- With each General Ludd record we're reminded of the project's beginnings as a pair of overseas collaborators making sound installations. It's a notable origin story, though not always obvious in the duo's animated dance music. On their fourth release together, Rich McMaster and Tom Marshallsay have pushed that quirky, freeform production approach to the forefront of their sound. The Fit Of Passion settled on a straightforward kind of sample-heavy house, Rare Earth Metal plumbed the stranger ends of the dance floor, and now Are You Losing My Hearing? combines those modes into two capricious tunes.
The number of micro-samples, FX and instruments crammed into General Ludd's title cut will boggle anyone trying to keep track. McMaster and Marshallsay seem to have emptied their hard drives of all percussive sound fragments, dropping them into the broken groove like corn kernels waiting for their chance to pop. They sporadically douse the drum hiccups and bass pulses in synth color, which rounds out the frequency spectrum and gives the beat some quasi-melodic panache. "Are You Losing My Hearing?" has all the energy and unpredictability of a Super Ball, and yet those unexpected wiggles, jumps and sidesteps couldn't be more inviting or easier to move along with.
"Moneychangers" doesn't have such an untethered sound. At seven minutes long, it runs through a dubby soundscape with steady 4/4 rhythms and thick sub bumps—what's most unexpected here is how restrained General Ludd sound in comparison to their A-side. It works well for the pair, however, especially as an exhibition of the vibrant house they can conjure from more subdued material. "Moneychangers" is among their less distinctive tracks, but the bespoke samples and detailed arrangement are clear reminders of the producers' shared background.
TracklistA1 Are You Losing My Hearing?
B1 Moneychangers