SND — Atavism
I can see what they are trying to achieve here, and when it works - as with the stronger tracks, like no.13, which takes the pattern-phasing process (famously employed, many decades ago, by the likes of Steve Reich) to a techno-glitch plateau of formalist repetitive patterns - its really quite wonderful, opening up your ears to the glacial, fractured, but also strangely melodic rhythms. Track 5 also works very well - with a soft and eerie, ambient-techno beginning, which slowly wafts and wanes behind the robotic machine-like snaps and claps, which have suddenly overtaken and come to the fore. As the beats evolve, it takes a certain amount of concentration to ascertain the very gradual, and subtle, cyclical changes in the rhythms, but once you give in to this way of listening, it becomes trance-like and hypnotic and has its own peculiar calmness. Near the end, empty space begins to engulf the beats like the heart of an entropic machine, grinding down to a standstill. Track 11 lasts just 1 minute and 47 seconds, but nevertheless packs a mighty punch; it sounds like a photocopier or fax machine slowly breaking down, and crosses over into the penumbra of Musique Concrete.
All of the above tracks employ quite clinical, glitchy, unusual samples, conjoined with a more complex succession of interweaving musical algorithms; but the weaker tracks are the ones which utilise the familiar tropes of the commercially popular 'funky' sounds of house and techno, and pare down the more intricate rhythmical process evidenced by the aforementioned tracks. For instance, tracks 2, 12 and 14 just don't hang together, ultimately sounding like the basic, first stage template of any popular house dj's new dance-floor-filler mix, and its at these moments when one feels that SND haven't quite pushed the boundaries of 'acceptable taste' enough - as perhaps someone like Richard James would - and have given into the commercial pressures of producing a 'danceable' house or techno tune. Or perhaps they just like those more trendy sounds - I don't.
So, overall, Atavism is a bit of a mixed bag, and they need to be more stringent in their experimental principles next time - but having said that, about 2/3rd's of the tracks are pretty powerful and intriguing, and your curiosity wouldn't be wasted on this album.