- Break out your glowsticks. OK. That might be a bit of a stretch, but it's the first image that comes to mind when James Ruskin and Mark Broom's "Bites" kicks off. The duo have already shown a knack for taking industrial-strength techno and imbuing it with a hint of prog, but "Bites" takes it to another level entirely. The snares bleed together like smoke machine hiss, and the track's slippery organ riff builds and builds over a Sasha-worthy chug (not to mention Sasha-worthy breakdowns). It's not often that I'd call a Blueprint release infectious, but there's a first time for everything. "Nel" operates on the same principle of bright, playful chords, but this time it's set on a brisk skip, even catchier than "Bites" but in less of a frenzied rush to get to its destination.
"D.O.D." is the odd one out, a gravelly breakbeat number that hits with a distorted, searing impact but lacks the urgent power of the other tracks. With its slow synth melody creeping out from the peripheries, it sounds more like a leftover from a recent Shed record. That's never a bad thing, but the other two tracks show Ruskin & Broom working on a plane that's more their own.
Tracklist A Bites
B1 D.O.D
B2 Nel