#silent servant

[disease]

SILENT SERVANT

HYPNOSIS IN THE MODERN AGE: V2 | 2016 HARM IN HAND | 2018

[ourladyofomega]

I’d never expect for both Luis Vasquez / The Soft Moon and Juan Mendez / Silent Servant (and his wife Simone Ling) to be taken from us, all at the exact same time.

I’m stunned…

[omegaremix]

Autumn 2013 Mixtape.

Evian Christ “Salt Carousel”

Death Grips Government Plates

Nine Inch Nails “All Time Low”

Chvrches “Lies”

M.I.A. “Only 1 U”

Phil Western “We Have Come To Bless This House”

Oneohtrix Point Never “Problem Areas”

Four Tet “Jupiters”

Wild Nothing “Data World”

Boards Of Canada “Nothing Is Real”

Chvrches “Now Is Not The Time”

Whitehouse “Guru”

Silent Servant “Utopian Disaster (End)”

Akitsa “Redemption”

Ron Morelli “Radar Version”

Pale Sketcher “Show Me How”

Alberich “Open Warfare”

Akitsa “Prophetie Heretique”

Bathory “Reaper”

Tech Level 2 “Hard Times”

Ostara “Darkness Over Eden”

Elliott Smith “Twilight”

Public Image Ltd. “Fodderstompf”

Gleitzeit “Ich Kommew Aus Der DDR”

Marine Girls “In Love / Honey”

Public Image Ltd. “Theme”

Crash Course In Science “Cardboard Lamb”

My Bloody Valentine “Only Shallow”

Jonwayne “404 Garbage”

Peanut Butter Wolf “Dopestyle”

Nancy Wilson “I’m In Love”

AIDS Wolf “Cities Of Glass”

AIDS Wolf “Like PSHTS Of Aerosol”

[radiophd]

silent servant -- the strange attractor

[asvividasadream]

Don't you know that I've been compromised, become the lies?

Won't be long, you know, son Once I'm gone, you'll know Won't be long, you know, son Once I'm gone, you'll know

[electronicka]

Silent Servant - M-87

[dustedmagazine]

Sandwell District — Where Next? (The Point of Departure Recording Co.)

It should have been a question. The transcontinental collective known as Sandwell District had been defunct and assumed shuttered for years, its fax machine disconnected, its Situationist International Tumblr since overtaken, when the sudden, unexpected announcement in early 2023 of a reissue effort for 2010’s celebrated Feed-Forward revived interest among the techno faithful. Its key members had been operating independently for long enough that the prospect of a return was sufficiently dim, yet here was proof of life — that the mark of anonymous, forward-thinking dance music from these corners hadn’t yet been buried. Half a year on from the reissue, another curious missive in the form of a compilation and the announcement of a Primavera Sound gig. Something was afoot. “Where next?” should’ve been appended directly with “Why now?”

Instead, it’s an elegy.

Juan Mendez (aka Silent Servant) died alongside fellow Los Angeles artist Luis Vasquez (The Soft Moon) and Mendez’s partner Simone Ling January 18th at the age of 46. Every review of Where Next? you read will address this, so it’s not necessary to belabor its circumstances or the outpouring of grief in its wake, but suffice to say that Mendez was beloved in L.A. and beyond for his work both as a producer — which he was still a master of, as his (ill-)fittingly titled In Memoriam EP out in November on Tresor confirms — and, crucially to Sandwell, its visual language. One of the key components of Sandwell District was its resolute anonymity; for years, if you were buying music off these guys, it was white label 12s with no identification save a stamp of the name and a fax number. Mendez was the one who gave the group that Situationist-inspired aesthetic, lent depth and a difficult but still discernible additional dimension that otherwise may not have been there. In retrospect, it feels like no accident that the zine, the music and the “moment” all collided at the same time; four protagonists with years of experience behind them peaking in simpatico is an exceedingly rare thing in the dance world, and to have it happen as it did was both carefully orchestrated and worth all the praise. Dusted was no exception.

Without Mendez, Sandwell District’s revival now feels precarious, uncomfortable, indeterminate. The remaining core members — Karl O’Connor (aka Regis), Dave Sumner (Function) and Peter Sutton (Female) — must return to and reassess the question of this very compilation, whose existence initially struck me as a cynical money grab but, more charitably and with more consideration, could also have been intended as a siren for something new en route, a way of reminding those who were there and a slap in the face to those who weren’t that this group wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill Tuesday night Berghain residents, this was something else.

And what was that? Take a listen: From 2002 to 2012, a dozen tracks assembled for this comp mine Sandwell District (the label) for a retrospective that graphically displays the production talent at work while still leaving something on the table. The credits here all say “Sandwell District &,” but it’s superfluous; regardless of liner notes, however, the music holds up and you know what you’re getting right from the off with Function’s “Reykjavik,” originally from 2007’s “Isolation” 12”. A wobbling, heavy low end and the lightest touch of hi-hat establish the pulse, with a twinkling alien transmission straight from a 1950s sci-fi movie offering counterweight. It’s the crashing handclap and subsequent, seemingly endless decay at 30 seconds that really wakes you up, though — like the uneasy ambiance, a familiar trope of the group’s oeuvre but one forever deployed with the deftest of touches.

“Reykjavik” is one of the two earliest songs from this compilation; the other, CH-Signal Laboratories (8003 Lucerne)’s “Hypnotica Scale (Original Mix),” preceded it in ‘07 and was originally titled simply as “Scale 1 (Original Mix).” It’s a rolling IDM number that feels more primitive, less cognizant than the productions that would follow in its use of space in your headphones. It’s also arguably the thinnest track here from one of the few names in Sandwell’s history that was never fully declassified but to my ears sounds like Sumner’s work.

As the most prominent faces of the collective (Mendez was reticent and Sutton all but invisible at the group’s peak), O’Connor and Sumner often seemed to be the ones with the heaviest hands in final output, too — consider Sumner did the final Fabric mixdown, for instance. The balance gets partly redressed here: O’Connor gets credit for two songs and two edits; Sumner gets five songs (six if you count CH-Signal); Mendez gets four; and Sutton gets a song and a remix under the Kalon alias, which he shared alongside Karl Meier, a fellow member of O’Connor’s Birmingham-based Downwards posse. It works to great effect; if you hadn’t known this was a compilation spanning half a decade and not a cohesive album from a single set of sessions, nothing gives it away. Both sequencing and pace are thoughtfully examined as the album obliterates your speakers at the proper volume and eventually rolls into the station after some 70 minutes with the only song that really lets you up for air, “Inter.”

Still, questions remain. Timing aside, foremost among them is why this comp starts with tracks from 2007 and not 2002; that’s scything half of the label’s existence out of the picture, and it’s not like “Untergang” or “Cally 2” are much the worse for wear at this remove. More pointedly, why are any singles missing at all? A double or triple LP either mixed to its constituents’ satisfaction or arranged chronologically would’ve been equally potent.

Another question: Wherefore art thou, Rrose? Like Meier, Yves de May and Bob Ostertag, Seth Horvitz existed on the outskirts of the District, only entering the frame in Feed-Forward’s wake — but it feels grossly unjust to neglect Rrose’s contributions in particular as the label wound down and its members moved on. What I said at the time of “Merchant of Salt” stands: Sandwell’s methods were perhaps best executed by an outsider who subsequently struck out into more experimental lands, extending the spirit of the collective’s reach beyond the vision of its original members; in a way, Rrose alone best answered the question posed by this compilation, which only makes their absence more conspicuous.

As with everything else swirling about Sandwell District, explanations will trickle out as glyphs or remain scant, incomplete, perhaps even contradictory. Maybe we won’t know for weeks or months; maybe we will never know. This is all part and parcel of the operation, which remains fun for the sake of intrigue but as listeners can only really leave us to trust our ears and hearts. Scrape away the calcified grayscale complexion, then, and you have what lies beyond the questions — you have the real answer, the one that matters most. Did I say elegy? Sorry, I meant panegyric. Long may it be heard.

Patrick Masterson

[disease]

SILENT SERVANT | NEGATIVE FASCINATION LIMITED DELUXE 12” BOX SET – US, 2012 [HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS: HOS-357]

This deluxe box set comprises the Negative Fascination LP and the Extended Remixes 12". The box is handmade, logo is embossed and sealed with rope. This set also contains an engraved 'Stilletto' style flick-knife, a fabric mask and some polaroids in keeping with the album artwork. Limited to 20 copies. Some copies included LP the on black vinyl while some include the grey vinyl version. Distributed exclusively by Mount Analog Records, CA.

[ourladyofomega]

Remembering Juan Mendez (Silent Servant, Sandwell District, Jealous God).

📸: Triangle Agency + Modern Matters

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for March 11, 2017; #134.

Blanck Mass “Please”

Modern Witch “Cinema”

Bary Center “Dead Savant”

Gainstage “Light Change”

White Pee “God’s Snow Isn’t Dirty”

Hanin Elias “Kraken (Syria)”

Alec Empire “Victims Of Authority”

Red Fetish “The Immortals”

Horrorist “Programmed” (Silent Servant RMX)

Exploded View “No More Parties In The Attic”

Christoph De Babalon “Surreal Mirrors”

Vatican Shadow “Church Of All Images” (Regis RMX)

The Bug & Earth “Don’t Walk These Streets”

unknown artist “ΑΝΑΣΤΕΝΑΡΙΑ” (Vatican Shadow RMX)

Black Spider Clan “Far Behind”

Appetite “Kiss Of Judas”

Gloga “Indra”

Orphan Swords “Dantalion”

Late (Spring) deluxe industrial, electronics, and darkness set. First broadcast to ever air an unknown artist.

[radiophd]

silent servant -- invocation of lust

[etrangersvoyageant]

So, checking some news this evening and found this article. Rest in peace John Juan Mendez, Luis Vasquez & Mendez' wife Simone Ling