Highpoint Lowlife consistently surprise, never sticking to one style, and never ever serving up formulaic music, which brings us to the new EP release for 10-20. Lodged firmly somewhere between electronic, dubstep, dub techno and IDM, 10-20 take us to other worlds. “Overloam’d†oozes a claustrophobic ambience as the machines click and stagger, “Endzone†skews off kilter, turning in on itself until it emerges off kilter again. “Boat†oozes the hauntology unashamedly embraced by the label, but underpinned with heavier beats and percussion, the machines keeping a rhythmic balance, while the closer “GolgothA†could be the 2010 equivalent of the 80’s cult film Johnny YesNo hallucination sequence, paranoid dreams and uneasy, unsettling nightmarish visions.
It’s the lack of compromise I admire from Highpoint Lowlife and artists such as 10-20, although releasing some cutting edge electronic and dubstep music, still refuse to be pigeonholed, making the conscious choice to act outside of the square, making the listener re-evaluate their preconceptions on the music they hear. Another label that needs to be explored further to fully appreciate the depth of vision its artists hold.
Wayne Stronell
