Torture Netzwerk

Description

"Slicing electro with surgical precision, Larry McCormick has been creating and cutting his own unique brand of machine funk for decades. He returns to Shipwrec to don his Exzakt mask. With him are two 808 co-conspirators. An alumnus of McCormick's indomitable Monotone Records, Hollow Graphik is the first collaborator, intentions clearly set with "Torture Netzwerk." Acid-stained bars are indented by toms before a razor-sharp snare is given a guttural vocoder voice. Melodies slip and slide, fluid lines bending into jagged forms in this helter-skelter opener. "Stupid Humans" follows. The tempo may drop, but the intensity remains. Robotic lyrics stalk, distortion-soaked breaks giving space for basslines to bulge as beats bite. One Way is drafted in for the flip. "Persistent Beats" starts as it means to go on, industrial-dipped drum patterns menacing from the outset. Countering the ferocity is a lilting, orbiting note that falls in cascading chords. A battle for balance is fought, the opposite elements of harmony and percussion finding union under the refrain "persistent beats." The close comes with "Human." Clean drums give way to a bending melody, flexing and shifting with a spiked energy. Samples offer opportunities for this twisting track to snap in new directions, mellow moments leading this fiery four-tracker out."