Post Squarepusher and Aphex, now that Warp seems to have lost its sheen and no longer feels like the centre of the universe, you have to wonder what kind of world exists for experimental drum and bass or jungle or two step or whatever folks are calling these broken beat practitioners these days. The problem for this writer was always that despite the frenzies, the cacophony of beats exploding in varied directions, the charging BPMs and incredible feats of programming, it always seemed too neat, everything seemed to have its place and there was never any real danger and as a consequence never any real excitement.
With Compressor, Melbourne artist Terminal Sound System has removed the neatness and discarded the rigidity around tempo, structure and dynamics. The palette remains firmly entrenched in this drum and bass world but everything else seems to be up for grabs. It’s an album that feels like a real development on the form. Tunes twist and turn, descending down into quiet passages before weaving themselves back up again, or they wait inordinate amounts of time before kicking back in. The extremely slowed down tempo stuff in particular is a revelation, almost the equivalent to when the Melvins discovered sludge rock. The key seems to be that Terminal Sound System is not a slave to the beat, and the dance floor appears to be of little interest, rather he seems more interested in atmosphere, in crafting these subtle experimental new forms, in drawing his influences from outside the genre, utilising approaches drawn from jazz, experimental music, electronica and musique concréte. Part of the local Symbiotic Collective, Compressor is clearly the work of an experienced practitioner, yet one who has grown tired of the rules, and felt the urge to move beyond them, beyond the jackhammer beats and the super cool frenzy and elected instead to search for something new.
Bob Baker Fish
