Unconscious
Il Punto Di Non Ritrono
Oráculo Records
Even when techno-body music was peaking a few years ago, you could tell that Italian producer Unconscious’ tastes for the EBM side of the equation ran deeper than many of the other artists who had latched onto the style. That means that even as the fires of that particular trend are waning, Unconscious’ material still has plenty of juice for discerning body music fans as evidenced by new release Il Punto Di Non Ritrono. “Empire of Corruption” borrows lightly from a familiar Vangelis synth riff, but ends up building it out into a much rangier melody that snakes its way between gated reverb snare hits and a punchy bassline, with plenty of tense builds and and subtle switch ups for variety. Alternately “Hunger” works some big droney synths and far off vocal samples around metallic percussion and elastic rhythm programming that adds a touch of funk to the proceedings. Its just a fine blend of dancefloor cuts with some classic flavour, as heard on the relatively straighforward “Justice” with its snare and kick rolls keeping things lively, or the synthwave adjacent FM synth atmospheres of “I Am Broken”; fine tunes with retro appeal that dodge derivative pitfalls and easy but stale production tricks in their execution.
Bloodbeak
Vibrofolk
Clan Destine Records
Glasgow’s Clan Destine Records specializes in legitimately underground punk, metal, hip-hop, and generally experimental releases, but occasionally offers up something of real interest to industrial fans, such as Timothee Gainet’s overlooked Aleister Blake tape or the Spit Mask demo. Now, they’re bringing something even more left-field to the table, albeit from a name longtime heads should remember in Mike Textbeak’s new Bloodbeak project. Taking a heavily deconstructed but decidedly funky approach to body music, the Vibrofolk tape swaggers its way through squelching marshes of bass, drum loops, and alienated samples. It’s a release that puts groove and mood at a premium well above melody, hooks, or even accessibility – yes, a record can be groovy and still directly confrontational. The lo-fi burbling of “The Rundown” is a through a glass darkly take on the sort of throwback linking of synthpop and EBM we’ve heard from Mellow Code, while the lurching string samples and detuned bass of “Mouthless” sounding like a Vampire Rodents reunion in an alternate dimension where Neubauten headed up the mainstream EDM wave. If that all sounds a little purple and overwrought, well, it is – this is a headfuck of a tape and intentionally so.
