A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away called the late 1990s, there was a scene known as “big beat”. It consisted of club culture sorts making music closer in flavour to rock, and easier to drink beer to than house and techno.
It gave us both Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers, as well as a thousand long-forgotten acts (with apologies to those still listening to Hardknox and Boom Boom Satellites). But perhaps the most intriguing artist was Death In Vegas. Their seventh album is Spartan, stern, crafted, enigmatic and dripping with Berlin-esque cool.
Death in Vegas is now just DJ-producer Richard Fearless. In the past, he’s created cuts that quietly hang around for years, popping up here and there in films, games and playlists. Think “Dirge”. “Consequences of Love” and “Your Loft My Acid”. He’s also worked with everyone from Oasis to Paul Weller to Hope Sandoval. But Death Mask is a solo electronic affair and probably his least approachable album, although a logical extension of his last album, the icily electronic Transmission, nine years ago.
Fearless says this project was influenced by avant-metallers Sunn O))), dub legends such as King Tubby, original Detroit techno, and Scandinavian noise-ambient types such as Mika Vanio and Panasonic. Of these, his new album is closest to the latter. The nine tracks come in at around an hour, forming an immersive sonic whole listeners will either drift into or turn off after five minutes.
It's built around smear, distortion, spacey washes, drone tones, morose rhythmic pulsing, and electronic threat, usually juddering drum tracks surrounded by a fog-like haze of effects, smudging and sullying the canvas like a muddy weather system, as on cuts such as “Lovers” and “Robin’s Ghost”. The main exceptions are the underwater ambient foreboding of “Róisín Dub(h)” (weirdly compulsive), and the album’s one uncharacteristic track, “Your Love”, an acid-house-y sliver of bouncy, shimmering techno.
Death Mask is not an album that will garner Death In Vegas new fans but is a serious electronica suite. It’s good to hear the old contrarian diving deep into such sounds.
Below: watch the video for the title track of Death In Vegas's Death Mask album
