(05.06.09) Following on from his Bio Electronics EP in 2007, Urban Tribe (aka Sherard Ingram) is back on Trust with his latest undertaking: Social Engineering. Ingram’s style of minimal electro has found a solid following. So how does this four tracker created “somewhere in Detroit” fair up?
The lonely titled “Her” opens the 12inch. Minimal electronic bleeps and clicks meet the listener as beats pile up and female samples echo. The track has a reverberating energy, swirling and spiraling in the eardrum as injections of bass and snare force through to create a multi-layered and quite heady piece of electro. “Gencon” comes to life in different fashion, in a whirring of analogue codes and key tapes before a serious beat is laid down. Drums and basslines writhe and squirm under a squalid Detroit heaviness in this deeply clever techno work.
The bpm rises as the B-Side lands. “Shambing Masses” is a zombie holocaust endeavor with horror samples, from the likes of Dawn of the Dead, hovering over a dark and sinister electro chords. The track has a power and energy that gives it a dancefloor nightmare feel whilst maintaining an Underground Resistance tone. “Sabotage Clique” ends Social Engineering in a turbid and harsh electro form, reflecting the dilapidated factories and forgotten industries that lies at the heart of Detroit techno.
Social Engineering sees a growth in Ingram’s style. This is not a 12inch of stripped and subtracted electro, but a complex compilation within the electro framework. The tracks have a depth to them that moves on from single chord sounds to create a tangled web of Detroit electro with that unmistakable uneasy twist.
Social Engineering is out now on Trust.
