Black Shapes’ ZEROFOUR delivers four uncompromising transmissions of Millsian techno, smoked-out acid and analogue futurism, where relentless pressure, machine-driven psychedelia and late-night propulsion do all the talking.
Four cuts of pure machine pressure
Italy’s Black Shapes deliver their fourth instalment of second-generation Millsian four-track belters in the shape of ZEROFOUR. TAOYEMA returns with peak smoked-out bells and beats on “DARK NECESSITY,” those nagging high-end riffs shimmering through clouds of sweat-drenched, miasmatic visuals and tripped-out abandon. Over nine minutes of relentless pressure the energy is the answer. No thesis. No explanation. Just pressure applied until the body understands.
INHERENT appears for track two (“RESPIRI”) offering clean progressive acid bubbles that repeat like warm-work mechanoid gargoyles, the kind of thing you want playing while driving through late-night cityscapes, flying over flyovers and watching the night shades of the city slide past from the warmth of your vehicle. Acid punch for lunch and you and your crew on your way somewhere, destination largely irrelevant, because the point is getting there with the right people and joining in the like-minded abandon. Round we go. Beautiful debut for the label. More please.
DORiKO takes track three (“7 GESCEAP OF PNEUMA”) with a stuttering intro, like the CD has skipped for a second and reality has briefly lost its place. Then the machinery engages. The remorseless technoid mechanics and mechaninalia move forward with unforgiving insistence. A three-kick loop. Incessant synth. Bass pulse. Everything hitting the one like it has somewhere else to be and absolutely no intention of waiting for you. White-water sweeps splatter the skies in silver, trippy waterfalls of psychedelia. Functional? Absolutely. But functional in the way a machine can become beautiful when you stare at it long enough.
Closer K-SEA (“RUSTIC”) gets my nod for delivering more than simply the container of the theme, but the last concise and clear interpretation of its contents. Bass rolls and pulses like a new-decade Doctor Who theme. Like a 70s sci-fi movie soundtrack. It’s John Carpenter in his garage making his own soundtracks. It’s the opening and closing titles of Soylent Green. It’s analogue futurism seen through a dirty windscreen at 2am. And it’s inhumanly delicious.
ZEROFOUR is available on Black Shapes. [Bandcamp]
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