Sandwell District techno don Silent Servant dies | Juno Daily
Last release was the fitting ‘In Memoriam’
Silent Servant aka California electronic artist Juan Mendez, a member of hugely infleuntial techno collective Sandwell District, is reported to have died.
His passing was confirmed by his booking agents Triangle Agency today, although a cause of death has not yet been announced.
The Central American born producer, joined the Birmingham-based Sandwell Collective after meeting Regis in 2002 and remained a member until it disbanded in 2011. His page on the Triangle Agency website says: “Following numerous well-received underground singles, he made a major impact on the techno world with Negative Fascination, his acclaimed 2012 full-length debut. Following Mendez’s co-founding (with Regis and James Ruskin) of the Jealous God label in 2013, as well as several singles and collaborations with the likes of Marcel Dettmann and Phase Fatale, Silent Servant released his second album, the more overtly EBM-influenced Shadows of Death and Desire, in 2018. 2022 sees Mendez continuing to Play the US and Europe, New releases On L.I.E.S. and maintaining his sixth year of the Optimistic Decay radio show on NTS.”
Mendez performed live shows in Barcelona, Berlin, Netherlands and Japan last year with Regis and Function when the collective reformed to promote their re-issued Feed Forward album.
Fittingly, the last Silent Servant release was titled ‘In Memoriam’. Released by Tresor on November 24, it saw him looking back on 30 years of dance music experience and paying tribute to the sounds of his favourite eras, from Model 500 to Basic Channel.
He kindly granted Juno Daily the premiere of ‘M-00’ late last year, as well as giving us an interview which you can read here.
‘In Memoriam’ came in at number two on Juno Daily’s chart of best singles of 2023.