Stream: Best Available Technology “BASH004”

21 Aug 2013 — Henry Schiller

Best Available Technology’s self-titled EP starts off with a hazy mélange of alien whispers and strangely familiar beats that seem to have been roused from unfamiliar objects. The laconic scuttle-sludge of “Bulldozer Rituals” sounds like the kind of music you might slowly unfurl down a flight of stairs too, but there is a definite dance and house origin to the track’s direct presentation and sharp percussive element. This strange coupling of low-key hip-hop and viscous experimentation is present throughout BASH004; an EP that holds itself accountable for its outré presentation with delectable dance goodness.

Combining Adult Swim bump music with oozy IDM, BASH004 feels kind of like a kaleidoscope whose wheels are turned to a new configuration with each new track. As if every song is a different, warped version of the same event. The muted percussion of “Countrecoup” is like a delicate zero-sum assault that plays out over robotic breaths. “Tide Tunnels” is a lengthy exploration of a single, groovy glitch whose fractured tempo rolls from steamy cave to neon city. BASH004 is the kind of experimental dance music that seems equally at home in the mountains as it does in a cavernous basement venue.

The EP is out now on Styles Upon Styles as the label's fourth instalment of their ongoing Bangers & Ash series.