Arkham Sound continues a dominant year by bringing the chaos to Foundation Audio! The London based producer has illustrated the dark sounds of the city in recent months with unmissable releases on the likes of FatKidOnFire and Badman Studios and continues to do so with ‘Smoke‘ EP. This stacked five tracker demonstrates Arkham Sound‘s turbulent industrial designs including today’s premiere and title track, ‘Smoke‘.
On an EP that reaches right across Arkham Sound‘s arsenal, today’s premiere ‘Smoke‘, enters as the dark dancefloor destroyer. Rampant sub-stomps distort and dominate, carrying the track through a smoky backdrop of cold synths and fittingly metallic percussive hits. Then, following a track that defines the modern day stomper, ‘Nothing Left To Lose‘ harkens back to the quintessential sounds with a wobbly LFO tidal wave, flooding the dance with the kind of aggression you’d expect from a solid Arkham production. The ambient synths that riff like a guitar and the punishing 808s of ‘Gravediggaz‘, encapsulates everything I enjoy in an Arkham Sound track and, quite frankly, is currently one of my favourite tunes. Although it drags me into an dark intimidating space as intended, I can’t help be dragged with a smile of my face, hyped up and penetrated by the power – an absolutely outstanding track and a hidden gem for sure! Fresh from three dark room masterpieces, I’d be happy with the track list finishing there, but there’s plenty of gas in the tank when it comes to Arkham‘s contorting sound design as demonstrated on the aptly named ‘Unrelenting‘. The ropes that were holding on to any semblance of order are cut, the rules are thrown out and the jarring unpredictability intensifies through a wall of grain and distortion. It’s one of Arkham Sound‘s more experimental manifestations, as perilous as the corridors of the Arkham asylum itself. The concluding and higher tempo’d ‘Bloodless‘ ups the anti further, brandishing chaotic techy influences from the violent double kicks to the penetrating breaks and industrial SFX. Like all good finales should, ‘Bloodless‘ captures the energy of the entire record, one that leaves you gasping for breath be it on the dancefloor or on your quivering sofa.
The intensity that rampages throughout this project is undeniable and although it provides many abrasive moments that knock you off your feet, you can’t help but continue to keep that neck swinging. Both Arkham Sound as an artist and Foundation Audio as a label have put out some fire this year but ‘Smoke‘ EP must grab the accolade for one of the hardest.
‘Smoke‘ EP is out now and available to download from the Foundation Audio Bandcamp.
Check out Arkham Sound on Soundcloud and Instagram.
Check out Foundation Audio on Soundcloud and Instagram.