‘Deus Ex Machina’ By Jack Fresia: Hand In Hand With The Machines
The EP is a rare gem of psychedelic dub-techno, exploring the relationship between a producer and Their technology means
‘Deus Ex Machina’ Artwork by Eme Sofia
This Christmas we got a wonderful gift from the Amsterdam-based modular techno producer Jack Fresia. ‘Deus Ex Machina’ is a four-track digital release of captivating dub-techno - at times impressively psychedelic for a techno EP, and simultaneously very energetic and engaging.
While the first track ‘Dubwork’ elegantly follows the sonority and tempo of atmospheric dub-techno artists like Monolake and Deepchord, the EP accelerates and gets more intense in the other three tracks. ‘Simple’ features an incredibly neat techno-groove, shifting to a higher tempo. ‘The Groove’ gets very close to a psytrance-techno sound with its upbeat bass on high BPMs and tastefully psychedelic delayed synth parts. The spectral reverbs of ’The Key’ close the release in style - this towering track is probably our favourite from the EP, with its enthralling rhythm and enchanting sound design.
“The music comes from the interaction between the mind of the artist and the potential of a machine, together they become something else, something that has attributes of both human and machine but is neither of the two.”
- excerpt THE Bandcamp Description of the release
‘Deus Ex Machina’ is a fresh example of ingenious production quality in the techno realm, showing techno can still be done in a creatively raw fashion. To put in the artists’ words, the EP is “a statement about the level of entanglement between humans and technology, to the point where our nature is being forgotten, left behind, in favour of an oversimplified lifestyle.”
As much as it’s easy to oppose technology and nature in theory, we live in an era where we are way beyond the possibility of conceiving nature as a fossil concept that doesn’t have anything to do with technology and our interaction with it. We agree with the artist that nature can exist in the relation between the two - by dictating our relationship with technology, and not by letting technology dictate what it does to us. In its own way, this music work presents an example of how we can still redefine our boundaries with technology.
In a specific musical sense, we can feel this concept is precisely mirrored in the way the tracks flow naturally with no over-processed, banal structures and climaxes, escaping simple solutions in favour of natural and deep sound build-ups (in fact, probably a result of the analogic process of production apart from a creative choice). This is a release we recommend to anyone who’s remotely into techno, and we particularly prescribe DJs to buy the release: this is not another techno EP among many, but a versatile and inventive work which can fit many different types of dance-floor oriented circumstances.
Support the artist, buy the release here.
Jack Fresia produced music for a couple of years before arriving in Amsterdam in 2015, where he fully got into producing through modular machines and live sets. He is currently exploring different fields of techno and beyond, and also developing his skills as a vinyl selector.
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