Dandy Jack and the Junction SM Los Siete Castigos

• Words: Anna Balkrishna
• Label: Perlon
• XLR8R Rating: /10

Perlon, those purveyors of the most serious of minimal techno, lighten up here with a positively mischievous release by Dandy Jack (Chilean expat Martin Schopf). On Los Siete Castigos, Schopf teams up with Swiss DJ Sonja Moonear, recalling and revising the stripped-down Latino micro-swing of his earlier collaborations with Ricardo Villalobos. The bouncy squiggles and congas of "Globe Trottel" recall childhood romps after the ice-cream trucks of yesteryear, while "Arabs in the Desert" is so playfully percussive it begs for audience participation on an upturned plastic water bucket. The quirkiness loses some luster about two-thirds of the way through the album, but it‘s a fun romp while it lasts.