In his recent theartsdesk interview, Squarepusher (or Tom Jenkinson to his mum) stated: “A subtle wave of conservatism has washed gently across electronic music over the last five years. One of the things the new record smashes against is that.” On this he really isn’t kidding, and Damogen Furies is unlikely to be heard as mood music to your shopping experience in any high street stores in the foreseeable future. Hardcore rave sounds bump up against abrasive electro and abstract funk in a powerful tempest that is far from chilled out.
Opening track “Stor Eiglass” suggests an imaginary remix of Eighties popsters A-Ha by The Prodigy during their hardcore rave era, while “Baltang Ort” and “Rayc Fire 2” bring to mind the sound of Jenkinson’s occasional collaborator, Aphex Twin. While these tunes are certainly engaging, they may also present quite a challenging prospect to the EDM masses with their ad hoc changes in tempo and harsh textures. Similarly, the warped and speedy techno of “Kwang Bass” and the quirky hardcore of “Baltang Arg” lend themselves to the dancefloor but they are equally fiery and cerebral. The standout tune from Danogen Furies, however, is “D Frozent Aac”. It's a Burial-type menace that evolves into an abstract tech-house beast that is both sinister and yet able to move hips with a relentless twitchy groove.
Damogen Furies, like the recent albums by those other Grand Old Men of electronica, Aphex Twin and Plastikman, is a timely release that harks back to a time when dance music wasn’t so easily digested. When it didn’t soundtrack your nan’s shopping expeditions to the supermarket and when it was considered such a threat to civilisation that legislation was passed in an hysterical Houses of Parliament. It has to be hoped that the electronica scene’s clean-cut and fresh-faced young things are listening closely.
