Munich-based label Permanent Vacation is among the few bastions for small-scale, progressive music in Europe, fostering exciting young acts with uninhibited artistic flourish and impressive sonic creativity. Among them is John Talabot, a house DJ from Barcelona whose debut album, fIN, brings the subterranean pulsations of Catalonia to dance floors and headphones, oozing with nuance and glowing with organic stylings that are, at times, difficult to identify.
While Talabot emerged in 2009 on a 12” record featuring remixes of Glasser, The xx, and Delorean, fIN marks a bold transition into full-length mastery, providing eleven original tracks that evoke the grooves of clandestine raves and the frenzied Barcelona nightlife. Talabot characterizes the album as “dark,” and although this is a fitting description, it does little to capture the powerful expansiveness of his work that delivers a mysterious ambiance crafted for tenebrous evenings or sun soaked afternoons.

Published in Volume 66, Number 24 of The Uniter (March 21, 2012)