Clues To The Edit

Jezebell aka Jesse Fahnestock and Darren Bell have a new release, Cream Tease, out on 2nd October which they, er, teased on Wednesday with The Big Time.

The Big Time starts off like the frenetic, amped up relation of 2022's Visage-sampling Dumbell, building layers of sound so that as you approach the halfway mark, you think you know where this is going. Only it just gets even bigger, the titular sample dropping in a minute or so later. it's not just big, it's huge.

I've been lucky enough to receive a sneak preview of four tracks and they all deliver chug and chuckle in equal measure, with some muscular rhythms and grin-inducing samples. I mean, you need more cheek than a Carry On film to name tracks Donkey and Hung, but they are bloody great.

Donkey misdirects with a few seconds of martial drumming before switching to the more familiar stepping beats and synth flourishes, soon accompanied by an array of Spanish-flavoured samples. 

 

Hung comes in with some heavy beats, a guitar loop and dislocated vocals, like all of the music on offer, seeming like it could go on for at least twice it's seven-minute duration. An infectious track, to use a cliche.

Then there's Darren's Theme which, if were fronting a TV show, would be on at 2.00am on a subscriber-only channel with advisories about adult content. A pounding, sped-up beat straight out of 1992, we're barely 30 seconds in before the groans and sighs begin and a sampled vocal (Karen Finlay?) is making aggressive advances, with a looped response sizing up their male member. 

 

You'll either splutter tea all over the letters page of the Daily Mail, before taking up at the keyboard to type your own letter of digust. Or, like me, you'll love it. 

 

Putting the sleaze in Cream Tease, Jezebell delight in having established an instantly recognisable style but never getting complacent.

Or sleeping, it seems. It's hardly been a quiet 2024 for Jesse and Darren, with the Weekend Machines EP, remixes aplenty for other artists and a standalone (and standout) contribution to the Shelter Me - In Crisis compilation for Paisley Dark Records in April. And that's not forgetting Jesse's extracurricular activity as 10:40 and Electric Blue Vision.

So, as an added treat, I've created an (almost) hour-long mix of 2024 highlights so far. 

 

I've only included The Big Time from Cream Tease as that should be sufficient motivation to pre-order the full release. Likewise, I've left out Perfect Din from the Shelter Me - In Crisis as I (kind of) featured it in a previous post in May.

One final omission is Jezebell's remix of Bibbles by Andres y Xavi. I'd like to say it's because I featured it in a Dubhed selection back in March, but Jesse and Darren provided three great remixes. 

 

I'd also like to say that including it would have pushed today's selection over the one hour mark and I was being strict with timings.

In truth, I got confused and I thought the remixes had been released in 2023, the same as Andres y Xavi's original versions. Sorry!

 

I think the 9 tracks here more than make up for it, though. The Big Time is a strong opener and from there you get two of Jesse's 10:40 remixes, the latter of himself with Emilia Harmony on vocals. All of the Weekend Machines EP, bar a remix of the title track, get an airing as do Jezebell's 808 remixes of two of their songs, released on 808 Day, 8th August 2024.

 

Hey You by Puerto Montt City Orchestra is a cover/reimagining of a 1988 song called Hay Fever by 14 Iced Bears. Puerto Montt City Orchestra aka Angus Murray and Tim Salter persuaded frontperson Robert Sekula to re-record his vocals and, put through the 10:40 rinse, the song becomes a euphoric, uptempo excursion to a beachfront club.

 

Pandit Pam Pam is Brazilian artist Eduardo Ramos. His track Pass A Wish gets two Paul Simon-inspired (in title only, perhaps) remixes from Jezebell. The 50 Ways remix is equally excellent, but the Leave Your Lover slotted in seamlessly with the mix, in sonic terms equal parts chug and hug. 

 

I always enjoy having a crack at a Jezebell selection, but this one was an especial pleasure. Not just because everything seemed to click and naturally fall into place - this is about the closest this cack-handed amateur DJ will ever get to almost competent beat matching and cross-fades, I promise you - but because the music is just so very, very good.

 

I'll be listening to this - and the original tracks by Jesse, Darren and co. - a lot over the coming weeks. It may be thunder, lightning and torrential rain outside but whilst I'm listening to this, it's a glorious, endless summer. 

1) The Big Time: Jezebell (2024)

2) Hey You (10:40 Remix): Puerto Montt City Orchestra ft. Robert Sekula (2024) 

3) Trance Stance (10:40s Haight Steppin Remix): Electric Blue Vision (2024)

4) Autostrada: Jezebell (2024)

5) Dumbell (808 Day Remix): Jezebell (2024)

6) Weekend Machines (Single Version): Jezebell (2024)

7) Citric: Jezebell (2024)

8) Pass A Wish (Jezebell's Leave Your Lover Mix): Pandit Pam Pam (2024)

9) Dancing (Not Fighting) (808 Day Remix): Jezebell (2024)

 

Clues To The Edit (57:39) (KF) (Mega) 

You can also find May 2024's Jezebellearic Beats Volume 1 (Dubhed Selection EP) right here.