- Vegetation has everything you want from a Container record: dangerously fast drum machine loops, polyrhythms, thick distortion that hisses and spits on everything. The five-track EP—his first for Powell's Diagonal label—is no radical departure from the sound he's developed over the course of multiple albums and EPs, and that's fine. Ren Schofield knows his strengths, and instead of fixing what ain't broken, he's tweaking his sound subtly with each release.
Schofield has a couple new tricks here—specifically, a textural touch that goes deeper than usual. Listen closely to the title track and you'll hear a quiet chewing in the background, like a termite with a contact mic. "Funnel" takes the intensity down to a languid 100 BPM, focusing on quirky sample work rather than the standard barrage of drums. It plods a bit at that tempo, though it's interesting to hear Schofield reach beyond pure intensity for something creepy and unsettling.
The EP's other three tracks—"Soak," "Insulation," "Radiator"—are only a few distortion modules away from straight-ahead electro. They'd sound right at home mixed alongside rough-and-tumble records from the likes of DJ Stingray or DJ Overdose—even with their abused edges and screaming feedback.
TracklistA1 Vegetation
A2 Soak
B1 Funnel
B2 Radiator
B3 Insulation