Loose in London is home to the Scram and Loose Trax events, hosted by Julian Fairshare and described as regular monthly dance music sessions taking place in venues in South London. It’s also a record label, with just two releases so far – When The Organism Feels Safe by Calder, and today’s item Why So Eager (LL002) by Leslie.
I’m unable to tell you anything much about Leslie, and neither is the creator apparently – the record arrived with a hand-written note informing me that it was released in a used and newly-stamped sleeve. On the grooves of the enclosed CDR, we have a weird disc image of a ghastly inhuman visage, more pig than man, and some puzzling but interesting and unusual experiments in electronic music. Clearly derived from dance culture to some extent, but even those tracks with a solid beat are hardly likely to please a crowd of fun-loving revellers, and sound somewhat remote and hollowed out, as if perceiving the modern urban landscape as something bleak and alien. Indeed one detects that same alien streak running through most of these disaffected tracks, with their decidedly odd sounds and non-normal arrangements. Leslie has an approach to dub-inflected mixing which is perhaps a little crude and untutored, but all the better for that – it leads to strange blank spaces and yawping gaps, wrong-footing the listener’s expectations.
We should also mention the very stark, undecorated sound – not to say it’s anything like the sort of polished minimal electronica of the Cologne school, but rather that the creator limits themselves to a restricted range of instruments, and is positively frugal when it comes to adding effects. While the genre of music may be a little out of my line, I found there’s much to enjoy in this curious item, with its raw and unfinished feel. From 4th March 2022.