- It's hard to run through the details of Eliminator, the latest from L.I.E.S. mastermind Ron Morelli and flagship artist Steve Summers' Two Dogs in a House project, and not be reminded of another gritty, multi-part New York dance epic: Levon Vincent's Double Jointed Sex Freak. That said, these Two Dogs have quite a different romp in mind. Hide the kids and ready a safeword: Eliminator toes a very fine line between pleasure and pain.
If Double Jointed Sex Freak's three parts charted foreplay, ecstasy and a post-coital smoke, Eliminator's two sides chart a continual spiraling downward into ultimate depravity. (Blawan's His He She & She, the previous contender for the year's scariest techno 12-inch, sounds tame by comparison.) Creeping along at a sinister 114 BPM, Morelli and Summers' familiar hardware drum hits and cry-for-help synth melody coax you into what might otherwise feel like too distorted a bassline to bear. You can almost feel the moment when the gate slams shut behind you: the rhythm gets wild, the melody fuzzes out beyond all recognition and noisy snares wail on you like a switch. The second side opens with a reprieve of sorts, but a snarling acid line reveals itself in slow motion, pushing listeners into a terrifyingly noisy corner. Dropping this in a club might be tantamount to abuse, but as battered and bruised as it leaves you, you may find yourself inexplicably coming back for more.
Tracklist A Eliminator
B Eliminator II