- While many UK producers are chomping at the bit to replicate old Chicago or '90s vocal house, there's a certain sect more interested in the tensile techno-inspired side of things. Among them is Bristol's Artifact, whose debut on the mercurial Local Action imprint doesn't pull any punches. Each kick drum on "Worn" would feel like a hearty punch if they weren't coming at you in such a quick blur. Lashed with horror-movie strings, Ryan Bonfield's hi-hats and snares feel like they're ducking out of the way of the bulldozing kick, present for a split second before being pulled under by the track's incredible torque. A barked vocal sample only adds to the feverish confusion.
"Drain" takes the foot off the gas pedal for a second, enough to let dubstep-hinting basslines squirm beneath the track's maddeningly monotonous chord progression. It's all rendered in future dystopian monochrome—music that sounds stridently technological but mired in the greyness of its own machinery. Back to hyperspeed, "Turtle Fight" coagulates its melody line into a noxious belching thing. The delirious and cyclical vocal seems to almost make fun of the cheerful vocal samples of some of Bonfield's contemporaries, underlining that what Artifact's music lacks in friendliness it makes up for in physical impact.
Tracklist A Worn
AA Drain
AAA Turtle fight