(October 2009) Posthuman have been, for lack of a better word, dormant since their 2006 The People’s Republic album. To drop into the personal for a moment I remember the release well, it was different from what they had done and was released just before I was about to embark on a new life in Canada. Well, everything changes. I no longer find myself on the West Coast city of Vancouver and Posthuman have shifted their sound to the newly revived B12.
It isn’t fair to say that Posthuman were completely dormant, with the duo putting out Hilda Family EP on the solely digial Myzyk imprint in 2008 with some psydenym appearances on Uncharted Audio 7″s. Nevertheless, it is pretty fair to say the cousins of Bevan and Doherty have been a tad quiet. Monsters and Voratices marks a return to the shelves of your local (though more than likely internet based) record store.
It is no surprise that B12 is the new home for Posthuman, with Doherty leaving Seed Records in 2006 to help bring back the defunct imprint. However, if you were waiting for the Seed sound to come through on placing the needle to Monsters and Vortices you were in for a surprise. In their early days the twosome were known for electronics, Skamesque sounds with a cleverness that helped give their form of IDM a new century twist. As the work progressed it took on a more melancholic and darker aspect, working in electronics whilst delving into areas of disparate rock and post punk. But Monsters and Vortices levels this diversity and sees the duo going back to electronics.
The 12″ opens with the hammering “Krill.” The track is a primitive work of bludgeoning beat and bass, with the ceiling gazers waiting for the break with a fist of salute before downing another Stella Artois. It’s difficult to see how the 12″ can recover from this banging onslaught, and where this track would fit in the modern electronic scene. Perhaps in a few years, as things come back into fashion, as they tend to, walloping Dutch techno, which this isn’t too far off, will come back and “Krill” will be the toast of Fabric and its Amstel promotion nights. Djak Up, over, great. Locked grooves are a staple of B12, traditions mean you have to get up to get to “Callisto” started. The track leaves behind the Neanderthal style of “Krill” with ghostly samples working over a still quite brusque bass. The BPM drops with some of the beats almost adopting a blip-hop motif, a genre rarely heard of. The beats begin to build and pounds begin to return as the track resorts back to the thump and pillage ground that “Krill” covered. The track, following the break, thankfully takes somewhat of a step back and the hard beats take a bit of a breather. Time for the B.
Some modicum of sanity seems to return with “Monsters Exist.” The track broodily comes to life with some nice synth echoes. Beats thump, but this time take on more of a deep house aspect and leave some of the club-land terror of the A-Side behind. The BPM rises, but the clap and clatter of the snares are kept in check by the wavering insomnia of the central melody. Some of the darkness of the Posthuman sound returns with this track, as does some of the classic sound of B12. The track redeems some of the EP with the balance lying with “The Karman Vortices.” The ultimate track of the EP pours on the darkness thick, with bands of black organ sound permeating through the listener. Suddenly everything is slowed down. Don’t check the RPM, this is it. The EP seems to have disappeared, and something new has arrived. Deep electronics, echoing Boards of Canada, have materialized. Warmth and electronica have somehow managed to find a home on the last track. It seems like someone has changing the cuing switch on the mixer, but no. Posthuman have decided to leave their return back with something else and Monsters and Vortices starts to make up for some serious lost ground, more or less Side A.
Not to emerge from the wings brandishing a dagger for the first release by Posthuman in some time, but Side A is not a triumph. It has everything that is wrong with electronics and very little of what is right with it. However, the B Side brings a shift. This is not an attempt to say that all must be lovely and flowing, warm and cosy but the A Side doesn’t achieve much. Side B does achieve something. It shows the pair realizing a sound that has gained much ground, deep/minimal house, and trying their hand at something new. “Monsters Exist” and “The Karman Vortices” sees Posthuman back on electronic ground they are familiar with and good at, “Krill” and “Callisto” do not.
Monsters and Voratices is out now on B12. [Listen / Purchase
