Symptoms Of Compliance

VA

Symptoms Of Compliance

Last Possible Solution (UK)

Surely one of the most exciting labels of 2004 returns with a suitably quirky slab of urban psychedelic mulch, all largely the work of the evil, hamster-threatening Paul Wright and his merry cohorts. In fact, you could consider this a new NRS album if you like, but don’t tell anyone I said you could do that. LAN opens up with Registered User, a moody and broody bit of psy which awakens slow as a stoner on a Monday morning, wrenches around in the lower-frequency hangouts and pushes on nicely. NRS step up with Habitual Abuser, every bit as cheeky and manic as the name suggests, featuring that “itsy bitsy spider” song in the middle of an iron-forged technoscape. Icebreaker’s Invisible Beings instantly has more going on at the top end, and a vibe that sort of blends techno, acid techno, and psytrance. Think industrial, think punky, with nice buildups and nicer peaks. NRS vs Tenzing’s Dealing With Morons is fast and layered and sounds more like the material on NRS’s recent album. It’s got a mother of a build going on here, deliciously muddy in places and soaring in others. The bassline is phatter than yo mama, the ravey topend stabs keep it going wonderfully, and the samples are just the tongue-in-cheek darkness you want to set you up for a 303 ride to some twisted, evil Tesco’s. NRS comes up again, Never Get Out is a real winner with changes galore and everything you want from pacey, dark, gnarly sounds. It spirals perfectly, it could appear on a funkier Doof Records release, and that final run sends wonderful brainbleeding vibes up the spine like this music should. RAM’s Voodo Chilli is a sheer downright delight, with plenty of spins and twists and funk to splice up the hard party-down vibe that these two producers conjure up when they work together. The melodies hidden away here are every bit as squelchy mushroomy as any Gamma Goblins you’d care to mention, but the overall impact of this tune is how damn well it hangs together as a whole. Top. Scorb vs Tenz’s Cack-O-Phony is tasty as, a groove that in my day used to be called “‘avin it”. Changes apenty, sounds layered like several synths breaking down at one, a good bit of critical error action never hurt anybody especially when it all fits together as well as this. Cheeky, sublime, energetic, twisted, classic. Finally, Damage vs NRS’ Disrupting closes the album in nice messy London style, with plenty of peaks and possibly a South Park sample, and sounds and melodies that sort of twist in and out of the mix. Escalation and bosh are the keywords here, and it all builds into a deliciously messy mess of messy messiness mess. Symptoms Of Compliance is a classy act, perhaps not as rounded as NRS’ album but as a series of collaborations and experiments between him and his buddies it’s pretty damn fantastic. The sound of incontinent London squat party roadrage victims, irate at The DaVinci Code, has never seemed so appealing.