Luke Lund’s Hopium (released June, 2020) is a juggernaut of heavy tones and beats pressed against the wall like riot cops on protesters.
A juggernaut of heavy tones and beats pressed against the wall
Luke Lund’s Hopium (released June, 2020) is a juggernaut of heavy tones and beats pressed against the wall like riot cops on protesters.
“Cross To Bear” could be the result of an AI trying to recreate the music of Godflesh without guitars only to fail up and create something new and harshly beautiful with its crushing beats and heavy percussion against swerving and diving echoes. “Go Ballistic” picks up where the previous track leaves off to allow for a further examination of feedback squeals, synth pulses and screeching effects pressing right into the edge of noisy dub step inflections a la Scorn and Meat Beat Manifesto circa Impossible Star. “Shi” melds beatbox clips against shards of harsh-looped noise and machine made terrors. “Pillface” tells the tale of too much cough syrup down the throats of mutant workers on a night off from a factory of doom where broken down machines inflict so much harm no one can approach without risking injury from the flying loose ends of noisy dub-style echoes.
“Circle of Debt” uses metallic percussion and warped tones to create an atmosphere of unpredictable terror as a looped voice shouts “This is it/This is the life!” over and over. “Hive” is the sound of metallic insects mindlessly toiling as a dark queen looms in her lair far from prying eyes as burbling synths and squealing feedback looms in the air. “Misgelast” comes across the ears like a misfiring cannon in an enormous gymnasium with its juddering beats and roiling dub echoes scattered under manipulated samples of tortured voices. “Relapse” rounds out the album with a woozy, looped drone as voices and thunderous beats roll in to stamp out all resistance until nothing is left but the remnants of a beatbox clap and a fading echo.
Hopium is available on Ohm Resistance. [Bandcamp]
