Con-fusion is built on its title, torn down to its core and rebuilt as a towering abstract mega-structure.
There’s no escaping the sounds of full throttle, heavy punching bass and beats rummaging through definitive leftfield electro breaks and distortion. There’s a synonymous sound in which C. Mantle (aka Edinburgh’s Christopher Mantle) manifests as his own; the busted tones, crackles and rhythmic beats all fold up into a sublime musical space. This is just what Con-fusion reveals as an extended player packed with friendly reinterpretations of an already explosive mechanical beast. Gritty synths evaporate via low-end percussive sandblasting.
As it becomes clearer and clearer with each release, Acre continues to unearth a plethora of electronic music that stands on exploratory front lines. So too does this EP available as vinyl or digital featuring some very skilled musicians (Silicon Scally, Wirewound, Oberman Knocks, Adapta, Ben Milstein, Blakbody, Diasiva and Blackmass) to collect the bits and paste them into new sonic shapes. Broken slabs are patched and resurfaced, ice sheets shatter into a million pieces and shuffling noise echoes in dimly lit crevasses. Con-fusion is built on its title, torn down to its core and rebuilt as a towering abstract mega-structure.
While electro is certainly at the fingertips, these renovations form a contained, chaotic and gelatinous bond. Layer upon layer of scrupulous blips and bleeps are smothered in syncopated rhythms that all come together as each musician details their own path etched from C. Mantle’s turbulent yet coherent original.
Con-fusion is available on Acre.
