- The very thing that makes Bandshell's music distinctive might also have kept him on the fringes of British dance music. The hybrid stepper's rhythms on 2012's Dust March were vintage Hessle Audio but for their arid, abrasive finish. Later productions, for Liberation Technologies among others, subjected a spread of other genres to the same ruthless sandblasting. Bandshell's music is rich with ideas, but this noisy surface can make it seem barren and uninviting. His latest—for FTD, a home of talented oddballs—is no different, a lunar landscape of white noise and ravaged percussion that menaces the eardrums.
The EP favours syncopated techno rhythms. They're stitched together with metallic concussions and weals of low-end on "Credit Fangs," while a throbbing sub-bassline hints at Bandshell's dubstep past on "Polarising Haircut." Both tracks strong-arm you into dancing. "Gruberfund" is subtler, the mood sweetened by keening synth leads and pads. The closer, "Snow Directives," drops the drums to revel in barren atmos. Bandshell's world remains bleak, but it's worth visiting.
TracklistA1 Credit Fangs
A2 Gruberfund
B1 Polarising Haircut
B2 Snow Directives