Damage Code
Digital Slaves
Miseria Records
Damage Code is the new project from Carlos Grabstein and Ben Bunzen of 89s✝︎ and Hammershøi respectively, and deals in a very specific style of old school EBM. Forgoing the oft-taken route of Nitzer Ebb and DAF worship, the duo instead deal in a sound that recalls a swathe of body music acts from Europe that emerged in the early 90s (think Escalator and Aircrash Bureau) that took advantage of advancements in digital electronics while maintaining a healthy amount of grit in their design.
As such, Digital Slaves is a record that doesn’t break much in the way of new ground, but makes an impact by keeping its tracks impactful and fast moving, usually running a single groove as hard as possible from beginning to end. Grabstein and Bunzen certainly know what they’re doing with that approach and it pays off well in plenty of the record’s nine tracks; “I’m Sick of These Pigs” has a rhythm that just keeps getting heavier as it progresses, the gravitational pull of its bassline and drums warping its sweeping noise, and monotone vocals towards it. Alternately, Notausgang collab “Monotonia” is all about how its gated pads and samples and echoing synthlines create syncopation, the bass tuned down to a low rattle.
There’s a real charm to just how rough and ready Damage Code keep matters without repeating themselves too often. There’s a healthy dose of funk in the awkward tripping-over-its-own-feet synthline on “Menschen im Glitch” and the chintzy fm stabs of “Esclavo Digital”, but neither track cannibalizes the other’s appeal through repetition. A lot of it has to do with pretty canny if uncomplicated sound design choices, such as the wonky spring reverb and belt sander saturation of “Lessons in Pain” and the claustrophobic delays of “Berlin”, which sounds like it’s closing in on you if listened to on headphones.
Old school body music is almost a genre that lives and dies by how it balances the appeal of its throwback approach without just recreating the same songs over and over again. It’s weird to think of such a straightforward genre having much in the way of subtlety, but on Digital Slaves Damage Code certainly make a case for how much you can squeeze out of it through strength of craft.
