I was never familiar with He Can Jog - in fact, I had never even heard of the Brooklyn based experimental techno jockey until I took on MiddleMarch. Dear lord, was I missing out.

MiddleMarch is a glorious mishmash of kinky synths and danceable beats, endlessly hooking the listener into toe-tapping, mind-boggling, ear-blasting euphoria. A laptop musician extraordinaire, He Can Jog's music has the production quality of a full blown studio release from Warp, without losing the home-made, DIY character that amateur computer musicians round the world strive for. His cuts are progressive without losing the edge and focus of rhythm and structure that keeps a listener wanting more. MiddleMarch owes a lot to acts like Proem and The Flashbulb, who moved techno and IDM away from the Audiovisual Club mentality of gear-over-substance and focused on making the music fun, catchy, and real.

That sense of reality is what will keep me listening to He Can Jog for many, many months. The powerful, staggering presence of warmth and texture in MiddleMach is beautifully jarring compared to last year. 2007 was a year of cold, heartless electronica. 2008 is proving completely different, delivering sensible electronic acts with a slew of raw, personal offerings. The four part suite series on MiddleMach is reason alone to call He Can Jog the next Benn Jordann or Aaron Funk. I know comparing an unestablished bedroom producer to these gods of the modern electronic realm might seem a tad drastic, but there is no doubt in my mind that He Can Jog will aspire to meet and even exceed the achievements of these artists, and in no time will prove himself as a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

I do hate drawing such blatant comparisons when He Can Jog's sound is incredibly original, but I will say that the excitement and enthusiasm brought to the table on MiddleMarch reminds me of Arctic Hospital, my favorite new star in the electronic world, though He Can Jog is not a distant second by any means. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the place to find tomorrow's stars is Audiobulb Records. The label knows exactly what makes the digital music world tick. Well done, He Can Jog. Well done.

-Jack Britton