Mick Harris is back at it again. I was under the impression that the Scorn moniker had been retired at least twice by now, but I’m damn glad to have some new material in my hands and on my decks. Scorn always had the dub-gone-evil thing in spades compared to his contemporaries, and now, when it appears that there are no contemporaries, List of Takers comes out on a tiny Polish label in a limited edition and it’s the best thing Scorn’s done. So if you want your fix of demon-dub, Vivo is the place to run to.
Recorded live (one take, apparently) for Breaks FM, List of Takers is one seventy-minute track that pushes the Scorn legacy into a new phase. Using samples of previous material (I know there’s a vocal sample from Logghi Barroggi in there somewhere) and new sounds, Harris pushes himself as far out as he has under the Scorn rubric. Think Lull with beats, and you’re closer to the concept of List of Takers. Concept, not sound, because the sound is still rooted in the downtempo dark-hop (or whatever it’s called this week) from years past. List… is not as bass-heavy as previous releases like Greetings From Birmingham or Gyral, but presents more of a dirty bass-synth that operates paradoxically in more of the mid-range of sound.
The bottom line is that this is Scorn. If you’ve heard Scorn before, you have a pretty good idea what this is going to sound like. The charge could be leveled by the uninitiated that all Scorn albums sound alike, and that is not wholly inaccurate. This will not convert the unconvinced. But for those with ears tuned in, there’s variation and progression within the discography. List of Takers is a new step in a new direction, and for that I am thankful.
List of Takers is out now on Vivo Records.
