Austin Corrosive, Tassid, OB1, MK303 – System Rejects 01 (System Rejects)

System Rejects is a new label, an “autonomous collective of techno artists and producers” united by a “passion for stomping techno music and  freethinking nonconformism,” which are all things we like here at Rabbits. The stomping techno, the freethinking, the nonconformism –bring it on, we say. What’s more, the label’s founders are none other than Austin Corrosive, Tassid, OB1 and MK 303, who you’ll be  familiar with – or you bloody well should be, at least – by virtue of their considerable talents at making kick-ass Acid Techno.

System Rejects 01, then, and slice my still-beating heart from my chest if it’s not an absolute cracker of a release. The Rejects all take a turn and first off is Austin Corrosive’s Nothing, where thuggish declamatory vocals speed up and slow down before dropping out completely and introducing epic acid of nuclear winter proportions. Meanwhile things get dirty  for Tassid’s Eat Your Own Face, a methylated-spirit-drinking tune, with echo-strewn riffs bouncing off another in their bid to escape an insistent high-pitched siren. The word I’m looking for is ‘cavernous’.

Next, and I’ve talked before about OB1‘s almost surgical precision with the old 303. Here on Factory Grade, he layers them across a patchwork of ravey noises then whips them onto a lithe, funky climax. I think it’s one of the best things he’s ever done.

On a similar high is Matt Knight aka MK303, whose Three Oh Three is very, very phat indeed, letting no-nonsense drums do the heavy lifting while a deceptively strolling bassline is attacked by high-pitched acid lines wielding razor-sharp tomahawks.

So. All good then. Frankly, all brilliant. The ever-so-slightly bad news – especially if you’re a digital Doris like me – is that System Rejects are sticking to their principles of keeping the releases strictly limited and vinyl-only, which means that… well, it means that they’re strictly limited and vinyl-only. You will want these tunes. You will want them a lot. Good luck with that.

Go to System Rejects’ website here.

Listen to the tunes here: