Jeanga and George - European Repetitive Beat
JeanGa and George, the international producers, music enthusiasts, and gentlemen DJ duo, release their debut album European Repetitive Beat on Greco-Roman today.
European Repetitive Beat – or E.R.B. – exists in a place firmly set in Europe where the rhythms and melodies of Gallic House meet those of Northern British Techno, with the Balearic fusion happening somewhere between Auld Alliance and friendly misunderstanding.
An eclectic range of influences, the album is aptly named as an attempt to best describe the music it contains. JeanGa and George make music based on electronic repetitions, melodic idiosyncrasies and their strong sense of being European; one being Scottish and the other French.
The duo’s penchant for experimentation rings through tracks such as ‘Showtime’ and ‘New Generation’, with an undeniably 80s tone to the vocals and elements of disco and electronic funk blended with the unconventional percussive sounds of steel drums and cowbells.
‘Sunscreen’ and ‘Compromise’, which are accompanied by a pair of drug-fueled but child-friendly videos, act as the audio-visual manifestation of this album. The characters were illustrated by Georgia Sawers, who created for JeanGa and George a psychedelic world of pen and ink, somewhere between Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Shrigley. Whilst sonically, ‘Sunscreen’ is a delightfully, playful piano led electronic ode to the summer, ‘Compromise’ feels more experimental, the piano playing a more arresting and dramatic melody as the protagonist questions the meaning of the word compromise.
A diverse, yet cohesive body of work; this intriguing album is held together by two emotive instrumentals. Opener, ‘Vista Del Mar’, sounds as it is described. A pleasant concoction of arpeggiated synths, twanging and isolated strums of an electronic guitar and a gentle percussion that builds up to crescendo and retreats just like the tides, lapping gently forward and back. The closer, ‘Gates of Dawn’ follows a similar structure as it moves along with constant introductions of extra layers of texture building to a crescendo. Gently crashing cymbals and flecks of vocoder sit above the continuous, calm hum of the harmonic chords.
JeanGa and George was born after a chance meeting at a London auction where the two producers were bidding against each other on the same Roland 707 drum machine. To avoid tears, they decided to share it and used their new acquisition to create their own breed of House, Techno and Balearic beat.
European Repetitive Beat marks the final creative product of a meeting of minds and a shared PayPal account.
European Repetitive Beat is OUT TODAY 20th January, 2017 via Greco-Roman.
