Identified Patient is part of a new wave of artists questioning the boundaries of what techno can be, at a time when the mainstream is awash with increasingly linear sounds.
Making rough-edged, undulating music that flirts equally with electro, EBM, acid, wave sounds, post punk and industrial, without cementing its roots firmly in any, the Amsterdam-based artist is part of a stable of DJ/producers who circulate labels like Pinkman, Mannequin, Brokntoys, L.I.E.S. Records and Common Ground. Although they all have a distinct sound from each other, Identified Patient, as well as Kris Baha, Alesssandro Adriani, Black Merlin, Raw Ambassador and countless more, all follow a similar aesthetic that’s become rife on electronic music’s more discerning dancefloors.
Identified Patient’s debut EP, ‘The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania’, landed via Common Thread in 2016, and was on heavy rotation at that year’s Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). However, real name Job Veerman, his breakthrough came on his debut release on Rotterdam-based label Pinkman in the ‘Weeshuis Der Verloren Zielen’ release. Four tracks of sinister machine-music built around dark, wallowing grooves smeared across industrial percussion and heavy, heaving basslines, it quickly found its way into the box of selectors like De Sluwe Vos and Marsman.
“Patrick [Marsman] is really doing important work for the industry,” Veerman tells DJ Mag of the Pinkman label boss over Skype from his home in Amsterdam. “After that EP, there was more movement and my DJ sets got more exposed. The label gives trust and believes in young artists,” something he says is key for pushing electronic music forward.
Veerman’s artist bio describes him as “from aqua jujitsu to war beats: no genre restrictions”, but the follow-up EP in collaboration with his girlfriend Sophie du Palais, titled ‘Abort Your Dreams’, leant heavily on EBM sensibilities, with tracks like ‘Everything Is Done’ seemingly tapping into the darkest end of the human subconscious.
“Sophie and I are always trying to keep some sort of fetish or dirty feeling to our music, and that resulted in these tracks,” Veerman enthuses. “We’ve been together for six years now, so we have full trust in each other and can really be honest. If either of us don’t like the vibe, we are able to change that in a natural way. That means we can go to a lot of different places. When I work with Sophie, we tend to make tracks faster and work directly on a finished project.”