Jon Gooch, aka “Spor”, has been a part of the dance music scene since 2006. He has released a number of EPs and albums under a few different performance names and his latest release is under his drum n bass persona, Spor. Since quarantine began, he has been teasing his fans with the release of Anachronic. He even performed it live with visuals he created himself on UKFs YouTube channel. On July 24, Anachronic was finally released, and I have listened to it multiple times a day since.
The first track on the EP, “In Rixa,” greets us with a mixture of strings and rich vocals. When the beat drops, there are his signature snare triplets, accompanied by his warbled synths and basses. You get a good idea of Spor’s sound design throughout the tune, as he immaculately blends the more beautiful high frequencies and darker low end tones.
“Beam Cannon” is a monster of a track. The way Spor blends a slap bass with a warped distorted bass is one of the reasons I always get excited about his music. He always finds a way to make something sound new and different. Each time the track gets to the chorus it evolves and finds a way to be more intense than the previous iteration.
Spor is a man of many talents, and in the title track, “Anachronic,” we get to hear his guitar skills put on display. The balance between the bassline and guitar bounces back and forth seamlessly. At times it sounds like the two instruments have melded together. Recently Spor did an AMA on his social media, and I found out that he plays the flute in “Your Mind Is Like This Water.” All of the other instruments in the track are East Asian sounding and it is more on the atmospheric side of drum n bass. It reminds me a lot of the early dance music I listened to in the 2000s.
My favorite track by far on the EP is “Count My Blessings.” The term instant classic comes to mind. In this track, the vocals take more of a precedence and are accompanied by a really catchy guitar hook. I am a fan of more intelligent and thought provoking vocals in dance music. In this track, Spor hits the nail on the head. In a time when a lot is going wrong in the world, it’s nice to have a song to remind us to focus on what’s important.
The EP as a whole is magnificent. The sound design is next level. Jon always finds new and innovative ways to create space in his music. Not only did he make the music but he also does all the artwork for the album. I can’t recommend this EP enough. If I had some sort of arbitrary ranking system it would be over the highest possible score.
See the live set with visuals made by Spor at youtu.be/XQSR0iJrzW4. Anachronic is available on all streaming platforms and available on vinyl at feedmerch.com.