Asleep at the Wheel

I hate to dig a fellow Irishman, and its not a direct dig at him but the other reviewers here especially Mr."genre-destroyer"-- to me this is Scorn, or I sould say Mick Harris, through and through. TEN years or more ago Harris started making the sounds that are now bubbling up as Grit, Dubstep, and similar nobody listened to it and those that did, myself included had no idea what was going on only that it made our teeth dance in our skulls!

Amazing

Best electronic record of 2006. Instantly created a unique style and sound, which deftly mixes more jungle filled snare/hihat fills with a dubstep tempo and harsh basslines. Many of the songs on this record completely lack bass drums, or have them reduced in the mix. The skill in pulling this off lies with the strong sense of rhythm and the delicious use of bass. A number of the songs sound downright evil in a psychedelic sense and some of the melodic tricks established here are reused as cliche elsewhere on the Planet Mu roster (I'm looking at YOU Vex'd). This guy is the real deal. His next two records (the latest under his real name, Barry Lynn), while not as strong as this, are most definitely worth your attention.

A genre-destroying classic!

To label Boxcutter as 'dubstep' is like calling Elvis a popstar. Tunes like Tauhid, Grub and Brood pound the listener mercilessly with harsh, heavily LFO'd basslines, bitcrushed and stretched beats and grinding leadlines. Sunshine and Silver Birch Solstice prove his mellower side, but be warned, this album was forged on the 12th plane of Hell; put it on and turn it up.

Boxcutter is an apt title for the songs constructed by one Barry Lynn, from Northern Ireland; the sounds on Oneric are sharp yet utilitarian, rusty and grungy yet dependable. These percussion-riddled dreamscapes (oneiric means “of or pertaining to dreams”) reside on the edgier side of the land of IDM, or “intelligent dance music,” one of the most egregious misnomers in music categorization ever. Can you dance to it? Sure — its forms are derived from DJ and sample-based techno or dance music. But is it intelligent? Heady yes, but it’s much more visceral than intellectual. As is the case with most IDM artists (Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, µ-Ziq, Plaid, Squarepusher, Wagon Christ/Plug, et al.) the rhythm patterns here are derived from dancefloor catalysts but systematically dismantled and reassembled in a way that pleases both mind and body, and may be more appropriate for headphones and the couch than a swanky underground club. Boxcutter manipulates his own electronic micro genre, too: whereas Squarepusher or Amon Tobin exploit drum’n'bass, Aphex Twin tweaks jungle, and Luke Vibert and his ilk implode acid techno, Boxcutter’s starting points are the relatively obscure grime and dubstep. Regardless of any needless categorization, the overall sound here most closely resembles his Planet Mu labelmate µ-Ziq, all dark noirish ambience, splattery and disjointed beats, kinetic soundtracks to documentary films about spasmodic alien life forms. “Tauhid” buzzes and lurches its way through an Arabic film noir, until the action sequence takes off with a decidedly Amon Tobin-esque cymbal loop. “Grub” has a µ-Ziq-like flavor, its rhythm seemingly comprised of Brontosaurus stomps and bug zappers. “Skuff’d” exhorts you to “put the drum machine on,” then proceeds to crank it to 11 as the boogie bassline and scattershot snares propel you down the intergalactic superhighway. And that’s just the first three tracks. This album never lets up and is extremely enjoyable the whole way through, and as Boxcutter’s debut it ranks among the finest releases of IDM, whatever that is. – Brian Way