- In 2014, Bristol's JoeFarr proved his versatility, applying his impressive production chops to a range of rave-ready techno styles. With Longanimity, his first release this year, Farr homes in on a more singular sound. The record, a distinctive kind of IDM-techno, inaugurates Leisure System's dance floor-focussed GRIDLOCK series. His taste for grot and saturation remains, but the chaos is tightly framed by robotic broken-beat grooves, and augmented with all manner of zippy percussive detail.
"Oleum" is a solid introduction to the machinelike funk Farr is after, but things really kick off with "Mormon Shuffle." There's something wonderfully fluid about the way its hi-hats gloop and puddle around the beat, and, later, the breakbeat that's squeezed into the crevices between its cast-iron kick drums. "Standard Issue" is darker and more hypnotic, and offers a moment of euphoria in the gorgeous pads that spill across the breakdown like ink. Finally, just as Farr's formula is starting to wear thin with "FS3+4," he chucks in some rave chords—because, as we all know, you can't go wrong with rave chords.
TracklistA1 Oleum
A2 Mormon Shuffle
B1 Standard Issue
B2 FS3+4