- Hardcore meets techno and industrial on this unpredictable EP.
- Producing hardcore is notoriously labor intensive, though that may not be immediately apparent. Creating a single kick drum can involve delicately EQing and compressing a bunch of layered sounds, a technique that often comes from many hours of YouTube tutorials. You need to cover the frequency spectrum with textural color while also supplying enough power to rip peoples' faces off. Kilbourne's Evnika EP, where Thunderdome-style hardcore meets techno and industrial, embodies that meticulousness, not just in the sound design but in the delightfully unpredictable arc of each track. She sends us on hard left turns, but she's got the technical chops to make the frantic pacing feel just right.
"Evnika," with its violin breakdowns, is the track you can imagine hearing at some Dutch mega-festival, but it avoids the cookie-cutter tropes you hear in a lot of big-room music. "Bleached Whale" is the EP's scariest track, which is saying a lot. Kilbourne finds a way to ratchet the intensity dial at the end of each phrase, squeezing in new drops when you think it can't possibly yield more.
"As Adam," a brutalized 145-BPM drum track, could probably work in a Paula Temple or Perc set. Literary hawks might catch the clip from Moby Dick just before the beat drops, which is a cheeky twist on the use of dark, brooding dialogue for flavor. Kilbourne rounds it out with the seven-minute mini-epic "Red Melt," which transforms as it goes along, starting as a slow industrial chugger before cranking its pace up to hardcore techno. Like the other three tracks, it's a combination of fresh ideas and sharp execution.
Tracklist01. Evnika
02. Bleached Whale
03. As Adam
04. Red Melt