On Repeat: Justice / Krazy Baldhead: "Phantom" / "Strings of Death" [Streams]
Like most compilations, Ed Rec Vol 2, the second label sampler from France-based Ed Banger Records is a hit-or-miss affair. But there's also a reason why their label's one of the hottest in electro right now: From insane club nights to a lineup (Justice, DJ Mehdi, SebastiAn, Busy P, Mr. Flash, et al) that just won't quit-- and let's face it, a design aesthetic that could kill a man-- there aren't many other electro stables bringing it quite this hard at the moment. From today's Pitchfork review by Tim Finney, here are two tracks off the comp you don't wanna rest on:
>> Justice: "Phantom"
"...Justice's "Phantom" fuses hyper-plasticity with noise for noisiness' sake in characteristic fashion. While it's hardly surprising, it's perhaps the duo's best executed effort to date, the descent from disco sparkle into a mid-range black hole and back out again carried off with agility, even grace..."
>> Krazy Baldhead: "Strings of Death"
"...Krazy Baldhead's "Strings of Death" performs the unlikely feat of summarizing the label's entire aesthetic while sounding like nothing else in its back catalogue... It slinks its way around overblown, bluesy guitar riffs while paranoid synths and snapping electro beats add a slight industrial inflection, somewhere between Ministry at their most lithe and Depeche Mode at their most heavy..."