Sandwell District: WHERE NEXT? LP

Sandwell District hustle classic and exclusive single trax on a timely compilation plucked from their stellar, definitive run of the ‘00s-into’10s While unplanned as such, ‘Where Next?’ coincidentally serves as an epitaph to the legacy of Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant, a key member of the SD gang - responsible for its signature graphic design and many of its best tunes - who tragically passed very recently, leaving a lot of devastated comrades and acolytes in his wake. RIP. ‘WHERE NEXT?’ follows with a staunch reminder of what made SD so brilliant, flowing thru a dozen robust examples of the way how the collective pooled their energies to refine and elegantly intensify strands of techno they’d individually, respectively developed and pursued since the mid ‘90s. It should be considered an ideal partner piece to their self-titled album of 2011, which sold out in an instant upon its 2023 reissue. There’s no better pace to dive in than ’Sampler 1 B1 (Regis Edit)’, a total percy of ours from day one, and an elegiac example of Regis & Silent Servant in slinkiest syncopation, and we also have to highlight the group at their most classic, body and melodic in the glyding bleep techno of ‘Inter’ featuring the cool hand of Function at the tiller. The Kalon (Female & Karl Meier) mix of Silent Servant’s ‘Violencia’ is another clear standout giving us flashbacks to classic sessions in Manchester and Berlin, and ‘Haiku (Regis Edit)’ is practically a CUB cut by another name, while the heads will no doubt be enticed by appearances of the still mysterious CH-Signal Laboratories, and pure meat motor fuel in the likes of Regis’ pendulous techno stepper ‘Man is the Superior Animal’, and an exclusive girder ‘Ember (New Mix)’. Suffice to say we, like many others, will sorely miss chewing the fat in club backrooms with Juan Mendez, before/after dancing to his DJ sets. RIP man. Gone but certainly not forgotten.