eMusic Review 0
Scotland's Neil Landstrumm has long been a member of techno's avant-garde; like Cristian Vogel, a collaborator and labelmate on imprints like Sativae, Mosquito and Tresor, Landstrumm approaches techno less as a fixed style than as a field for open-ended investigations into rhythm and sound design. That doesn't mean he's stubbornly resistant to genre: Restaurant of Assassins was a collage of classic styles that invoked the early, hyper-fertile years of British dance music. Lord for £39, likewise, loosely bases itself in dubstep's signature tropes — nausea-inducing bass, machine-shop percussion, staggering rhythms led by ducking, feinting kick drums. There's even what sounds like an open homage to another dubstep producer, Rustie; "Little Help from Rustie" features the same warbly bleeps and swings with the same derangement as the fellow Scot's bizarre, 8-bit funk.
But unlike many dubsteppers who seem content to reach for the same presets, Landstrumm never sounds like he's fitting pieces into a predetermined template. Lord for £39 revels in its sound design: every bass sound warps and frizzles, but each in a different way. From the impish to the garish, every high-end melody keeps in character, rounding out a cast filled with drunks, nags and outright loonies.… read more »
