Autumns
Basic Face
self-released
EBM project Autumns first came to our attention during the early stages of the techno-body crossover boom, although the Irish project has never been particularly tied to any one flavour of the genre. Indeed, the variety displayed on recent EP Basic Face is pretty considerable, spanning numerous styles and executions, but always replete with the project’s trademark wit. That means that the funky uptempo dub sounds of “Your Favourite Cowboy”, complete with a degraded guitar licks and vocal yips shares space with noise pisstakes like “Your Tattoo is Shite” and the woozy mutant EBM of “How Long Does it Take for a Nose to Rot?”. Hell, “A Grant Time to Witness Culture” draws a bead on the awkward atonal disco side of the Wax Trax sound, half-bassline, half-sampledelic workout. Impressively, Autumns manages musical continuity even when taking things further afield; highlight “Bog Bodies” is basically just layers of sequenced drums, but carries the vibe of the release forward through its syncopation and all-aboard momentum. The clamorous noise of opener “No Gimmicks, No Gigs” might read as a sardonic dismissal of the musical ratrace, although recent write-ups in the Guardian and support from labels such as X-IMG and Detriti suggests that Autumns’ prolific DIY approach is paying off.
Blackmoth
Rive
self-released
The moves made by prolific Maryland producer Blakmoth across a slew of dark ambient styled releases over the past few years we’ve been tracking the project have mostly been subtle ones befitting the house style; some field recordings here, a shift from atmospherics to harmonics there. New EP Rive makes some comparatively dramatic changes, though, introducing a slew of percussion to Blakmoth’s existing world of smothering drones and finely detailed textures. Perhaps not surprisingly for a producer so adept at cinching in the little details, this new focus on rhythm isn’t just limited to tossing some rote beats into the existing Blakmoth motif, but is predicated on crafting ground up designs and integrations of percussion on a per piece basis, from the grimy, cinematic pulse of “Drawn And Quartered” to the downtempo, rubbery thud of “Rift Below Shifting Waters”. There’s even something of modern dark techno’s approach to kicks in the spacey abyss of “The Drowning Mirror”, albeit punctuating some pensive piano of the sort Blakmoth does well. The copy for Rive acknowledges this change and cites it as “a chronicle of process and experimentation”, and whether or not Blakmoth is holding to this particular approach to rhythm a few releases down the line, longtime listeners should enjoy this new dimension of his work.
