Hard, yet human; sinister but soulful; Kendrick casts cold lines of charcoal against a softened canvas.
There’s a nice amount of electronic music activity in the Northern UK town of Newcastle. The excellent Slabs of the Tabernacle club-night seems to have migrated there from Glasgow and labels like Flight Recorder and Signals are delivering some superb cuts of House, Techno and Electro from the post-industrial stronghold. Signals is returning to vinyl with a new artist for their roster. Black Narcissus X may not mean a lot to people, but the name Jodey Kendrick might. Kendrick graced Rephlex Records in 2009 with a 12” and an album, returning last year for a double CD. He now makes his Signals debut under the veil of Black Narcissus X.
Wavering bleeps and bruised bars introduce “Clodagh Intro.” The track is half druid high-priest half C64 electro chicanery. Kendrick weaves that touch of the mysterious running through the 12”, that exploration of the sub-melody. Good ole copy and paste to help with “Νάρκισσος,” a piece squirming out of its Electro foundations. The genre bedrock is accentuated for “Clodagh Part 1,” spectral machine shifts supported by stern and steady snares. “Paro Taktsang” contains a strong underhanded element but this is balanced by much lighter chords as Kendrick tests the shades of his machinery. Cruelty is countered with kindness, the brute juxtaposed by the beauty. The end track, “Sister Ruth,” brings the six tracker full circle. Mechanical specks are strewn across wide analogue chords as shaved beats parry and snap.
Kendrick searches for a disparate equilibrium. Under the shroud of Black Narcissus X Electro is torn between the deathly and the divine. Hard, yet human; sinister but soulful; Kendrick casts cold lines of charcoal against a softened canvas.
Black Narcissus is available on Signals.
