The 2nd news about Jealous God of this day, after the preview on Domenico Crisci‘s amazing EP, is not half as good. As briefly mentioned before, the label will call it quits after a final series of releases, and Issue no. 12 was just the start of the farewell tour.
Establishing an unique visual and musical aesthetics from the very beginning in 2013 on, with the release of Silent Servant‘s and Svreca‘s SS/S‘ EP Sicario De Dios, James Ruskin‘s Into A Circle and Silent Servant‘s Issue 03, the label soon curated amazing—and sometimes very different—artists in- and outside the circle of usual “Industrial Techno” suspects, such as 51717, Damien Dubrovnik or In Aeternam Vale—as much as banger creators Terence Fixmer, Phase Fatale or Alexey Volkov, who laid down some amazing tunes.
In combination with mix CDs given away with the first few releases, digging up forgotten or still praised heroes of Post Punk, Wave, Industrial and Techno, Jealous God managed to establish a no-compromise, no-bullshit take on the current resurgence of Post Punk and Industrial within the Techno scene, seamlessly blending The Cramps with British Murder Boys, Sunn O))) and Cut Hands. It all made sense, and certainly influenced a lot of things that started to emerge shortly after the label’s first releases.
The music created by the contributing artists reflected on these influences, sometimes more, sometimes less directly. With Broken English Club, Silent Servant created the pounding No-Wave influenced track Speed and Violence, James Ruskin’s contribution featured some hard, gritty and Industrial Techno tracks, Damien Dubrovnik pulled off their unique and captivating frequency massacres, In Aeternam Vale is, whatever he is doing, opening your ears with synth magic, and Phase Fatale gave EBM a steel bath—turning rusty machines into chromed High-Tech machines, efficient and deadly.
Before Jealous God finally goes to the happy hunting grounds, there is more to come. The next releases are crafted by Champagne Mirrors, Black Merlin, Alessandro Adriani, Beau Wanzer and Pye Audio Corner, all marking their first releases with Jealous God—Phase Fatale, Broken English Club, Alexey Volkov and Silent Servant will add some of their well-known and highly appreciated takes on EBM, Wave, Minimal Synth and Industrial Music to accompany the label’s fadeout as pallbearers.
Music by: Champagne Mirrors
The future of Jealous God has now been cast into stone, but that doesn’t mean that Juan Mendez ceases his activities of scouting talents and unearthing gems—as Sandwell District eventually came to an end, Jealous God will see a worthy successor for sure. Celebrating the label with one last bang, a line-up curated by him can be seen at Berlin Atonal on Friday, August 26th, dubbed Optimistic Decay. From 01:00 on, Silent Servant and Phase Fatale will perform together, later on December, 51717, Champagne Mirrors, DVA Damas, Alexey Volkov and Kerri Le Bon will hit the stage—celebrating an amazing early funeral party for one of the most important labels of the past few years.
It was a pleasure knowing you, Jealous God Ltd. Your influence cannot be underestimated.