Robin Stewart (Giant Swan/RS Tangent)
Mad Youth
I could have chosen ten tunes at random and they’d all speak to Juan’s ability to weave that hypnotic thread he had such a deft hand on. This track, Mad Youth, is one of my very favourites because, for me, it perfectly combines the groove, the danger and the sexiness of his sound. He was always the most low-key of the Sandwell lot, so when he presented music with them it always felt a bit special, you know?
The riff in this tune is just so effortless, like so much of what he made. I remember hearing him spin it many times in his sets and it would exact this complete control over the dancefloor – the pads and the swooshing noises that circulate around this oily, almost delicate riff just holds you there. It’s a masterful tune.
I honestly don’t remember the first time I heard Mad Youth, probably around 2013 or so. I was at university and was just putting together the links between early DNS releases and the Sandwell stuff that was coming out, Rrose and Kalon and bits like that. I probably didn’t properly connect with it until many years afterwards. I definitely recall playing it on repeat again and again one night at home, probably out of my tree, just drinking it in thinking, ‘How has he done that?’.
I don’t know when exactly I was first introduced to Silent Servant. I just remember seeing his name on stuff and thinking it was cool, like a baddie or an anti-hero/superhero name. He was just always there. For anyone getting into techno around that time – the turn of 2010 and onwards – he was just a fixture that made reliable tunes and was a really good DJ.
The first time I saw him play was in 2017 I think. He was just fantastic, spinning all these proto-wave records in between warping techno – so unique with those bridges between soundworlds. We met that night and just immediately related with our friends in common and bands and stuff.
Everyone will share these aspects of meeting and getting to know Juan, but he was so genuine in his enthusiasm for that universality of music and art, how it amplified our interactions and experiences. He was truly peerless in that – he stood out because he was just so fucking cool with it. He got it and could see it in others. He was always supportive of Giant Swan, even before we connected and whenever we’d meet along the road he was engaged in whatever we were doing and showed so much unconditional love for all of us working together playing music and muddling through. He was right there with us being that example.
He was just my friend, and I can confidently say he influenced everyone he was even marginally close to; anyone in this line of work knew his name even if they didn’t know his person. He would always check in, reach out if we were in the same place at the same time.
He was just so solid. It’s all so unbelievably sad. I read on X [formerly known as Twitter] as the news was breaking that said something like, ‘this was our Buddy Holly’ and as silly as it might sound, I really felt that. His loss is seismic. He was so important to us all and the loss of the three of them is so cruel and tragic. It won’t ever be ok. He lives on through his music and his friends and we were lucky to have had him whilst we did. I’ll miss him.
