- Perc Trax and ASC seem made for each other: both are prolific (though "prolific" feels rather quaint for James Clements, who by my count released 19 records last year, including his The Light That Burns Twice As Bright full-length for Silent Season), and both have hit a creative stride over the last few years. Like his Autonomic cohorts Instra:mental, ASC has shifted from being a reliably drum & bass guy to being more known for his production aesthetic than any one tempo or rhythm, and ASC's sound signature—reduced, futuristic and as piercing as medical grade steel—is a perfect fit for Perc Trax's machine music. Already three releases into 2012, ASC obviously isn't slowing down, and if the Boundary Scan EP is any indication, he's nowhere close to losing his voice.
Cut loose from 170 BPM, ASC sounds no less futuristic; when he's hanging out in techno climes, as he is here, his sound design takes on new menace. "Revelations" is all low rumble, sandpapery snares, and grayscale chug. We get a glimmer of humanity in "Magnetic"—a distant voice at the whim of an army of tiny, high-definition percussion sounds—but just a glimmer. Downright tropical by his standards, "Capsule" sprinkles ASC's machines with enough color to underlie the steady pulse at the track's heart.
Tracklist A Revelations
B1 Magnetic
B2 Capsule