Steep Stims [2LP]

Clark - Steep Stims [2LP]

Double LP version. Following the skewed-unself-help-brilliance of Sus Dog (which marked his first full foray into songs, abetted by Thom Yorke), and its companion piece Cave Dog, Chris Clark returns to the dancefloor's simple, but no less affecting pleasures, with Steep Stims. Steep Stims marks a back-to-basics approach, invoking the early years of gung-ho creativity enforced by limitations in technology at the time. Made quickly, Steep Stims reflects the immediate rave energy of his live show, but that's not to say it's basic floor fodder, as it's rife with personality, synth magic, and knack for melody. Although swift and impressionistically captured rather than labored over, it's still formidably deft, with plenty of oddball weirdness lurking beneath the dancefloor. Soft, orange, scorched, brutal, the opening track "Gift and Wound" captures the classic dance music dread/awe/euphoria combo perfectly, before "Infinite Roller" merges sparkly-minimalism with snarling bass and soft sines, which turn more-dense and metallic as it progresses. The melancholic smoke belch of "No Pills U" gives strong classic vibrations, which is belied by its creation, made in just 20 minutes. Drumless, yet still full of exhilarating-big-trance-drama, "Who Booed The Goose" flashes by in stroboscopic fast forward, then "5 Millionth Cave Painting" gives a palate cleanser, letting "the virus with its delicious broken, luxurious reverb have a moment," before "Negation Loop" swoops down in all its glory, with Clark's tweaked vocals leading deconstructed trance breakdowns, tape edits and brutal noisebursts. An antidote to the bombast of its predecessor is "Micro Lyf," which closes the set on a poignant note, of sorts. Muted staccato gives way to field recordings "that gradually put it in this outside space; alien in a meadow somewhere nameless. It feels like a sinkhole. The record kinda swallows itself up and then is gone", ends Chris. 
01. Gift And Wound _x000D_
02. Infinite Roller _x000D_
03. No Pills U _x000D_
04. Janus Modal _x000D_
05. 1 BEDO Bailiff _x000D_
06. Globecore Flats _x000D_
07. Blowtorch Thimble _x000D_
08. Civilians _x000D_
09. Inpatient's Day Out _x000D_
10. Who Booed The Goose _x000D_
11. 5 Millionth Cave Painting _x000D_
12. Negation Loop _x000D_
13. Micro Lyf