New music from Spor is a fairly rare treat these days, with the main focus of Jon Gooch’s time being his lower-tempo Feed Me alias, but what he lacks in quantity he certainly makes up for in quality. Anachronic lands four years after the Black Eyed EP and five years on from the Caligo LP, but if you’re looking for detailed, cerebral neuro that still packs enough punch for the dancefloor this will certainly scratch that itch.
In Rixa opens the EP with a Ghost In The Shell-esque intro before crashing into a helter-skelter of heavy hitting percussion and roaring basslines, maintaining that chaos until the final minute when the track drops into a more conventional rolling breakbeat. Beam Cannon picks up that energy, keeping things simmering along nicely with call and response patterns jumping between funk bass hits, synth growls and melodic flourishes.
Title track Anachronic brings a rock aesthetic to the table; snatches of distorted guitar intermingle with weighty drums and some characteristically twisted bassline modulations for possibly our favourite track from the EP. Things then take a left-turn for Your Mind is Water, which channels old Photek records into a deep and ominous journey through sub pressure and intricate drum programming.
Turning that energy back up to eleven for the finishing salvo, Cohesion provides the most obviously dancefloor-focused track, with a hooky bassline riff and pounding drum line. Finally Count My Blessings heads off into full pop & bass anthem territory with a vocal led number reminiscent of some of Pendulum’s later output. This one will probably prove divisive; certainly in danger of stepping over the line into outright cheese, it is nonetheless a very well-constructed tune.
Whatever your thoughts on Jon’s rock-star aspirations on the closing track, this is another varied and interesting release from one of the finest producers in the scene. Who knows when we’ll get more, but fingers crossed it won’t be another four years. Check out the tracks below, and hit this link to grab the EP on vinyl or digital from your favourite outlet. We’d also thoroughly recommend checking out Spor’s mix for UKF Hyper Vision, which features a number of tracks from the EP alongside some lives modular jams and as-yet unreleased material.