- Acidic post-punk incantations from the Mexican artist.
- From Berghain to Brussels, key dance music artists find endless inspiration at the crossroads of post-punk (and variants such as goth, EBM and all the waves) with techno. It's a fertile space that has directly inspired key institutions such as Downwards, Minimal Wave and Dark Entries. Squirrels In Film, the label run by San Francisco mainstays Solar and C.L.A.W.S, is another label founded with this syncretic approach in mind. C.L.A.W.S., real name Brian Hock, has split his time between dance floor productions and bands like Bronze, while Solar's DJing is so electrifying because he brings a raw DIY aesthetic to the turntables. LDY OSC's fourth and best EP, Electric-Earthy-Esoteric, takes full advantage of the label's broad creative remit.
The Vienna-based, Mexican-born artist Alyssa Auvinen Barrera began surfing dark waves naturally, gravitating towards industrial music in her youth and playing in a post-punk band alongside Ohio producers Todd Sines and Archetype. Many of her solo tracks to date, released on labels like The Bunker New York and Kontra-Musik, take elements of this noirish past but also aim for dance floor functionality. On Electric-Earthy-Esoteric, she lets her freak flag fly with a grip of creepy, incantatory vocal tracks.
Barrera utilizes at least three vocal styles here. Primarily a dry, sardonic sing-speak, but also a haunting alto and the occasional shriek. "Bad Connection" is a skeletal wave track that lurches along like a jack-o-lantern carriage. "Give Me," meanwhile, ramps up the energy with Barrera chanting over a hectic acid workout. The latter rests in an uncomfortable liminal space between "song" and "track," with the lyrical content regrettably limited to two lines—"Give me something that I can make / Into something that I can break."
The lengthy "Red Cosmic Moon," however, highlights the transcendent potential of LDY OSC's approach. Eschewing a kick in favor of a thudding tom, Barrera's spoken vocals hang in the air, complemented by pads that vacillate between meditative and menacing. The two-note bassline is supported by subtle oscillating synths, all adding up to a sparse yet immersive nine-minute headtrip.
Tracklist01. Bad Connection
02. Generate
03. Give Me
04. Red Cosmic Moon
05. Give Me (Instrumental)
06. Red Cosmic Moon (Instrumental)