This download-only compilation sees Sydney label Feral Media collaborating with Brisbane based Lofly Recordings for the musical equivalent of an interstate exchange project, and indeed the results here prove so fruitful that I found myself scratching my head trying to think of instances where this sort of exercise has occurred previously. In truth, Strain Of Origin represents something genuinely new amongst the Australian electronic music community, with artists from both label rosters (and cities) producing new exclusive reworkings of each others’ music. Toss in a strict two week deadline imposed in order to keep things raw and spontaneous, and you’re left with 16 consistently inspired tracks that manage to veer all over the place in terms of styles and influences. If Vorad Fils’ reworking of Mr Maps’ ‘Til The Money Outruns Us’ leans towards the wonky LA hiphop styles of the Brainfeeder label with its gently glittering fusion of phased synth chords and spidery, off-centre beats, ii’s ‘Regular Giant Prawns Mix’ of Joel Edmondson’s ‘Giant’ sees things venturing out towards the dancefloor, anchoring itself around a throbbing minimal techno pulse and dry, rattling snare accents.
Elsewhere, Underlapper reshape Aheadphonehome’s ‘The Rattle’ into a shimmering, digitally treated post-rock swoon that almost ripples like the desert haze as melancholic vocals, plucked repetitive guitar figures and ambient drones trail against flickering drum machine rhythms, before Comatone’s sub-bass loaded remix of Re:Enactment’s ‘Them’s Burnt Puppies’ takes things out into relentlessly crawling dubstep rhythms, frantically cut-up hip-hop/ragga vocals and bleeping electronics, only to suddenly breakdown into a chorus section of chunky rock guitar riffs. If it represents what’s easily one of the most extroverted moments scattered amongst the tracklisting here, AFXJIM’s closing reworking of Subsea’s ‘Luetteloa’ occupies the complete opposite end of the sonic spectrum, taking things out amidst majestically slowburning piano keys and phased synths, before suddenly accelerating off into prog-house rhythms. Awesome stuff indeed, and on the basis of the inspired contents here, it’d be great to see this sort of interstate label collaboration happen more frequently in the future. If all of this wasn’t good enough already, you can download Strain Of Origin for free from http://feralmedia.bandcamp.com/album/the-strain-of-origin
Chris Downton
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