- Techno with a humorous side.
- The idea of not taking oneself—and the music one listens to—too seriously seems to be catching on in dance music. As hardcore, trance, gabber, EBM and other high energy styles continue to be mined for all sorts of purposes, it was probably inevitable that artists would make some musical mischief. Clouds and Headstrong, the label they run with Randomer, are extremely well placed to tap into this. Both are known for pushing techno to almost comical extremes, and so far the music they've released through the label has shown a willingness to embrace whatever wild sounds and sample sources they're feeling at the time, which in the case of the last release, by Randomer, was fluorescent trance.
There's also trance on Sharp Like A Razor, along with pirate radio MCing, happy hardcore vocals and a bit of what you might call hip-techno. Let's deal with hip-techno first, because it's pretty outrageous. The Scottish duo layer a hip-hop-style sample, which could have come from a '90s scratch-tool vinyl, over an obese kick drum and thick, trancey arpeggios. Whether you love or loathe how lurid it is, "Arkhangelsk Nightmare" will provoke a reaction. The same is true of "Sharp Like A Razor" for the exact same reasons. It uses almost identical basic elements—yep, even the MC chat—to rouse its imagined rabble. "Another Day" is both the fastest and happiest track here, thanks to a female vocal that could have brought tears to the rave circa 1994. There's actually a hint of restraint on "Fantazia 2003," which unites a tricky broken beat and a trance-style synth array. It's strongly executed, but ultimately this EP is about dancing like an idiot.
TracklistA1 Sharp Like A Razor
B2 Another Day
B1 Fantazia 2003
B2 Arkhangelsk Nightmare