There’s something eerie – almost ghost-like – to the music of MIDI Janitor, aka Jonathan Orr. It’s like music made of spare parts; ancient, broken down machines wheezing out bygone melodies to steam-powered beats. Sometimes the eerie gives way to the ethereal, as if Orr was soundtracking a digital sunset in some early 80s Capcom game. Sometimes things get more gnarly, all the while still sounding like some 8-bit journey played out on an old Tandy 1000 in some dimly-lit suburban family den in the late 80s.
The Vancouver-based Jonathan Orr has released a handful of MIDI Janitor albums. His last album – 2023s Bulk Order – dropped via Hotham Sound Recordings. Holy To Dogs, MIDI Janitor’s newest album also comes to us via the Pacific Northwest record label. Holy To Dogs takes a more dream-like approach with the music. Downtempo meets Hauntology is the name of the game, with nods to artists like Boards Of Canada, Pye Corner Audio, and Huerco S, Holy To Dogs is an eerie, pulsating, and engaging shot of dystopian electronic music with a melancholy heart at its core.
The project itself was first envisioned in Orr’s mind as music created on ancient, throw away machines by a janitor in their supply closet. I kind of love this idea, that of the weird high school janitor taking things deemed junk by others and creating these electronic tomes that are kinetic, thoughtful, and emanate with a sort of outsider loneliness. Synthetic beats swirl as ghostly melodies hover in a closet with the sting of chemicals and mop water in the air.
“Petroglyph Park” opens the album on rhythmic synth notes and a pixelated sunrise mood. We then work our way into the BoC-adjacent “Far Speak”, borrowing more from Scotland’s sons aged, sepia-toned mood than a musical carbon copy. Everything sounds as if its music from a waking dream. “Black Faun Fragment” hums in digitized excitement, while the frenetic “Roman Concrete” buzzes in electrostatic movement. It’s part desert road trip soundtrack and apocalypse party techno.
Holy To Dogs wavers between percussive, rusted-out end of world party and slow-burn discarded dreams hanging in the air like sweet ether fumes. From the 80s-centric sci fi sounds of “No Division Between Sayings” to the bass kick heartbeat of “Channel Ridge” to the ominous dissonance of title track “Holy To Dogs” the intent here is to take you somewhere. Anywhere but where you currently are. Closer “P. Oxy 655” wavers in a cloud of synth tones that bring both a melancholic peace and bittersweet nostalgia to the ears.
MIDI Janitor’s Holy To Dogs is the sound of technology wasting in the dustbin of memory. Broken machines composing one last great work before obsolescence. Jonathan Orr’s music is a nod to both the past and to the idea that making great art isn’t beholden to expensive toys. It’s all in the imagination of the creator, and Holy To Dogs is skies the limit for those discarded machines.
‘Holy To Dogs’ is out now via Hotham Sound Recordings.
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