Bleep

Tri Angle continue their run of excellent form in finding and presenting wonderfully eccentric takes on global club music. Sd Laika, aka Peter Runge, is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, yet that doesn't prevent him from twisting the instrumental grime sound that's become so prevalent of late for his own dark purposes. Recorded in 2011 and 2012, these tracks are timeless in their singular approach, yet fit in perfectly with the sound of now.

It's easy to throw words like murk and fog in its direction, but That's Harakari is a paean to oozing sludge, its ostensible dancefloor rhythms bathed in angry drone and undone by awkward percussive patterns. Most exemplary of this discomfort is 'You Were Wrong', its sonic blasts coming up against a gated piano melody that meets discordant video-game squawks and sci-fi bass patterns. Opener 'Peace' is anything but, harsh whines and angry bass colliding for a dark cacophony. This won't be an easy listen, it seems to say, but stick around and you'll be rewarded. 'It's Ritual' evokes heady rave, while 'Meshes' is an eastern riot of drums. 'Remote Heaven' could even soundtrack a factory possessed by the 'Great God Pan' of the album's second track, a barrage of noise fashioned into a series of juddering beats and industrial blasts. The playful 'Percressing' ends the affair, downwards-swirling synths falling over rigid kick patterns. If this is what Sd Laika was making a few years back, we can't even begin to imagine what he's got in store.

As featured in the Mid-year Roundup 2014