- We've all heard the cliché about the space between the notes being more important than the notes themselves. Impact and silence are intimately linked polar opposites that some producers spend entire careers trying to harness. It requires a delicate balance of negative space and sound pressure, which Bristol's Pessimist has nailed on the A-side of his latest 12-inch for Blackest Ever Black sub-label A14.
Blackest fans might recognise "Balaklava" from Kiran Sande's Berlin Community Radio show. It's a brutally minimalist tune whose atmosphere is thick with dead air, the sort of track you only need to hear once to have it etched in the brain. There's actually a fair bit going on, but the ambience feels emptied out yet full of menace, like you stumbled on the site of some long-forgotten atrocity. A stylus traces circles in a run-out groove before Pessimist's percolating rim-hat-kick combo starts aquaplaning across the still surface. The clear highlight, however, is the guttural sub plunges that shudder like they're crumpling the bass bins.
If "Balaklava" is an exercise in restraint, "Orphic" fills the available space to the brim. It's relentless intensity is reminiscent of Regis's "Execution Ground" sped up to 170BPM, all synth detonations and gnashing textures. It hurtles along at a fair clip and sounds like it's shedding loose parts in its quest for endless forward movement. But there's enough of a half-step pulse to cruise comfortably alongside this runaway juggernaut.
TracklistA Balaklava
B Orphic