JAN JELINEK Vinyl & CDs

Review: A fresh and exciting new concept record from ambient master Jan Jelinek; the new LP Social Engineering is made of nothing more than the text-to-speech renderings of the content of phishing emails received in the musician’s inbox over an undisclosed period. Over the course of thirteen tracks, Jelinek reworks, timestretches, juggles and expands these robotic narrations into speech-synthetic soundscapes, making for a weird and well-paced foray into a certain greyscale sonic unheimlich. Beginning with a Microsoft impersonator and ending on a ‘polite threat’, Jelinek’s latest record presents an ironic conundrum; indeed, Social Engineering presents the only kind of decision under pressure - whether or not to buy ingenious new experimental ambient music - that we can’t refuse.

Review: Jan Jelinek is never one to present music without an idea behind it. On SEASCAPE - polyptych, he collaborated with Canadian visual artist Clive Holden to create an audio-visual software which, on the surface, feels like the disorientation of being immersed in or moved about by a sizeable body of water. It's subtle and shimmering, threaded with the cosy hum and micro sonic style which Jelinek has made his own, but it of course develops a new resonance when you learn all the sound has been triggered by converting ranting speeches from Captain Ahab in John Huston's 1956 adaptation of Moby Dick. Just very occasionally actual speech noises sneak through, but primarily this is a fragmented, subliminal experience which will satisfy the expectations of Jelinek's fanbase - and indeed anyone who appreciates elegant, minimalist experimentation.

Review: These days, we're all familiar with Jan Jelinek's trademark brand of dusty, dubbed-out, jazz-sampling downtempo explorations. That wasn't the case when Loop Finding Jazz Records, his acclaimed debut album, first appeared back in 2001. It has since become an in-demand item, making this reissue more than handy. It remains a fine album; a blazed shuffle through a sonic world where dub techno, ambient, minimal house, jazz and downtempo grooves and seductive vinyl crackle merge into one intoxicating hybrid sound. It's not showy and over-the-top, but rather becalmed and subtly seductive. In other words, it's still a brilliant album and if you don't own already own a copy, you should add this to your cart sharpish.