- Dense & Pika are the kind of artists who take a perverse delight in twisting as many melons as possible. Alex Jones & Glimpse's return to Hotflush, the scene of last year's riotous Colt EP, gives them an opportunity to expand on the release as they load a half dozen twisted techno bullets into the chamber.
It's difficult to decide which of the six tracks messes with your mind most. Is it the frazzled military march of "Klank" with its roaring interjections and door-slamming bass kicks? Or "Lazy Wayne" and its comically pitch-shifted vocal and spanking percussion? On "Slowhand"—arguably the only point on the EP where it feels like Dense & Pika lift the boot off the throat—Jones and Glimpse fuse tribal drums with a nagging synth ping.
This one is blown out of the water by the stomping "Slacker," which sounds like a robot gone feral, with its increasingly deranged digital melody. "Bad Ink" might appear as a welcome change in pace but there's an underlying, growling malevolence working away in its basement. As the bumping final bars of the EP's most melodic moment, "Wandering Hands," peters out, you'd be forgiven for exhaling long and hard.
TracklistA1 Klank
A2 Wandering Hands
B1 Slowhand
B2 Slacker
Digital: Bad Ink
Digital: Lazy Wayne