach of sample manipulation in an environment with limited options.

Plaid has transformed the original and delivered an edit weighted down by a greater gravity, where melodic patterns run above darker beats of techno house.

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Check out the label - Palette Recordings
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