Bintus – ‘Lightnin’ EP

Following up on JoeFarr’s ‘Sentry’ EP, label boss Bintus brings the heat on Power Vacuum’s tenth release ‘Lightnin’. On this new project Bintus explores a love of heavy electronics, constructing abrasive and propulsive techno beats built on distorted rhythms, wild arpeggiators and vigorously-altered 303’s.

Bintus is the alias of Milo Smee who, as well as being the aforementioned head honcho at Power Vacuum Records, has been making electronic music for something like twenty years; releasing warped electronica as Kruton and Binary Chaffinch on the likes of Dissident, D.C. Recordings and I’m a Cliche, playing alongside his brother in chaotic disco-prog group Chrome Hoof as well as further involvement in projects Zirkon, The Fear and 5 Mic Cluster.

‘Reflections on Brown’ opens broken, and relatively innocent with industrial sounding taps and hints of cute xylophone-like plonks… for all of five seconds. The track quickly flexes it’s muscles with a classic Bintus thump that bounces alongside the industrial elements. These remain on and off for the duration, working percussively as cymbals that provide an interesting groove. I imagine it would be quite enjoyable to watch people move to this one. Vocal work is present, from overt strange moaning chants to more covert releases of pent-up breath expanding over drum impacts. The opener is flecked with references to previous tracks of his, most notably his remix of Dez Williams’ ‘Silvaphish’, which dropped on Bedouin in October. It’s an odd decision that I welcome!

The self-titled ‘Lightnin’, meanwhile, is manic at heart with a consistently changing synthesis moving around the lead riff. ‘Lightin’ feels like somebody frantically trying to save a malfunctioning space ship, leaving me on a cliff-hanger as to whether things were sorted out or not… I’ll take that as a no as ‘Warick Castle Meltdown’ boots up the B-side with a dark, raw acid movement. It’s sinister, but simple in structure. Nothing overly fancy with an interchanging kick and snappy snare combo, just a solid weapon for DJ’s to enjoy and people to dance to.

Closing track ‘Looking In Your Fridge’, a strong contender for best track name of the year, packs an incredibly aggressive punch for such an innocent task. The kick is distorted, fit with metal sheet banging percussion and a demon like roar that gives me the willies. It’s an ugly record that seems to take the unique elements of each track before it and form them into an immensely enjoyable techno banger.

Out on November 25th, take a listen to a preview from ‘Lightnin’ below and pick up a copy for yourself here.

@diegetics

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