Blacknecks – Blacknecks 005
One of the most entertaining aspects of the Blacknecks project was the fact that its perpetrators convinced some people that they had worked as garage producers back in the day. It’s exactly the kind of narrative that would wash with sections of the music media – former doyens of glitzy clubs rehabilitated as an industrial techno act – so kudos to Truss and Bleaching Agent for keeping the backstory alive for as long as possible.
Like previous Blacknecks releases, the fifth instalment isn’t all about stern, slamming techno and when the pair do turn their attention to hard’n’fast rhythms, it sounds like they’re having a laugh. That moment on Blacknecks 005 is “Holzer Mane”, where screeching riffs and detuned riff-led breakdowns are set to claustrophobically heavy beats. Like some of the best Power Vacuum releases, it updates Neil Landstrumm’s 90s noisenik techno, bringing with it a cartoonish sense of intensity.
“Hotline” sounds like the pair in more serious mode. The track’s clicky, cut up rhythm and bursts of clanging, steely percussion could have been borrowed from Bleaching Agent’s Forward Strategy Group project. While the speak and spell vocal sample on “Hotline” suggests its authors have spent too much time watching daytime TV, the track has a creepy undercurrent lurking beneath the surface of its rickety, cut-up groove.
A different mood prevails on “Never Forget”. Like 003 and 004, this is the track that’s dedicated to the duo’s love of EBM and Italo. What makes it sound radically different to the faux disco mob is Blacknecks decision to encase the pulsing bass and series of energetic breakdowns in three-foot thick concrete slab beats. Like a lipstick-besmirched brickie getting down in a gay bar on pay day, “Never Forget” is so wrong but feels so right. You could say the same about the whole Blacknecks project.
Richard Brophy
Tracklisting:
A1. Never Forget
A2. Holzer Mane
B1. Hotline