- Releases on Berlin's Unknown Precept tend to fall on a spectrum between danceable rhythms and noisy chaos. The title of AIR LQD's track, "Undisciplined Groove," from December's Remain Neutral, nicely captures it. The music's irreverent scrappiness seems like a rebellion against techno constraints, following historical examples of musical disobedience, like industrial and EBM. The label's latest, from the Atlanta duo Pyramid Club, is pretty well-behaved as this stuff goes. Both artists have softer pre-existing projects: Chris Daresta goes by Anticipation, and Matthew Weiner makes deep house as TWINS and used to be in the synth-pop duo Featureless Ghost. On their debut release together, the pair favour smouldering aggression over an outright riot.
Sometimes, promising ideas lose their spark through measured repetition. "The Law" and "Reactivated" are stiff EBM-techno rollers whose stylish abjection wears thin over five-odd minutes. "Stay Behind" finds a bolder stride but takes a long time to do so—only the electro switch-up near the end causes its stars to align. Elsewhere, the duo turn rigidity into a weapon. The techno loper "Balance… Off," pulverises mercurial elements—fluttering synth parts, chord pulses, the EP's strongest vocal hook—against an immovable wall of drums and bass. On the title track, a holding-pattern beat only serves to heighten the nightmare of its digitally contorted voice.
TracklistA1 Balance… Off
A2 Cyclic Obsession
A3 The Law
B1 Stay Behind
B2 Reactivated