Jay Haze

" I hope I will produce an album like this again or or at least run through a similar production process" Jay Haze 2005

Jay is the clown of the class, a wizard, a passionate DJ, a loudmouth and above all an extraordinary observer. Like a sponge, he soaks up everything that engages his attention. This perhaps explains his ability to perform magic and the unique skill of glass-blowing, but still he searches on…for what...maybe this special moment, where mind and emotions are one and the emptiness of loss is light years away.

Jay grew up in one of Pennsylvania's most polluted areas. This lead to a serious respiratory disease which forces him to take medication for what could be his entire life. He discovered life as a homeless in the streets of San Francisco, where he went through a lot of struggling and saw friends die. At the time he felt unable to escape this vicious circle of poverty and calamity until things got worse for his clique and he decides to make the big move to Europe.Leaving the States behind with less than what most people would consider carry-on luggage he invaded Europe. He felt close to a scene, that he did not know, and breathed the sounds and extravaganza of electronic music on a daily basis which led to a debut of his own label -Tuning Spork.

At first Jay made Amsterdam his home. After a short stay he found out that opposed to popular belief, the Dutch government was not as liberal as the city, and he was kindly forced out of Holland. Jay then moved to Berlin, where he lives and works today. The album track "Appreciate" is dedicated to the hospitality and acceptance of this newfound home base.

The move to Berlin served as the key for a new door. Behind the door Jay discovered a world in which he clicks with other like minded individuals, plays countless DJ gigs and sees his labels: Contextterrior, Textone, Tuning Spork and Future Dub, gain more and more attention. From this new and most welcomed situation, Jay is asked to play more and more international clubs, to collaborate with people like Villalobos and Robag Wruhme and releases the results on his own labels.

Jay started working on music which was not club orientated and discovered, as if by accident, his own voice. "Easy Life" was the first track he finished which almost sounds like a promise to himself not to be depressed and not to fret about his sad past. Love for a strange world (and everything inside of it) (2005) makes a bald statement and defines the subject matter of the album.

The album starts with "the troubles I’ve seen", a reduced and heavy dark track that leaves no doubts as to Jay's turbulent personal past. Next up are "Easy Life" and "Appreciate", which features the vocal talents of De:xter. Haze finds himself on a musical crossroad between reduction in the sense of Villalobos, Wruhme and Richie Hawtin, and digital funk of sympathetically insane buddies like Vogel or Lidell.

Jay always avoids offensive moments, that millisecond in a track before hell breaks loose, and leaves enough room for air and space. Haze definitely has a special feeling for sounds and the knowledge of what makes the funk.

The cut "Can’t feel anything" celebrates Jay’s mastery in the art of reduction. It displays with force how to build a powerful and slamming track without having a punchy kick drum ruining your speakers.

The most intense track is "feel your pain". It can easily absorb any pain and distress of the listener and plays with Haze's own capacity for suffering. Thank god, Jay doesn't succumb to the usual album format - there is no thematic bottleneck in this record. "I can Love You", again with D:exter on vocals, shows that Haze is also able to handle big feelings.

Love for a strange world isn't an album that hugs the listener and aspirates sweet little messages. It is a personal statement in an electronic music format, which impressively displays in its atmospheric tracks, the rotting condition of our world and the sickness of mankind.

The Mastering was done by Stefan Betke (Scape) on a 1/2 Inch Tape Recorder - completely analogue and the vinyl was cut by Dubplates & Mastering.