MK303, Austin Corrosive, Tassid & D.A.V.E. the Drummer, OB1 – System Rejects 02 (System Rejects)

MK303’s Drugged Up is an outstanding track. Coming straight from SR’s no-nonsense division, the acid fires up right away, but it’s at around 1.40 that a riff begins blasting away behind the main acid lines, and it’s a total doozy, elevating the track from the realms of superior acid workout to something way better. A lot of tracks would happily rely on that one riff – not this one.

Meanwhile, Austin Corrosive breaks out the fatter, philthier acid for Sharks With Lasers. Austin’s recent tracks have had a real machinery-in-crisis sound to them, a feeling that they could, at any second, spin completely off the grid, and it’s an exciting, distinctive sound – the sound of a really in-form, confident producer. It’s a feeling that pervades the entire release, in fact. You get a sense of everybody involved stretching their wings.

Next, Tassid and D.A.V.E the Drummer on Sexual Advance. The track is basically a rework of the Adam Freeland track, We Want Your Soul, complete with the eponymous vocal and Bill Hicks’s ‘you are free to do as we tell you’ routine during the breakdown. Freeland’s track is a classic and it’s a brave man who evokes its memories, even in a new context, but Christ, this track thumps. Here the BPMs rise to Tassid levels, rather than drop to DtD levels, and Tassid tracks always bang. But this one? Whoosh.

Lastly, OB1 is, as ever, applying advanced acid techniques to his 303 on Fight War. First he has fun with drums, setting up a rolling, funky sound before laying down the first of the acid lines at around 1.40. The 303 are whipped to a frenzy, and with the looped ‘fight war’ vocal sample sounding suitably psychotic, the result is a truly breathless and relentless piece of acid techno, a stunning end to what is easily one of the best EPs of the year – if not the best.

Meanwhile, you can catch all of the Rejects plus various other ne’er-do-wells, including Rabbits fave Bad Boy Pete,  playing live at at Soitiz-organised bash in aid of the Headway charity. The party takes place at a secret location in Worcestershire on 7th December, and for tickets you’ll need to email soitizswifty@hotmail.co.uk. It promises to be epic.

Go to System Rejects’ website here.

Listen to the tunes here:

OB1, Austin Corrosive, MK303, Tassid – Digital Rejects 001

Though the System Rejects crew are sticking to their original philosophy of keeping it vinyl, they’ve launched an offshoot  label for exclusive digi releases. There’s no crossover, they promise, and on the evidence of this first outing, no dip in quality either. Oh, and they came fully tagged.

Things kick off in fine style with Acid.647  by OB1. It has cantering percussion and a lovely echo-soaked kickdrum, with a brutal acid line acting as a framing device of for high-pitched squiggly sirens. A metallic riff not dissimilar to the breakdown in Unlucky Punk by Magnum Force completes the picture. Like a lot of the best London-style Acid out this year, it nods to the past while sounding bang up-to-date – with the emphasis on bang.

Next, Austin Corrosive’s Head Off finds him in a discursive mood, letting one of the acid lines meander down interesting melodic avenues before pulling it all back into shape where it tussles with another, both vying for supremacy of the track. Think of The Oracle by Cosmic Trigger given a sprayjob and you’re almost there.

Meanwhile, MK303’s Hero Challenge is as hard as nails. I dare you to listen to the intro without clenching your jaw. Jagged sounds drop in at will, intensifying what is a brutal, thrilling experience, while at the 2.47 mark there’s a break that is absolutely not to be missed, before a monumentally epic, transcendentally headfucking outro. There’s only one word for it, and that word is ‘Whoosh.’

Rounding out what is clearly a thoughtfully constructed release (two total bangers, two more idiosyncratic tracks) is Only Some Will Understand by Tassid. A breath of fresh air, it more or less dispenses with the usual structure, serving up a machines-in-crisis sound that not only rewards repeat listening but sounds brilliantly disruptive in the mix.

Get if from: System Rejects