4 out of 5

Label: First Cask Records

Produced by: Andy Jenkinson

Andy Jenkinson – Ceephax / Ceephax Acid Crew – has released… a lot of music. He’s one of those electro types, who, during active years, just kept chugging out material. As such, I tend to buy it when I see it, and maybe lose some context on it in the process, in terms of where it places in the artist’s career.

Andy has released for the WeMe label in the late 2010s and 2020s; I understood that FSK 005 and Acid Quakers being bundled together meant these were rereleases, but, again – context beyond that was missing. I just put it on and pressed play.

I’ve been reviewing my electronic music collection lately to better refine what I keep / collect and what goes. A lot of flashier stuff that appealed to me at a certain point is fun, but not as intriguing nowadays, and I’m finding instead that I gravitate towards composers who get balance and melody, geared towards their scene – something more clubby, like DMX Krew; and then something that feels more homebrewed and a little weird, which is where Ceephax falls for me. But Andy also has this great ability to cross over into sweaty dancefloor numbers, and FSK 005 is a wonderful example of that: warm bass beats with a lot of soulful melody, but supported by very bouncy, very playful percussion. Opener Turrican is a masterpiece of this kind of balance, with a very acidic backing and then a soothing tune atop; World Bin and Ramsden Health further this into IDM breaks, while onto the B-side, Andy flips it over more into groove, with the excellent Essex Rubicon, and Pollution.

To be clear, though, “groove” is relative: Ceephex is almost always acid, and that edginess exists here, just with a kind of bedroom softening to it. Two more playful tracks, with vocals, are hit or miss: A-side’s Mindgun’s rap errs toward weird, which works; B-side’s Yes, No Deadwood This Cedar’s layering is kind of noxious, and breaks the flow; the heavy BPMs of the live track – Acid Protege – also shake the tone up somewhat undesirably, but it’s an impressive-as-heck bit of bravado, at least.

Enjoying this thoroughly, I was then surprised to find that FSK 005… is one of Andy’s earliest efforts, having been release in 2000, which is, as of this writing, over twenty years ago. It’s always insane to me how fresh the music of these most inventive folks can sound, however many years on. While it seems the original was also released with the album Drive Time, and I can’t speak to the original production quality… I always figure it’s worth reviewing these compilations in pieces, to better appreciate each work.

One note: a Discoger commented on some differences between the WeMe and original versions, but it seems like the bandcamp version of this release has the same runtimes as the WeMe rerelease, so that’s the context of this review: the modern digital version, as noted in the title.