B!CEP
B.O.D.S.
Knuckles on Stun
Before discussing the new EP from Baltimore’s B!CEP, it’s probably worthwhile to address the obvious: they’re a lo-fi, punky EBM act whose songs are all about working out and getting swole, so yes, Diesel Dudes is the obvious point of comparison. That said, B.O.D.S. is still plenty enjoyable on those terms, with the duo (identified only as Long Head and Short Head, credited with MASS and ENDURANCE respectively) bringing appropriate sweat and strain. Gym anthem “Broken Face” opens things with percussion courtesy of crashing weights and rattly synths, slightly off-kilter but still coming across as properly yoked. Things pick up in terms of tempo on “Overthrow”, a speedy ode to overhead lifts, replete with various samples about muscle growth and a catchy shoutalong chorus. “Dead Weight” settles into a groove that actually recalls the thick rhythms of contemporary Portion Control, with snappy snares and another easy to chant basement show hook; “Why aren’t you stronger?/You’re gonna need to be stronger!” “Set to Fail” closes out the EP appropriately, zeroing in on a classic body music bassline that sets up its message of failure (of the progressive muscle variety in this case, but the metaphor works more broadly) as a step on the path to eventual victory. It’s the kind of thing that made their most obvious point of comparison so enjoyable, and damn if they don’t do a fine job of it themselves.
Profligate
Chewed Up
self-released
The last time we checked in with Profligate, the Ohio producer was veering away from the murky, beat-driven hybrid of EBM and darkwave which characterized their early releases with a more decidedly melodic and melancholy release in Too Numb To Know. Profligate’s first release in five years doesn’t just counteract that shift by moving back to six wholly rhythmically-driven pieces, but has yielded the most harsh and nasty music associated with the project by a long shot. Opener “Bin Men” introduces the grimy, hardware focused EP with circular, syncopating loops with little to no tonal focus whatsoever – it’s the sound of oil and grit-caked machinery falling in and out of step with itself. I can see some trying to draw a line between the clattering, constantly fracturing kicks of “Wrecked Exotic” and any number of modern dark techno producers, but really it feels like the skeleton of modern EBM stripped of any accoutrements and being dragged kicking and screaming back to the ur sources of first wave industrial. Closer “Burgled” is about as accessible as Chewed Up gets, and even that track has less in common with anything happening in Tresor than it does the misanthropic snarl of Autumns, one of the few current artists as gnarly and ornery as Profligate is here.
