We enjoyed the last EP from Karhide A.K.A. multi-instrumentalist Tim Waterfield – “Rough Sleep” EP – it was full of kraken, slow moving, bass notes – a prog-rock omelette of fainted patters and spatters. We couldn’t wait to hear the new Colossus EP.
Featuring Alex Rainbow – the title track is like a furious walk up tin-pan alley – with residents slinging all kinds of muddy hooks – from the windows – at you. This is fierce and grizzly.
‘Turing’ is ironic and seductive. The ‘Turing Test’ is a test of the ability of a machine to show an intelligent behaviour equivalent or indistinguishable from that of a human. The test was formulated by the British wartime mathematician Alan Turing – and has been used to automatically send encoded ciphers back into the hands of the enemy or to check control codes that had been collected.
The ‘Turing‘ has many advantages /disadvantages for the Internet age. With host computers monitoring each other to see if there is a human being present in the transaction (hence the “captchas” on sign-up pages.) It’s as if electronic beasts in our rooms are sniffing each other in an attempt to size each other up. This track is full of hysteria and smart dexterity (as you would expect) and makes some furious progress.
‘If Not Else’ is dark and densely packed. With a throaty bass that groans and spits flem like a brutish oily bulldozer. In this track, ironworks are wrenched out of place and the gravelly percussion is over-run and crunched-to-death by the immensely heavy track-wheels of sound. A lighter, more spangled middle-moment – gives some relief from the punchiness – but not for long.
Last track ‘Guitar Swell’ is guttural and hollowed out. An icy key note pleads to escape from the vacuous emptiness. This is a huge monster – as it steps and crashes through a sensitive landscape. Robotic and very-slightly electrified … the sounds twitch & jerk … and all this is set against the pondering tones and the icy emptiness of a frightening state of extinction.
This is EP is meaninful, creative and enjoyable.
8/10
@neilmach © 2014
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