- Over the last few years, Ali Wells, the English techno artist better known as Perc, has been instrumental in leading techno's march further into the dark side. His solo work has been creeping closer to the EBM and industrial music he loves so much, and with his second album, The Power & The Glory, he essentially reverse-engineered the technoise sound. His Perc Trax label and its stable of artists have followed in his footsteps, and with Slowly Exploding, Wells takes a step back and allows the rest of the roster their chance to thrash and writhe.
Slowly Exploding has one disc of new material and another with a mix from Wells. Each serves a very different purpose. Many tracks on the first disc are so stiff and imposing that it's hard to imagine them on a dance floor at all. As a result, the mixed disc feels almost instructive: rocketing through 23 tracks in just over an hour, it shows just how powerful this stuff can be in the right hands. There's not much breathing room, and the close quarters give it the claustrophobic feel Wells has been perfecting. But the idea isn't just to bash your head in: brighter textures come from Forward Strategy Group and Go Hiyama. The closing section carefully lets off the pressure, finishing with Perc's dissolute "Before I Go," but not before lifting things with the forthcoming Exaltics remix of Drax's 1994 trance classic "Phosphen."
While a little more streamlined, the collection of new tracks also emphasizes the crew's diversity. The acid rainfall of Martyn Hare's "The New Normal" is so outsized that it barely feels like techno. Drvg Culture's "(I Don't Want To Die In) James Franco's House" is a frightening military march that recalls Front 242. Mick Finesse & Pinion's "Dead Boyfriend Alley" throws drum breaks into the mix, while Perc's remix of Clouds' "Dread Networks" is a dance floor monster with filter sweeps as disorienting as sudden changes in air pressure. Even music this deadly serious isn't immune to fun, self-aware dance floor clichés.
It's the least self-serious moments that work the best on Slowly Exploding. Based around a single high-pitched chord, Sawf's "Groves" is speed-addled debauchery, but its carefully cultivated sense of space makes for a respite from the LP's opening offensive. Perhaps even simpler, Truss's "Brockweir" stands out as the compilation's highlight, primarily because it's so well put together. With its gruff countenance and rough-around-the-edges swing, it captures the punkish attitude of his collaborations with Wells, but here it's hammered into more friendly shapes, doing away with the macho and bringing in some groove. Slowly Exploding is a nuanced collection that embodies Perc's balance of existential dread and dance floor euphoria.
TracklistCD1: New Tracks
01. Drvg Cvltvre - (I Don't Want To Die In) James Franco's House
02. Happa - To Die Hating Them
03. Truss - Brockweir
04. Sawf - Groves
05. Perc - Hyperlink
06. Martyn Hare - The New Normal
07. Forward Strategy Group - Dragon's Tooth
08. Clouds - Dread Networks (Perc Remix)
09. Mick Finesse & Pinion - Dead Boyfriend Alley
10. Perc - Volley
11. Kareem - Just When You Thought It Was Over
CD2: Mixed by Perc
01. Perc - Pre-Steel
02. Sawf - Outhro
03. Go Hiyama - Postmodern (Lucy Remix)
04. Sawf - Sfika
05. Mick Finesse & Pinion - Dead Boyfriend Alley
06. Perc - My Head Is Slowly Exploding (Ancient Methods Remix)
07. Forward Strategy Group - Nihil Novi (Factory Floor FFGG remix)
08. Sawf - Goves
09. Perc - Hyperlink
10. Forward Strategy Group – Elegant Mistakes
11. Truss - Brockweir
12. Yuji Kondo – Lose The Ability To Understand
13. Truss – Ganymede (Perc Remix)
14. Truss - Hackney
15. Sawf – Vavasofa (Perc Remix)
16. Dead Sound & Videohead - Trapped
17. Clouds – Dread Networks (Perc Remix)
18. Perc – Take Your Body Off
19. Martyn Hare - The New Normal
20. Justin Berkovi – Backshredding (Forward Strategy Group Remix)
21. Perc & Truss – Van Der Valk
22. Drax – Phosphene (The Exaltics Remix)
23. Perc – Before I Go