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Container, "LP"
I think I can safely guarantee that no one familiar with Ren Schofield’s work has ever wondered what a new Container album might sound like, nor have they likely exhausted much time wondering about what its title would be: LP is yet another dose of no-frills, bludgeoning, percussive, and noise-damaged anti-dance.  The only real change is Schofield has become a bit more skilled, a bit wilder, and a lot more aggressive since his last album.  Part of me admittedly misses the more "human"-speed, mid-tempo grooves of past Container albums, but LP is probably Ren’s best work in this vein by a landslide, as he has trimmed down his song lengths and dramatically ratcheted up his visceral intensity.  This is an absolutely bulldozing album.
For a former noise artist, Schofield has very unusual approach to his strain of noise-damaged dance music.  For one, it is not particularly noisy: the 7 pieces on LP are certainly unmelodic and corroded-sounding, but Ren tends to conjure up his chaos in quite a controlled way.  There are no blasts of white noise or electronic entropy, just a lot of meticulously crafted grooves enhanced by some very blown-out textures and plenty of machine-like, relentlessly inhuman repetition.  Equally noteworthy is the fact that Schofield seems to be quite an astute student of techno rather than any kind of dabbler, as he rarely even nods towards simple house beats and unwaveringly manipulates the dynamics of his grooves like a damn wizard: elements are constantly and systematically added and subtracted in service of maximizing impact at all times.  Ren never lazily rides a groove.  Once in a while, he might slow down or get a bit quieter, but it is always to either make space for a cool motif or to set the stage for the next onslaught.
Aside from those few pieces that slow down enough to lock into satisfying head-bobbing grooves and give Ren room to unleash his fine arsenal of squawks, whines, crackles, and grinding noise textures, the bulk of LP careens along at a breakneck pace.  He definitely seems to relish maintaining a pace that is just a little too fast and much too manic to fully resemble music intended for human dancing.  That impish propensity is what makes LP so compelling for me, as Schofield has found a way to make the beats themselves feel like an assault without resorting to brute force or hackneyed industrial tropes.  These pieces are certainly propulsive and fun, but they are also a bit too deranged and relentless to elicit anything resembling a "good time" vibe.  That, of course, makes it even more fun for me.  Apparently, this album is the one most closely resembles a Container live show, which makes me desperately want to seek one out: Schofield has ingeniously staked out the perfect blend of "I came to get this party started" and "I came to end this party and possibly destroy the building."
Choosing a highlight is hard, as each of these pieces is very much cut from the same cloth and strong hooks are simply not a part of Ren's agenda: he just locks into a groove, kicks ass, and then moves onto the next song long before he overstays his welcome.  LP is just 7 flavors of streamlined, dynamic, and perfectly chiseled pummeling.  If I had to pick, however, I would say that the stumbling, mid-tempo "Calibrate" locks into an especially satisfying locked-groove-style beat.  Another strong moment is the album's "single": the throbbing, skittering, and out-of-control "Eject."  The whole album is quite solid and utterly devoid of anything resembling filler or a misstep, however.  If LP can be said to have a flaw, it is only that Container's niche is an incredibly specific and limited one.  Schofield definitely makes the most of those rigid constraints though–I cannot think of a single aspect of LP that possibly could have been better executed.
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