Never Enough Notes e-zine // reviews + interviews + music

This is a fantastically quirky little EP. Jem Panufnik, aka Jem Stone, co-founded breakbeat label Finger Lickin’ Records, has DJ’d and produced under various aliases and is also a graphic artist and composer for film and TV. You’d expect a high degree of invention from someone with a CV like that, and “Electric Circus” definitely delivers. Clocking in at less than fifteen minutes, this three track EP in no way outstays its welcome and makes a great impression while it’s here.

First track “Teleparp” is a funky, mid-tempo swing-from-space number, like Tipper jamming with Louis Armstrong, with sleek bass and lots of delicious glitchy bells and whistles to compliment the mutant brass section. It’s a joyfully imaginative tune, constantly morphing and building, and the only criticism I can level is that I wanted it to go on for about twice as long. It’s followed by “The Gasworks Gang”, which picks up the pace a little with shuffling broken beat rhythms, over which Jem Stone layers cut-up brass and 50s science fiction-style bleeps and whooshes. It’s a bit more restrained than “Teleparp” but equally funky, and there’s either a seriously good double bassist involved or Jem Stone is seriously good at precisely replicating the sound of seriously good double bass. Either way, the double bass is seriously good.

The final track of this short but very sweet release is “Hand Brake Jam”, which begins with a collage of finger snaps and mechanical sound effects before introducing a cheeky little brass riff and a bouncy house beat. Bits and pieces of car noise keep popping up at sporadic intervals, acting as bizarre percussion and giving the feel of some kind of insane jazz experiment that’s escaped from a lab and is now rolling around late-night Chicago searching for the most low-rent speakeasy available. In fact, the whole EP feels a bit like that. A fabulously idiosyncratic addition to the electro swing genre, and a producer to watch out for.