Demdike Stare – Testpressing #001

Label: Modern Love

Boomkat’s Modern Love imprint undeniably has the market cornered on that oppressive intersection between techno and noise, doom and grit. From Andy Stott to Raime, Vatican Shadow to the brilliant Unknown / Hate project, each release’s quality is only matched by its overwhelming darkness. Now the imprint has invited regulars Demdike Stare, aka Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty, back to the fold for a fresh series of test pressing-style singles, and on the first the talented duo have turned out two of their most dangerous and untamed cuts to date.

While Demdike Stare are known for their expert use of musical textures and moods, rarely have they sounded as dynamic and uninhibited. Drawing from a profound knowledge of jungle, hardcore and noise tapes, Testpressing comprises a pair of pitch-black, unforgiving experiments in junglism. A-side Collision’s first half is dominated by a high-frequency snarl like an out of control buzz saw, while raw breakbeat dissections lurch across the soundfield. Halfway through the drum patterns break loose, drenched in distortion, wreaking havoc with a clattering urgency.

B-side Misappropriation is a no less powerful beast. After two minutes of the moody atmospherics that the pair do best, a punishing Eastern rhythm is unleashed, combined with threatening maracas, skittering bat-like squeaks and corrosive washes of unfiltered static. What these tracks lack in structural progression they more than make up for in sheer power, as the duo eke unearthly sounds from their machines, as vital as they are unforgiving.

8/10

See this review in context at Inverted Audio