for DTRASH31 - "The Tension And The Darknesst"
Reviewed by Peter @ re:mote induction

"The Tension And The Darkness is a 9 track release by Exist on D-Trash Records; each of the tracks having a drawn out name that perhaps reflects some of the mixed ideas of the music they represent. Low, bass heavy mood starts off The Tension And The Darkness, plinks and chimes filtering through in order to trigger the sinister fairground vibe that is When I Look Back (Seems Like Yesterday). Sample buzz and building potential are clear in the catches and promises. Beats mark their territory regardless of the contrasting piano work. Big emotive tune motion is choked by bass beat and then it is all buried in the manic clown moment that represents the start of Writing On The Wall (Too Blind). Slowed answering machine message filters through thumping beats and Wurlitzer mania, a style comparable to certain Mr. Bungle moments. Swept aside by regretful slow motion melody, reflective and thickened, topped by little flares. Custom Made (All Over) recaptures some of the previous mania on the crests of buzzed electro twists, dna spirals intertwining with the flash back to some 80’s pop moment. Beats block against thrilling melody and mechanism. Highly sprung loops lead to further vocal samples at 3 minutes in melodramatic TV fashion. Waves crash against the vocal stream of Straight Between Your Eyes (Can’t Stop Me Now) , slow to sludge and quick to helium. Crackle and fizz in sinister strokes of sound. Cultural references of fame, ritual, and porn pass by and beats step up the pace in the wake – still the feel retains a sluggish manip. feel. Some of the samples feel carries to When Your Least Expect It (Hit You Like A Truck) , but the pace is up the scale, with rapid beats flurried with effected breath samples. Distortion round the edges of whirred melodies caught in quick chattered moments. Techno melodies are cut in sighs pasted with the fun fair reference amongst the ongoing break beat frames. What They Want To Se (To Get Attention) has more of the TV soap/ad samples which vie for attention, the plundered notes of jingles in this reconstructed flow; partly awkward but wholly contemporary it seems. Crackle and fizz disrupts the flow of finely spliced sequences, chopping in the beat patter of Have To Pretend (Instead Of Remembering) . Disruptive abuse of half suggested melodies. These type of samples are jacked up to a high point in All Of Nature Wild And Free (No Cares In This World) , some vocal stream flowing through ratchet beats and dense collisions. Like the other pieces maintaining the continuity of expression evident in The Tension And The Darkness. Pulses hum in mild vibrant distortion with Lose My Mind (Keep On Pushing) seeing plinked notes filtering through in a light fashion. Beats and jazz distortions filter through for a moment, caught up in a sample babble. Overall this album is a curious mix of sample work that at times comes across as rush of sounds – beats and cuts giving manic edge, while dialogues are constructed in abstract flows that somehow express the intent of the work, melodies come through in whirled moments providing evidence of the more light hearted, tongue in cheek hand that is at work behind Exist.

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