Juait
Juait comes from the Atlantic coast of Galicia (Spain). Musically influenced by the British Isles to the north and by Portugal to the south, his productions and DJ sets are characterized by the influence of broken rhythms, breaks, electro, grime, and the experimental side of club music.
Hailing from Santiago de Compostela, Juait’s music opens up a universe of intersecting influences and rhythms, which include tarraxo, UK garage rhythms, percussion and the darker side of electronic music. The goal: to immerse the listener in an ocean-like melting pot of experiences and emotional states stemming from dance heterodoxy.
Shuttling back and forth between the euphoria of a raver and the intimacy of ambient atmospheres, Juait paints a kaleidoscope of variations soaked in a unique and resplendent cybernetic personality.
Lorenzo Senni
Lorenzo Senni was never a raver. Growing up in Rimini, the young artist was fascinated by dance culture as he witnessed close friends interact with a neon-hued chemical world that remained at odds with his own. Senni was a rave voyeur, studying hedonism from a distance, fascinated by its maximalist, expressive charm.
When Senni released Quantum Jelly in 2012, it marked the beginning of an ongoing challenge. Using the aesthetic language of dance music, he allowed his outsider's curiosity to inform his own brand of experimentation: "pointillistic trance".
On 2016's Persona, Senni fleshed out the gooey trance of his earlier records to a widescreen version, adding memorable pop hooks seemingly borrowed from an anime show or video game. Scacco Matto continues in this vein; it's an album of songs, not ideas. And while the sound is still built around Roland’s JP-8000, the influence of trance is now written into the music’s DNA, rather than simply on the surface. It's tongue in cheek, an album that thrives on humor in an increasingly bleak dance landscape that prioritizes greyscale techno and self-consciously dark iconography.
Senni sees his music reflected in photographer John Divola's work; he is not destroying dance music but vandalizing it. Once a rave voyeur, he is now a rave raconteur with years of experience informing his choices. He is making bolder decisions, poking fun at formulaic dance and lampooning it with sensitivity, skill, and experience. On Scacco Matto, Lorenzo Senni completes an agonizing puzzle, flashing a knowing wink at the camera: checkmate.