Setting is clearly very important to Posthuman. Having performed at a mixture of strange locations (namely a prison and an iron mine) it's clear their intention is to impose a sense of place on the listener. Their music is a sort of theatrical electronica - by layering eerie effects over a throbbing dubstep bass, it's an aggressive mechanical ballet.
Monsters and Vortices is their third EP among an extensive list of albums and singles. Though completely club friendly, there is a deep and subversive message behind the music. London's towering disillusion and self-fulfilment is exposed; truth hides in the grimy back alleyways and subterranean mazes. The residing urban dread is hard to shake off, even after 'The Karman Vortices', a comparatively down-tempo finale that could be seamlessly edited into Boards of Canada's 'Geogaddi', their most sinister of albums.
The EP opens on 'Krill' with a pounding kick drum that overflows onto the rest of the record. A pure evil bass line in 'Callisto' slowly and mercilessly crushes the spiralling, free loving synths in a death grip. A rhythmically cut female voice sample initially provides a small human element; ultimately the heroine is smothered by the smog spewing from steam burst percussion. 'Monsters Exist' takes the tone deeper into paranoia - it's like being stalked by some predatory creature.
The EP should come with a prescription warning: Not to be taken by technophobes or schizophrenics. An extremely unsettling record, totally vacant of anything human, Monsters and Vortices is a fearful drum and bass achievement. Directing their eyes to the horizon while keeping a foot in the club, they are right to be beckoned into the circle of the electronic dark arts.
(© Copyright 2009 Brendan Morgan)
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