SANTIAGO DE CHILE, COLONIA, BUENOS AIRES, LONDRES, MEDELLÍN, MONTERREY, ROSARIO, PARIS, VALPARAÍSO, CHICAGO, BERLIN, MOSCOW, DETROIT, GLASGOW, MEXICO CITY

Cómeme has always been a place for the art of letting go and always been a shelter for passionate libertines in delightful sombre moods. One of these whimsical creatures is Isaac Johan and he is no less a person than the first genuine ghost to join the ever-growing, splendidly twisted company of Cómeme characters.

Here’s how it all began: In a forest outside of Moscow a few young men, one of them the Berlin-based Russian super talent Philipp Gorbachev, took their instruments to a cabin, played for days and got lost in a fever. What exactly was it they encountered in the woods out there? Well, you may have heard of mediums, of people speaking in tongues. And since Gorbachev and his bunch claim to have become compliable servants of the will of Isaac Johan, there can be no doubt that this incorporeal something has a taste for certain sounds. This Isaac must have been to Detroit in the late 60s, to Weilerswist in the early 70s, to Düsseldorf, to Manchester and Sheffield some years later, and finally to Chicago when house music hit most raw and frantic. Consequently his actual incarnation shows up as a maelstrom, a rugged but somehow poignant swirl of music that seems to give a shit for self control.

What this really sounds like depends on dedication. Don’t be afraid of ecstatic mantra-like vocals, hypnotic guitar riffs, haunting tom-tom action, mesmerizing marching beats and bass lines that get more and more absorbing. Don’t care about your speakers, everything’s fine. And don’t care about classification.

But beware: this music may suck you in and spit you out as one of Isaac’s impersonations. To put it in the words of Matías Aguayo, who reworked these recordings in his spirit: “If you turn down the soap opera and let Isaac Johan play, nothing can go wrong.“