Bed Of Nails Vinyl & CDs

Review: Last year, Shifted owned techno with numerous 12"s under a variety of aliases complementing his curatorial efforts at the head of Avian and of course Crossed Paths, his debut album for Mote Evolver. In turns spooky, bleak and hypnotic, full of dub techno attitude, post-minimal crackle and droning rhythms, it made quite an impression. This follow-up for Bed of Nails treads a similar path, flitting between droning soundscapes, unsettling grooves and intense, murky compositions. While there are tougher, dancefloor-centric workouts (see title track "Under A Single Banner", "Pulse Incomplete" and "Burning Tyres"), these come cloaked in a murky fog of clandestine atmospherics. It feels like the unheard soundtrack to a black and white documentary on urban decay, fronted by a paranoid insomniac. It is, then, both unsettling and quietly impressive.