Luckily, I read this quote, otherwise I might have used that vomit-inducing term, though I doubt it, because, well, is this 'experimental techno'? Lazily, you might say 'yes'. I'm not above being lazy. It's Techno-affiliated and it's experimental. Powell wouldn't deny the Techno influence; it's inescapable what with the pounding beats. But, you know, a lot of young men who grew up absorbing club music since the 90s are trying to move things on, or at least impose themselves (and all their home listening) on the music they make now. Sometimes they can't make what they've heard into something other than a new old sound. But sometimes...
Powell's music packs a wallop. No big deal. It's the type of wallop he creates that marks him out from the pack. As you can hear below, So We Went Electric comes on like a New York big beat (Suicidal!) body-shocking and block-rocking beat monster from the ruins of both electro-punk and Industrial noise. No U-Turn acknowledges the D&B label (of whom Powell is a fan) without sounding anything like it, except in the heaviness. A clipped metal guitar (?) riff, the upfront drum sound he loves and a total understanding of how to lock a rhythm down whilst letting other elements whiz overhead make this work. Maniac, featuring Russell Haswell, reworks the groove with added guitar licks and a 'One-two-three-four!' thrown in, as if a Punk band recording next door briefly leaked through the studio walls. When the vocal sample came in it started to remind me of Keith LeBlanc's Malcolm X: No Sell Out and that's no bad thing.
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