Auf MONOCHROM.AT über die Split-CD mit Hermelin:

There is longwinding moment of pure guitarjoogling on full chords and tight rhythms during JFP’s “changement (de la methode)” that seems to define the focus of this young band perfectly: to densify and tighten the impact of drums / bass / guitar by making complex things sound simple and to click together like a perfectly handcrafted machinery. Maybe it is the modern version of Seventies psychedelic groove or acid rock, but with all the unnecessary guitar solos and walls of keyboard sounds thrown overboard in favour for a more reduced and sparse approach, that nevertheless has more human warmness and trueness (and doesn’t need large amounts of drugs to become a positive experience). On a spectrum between Don’t mess with Texas and Room 204 Junique Fois Pi sit comfortably on the middle square, being neither heavy nor soft, but also able to grab the listener and pull him into their groove.
There is another moment during “clapotation (de la structure)” where they fall into the same machinery-like tightness and rolling, but without the full guitar chords and with a strange flanger-sound on the bass, which is like Shellac doing a Funkadelic cover (think about it!). But that only lasts for a moment or so, anyway, because JFP are constantly changing and re-arranging their parts around a single idea, and then another one, and so on. It is as intuitive as postrock – with focus on the rock – can ever get.
Hermelin on the other side are less daring and their power to pull comes more from strengthening the dynamics of heavy / soft or loud / silent parts. Maybe it is just a matter of the drummer of JFP being technically more experimental, but who could pin something like that down for sure. There is a latent headbanging bit in almost every song, but usually soon resolved into a technically more challenging bit, especially for playing together. The songwriting works, though, and by being more brash and direct in all the places where JFP try to be subtle, they end up on the same effect really. One of the best parts, though, is when they really go for it at the end of their third track, “nova police”, with the snare hitting heavy 1/1 and the guitars falling into some fine heavy-metal fake chord changes. This moment only takes a few seconds at the end, but it is telling of the scope that these players think in and that they seem to know that their kind of music not only has roots with Tortoise or Don Caballero but also with heavier parts of the landscape.
Yes, this means, that this is a split release where the two bands really are close together, for whatever the rambling on how to pair a split-release has to say anyway. It is instrumental music as well, by the way, and as far as the similarities go, this is about the only one that is one hundred percent fixed. The differences are harder to come by, or, that is, to verbalize, because on a more haptic or even sensual level the bands are distinctively different, though not when trying to pin them down.
Both bands are a good example of my old theory that great music is growing everywhere and unlike bad music it doesn’t need the attention of the masses to flourish. Kids (and some grown ups) all over the world are carving out their own niches, playing to their friends and small crowds, but those being people that are intent and keen on listening to them, not just buying CDs for the glamour factor. Or as the square says in that movie Cry-Baby: “They have to be good, they’re on the charts” – and everybody knows he is wrong. (He get’s beaten up in the end, fortunately.) By the rules of the business it is impossible for a creative commons release to get onto the charts. These kids don’t care, they do it on their own, without searching for provovation or extremity, or at least not in the obvious trodden paths, and they are alright. This is a free download or a cheap order CDR, so no reason for you not to check it out.
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