Transcendental Techno

10/23/2000 11:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Bryan Reesman

Ben Watkins, the leader of Juno Reactor, and a man who's made his fortunes with five albums of original techno and two contributions to the successful Mortal Kombat film soundtracks over the last decade, has a surprising confession to make. "At the end of the Bible Of Dreams tour [in 1998], I went through a complete hatred of electronic music," he admits. "I just felt that everything was becoming incredibly stylized, and imagination was going right out the window. People felt that all you had to do was to make it kicking and push the bass drum up. It seemed like a lot of the fantasy and the things I really liked about the music were gone. I used to feel physically sick when I heard these [heavy thudding beats]. So I just went right away from it." In short, Ben Watkins needed to get his groove back.

Now, over two years later, Juno Reactor have returned, and their latest epic, Shango, shows just where Watkins found his groove again, exhibiting both the trademark high-energy techno of the group's past efforts as well as the increased influence of world music. Individual tracks include such varied live elements as agile Spanish guitar playing from Steve Stevens, potent drumming and chants from members of South African ensemble Amampondo, and beguiling, wordless female vocals from Taz Alexander. Juno Reactor deserve props alone for integrating African, Middle Eastern, and spaghetti-western aesthetics into the same album.

This impressive evolution from the high-velocity Goa trance of 1996's Beyond The Infinite and the enchanting tribal techno of 1998's Bible Of Dreams makes complete sense, given the cinematic nature of the group's music. "I pretty much come from that frustrated filmmaker vibe, where all the tunes have got to be about something," Watkins explains. "There's no point doing a tune just to make people jump up and down." Truth be told, Juno Reactor's music does make you want to jump up and down, and sing along. But in this particular case, the "frustrated filmmaker" description is apt, since Shango originally grew out of Watkins's work on the soundtrack to Beowulf, a Christopher Lambert film released in 1999.

"It was a rather tacky film. It was crap," Watkins declares with a laugh. "But it was great for me, because I'd never scored a film before, so it was a great chance to try it out and enjoy it." The experience of deviating from his recent electronic forays recharged Watkins's creative batteries and led to his writing Shango's final track, "Song For Ancestors," the first piece composed for the new album. Evolving out of an acoustic jam session with Watkins playing acoustic guitar, Alexander singing, Busi Mhlongo chanting, and Mabi Thobejane playing African drums and chanting, "Song For Ancestors" was inspired by a "summoning of the spirits" ritual from South Africa. Although a few synthetic touches were added later, the end result is mellow world music that may surprise many listeners, but it's not out of place on a record that continually interweaves organic and electronic elements with a variety of moods and tempos.

Like a merchant of fine wine, Watkins releases no new music before its time, preferring to give it time to develop. This approach goes against the nature of modern electronica, which can be produced at an alarmingly rapid rate. Watkins has his critics on the subject. "I got people saying to me, 'You're an idiot. Don't spend so much time on this track. Try and do it in a few days.' But if I finished what I came up with in three days, I would more likely have something similar to the last albums," he observes. "You need time to be able to breathe and to find [a song's] own sort of life. When you're trying to find something different, just from my own personal musical journey, there's a big learning curve, whether it's technological or creative."

Seven of the nine tracks on Shango took a month for Watkins and company to complete. "Nitrogen Part 2" took five days to complete, although that was as the album was coming together; the other rule-breaker, "Solaris," was completed in only four sessions, but they were spread out over five years, including guest appearances by Indian flautist Deepak Ram, Tuvan throat singer Boris Salchach, pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole, and tabla master Pandit Dinesh.

With the new album finally finished, the next challenge for Juno Reactor will be bringing their exotic sounds to live audiences. On the last U.S. tour supporting Moby, Watkins (who played keyboards and guitar) brought along five of Amampondo's 12 members to give the music the necessary ethnic elements. Those five members will be on board again for Juno's fall tour of North America, starting this month with Orb synthesist Alex Paterson, who also contributed to the album track "Nitrogen Part 1." On the visual side, the Amampondo members will be wearing the traditional costumes and feathered hats representative of their tribe, the Xhosa (pronounced "Ah-kosa").

By the very nature of their existence, Amampondo infuse intensity into Juno's music. The group has been around for 20 years, surviving through apartheid. "The South African police at one time tried to have them killed," states Watkins, "putting five bullets into Mike [Ludonga] and a few in the others and leaving them for dead. After that, they managed to stay in Israel for a year until it calmed down. The guys have amazing stories to tell. They live in Langa, and that was the center of the township riots and black conscience. Apart from being the nicest guys I've worked with, they're also the best musicians I've met. They surprise me and inspire me. Believe me, they have a power unlike others."

The eclecticism of Juno Reactor may seem unorthodox to some, but it's ultimately a product of their collective influences. Amampondo aside, recurring Juno players like bassist Stefan Holweck, drummer Nick Burton, and engineer Greg Hunter have been previously associated with the likes of Killing Joke, Jah Wobble, and the Orb, respectively, and drummer Mabi Thobejane played live with Miles Davis in the 1970s. Watkins himself has been making electronic music since the early '80s with such pre-Juno groups as the Empty Quarter, the Flowerpot Men, Sunsonic, and Psychoslaphead; he co-produced and co-wrote four tracks on Traci Lords's 1995 techno debut, 1,000 Fires, and he's also produced and/or remixed artists like Alison Moyet, Devo, and Siouxsie & the Banshees.

Ultimately, though, the most important facet of Juno Reactor is not what they've done in the past, but how they're expanding the scope of electronic dance music in the present. In reference to today's DJ culture, Watkins expresses the classic "like the message, dislike the messenger" dilemma. "Sometimes I think I shouldn't really be saying this, because there's a lot of support from DJs around the world who play our stuff," remarks Watkins, "but I think it's gotten totally out of hand. I'm sure something will come along and usurp it, and I'm waiting."