James Dean Brown is no new comer. More than 30 years ago his live experiments with Pietro Insipido on drum machine setups were undoubtedly in the front-line of sonic innovation. Before techno was even a thing, Hypnobeat was already more techno than most of nowadays outputs, specially after JDB’s encounter with Victor Sol and Tobias Freund in 1984 when the project became a proper, fully electronic outfit. In 1995, Hypnobeat evolved to Narcotic Syntax, a band he boosted together with Yapacc in 2003, with releases on Perlon, WIR and Prospector.
Now, after joining forces with Helena Hauff, Hypnobeat is back and its essence remains entirely preserved, along with its wild, free-styled approach to hypnosurfing drum arrangements. This symbiotic relationship between JDB and Hauff culminated in multiple live performances were the connection is crystal clear in both soul and native response to analog idiosyncrasy. Hypnobeat’s performances are completely based on improvisation, exhausting the power of an untamed Roland horde which is unique on stage: 1 x TR-707 + 3 x TR-808 + 2x TB-303 + an array of effects, resulting in this sonic alchemy of provocative percussion, voodoo passion, tribal ecstasy, hypnodelic temptation, psycho-exotic magic, universal resonance, and a quantum of danger under a crypto-bohemian approach.
‘Les Siestes Électroniques’ is, as the name implies, a unique recording taken directly from their performance at Les Siestes Électroniques festival in Toulouse, France, back in 2014. These two cuts of sonic witchcraft stand as a direct look through the looking glass of what the Hypnobeat live improvisation world truly is. “Continuum Spatiotemporel Analogique” (A) throws you to the middle of a psychosis enducing, slightly chaotic, drumming-voodoo galaxy where the full potential of the Roland drum-machines is explored and contemplated. The flip-side, “La Sieste Électropicale” (B) continues the same story, but further explores this menacing beat-construction until it culminates into an eerie soundscape of ghostly reverbs, achieved with a precise and masterful manipulation of effects.
This release, just like the one before, comes recorded in a highly limited 10” vinyl, presented in a fully-colored digital collage by portuguese artist Ayane. Limited Pressing
