Jeff Danos and his pretty much under the radar flying Testube-project has always had the ability to come out with a blast with well received reactions and reputation by press media, fans and supporters – and to vanish unfortunately soon afterwards into obscurity. It happens often that music-projects seem to be misunderstood or get at least ignored because they tend to express their musically style too ambitious for the listener. Testube has never been the same-sounding band project like your beloved daily burger for a dinner, as diversity and style-breaking changes of Jeff's musically outfit have always been occurred. To mix it all up out of multiple Electronic music styles like Ambient, Trance, Industrial, Synthpop, Glitch, IDM and/or EBM, Jeff is a manic-possessed explorer of new and undiscovered sound ideas and Testube has always been a hodgepodge providing a surplus of unpredictable and innovative ideas on the hunt for stylistic reinvention.

Already established in 1994, Testube has had its most recognized output with the 12-tracker release“Bioplaza”, a highly successful album out in 1999 and the addition to the DSBP Records roster to the end of the same year. “Bioplaza” was kind of Jeff's career buzzer which consequently continued with the release of the full-length remix album entitled “Reconstructive Surgery” in 2000, which featured several diverse remix contributions by among others Pain Station, Biopsy, Thine Eyes, Oneiroid Psychosis or Austria's Trylok. The buzz around this project was vital, as “Reconstructive Surgery” received clubs and radio stations across the globe and remained in the CMJ national RPM top-20 charts for six weeks, peaking at the No. 4 chart position in September 2000 side by side with such global players like Juno Reactor or A Guy Called Gerald. Also a further limited edition of the “Bioplaza” album (“Bioplaza Revisited”) out in late 2000 with additional remix works and previously unreleased tracks got released.

Three years later Jeff returned with his all new follow-up studio album “Corporation”, which couldn't follow the same successful course which “Bioplaza” pursued before. “Corporation” wasn't at all a weak album – actually with Jeff's well-known meticulously programming skills and a controversial idea to reflect an inside look at the dysfunctional clockwork of the "American Dream" and its dependence on corporate anti-justice, brought him a lot of well-balanced reviews while the club-goers almost went their ears and faces off regarding Jeff's ongoing attempt to hunt for innovation and to push Testube towards to lesser accessible areas of sound-design and programming skills.

It took some years with relocations, soundtrack works, and a few remixes until Jeff returned in 2008 with the establishing of his own label Glim Records and a handful of releases like Type001's last album “Finished Business”, a few Lowhero.dll releases (featuring Jeff's Glim Records co-label founder Jonathan Chalker) and his very own Testube-project with the “Covert” EP and later on in 2010 with the full-length album “Off Purpose”. Accompanied by a remix-album soon afterwards (“Unintentional”), Jeff decided to take a radical break and to live his life in a simpler environment. He constructed his own off-grid cabin the Ozark mountains, where he experimented without running water and electricity. During this time, Testube's output was limited due to the difficult conditions but Jeff continued to write new music. A handful of these new tracks appeared on the “Atavistic” EP in 2015.

At least in 2019 and the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeff decided that he had gained enough perspective from his simpler living and returned. With a filled storage of many raw tracks conducted during his abstinence from electricity, he has chosen 17 of them to release them under this new “Backwater” album. Alex Stilts, known for his involvement musically in Rekt / also label co-founder of Point Source Electronic Arts, of Orbit Room Audio has provided the mastering process in all brilliance.

Be assured that Testube in the year 2022 won't stop his hunt for diversity when it comes to get an overview on these 17 tracks of “Backwater”. The title track kicks the album relatively straight off with a breathtaking quality. “Backwater” impresses with it's Glitch-laden percussion elements and the overall futuristic, Industrial-like outfit with multiple usage of vocal samples and layered synth-textures. Jeff's vocal performance additionally avoids pseudo-aggressive outbreaks and comes out relatively laid-back. If one of the new tracks reminds at closest to the “Bioplaza” era, then this one would it be.

In a relative comparable style we have with “Backyard Burner” another favorite with it well-thought rhythmic straightness woven in a smooth and catchy, almost Synthpop-like melodic construction. The track “Themself” differs with its nightly bass guitar loop leading the musically spectrum and seems to be a kind of a tribute to the rather “organic” sounding era out of the Glim Records years. Deeply impressed I am personally also with the dark and ominous sounding, voice-sample driven Ambient-tunes like “Big White Lies (at Standing Rock)” or “Arkanstayed”.

All in all, Testube's latest album impresses once again with a widely installed diversity out of all thinkable Electronic music styles and the indispensable will to provide the listener music to expand ones horizon. Jeff's programming skills often result in multi-layered textures and unique sound experiences which can be hardly compared to any other artist. Even if a few of the tracks have been in the works for longer than 10 years under limited circumstances, there's no limitation noticeable when it belongs on the quality of Jeff music expression. This is purest art of sound design, futuristic and ground-breaking to the same time.

17 tracks are included plus a hidden, rather improvisational tune live recorded under the circumstances of the COVID lock-down. In addition to a digital release available at multiple streaming services, a limited edition cassette release can be ordered too (25 exemplars) via Jeff's Bandcamp account with handmade hydro-dipped cases. Surely soon this cassette release will be a collector's item.