- Opiate-glazed and otherworldly, Natural Sciences' first two EPs, Low Definitions by Aleks and Midnight At The Tokyo Central by Aquarium / 外神田deepspace, were classy refinements of lo-fi house. They were also distinctive for their mutable ambience, atmospheres that thinned out whenever a track needed space to bang. Following that principle, Antonio applies a lighter balm to Straight Realness, highlighting grotty textures and steel-capped kick drums.
The distortion in "Raw Love," the cut-and-paste jungle of "Untitled D" and the red-lining drums of "Untitled TT" define what the label calls "muscular dungeon boogie." (The softer edges of "$$$," on the other hand, bleed into a familiar, rather ordinary sound.) Before queasy organs slide into the mix, "Untitled TT" uneasily spins scraps of percussion. A similar disjointedness drives "Untitled D": breakbeats are loosely held together, colliding before collapsing. On "Raw Love," Antonio shows a tenderness to match his music's pounding physicality, as soft guitar notes offset the noisy creaking. In pairing serenity with chaos, Straight Realness subverts the blunted sound Natural Sciences has fostered so far.
TracklistA1 Untitled TT
A2 Raw Love
B1 $$$
B2 Untitled D