seven

seems like hymen has not yet released a single bad (or even average) cd. "circumflex" is not an exception. "somatic responses" consists of john and paul healy (originating from uk); they have been around the music scene for over eight years and have released an impressive number of recordings.

somatic responses delivers the sound that is abrasive, dislocated and very complex. take drum'n'bass, twist it, cut it up, fill with noise and broken beats and you get the basic idea of what the band sounds like. i cannot help comparing it to passarani and beefcake that share the same label. while passarani is more minimal, the mysterious synths on "circumflex" bring back the ufo themes of "unspeakable future outbreaks"; dense and rich sounds that collapse and re-assemble carrying the melody on immediately bring beefcake to your mind. somatic responses has a lot more standard hooks and samples from the drum'n'bass scene than the bands mentioned above, but those sounds are transformed and changed to create a distinct and original music. each song changes all the time keeping you constantly on your toes and amazing you with unexpected changes in mood and tempo.

my favorite tracks on the album include "oldrosv" that starts out with a clean synth, and then the beat trickles in - delicate and small; the song has a gentle and almost transparent feel to it. "the storm" features a menacing and cold beginning that gets torn apart by heavy distorted beat. the track escalates and suddenly explodes in your face with the fountain of broken chaotic beats. after this outburst it slows down again leaving you with the synth followed by yet another explosion. the sound on this track is amazingly dense with the beats taking the song to the extremes. "wherever" balances heavy looping distorted percussion with a growing synthlines on the background. the track turns, stops, goes back... regains the momentum and plunges into the depths of dislocated breakbeat chaos. "fourty" is yet another fast track with abrasive heavy percussion and mysterious atmosphere.

"circumflex" will definitely make it into my top 10 for this year and it has all the features you've been looking for - uniqueness, complexity, distorted intelligent sound, fascinating sonic structures, force and beauty that is rarely matched by anyone else.