Bleep

An absolute milestone of Braindancing electronica, Rephlex CAT039 by the Italian duo D'Arcangelo is finally made available again via Suction Records. Arriving roughly two decades since its original release via Aphex Twin & Grant Wilson-Claridge's Rephlex imprint and freshly remastered, this one of a kind mix of industrial sub destruction and gliding electro-sonics still sounds as otherworldly and dynamically futuristic as it did when we first heard it all those years ago.

Revisiting the self-titled EP today it's striking how the near-perfect split of the track sequence in many ways reflects the different sides of its original imprint's roster Rephlex. From the A's marching into madness gabba-leaning speaker shredder 'Somewhere In Time', through the overdrive musique concrète crunch of 'Ro-hn' and into the skanking quasi-hip-hop of 'Skrakt' there lies the DNA of the more hardcore-leaning end of the Rephlex crew, from The Bug's dreadest dubs, Soundmurderer & SK-1's Rephlex Rewind junglizm and through to the the feedback drenched noise flex of Smojphace.

On the B, D'Arcangelo turn to their more melodic side with a track that is so eternally classic that we'd say it's no doubt made this one of the year's truly great reissues, and needless to say the idea of having a freshly mastered and cut vinyl of is gonna make many of you salivate with excitement; Diagram XI and its variations the (Milk mix) and Braindance Coincidence classic (80 mix). A dazzling flutter of digital rain and sharp cornered electro that still after twenty odd years still sounds quite unlike anything else before or since (though many have tried to imitate!).

D'Arcangelo EP is a timely reminder of why we and so many others swooned for this sound in the first place. Hats off to Suction for making this reissue such a beautifully packaged and presented artefact, one that perfectly represents a truly important sound, scene and time within underground electronic music.