- Anastasia Kristensen's latest EP shows there's still some sparkle to be found in a world plagued by destruction.
- Cordyceps is a type of fungus that reproduces by infecting the brains of insects. It controls and eats its hosts from the inside out, before emerging out of the corpse to send out spores. Although not deadly to humans, the fungus regularly shows up in sci-fi, where it finally manages to infect and destroy the human race—for example, in the HBO series The Last Of Us or M. R. Carey's novel The Girl With All The Gifts. On her latest EP, Cordyceps Disco, Anastasia Kristensen parallels the destructive nature of the cordyceps with present-day dystopian feelings of climate anxiety and the looming reality of hypercapitalism (which are, of course, interlinked). It's the first time the Copenhagen artist has gotten conceptual on a record, and it's her most detail-oriented work so far.
Even though Kristensen moves within hard techno DJ circles, her sets are never the average pummelling workout. They’re more of a gleaming, prismatic light inside the pitch-black big room. With that in mind, "Practice Of Menace" and the title track from her latest EP may come as a surprise—both lean into the more ominous end of the techno spectrum—but the intensity matches the weight of the topics that inspired Kristensen in the first place. "Practice Of Menace" is, well, menacing, as echoing voices swarm inside a cavern of revving hardcore basslines and crunching blips, which are purposefully out of time, to jarring effect. On the title track, the levels are pushed to the max, especially the kicks and intermittent razor-sharp metal sounds—they're a whisper away from bursting an eardrum when slicing through the stereo field.
Although "All At Once" is still heavier than her previous work, the bassline that sits low in the mix is moreish, like a lighthouse beacon flashing through the fog. It's a calming influence next to the tougher elements of the track. "Irregularity" feels like the mutant offspring of Volshebno, pairing a punchy-but-bumping low-end and breezy atmosphere with jabbering synth chords that hark back to the title track of Kristensen's 2021 EP. Which is to say, there's still a playfulness to Cordyceps Disco, still some sparkle to be found in a world plagued by destruction.
Tracklist01. Cordyceps Disco
02. Practice Of Menace
03. Irregularity
04. All At Once