When you spend a lot of time going through modern techno music, you find a lot of stuff that sounds big and polished and clean, but lacks any sort of real energy, inspiration or musical variation. Ease of access to production software and less expensive drum machines and synthesizers is overall, in my opinion, a positive thing, but it lends some credence to a theory I have always believed about punk rock: the great thing about punk rock was that anyone could buy a guitar and make music, while the worst thing about punk rock was that anyone could buy a guitar and make music. The same rules apply to techno.
That leaves lots of forgettably clinical, half-hearted techno floating about. This EP is not that. It’s more like a slap in the face with the side of a dirty, glittery sawblade while some kind of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters shit is going on all around you.
The title track drops you right off somewhere in the early ’90s with crazy arpeggiated distorto-madness and a kick to the head. Some floaty synth pad action gives you momentary solace before the whole thing smashes back into your noggin all over again. “Finality” wastes no time launching into some mad analog riffs that sound like someone’s guitar channeling alien communications while Fugazi chills in the corner nodding their heads. It’s filthy and driving and makes me want to start a pit on the dancefloor.
Tallmen785 reins in the dirt and twists the synth line of “Obervolt” into submission, concentrating more on the melodic than the grunge, while Syntax Error’s rework flies carefully off the handle into a stumbling beat where most DJs will fear to tread.
The remixes are interesting enough as reworks, but really, the two title tracks do the necessary damage in exactly the right way: weird, somewhat brutal and perfectly smashing.
