Artificial System / X / E / C / K

Londoner Artificial System has returned with a new EP of dark, uncompromising, psychedelic electronica. Compositions he’s termed “inter dimensional excursions”. The set takes its title, “X/E/C/K”*, from a frighteningly potent drug cocktail, and throughout features sampled dialogue and that describes the use and effects of undisclosed pharmaceuticals. The mid-tempo techno pounding of “Killing Time Before We Get High” pits sinister squelching and Sci-Fi sound effects against rattling snare rolls. A trance dance where the beat and B-line are rigid, hypnotic, but nothing else seems fixed. The voices on “X/E/C/K” itself discuss machines manipulating brainwaves while sequences shuffle and frequencies fizz. A growling, leviathan low-end shaking / earthquaking its illbient, ambient atmosphere. The protagonist of “21 Grammes Of Spores” finds himself driving while drinking “magic juice”. A slow, seismic, buzzing, distorted bass-drum kick backing his recounting of the lysergic experience.…