grounded
I have been trying to hunt down this ep for quite a while since its original release date. as usual, it takes quite an effort to track down and follow healey brothers. they constantly release material on countless small labels in such limited quantities that if you miss the release date, the album is never to be found. "grounded" followed "researching limits" and overall is a little less noisy than the latter, exploring slightly different directions.
my favorite tracks on the record is "h'noi" that makes up for a slower beginning with pummeling machinegun assaults of almost militant drum&bass rhythms that border on the drill&bass intensity. a few moments of quiet ambience with swirling twisted percussion that flattens out and pauses before the next assault. this track is a heavy-duty industrial strength percussion playground that is straightforward at the first glance, but possesses range and emotion that somatics is famous for. punching rhythms of this track for a few moments reminded me of kareem's latest release on zhark.
yet another aggressive track is titled "tach." familiar abrasive crashes and saturated abrasive beats explode in usual somatics fashion. this time, some sort of bubbling atmospheric substance has been added to twisted drum&bass layers. caustic percussion sounds higher and almost rattling at times, creating more mechanized sound.
maybe my overexposure to idm lately made me recognize some idm elements in "grounded". this track is filled with piled up fast drum&bass beats that are simple and repetitive, but build up the intensity, supported by distant strings and pacing acoustic elements. at times it reminds me of a speedcore attitude that somatics used to favor back in the days. yet another approach is displayed on "alley oop." this timer it's minimal simpler drum&bass loops that bounce and advance almost reluctantly. a few times a playful and almost goofy string movement enters the track.
"alaska 106" seems to continue with idm theme (or is it my imagination again?). it starts slowly with beautiful strings and minimal raw beats. they build the structure of the track, while simple strings and analog sounds construct a careful melody. while it might not be the best track in the genre, it is still nice to see the band incorporating some other elements in their style, still retaining old somatics attitude.
together with "researching limits" this record displays the rage and direction of somatic responses and hints upcoming full-length releases in 2001.