CETU JAVU Vinyl & CDs

Review: Contrary to its ultra-crisp sound - one that suggests it could've been made today - Cetu Javu's Southern Lands was first released on Basic Mix in 1990. Catering to the largely cassette-bound underground of Barcelona at the time, Basic Mix acted as a little-known sublabel through which acts like Javu could express their best and rawest sides. Comprising Javier Revilla and Chris Demere, Cetu Javu had moved to Barcelona from Hanover, Germany - inspired by the works of Kraftwerk, Soft Cell, and Jean-Michel Jarre - and thus produced Southern Lands following a tour shared with fellow acts Wolfsheim and Blind Passengers. The album is shockingly well-made, bespeaking the power of minimal production and conservative vocal processing to achieve a crystal-clear, no less upfront, 'naked' industrial sound.

Review: Javier Revilla Diez, Chris Demere, Stefan Engelke and Torsten Engelke put out an incredible back catalogue as Cetu Java. Active between 1987 ad 1994, they took inspiration from the formative synth-pop years, but rather than replicating, added plenty to the formula that you could say was specific to this outfit. If that were't obvious back then, it's certainly clear to hear listening back today, 30 years after they disbanded and all-but-vanished from the spotlight (after the split, it would be a quarter century before they fave another media interview). Plenty of mythology around the group, then, Where Is Where was, in many ways, their magnum opus. First released in 1992, it not only calls on the group's European roots - with members from Spain, and a base in Germany - it also opens things up stylistically. So, while songs like the title track, 'Time', 'Sometimes' and many more are saturated in a classic synth pop sound, elsewhere the likes of 'Un Dia Normal', 'Dame Tu Mano' and 'Caribbean Dream' opt for something more exotic altogether, without jarring with difference.