Perc Trax At Juno Download

Review: Perc Trax Ltd is a sub-division of Perc Trax which will focus on collaborations, reissues and one-off specials. Last year the climbing melodies and peaking acidics of Mat t Whitehead's "A Is For Acid" became a London underground hit, championed by Perc and Truss, aka MPIA3, with Blawan also unleashing it in a Boiler Room set. Whitehead's original mix does not appear on this inaugural Perc Trax Ltd release, but there are no less than two Perc reworks - one of which should come with a warp drive warning attached - and a slamming cover version made by MPIA3 using none of the track's original samples.

Review: Probably the highest praise for artists of a certain dispostion is that it's impossible for their audiences to tell whether they are being serious or simply taking the piss. This kind of ambiguity is prevalent among all the great alternative artists from New Order/Joy Division, The Fall and Throbbing Gristle to Larry Levan, Regis and Shed. Perc is moving close to being part of this hallowed group and Brutality suceeds in pushing him a few steps nearer. Much of this is due to the title track and the questions it asks the listener. Are those tones at the start a sample of the TV test card or Perc fiddling with an insane frequency? Is Perc trying to reach Al Jourgensen-like levels of outlandishness wth the grungy, industrial beats and is that the sound of a torture victim's screams or just deranged, feedback noise? On "Cash 4 Gold", the questions continue, the uncertainty lingers. Is Perc satirising Britain's army of Vicki Pollards or has he presented the listener with the hopelessness and desparation of working class life in modern-day England? Certainly amid the grubby, twisted broken beats it is almost possible to smell the stale chip oil mixed with the bang of overflowing ashtrays and unwashed armpits - is it funny, tragic or just fact? Then he delivers two great contrasts: "Boy" is a visceral affair, its drums torn apart, the jarring riffs screeching in and the bass grainy and brutal. It's nasty, and disturbing, and the polar opposite of the final track, "Before I Go". Penned ostensibly as a farewell to this world and an escape from its brutality, its muffled piano sounds and beautiful but indistinct strings could be the sonic interpretation of someone slipping out of consciousness and departing this world. Then again, it could just be Ali Wells having a drunken laugh. We may never know - and that sums up the beauty of Brutality.

Review: Pinion is the latest arsenal in Ali Wells's Perc Trax artillery, and Engage will appeal to anyone with an interest in industrial techno. "Alpha" kick starts the release with spooky textures and abstract sounds, but soon enough, Pinion is banging the box with "Mirv 7" and "Grid", whose scraping metal on metal drums and relentless, pounding rhythms are the very embodiment of heads-down techno. "Erase" sees Pinion follow a less in your face approach, and features ghostly, chiming synths, but the slamming drums in the background maintain the intensity levels. Mondkopf delivers two versions of "Grid", the first focusing on grainy drums, the second less direct thanks to its broken beats, but just as powerful sounding.

Review: Ali Wells's label has become a byword for uncompromising techno, and Ganymede is one of its most intense releases so far. The title track lunges at the listener, its heavy drums and broken beats providing the backdrop for a nasty, building acid line and the recycling of some hardcore rave riffs. Skirt and Perc both contribute remixes, with the Regis affiliate's version full of smouldering, understated menace. By contrast, the Perc version pushes the tortured, noisy drums to their limits and his dub take sees hammering drums competing with razor sharp percussion for the listener's attention. Truss' own stomping industrial techno track "Hackney", completes the package.

Review: Perc Trax continues with their busy release schedule pushing up and coming Scottish producers BCR Boys into the frontline. Having already graced labels such as Synewave and Steve Stoll's now legendary Proper NYC, the boys get the chance to hit hard on one of the UK's finest. "The Myth" opens the release utilising the bare essentials of techno, pulsating and grinding as it goes. It's not so memorable but definitely a strong tool to hold up the floor. "Hybrid" is slightly sharper in production with a peak time edge, whilst "Flammable" jacks things up yet another level replacing the straight techno patterns with a shuffling percussion swing. Finally "Dalek" blasts the EP into orbit. As you'd expect from Perc, this is the epitome of solid techno.

Review: Labour Division takes inspiration from industrial culture is evident in both its title - surely a contender for a great, missing Swans LP - and on detached, fuzzy synth tracks like "Ident" and the menacing tones of "TTH", or the eerie textures and understated percussive hiss of the Regis-in-experimental-mode that is "Metal Image". But what is more interesting about this album is not its re-activation and presentation of existing narratives as they were, but its wholesale attempt to redefine their own vision for techno. It's a mightily ambitious objective and whether intentional or not, Walker and Matthews achieve this in places. "Mandate" is a relatively standard broken beat track, but is delivered with a rubbery bass and layers of grungy upbuilds, the sonic equivalent of a sack of soot and grime emptied over a glass table. Of more importance however is the fact that Labour Division proves that Forward Strategy Group don't preach sonic austerity because they have nothing else to say. "Nihil Novi" is a stripped back, crackling metallic groove combining the accessibility of Factory Floor with Ben Klock's rhythmic dexterity, "TTH" fuses the atmospheric textures that were audible on "Metal Image" with lithe back beats and "Cultivar", though set against a darker sonic backdrop, relies on similarly agile rhythms. At a time when all around them are marching to the death paced drums of Gothno, Labour Division sees FSG tease new ghosts and fresh horrors from their machines - as the eerie soundscapes and clinking chains on the supernatural "Fading Centres" so ably demonstrates.

Review: This EP of tracks taken from the recent full length "Labour Division" sums up the various stylistic approaches FSG take to the industrial sound on the album perfectly, with "Elegant Mistakes" a flailing, fractured rhythm shot through with the solder iron percussive stomp of Perc or Surgeon. Throughout there's a barely controlled sense of edginess that threatens to take control and unleash chaos without ever getting to that point. "Ident" meanwhile is a hazy melange of fuzzed out synths that provides some calm before the Factory Floor meets Ben Klock stripped back metallics of "Nihil Novi" appears. A radio mix of "Metal Image" completes the originals and doesn't remove one iota of the original's eerie textures and understated percussive hiss of Regis-in-experimental-mode. Exclusive to this digital release are remixes from Factory Floor's Dom, who turns in a mix of "Nihil Novi" packed with flailing 808 cowbells and industrial textures, and Sawf, who provides a dusty, lo-fi, dread-filled revision of "Mandate".