Artist: Solvent
Title: RDJCS5-ep
Label/Cat: Suction Records / suction022
Format: 4-song EP digital/lim.12" vinyl
Release Date: Sept. 6, 2011

A1: Curtains
 A2: Radiator
 B1: Mould
 B2: Tassels 
B3: Sandpaper [vinyl-exclusive]

Occasionally one reads about some musical instrument with an illustrious past, Jimi Hendrix's guitar, John Lennon's piano, selling for exorbitant amounts of money at auction. And typically, that's the last of it, the instrument disappearing into some rich collector's display case, never to be heard from again. Here then, is a bit of a different story. In April 2006, a Yamaha CS5 monosynth, having been owned by Richard D James (Aphex Twin), with the actual liner notes for his landmark "Selected Ambient Works Volume II" etched into the bottom, was sold at VEMIA auction for approximately $1200 - a bargain in retrospect. The winning bidder was, in fact, a friend of Solvent's, and the synth resides not in a display case, but in Solvent's studio, on generous long-term loan.

"RDJCS5", a new 4-track 12-inch / digital EP by Solvent, is the result. This is Suction022. Each and every sound on this record came from RDJ's old CS5, painstakingly programmed and multi-tracked by Solvent over the course of several months. The limited capabilities and sound palette of this humble little synth provided quite a challenge, but ultimately the results are not merely an exercise in technical synthnerdery; "RDJCS5" speaks more of Solvent's musical kinship to thee Analord. Opening track "Curtains" bears similarity to early Rephlex signing Bochum Welt, while "Radiator", "Mould", and "Tassels" each contain hallmarks of the classic AFX sound. At the same time, each track also sounds distinctly and unmistakably 'Solvent'.

The 12" vinyl edition is limited to 300 copies, in brown chipboard sleeve with sticker, and also contains an additional noise/drone piece at the end of side B. Entitled "Sandpaper", this cut will be individually hand-etched by Solvent, for a 1-of-a-kind cut/click/loop experience.

http://www.suctionrecords.com/rdjcs5

Curtains ['R D J C S 5 A 1' - suction022]

http://solventcity.com

http://facebook.com/solvent

http://discogs.com/artist/Solvent

For over a decade, Jason Amm’s work as Solvent has neatly defied categorization. His music is too sweetly melodic for techno or acid, his compositions too fiendishly detailed for synth-pop. He was too steeped in the sounds of the ‘80s to participate in the incipient IDM scene; he was briefly lumped in with the short-lived electroclash movement, only to outlive it; he’s played “minimal wave” parties and goth clubs, indie-rock shows and techno all-nighters. But even as words fail in the face of Solvent’s music, its pleasures are anything but elusive.

Today, Zimbabwe-born Jason Amm lives in Toronto, ON, where he spends his time obsessively grappling with an outsized collection of vintage analog synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers. Solvent first materialized in 1997 with a string of singles and full-lengths (1998’s Solvent, 1999’s Solvently One Listens) on Amm’s own Suction Records, the Toronto-based label he founded with Lowfish’s Gregory DeRocher. The watershed release Solvent City (2001) on Berlin-based Morr Music introduced Amm’s sound to a wider audience, and Apples &amp; Synthesizers (2004) marked Solvent’s move to Ghostly International. Along with notable remixes of artists including Soft Cell, Alter Ego, and Adult., Solvent tracks have appeared on high-profile DJ mixes and seminal compilations.

Solvent’s most recent record on Ghostly International, 2010?s Subject to Shift, marks a turn for the darker as Amm embraces his love of the abrasive sounds of acid and industrial. And while a sinister tone or two now dances among Solvent’s sparkling hooks and bright streaks of synthesizer, and while Amm’s music drifts even further from accepted genre-specific reference points, Solvent’s sound has only deepened. After more than ten years of composing love songs for robots, Amm sounds like nothing more than himself.

