A nice split 10″ picture disc on Divine Comedy Records. On the disc you see tatooed and pierced body parts, which suits the theme of this record: `skin’s delights and chirurgicals with plastics & silicons`. The record is extremely danceable, with driving beats aimed at the dancefloor.
Empusae from Belgium is known for delicate intelligent electronic structures. I’m less familiar with the work of Oil10, but this French electronic project has had releases on labels like Hymen, Noise Museum and Brume Records before.
The first track is created by Oil10 and is called `Synthetic Skin`, which is the only text of the song, repeated many times almost like a mantra. This is the `hit` of the record, very powerful, with a dry beat and melodic synths, somewhere between EBM and techno. A monotonous cool track with a few breaks, very effective.
The track by Empusae is called ‘Craft’. It starts with a slow mixture of ambient and IDM, which gets more uptempo and dynamic as the track evolves, with fast and hectic rhythms. Halfway some melodic synthetic and ritual elements are added, to create an interesting and dynamic mixture.
Of course the two acts also remix each other. Oil10 adds some danceable electro elements as well as soundtrack-like synth sounds, which gives ‘Craft’ a very different sound and mood. Again a nice one. The Empusae treatment of ‘Scars’ is more subtle, the track has become a bit more varied, but remains a danceable monster.
An addictive record. Is there a piercing shop in the neighbourhood?
