Coming home

It’s been a while since James “J.S.” Zeiter has used his own label MCMLXV to publish some new material. The last time he did that was back in 2015. Zeiter is just as mysterious as he is unpredictable, obviously not really caring about fame and publicity, releasing whenever he feels like it. Seven releases on MCMLXV in seventeen years, six of them over the course of 23 years on its sub-label JS.

It makes you wonder if the man is the ultimate perfectionist, working on his tracks forever until he is finally not dissatisfied anymore. Or if he’s just doing this on the side while he is busy saving the planet, making millions or selling life insurance. Who knows, maybe he’s actually playing in a famous band, he did remix New Order a few years back, they would probably know.

What we do need to acknowledge is that his slow release schedule ensures a high level of quality whenever he decides to put something out there for us to enjoy. If there is any indicator for that out there just look at the price tags on Discogs for his releases on JS. Hefty.

So if you got your hands on this limited release (420 copies only) you can count yourself lucky. If you don’t, go out and get it. Nice translucent orange marbled vinyl – and two tracks that will have a really long career in your DJ bag. That’s another good thing about Zeiter’s stuff – it’s pretty much timeless. You could easily slip “JS-01” from 1997 into a classy Dub Techno set and keep people happy and moving.

This one doesn’t take prisoners either. Zeiter jumps right in on the main track. Forget about a slow build and the good old layer by layer kind of first two minutes strategy. Here’s the beat, here’s the chords, now move your ass. Dub Techno with a big fat D and a big fat T, peak time compatible, driving and straight as an arrow. After a good six minutes of pounding it, Zeiter takes the foot off the pedal for the rest of the track, giving you time to think what your bag has to offer that can match this.

His “Version” is just what it should be, much deeper in Dub territory, generously and expertly working on the effects and giving you a perfect tool for the later part of the night, just in case you missed the right moment to kill it with the main track.

And if the man is so infrequently releasing his gems because his boss is piling up the work on his desk in the daytime – give that man a break. We need more of this.

Release for review:
J.S.ZEITER – KINETIC – MXMLXV – M-0007

Vinyl out of stock everywhere – get it on Discogs: Click