Subtle changes, a rinse or decay, allows for new avenues of depravity to open. Trebles knobs are ripped out as melodies are sent spiraling into shrapnel, that knife-like rhythm keeping time.
I’ve waxed lyrical before about my disdain for single –sided records. Puns aside, it’s always been a bit of a sore point for me. Why put them out? I know there pressing costs are lower but if it’s a 12” give me more to go on than just a couple of tracks!
I had to put my tried and tested pub rant aside when ZCKR Records latest arrived. Qnete is an artist that cuts through the fat and delivers his own coarse and caustic brand burning intensity. His first outing on ZCKR is a personal favourite of 2015 so I felt obliged to forget my one-sided EP issues and fit the headphones with a renewed focus for Grey City Anthem.
One track. Eleven minutes long. And the money’s worth is without question. The Bremen musician has filtered his past output, boiled it down, simmered it and reduced it to a burrowing essence. Snapping snares bite and hiss, distortion fizzing off heated bass lines and raw 303 bars. But it is Qnete’s ability to mould and remould, shape and reshape that keeps you coming back to this track. Subtle changes, a rinse or decay, allows for new avenues of depravity to open. Trebles knobs are ripped out as melodies are sent spiraling into shrapnel, that knife-like rhythm keeping time.
Grey City Anthem pulls you in. The builds are slow with elements being introduced and removed with a master’s touch. Serrating synths and thump culminating before shifting. Undoubtedly a weapon that would obliterate a dancefloor.
I still feel the same about single sided vinyl, but I also feel the same about Qnete.
Grey City Anthem is available on ZCKR.
