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Container, "LP (II)"
I know it will not last very long, but I am very much enjoying the current trend of noise artists turning their attention towards dance music and beats (something I definitely would not have expected when Masami Akita dabbled similarly a decade ago).  Along with Vatican Shadow and Pete Swanson, Ren Schofield's Container project is decisively leading the vanguard of that scene, though he almost slipped by me due to his association with the rather synth-centric Spectrum Spools label.  His latest effort is not quite as uniformly spectacular as last year's identically titled debut, but it definitely comes very damn close (especially the second half).
Schofield's work is quite a bit different from the other recent purveyors of beat-driven noise, as he is a bit more wholehearted in his embrace of techno (specifically, minimal techno).  In fact, there is not all that much here that could unambiguously categorized as noise, though Ren's zeal for crunch, overdrive, and metallic textures ensure that his vision is far from typical dance fare.  Instead, Schofield's history of sonic violence (as God Willing) manifests itself in more abstract ways, such relentless, obsessive repetition.
That proves to be Ren's most effective weapon and he does not use it sparingly.  The most striking example is "Perforate," as the snarling, distorted acid-inspired bass line tensely and endlessly repeats for the entire piece while the increasingly bludgeoning percussion constantly ratchets up the intensity.  Most of the other pieces are a bit less demented, but the template remains roughly the the same: a simple beat and a simple bass motif form an insistent groove that gradually becomes more and more unhinged as Schofield tweaks the rhythms, pushes the EQ into the red, and strafes it all with a host of crunches, clangs, and garbled voices.
Schofield manages to remain fairly varied in the details of his execution despite that somewhat narrow and recurring trajectory.  The most obvious anomaly is "Acclimator," where Ren allows himself a conventionally propulsive and relatively unmolested groove.  He still insistently repeats an incredibly minimal bass line and unleashes a flurry of metallic grinding and clattering, but it feels more like bizarre dub than a full-on assault.  "Dripping" is also a bit unusual, as it offers a weirdly lurching, crunching groove rather than Ren's standard pummeling and unrelenting forward momentum.  Such divergences make for a surprisingly listenable album, as they provide an effective contrast to (and respite from) the rhythmic bulldozing of LP's wilder moments.
Naturally, those wilder moments are the best part, so I was a little disappointed that only two songs achieved that degree of intensity.  That is the pessimist in me speaking though, as I could just as easily say that two out of five songs are minor masterpieces of visceral power.  I suppose Ren probably cannot keep repeating his formula of  "insistent groove gradually escalates into dense, cathartic chaos" much longer without encountering dramatically diminishing returns, but he certainly has not reached that point yet.
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