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Rainer Veil, "Struck" and "New Brutalism"
As much as it pains me deeply to use this adjective, this Manchester duo seem to specialize in something resembling hypnagogic techno. At the very least, they attempt to refract more conventional techno sounds through a drugged/half-asleep/eyes closed/out-of-body sensibility that is seemingly all their own.  That is a tricky feat to pull off though, as the line separating "ghostly and diffuse" from "boring, forgettable, and easy to ignore" is quite a narrow one.  Fortunately, both of these EPs are likable (if flawed) in their own right and admirably a bit beyond the pale, but the newer New Brutalism is significantly more sharply realized than its predecessor.
Struck certainly starts off strongly enough though, as the title track's combination of a lurching bass drum thump with a slow-motion machine gun snare roll is quite infectious.  The song's other elements are what make Rainer Veil something out of the ordinary though, as Liam Morley and Dan Valentine spend the rest of the piece trying to artfully undercut that great beat.  Rather than intensifying or building up a groove, "Struck" instead augments that wonderfully clattering beat with lush synth swells that feel like slow, deep exhalations.  Also, the beat itself starts to subtly come apart, occasionally derailing into descending unfunky clunks rather than the expected snare roll.  Fortunately, the beat is still ultimately propulsive enough to hold the song together and even serves as a strong hook of sorts.
Most of the other songs fare a bit less well, however, though they are almost all built upon at least one inspired motif.  "Slow Beaming," for example, has a pleasingly sultry, understated groove, while "Bala" boasts a nice "skipping CD" loop and a spectral, drifting vocal hook (of sorts).  Unfortunately, "Beaming" ends after little more than two minutes with no real development, while "Bala" stretches out for seven minutes, but gradually dissolves into hazy ambient drone.  "Wade In" returns with a similar disembodied, artificial-sounding vocal hook, but takes things in the opposite direction and (unsuccessfully) attempts a conventional song structure with an almost-chorus that feels very awkward, forced, and stylistically divergent from the rest of the release.
Struck closes with "Yield," which initially seems like a hissing, warm ambient piece, but is quickly enlivened somewhat by a deep, buried beat and more whispy, barely-there vocals swoons and moans before gradually drifting to a conclusion.  More importantly, "Yield" is inadvertent microcosm of why Struck is such an exasperating release: I genuinely appreciate Morley and Valentine are trying to do, but so much of this EP occupies the no-man's land between techno and ambient that is too dull to remember, but too carved-up into song-like pieces to get fully absorbed in.  Consequently, Struck is best appreciated as a cool single with great intentions and a bunch of weaker bonus tracks tacked on.
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New Brutalism wises reprises the elements of Struck's strong opening with "UK Will Not Survive," offering up a hobbling, clattering beat of its own amidst a thrum of droning, hazy synths.  Dan and Liam also make some subtle (but welcome) tweaks to their formula, adding some alternately snarling and grinding layers of textures and sending their groove through a number of satisfyingly dynamic crests and valleys.  The energy level plunges a bit for "Negative Space," but that it does not entirely kill the momentum–it just drags things deeper into Rainer Veil's bleary, nocturnal wheelhouse, as the duo's increased imagination and variety with their beats happily follows with them to enliven their de rigueur warmly hissing synth drones.
The EP's longest piece ("Three Day Jag") follows, taking the warped vocal hooks of Struck into even stranger, more distant, and more inhuman territory.  Again, the "music" is more of a swirling, drifting blur of synths and ruined samples set to a groove than anything resembling modern techno.  In fact, The Caretaker might actually be the closest reference point, as "Jag" basically feels like a dance remix of a haunting, as its increasingly propulsive beat is essentially propping up little more than an ominous hum, distant gnarled voices, and creepily echoing clattering.  I especially enjoyed how the echoes created a lingering after-image of the stuttering stop-start pattern of the drums.
"Strangers," on the other hand, is a less adventurous return to the "vocal hook" side of Struck, though it still displays a nice evolution: Valentine and Morley definitely have a lighter touch this time around and they also seem to have developed a better intuition about when an idea begins to wear out its welcome.  Consequently, "Strangers" inadvertently renders most of Struck's second half obsolete, as it is simultaneously more propulsive and vibrant, yet less overtly heavy-handed.  It gets particularly good around the halfway point when the beat kicks in, as the duo allow it plenty of space to make its thudding impact and their synth motif has just enough melodic movement to suggest the hint of a song without quite breaking the sleepily hallucinogenic spell of the earlier pieces.
The closing "Run Out" is a nicely dystopian aberration, as it initially approximates a field recording of the distant clangs and rumbles of a factory in an otherwise deserted town before some murky synth swells darken the mood further.  In fact, I enjoyed the illusion so much that I was actually disappointed a little when the beat kicked in and dragged me back to reality.  I understand that this is ostensibly a "dance" release, but ending the EP with that last two-minute flourish of "groove" was a puzzling move, as it does not actually take the song anywhere interesting and ruined what would have been an effectively striking and desolate ending.  Oh well.  Although New Brutalism is still not entirely great, it certainly marks a significant compositional and dynamic improvement over its predecessor and boasts some promising flashes of real inspiration.  Even making a merely good EP in this vein is a remarkable achievement though, as weaving drifting, drowsy emptiness into gold is a feat of alchemy that few would dare to even attempt.
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