It’s not so much about the beats, but all about the rhythms. The concept that drives ‘LP’ (which also happens to be the title of Container’s previous album) is simple. Dense bass loops melded to big, big percussion that grows until it plateaus at a point where your head’s about to explode, recorded and mastered LOUD and in MONO. Yes, that’s right. A thick slab of wax with deep grooves containing deep grooves that pound their way through your skull. Its genius lies in its simplicity.
This is no club-friendly bumping bass ‘n’ beats, and the opening salvoes of ‘Dripping’ and the thumping ‘Paralyzed’ lead to he bludgeoning repetition of ‘Acclimator’, which is searing and relentless, and has a different kind of aggression from the preceding tracks.
‘Perforate’ has a single bubbling circular bassline that wibbles and wobbles endlessly without change, while beneath it, the drum pattern slowly builds later upon layer, a simple kick drum sound while snare, hi-hats, toms and additional beats all enter the mix one by one until a whole mass of percussion fills the space. What could – and by rights, should – be a turgid exercise in monotony is somehow rendered exciting.
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There’s more going on in the final track, ‘Refract’, but the principle’s the same, with layer upon later of instrumentation being added every few bars over the top of a simple, repetitive motif and an oscillating drone that hums on, maintaining a single note, for the duration. It cilminates in an almost unbearable climax, a sustained throb of drum-driven noise over which a treated vocal repeats the single word ‘Refract’.
There are no soft edges here, no respite from the pummelling percussion, and while five tracks might seem like a short album, what ‘LP’ lacks in duration, it more than makes up in impact.
Container Online
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