Blacknecks - Easy Lionel

As Blacknecks, Truss and Bleaching Agent have been poking fun at a serious strain of techno. They pump out ridiculously hard beats with names like "Four Cunts & A Badge" and "Death Before Eastenders." Stylistically, you could compare them to Truss's MPIA3 project, but together the UK duo do things with a nudge, a wink and a cheeky sense of melody. The latter is what comes out strongest on the duo's sixth EP—a hefty double-pack that happens to be their last. It also comes with an increased sense of wackiness: there's the cover art, the hilarious letter that announced the release and titles like "Stunning Gurn." It also has the most varied display of their abilities yet, showing that humour in dance music doesn't have to come at the cost of quality.

"Moon Over Rotherham" and "Stunning Gurn" feature the duo's typically aggressive antics. Both are prickly and gut-punching, although the former opens the record with a spring in its step and the latter has cartoonish dive-bombing chords. Blacknecks sound like they're coming apart at the seams on "Powerhole Gloryhole," where huge, uneven chords splatter in globs of midrange. The rippling groove of "Spudgun! Dave Hedghog" sounds like techno made with 2x4s. Every track is hulking but rarely one-dimensional: "Easy Lionel" opens up that sound, with a jumpy beat and happy melodies (think some scorched-earth remix of "Funkytown"), and the theme repeats in "Don't Do It Be It," a new agey thriller that sounds like a DAT tape from a forgotten progressive house producer.

But as rough as Blacknecks can sound, they aren't just throwing melodies into a wood chipper. There's a real pop sensibility to "Don't Do It Be It," and little to no irony—it's just a killer tune. The same goes for "Don't Say It's Goodbye," a fist-pumper with a theatrical character. This balance makes Blacknecks 006 feel like the duo's most fully-realized release. There's even a silly, Weird Al-style parody in "Clubbing." With its voicemail spoken-word samples and robot voiceover, it's taking the piss out of self-consciously futuristic electro. But look past the gimmick and it's a formidable banger, which goes for the whole Blacknecks oeuvre.

Artist: Blacknecks
Album: Blacknecks 006
Label: Blacknecks Records
Catalog: BLKN006
Style: Techno
Released: 26 November 2014

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