John T. Gast: INNA BABALON Vinyl 2LP

Not much is known about John T. Gast, but we first learned of him after spotting his name buried in the credits for Hype Williams’ (Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland) Black Is Beautiful LP for Hyperdub. Gast has continued to work with the two elusive producers since they parted ways shortly after Black Is Beautiful, and has amassed a small but impressive ouvre of his own, working with some of the UK’s most exciting labels. In the time since Excerpts, his 2015 debut full-length for Planet Mu, he’s released one-off plates for Blackest Ever Black and Apron, released a limited CD-R of woodland casiotone and dungeon riddims as Young Druid, and linked back up with Copeland for “Sisters Of Control,” a masterclass in sultry dub. While Excerpts served as a thorough survey of Gast’s many styles and moods, INNA BABALON doubles down on haunted, cynical, end-of-world vibes filtered through clouds of zoot smoke and celtic goth mysticism. We’re iskfzid by Gast’s ability to wrangle so many disparate modes and flavors into a sound that is still undeniably, unmistakably UK - the cold steel mill sounds of Coil transmitted via Rinse FM circa 2006 (“Babl Callin”), provincial English folk vibes bashed against militant digidub à la Jah Shaka (“Jah Guidance”), Aba-Shanti-I bunning with SAW-era Richard D. James (“Celtfunk”); executed with badman precision and obsessive attention to detail. Originally produced in a run of 100 cassettes in 2016, the album is given renewed life with a much-deserved double vinyl pressing courtesy of Milan-based Haunter Records. Recommended.

• double vinyl pressing
• limited edition
• music label: Haunter Records 2017

reviewed by hannibal chew 12/2017