Bad Tracking are a duo from Bristol, the latest project to emerge out of the industrious DIY hustle affiliated with Studio Tape Echo, rwdfwd and an array of associated labels run by Alex Digard and Daniel Davies aka Ossia. The second release on Digard’s own Mechanical Reproductions imprint after the sub-bass crossfire and detonative drum workouts of Via Maris, this release comes as a strong distillation of a boisterous live show that allegedly features all manner of lewd actions, including, thankfully, some obligatory full frontal for the pervs.

On ‘XP-3’ however there are shades of unexpected sublimation forming a signature balanced between hedonism and introspection. There’s plenty of heavy manners in the brute soundsystem discord that dominates proceedings – all crude, chattering percussion and industrial dub treatments – but the climactic and memorable element comes in the form of a purified ambient glow that suggests a clean break of euphoria as much as losing your mind with your head in the bass bin. If Shackleton’s ‘Soundboy Punishments’ were to have met the ‘Endless Summer’ of Fennesz, perhaps it would have sounded something like this.

PREMIERE: Bad Tracking - XP-3 [Mechanical Reproductions]

Dub / Ritual Industrial/ Concrète / Avant-Garde Bass
sound-artist, producer & selector
also making music as Salac, All Times Now Nothing, Dreamgirls aka Princess Difficult. Avon Terror Corps label (Bristol)

Experimental live subtle wild improvisation with variable geometry, including a lot of friends

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