Bleep

On File Under UK Metaplasm the producer Rian Treanor slams together a huge array of highwire electronic music styles in order to create ultra-energetic, future-forward post-rave music. Anyone familiar with Treanor’s work will know that his is a bold and unusual aesthetic, one which de- and re-constructs the continuum of fast dance music with breathless energy. On File Under UK Metaplasm he does so once again, delivering tracks which jerk and writhe in thrillingly unpredictable ways. File Under UK Metaplasm may be a funny title for Treanor’s new album, but it’s also a strangely apt one.

Treanor hails from near Sheffield, and the city’s IDM and bleep techno lineage certainly informs the sounds of this album - ghosts of the early Warp Records style can be parsed in the elastic bass and whirlwind drum programming of File Under UK Metaplasm. However, Treanor is no mere revivalist, and throughout the album he cross-pollinates the Steel City sound with everything from singeli to Sophie-esque hyper-pop, footwork to techno dancehall. The result is a series of tracks which bristle with ideas, the kinetic drive of the rhythms never allowing either listener or artist to get too comfortable.

File Under UK Metaplasm reminds us why Rian Treanor is one of the most inspired and innovative UK dance music producers currently working in the UK.