- Joseph McGeechan has made foreboding, horror-tinged techno for years, and his productions with Colin Bain as BCR Boys also carried a sense of dread. If it wasn't evil atmospherics lurking in the background, strange sound design and alien noises kept BCR Boys' industrial techno weirder and more compelling than the rest. Since branching out as iFormat, McGeechan's antics have intensified. His 2014 EP for Monolith Rec took industrial paranoia to new heights, as did last year's disturbed Objective EP for Ryuji Takeuchi's Local Sound Network label. Now, When The Walls Have Ears offers more hackle-raising club monsters.
Punchy, haunted and remorseless, "Back Full Of Knives" might be the standout. It's a sweaty, gung-ho track with tight, pumping percussion, but occasionally a ghoulish moan filters into the forward momentum, changing the mood. In terms of sheer techno brutality, Excluded's remix of "Seen By The Eyes Of Others" is the pick. The rage is kept feverish, bubbling up in excruciating waves without ever errupting. Ryuji Takeuchi's remix of the same track is the most far-out. It relies on tension and noisy surges of sound, but it's all rolled out cautiously. By using less brute force, the track's psychological pressure leaves a serious impact.
Tracklist01. When The Walls Have Ears
02. Back Full Of Knives
03. Seen By The Eyes Of Others
04. Seen By The Eyes Of Others (Excluded Remix)
05. Seen By The Eyes Of Others (Ryuji Takeuchi Remix)