The marketing of Detroit has ebbed away as the central code of futuristic fire and binary brimstone becomes the all important communique of Dennis Richardson and Frank De Groodt.
In almost every area of life, the temptation to compare present and past is inescapably tantalizing; electronic music is not immune. In 1995 Ultradyne released E. Coli on Warp. Since then the artist/group has morphed and mutated with new members and sounds, yet a central tenet of raw and unrefined industrial tones meshed with cold electro steel has been a constant. Rather than relenting over time the message has become ever more direct and arguably harsher. The marketing of Detroit has ebbed away as the central code of futuristic fire and binary brimstone becomes the all important communique of Dennis Richardson and Frank De Groodt.
Ocular Animus opens with the stern drum patterns of “Rising Tide.” Bubbling over the crack of steel pipe and low blows of bass comes a wall of bleeps, delay and static that jostle and jockey into a melody. The track emerges as a supremely mechanical beast, a dangerous and distressing monologue of computer aggression and distilled inhumanity. That malice is tempered in “Suicide Relay.” Clean claps and soulful strings arrive to replace the ferocity, an edge of metal being applied as the track develops and swerves of knob twist jar and jut into the smooth lines and warm tones. Track lengths across the EP are generous, nowhere more so than the B-Side dominator that is “Reflex Movement No. 4.” This final encounter is like little else Ultradyne have attempted. At over thirteen minutes this behemoth lumbers into the arena with echoing howls and a rasping rhythm. Behind a bulwark of steel squeals and rusted drums cowers of distant melody, off-kilter notes staggering against the grind of cranking percussion. A split, introduced by gurgling vocals, occurs at the midpoint where keys are inverted and structures bend and collapse in a way much more reminiscent of modern electronica than of past works from the veteran duo.
Ocular Animus is the first new 12” from Ultradyne in three years and there is a marked development in their sound. Of course their past is echoed in the material, but new avenues have also been explored. The most daring difference comes with the cracked and curved “Reflex Movement No. 4,” a piece that flows and jolts with the energy of a live jam and the intensity of considered emotion. Likewise, the subtle shades of “Suicide Relay” illustrates the depths achievable in a genre founded in the fire and flame of this pioneering pair.
Ocular Animus is available on Pi Gao Movement.
