JP Video – ‘Spooky Action At A Distance’

I can be pretty crap. I mean REALLY crap. I’m a terrible procrastinator. A shameful waster of time and shockingly poor at prioritisation. I was meant to write a review for this album months ago. I could spend time telling you all the many reasons why it has taken me so long, but I’ll spare you the effort and just get on with it. So, apologies for the delay but here we go.

‘Spooky Action At A Distance’ is the latest offering from JP Video, multi talented artist and musician, from New Jersey. I reviewed his last album, November back in March last year, so he’s not been resting on his laurels.

As with that album, this new piece features only a small selection of tracks, but they are each varied enough for you to think there was more going on than the cover describes. ‘November’ seemed more experimental, more avant-garde but this new album seems more musical, more, dare I say it, mainstream. Don’t worry, JP hasn’t sold out to the pop demons. This stuff still makes you think. It still requires some effort and intelligence to listen to. The opening track, ‘Obeah’ is a tribal affair, preceded by some big analog synth sweeps. JP isn’t afraid to mix sounds and styles to paint his sonic pictures. He describes the inspiration behind this track as a reconstruction of a Haitian ritual he observed some years ago that involves bestiality and consumption of blood. Female chanting, djembe-esque rhythms, metallic synth droplets… it’s all in there, and works surprisingly well. I’m a big fan of fusing seemingly disparate sounds and styles.

What I’m not a massive fan of is covers of Beatles songs. To me, they are sacred vessels, not to be touched or messed with. Few get away with it. Siouxsie’s version of Dear Prudence is one that passed muster. Funnily enough, the track that JP covers is from the same album as ‘Prudence’, the classic ‘White Album’. I am told that JP covered it as a tribute of sorts to an ex girlfriend named Martha, not like Paul McCartney, for whom Martha was an old English Sheepdog! (Although I hear the irony isn’t lost on JP!) And like Siouxsie, JP pulls this off rather well, in a camp sort of way. It is by no means a bad cover at all.

The next four tracks are typical JP offerings of cinematic backgrounds, laced with sporadic melodies and sampled vocals. ‘Homicidal’ is particularly like this. ‘Minimal Wave’ is particularly lovely, starting off with arpeggiated chords that fade into a suspenseful second half, with strings and pads kept chugging along with a super fast, almost monotone arpeggio. ‘Music For Teenage Sex’, far from being littered with musical innuendo towards the awkward fumblings of adolescent coital exploration, is a sparkling blend of synthetic tones and meanderings and a smattering of sounds created by Voyager as it span past Jupiter, no less.

The final piece is ‘Ghost To Ghost’, which sees JP re-arranging a piece by Giorgio Moroder from the soundtrack of “Midnight Express”. Distinctively Moroder, but with a new feel to it.

Whilst JP retains the obvious inspiration of people like Karlheinz Stockhausen (to whom this album is dedicated) and other early electronic avant-garde pioneers, this offering feels more contemporary, more matured. It feels like JP has indulged himself in some musical fast food, but retained the silver service and best china of his experimental delivery and execution.

You can buy ‘Spooky Action At A Distance’ from CD Baby and Amazon, where it is also available as a download.